In Australia, dustjacket-envelopes encourage consumers to gift finished books to charity
Publishing & Media
Mailbooks For Good is making it easier for readers to donate books to charity once they've read them, by including dustjackets that double as pre-paid, pre-addressed envelopes.
Libraries and book publishers are now having to compete with the digital publishing world if they want to survive. We’ve already seen Ljubljana City Library create surprise book packs based on genre to engage its customers, and now Australia-based project Mailbooks For Good is making it easier for readers to donate books to charity once they’ve read them, by including dustjackets that double as pre-paid, pre-addressed envelopes.
Conceived through a collaboration between creative agency BMF and The Footpath Library charity, the idea is a fairly simple one – dust jackets are redesigned to include flaps that, when flipped around, turn into sturdy packaging that can be wrapped around the book and sealed. The reverse is pre-addressed with the details of The Footpath Library and the postage is pre-paid, although the retail price is slightly higher than standard books. Once they’ve been sent, the charity distributes the books to homeless and poor people who don’t have easy access to literature. The video below explains more about the concept:
The scheme has already struck a deal with Random House to publish a range of popular titles with the dustjackets and readers can find them at Gleebooks bookstores in Sydney. It is now hoping to partner with global literacy charities. One to get involved with?
Spotted by: Murray Orange
2nd May 2013
