The Second Shelf

The Second Shelf Sizzling Summer Status and Surveys Update!
almost 6 years ago – Mon, Jul 02, 2018 at 12:49:39 PM

Dear The Second Shelf Supporters,

Things are wildly busy over here as we work to breathe life into The Second Shelf after all of your help. Your incredibly generous contributions have just hit the account and it allows us to move forward immediately on the work we have to do. We are finalizing designs and sourcing vendors for your reward t-shirt and totes, selecting the first editions for our surprise boxes and our mini-libraries, and bringing the first edition of The Second Shelf Quarterly and the online bookshop to life. It is wonderful place to be.

All rewards will be delivered September 2018. This includes the quarterly, which we had initially thought we would publish and deliver in July. In the course of the Kickstarter campaign it became clear that our ambition for The Quarterly would be best met by having a little bit more time with it. It could go to press as it is, or it could bring readers more writing and work, and so we have expanded the number of features and contributors. We are currently in our second round of designs and testing covers and it is incredibly fun. Putting the quarterly out in September also sets it up for a standard seasonal publishing schedule and will allow us to bundle your rewards with delivery and save time and resources on shipping and handling.

Our next step for you, dear backers, is to have you fill out your reward surveys, the details of which we are almost done with, and which will be sent out at the end of the week, barring any technical issues. These will ask you for preferences where there is a design or size choice (subject to demand and feasibility), where we might learn a bit more about your reading preferences for your surprise first editions, and give us confirmation of your details. A number of add-on items will become available as well!

If you have any questions in the meantime please feel free to email us. Thanks so much for your patience and support as we get the gears moving on our launch. We can't wait to share everything with you. Our goal is to have the quarterly and online shop up in early September and will keep you apprised! Until then if you would like to purchase books from us, you are always welcome to write and inquire about stock.

Truly yours,

We have 24 hours left to raise our stretch goal.
almost 6 years ago – Mon, Jun 11, 2018 at 06:26:55 PM

We are one day away from the end of this campaign. Because of you we get to commission more women writers for our quarterly of rare books and words by women, and are on our way to meeting our stretch goal of £35,000. If we hit it we will open up our online site for submissions and publish great writing alongside the books we sell.

Thank you for believing in The Second Shelf.

Help us reach our WEEKEND STRETCH GOAL!
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Jun 08, 2018 at 06:54:31 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

The Second Shelf is on its way!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 06, 2018 at 11:40:51 PM

Hello! A little under a week ago, we reached our £20,000 Kickstarter goal. We are heartened and thrilled for the support. And we hope this early support is a sign that we are on the right track with The Second Shelf -- that readers are invested in looking closely at their bookshelves, discovering women writers they haven't read before, and starting to collect their work.

We are launching a print quarterly and doing so is an expensive premise. But we believe in this idea to commission women writers to write about the books that deserve to be collected. It's not an easy or simple business, selling books and commissioning work – both rare books and publishing are hard work and hard to make a living at, but we believe what we are trying establish, and know that more women writers deserve the space on our bookshelves, on your bookshelves, and on bookshelves in institutions and libraries around the world. 

With that in mind we encourage you to continue to share and help us find backers and readers for The Second Shelf: A Quarterly of Rare Books and Words by Women in its last week of crowdsourcing. We need all the readership and support we can get to make this business work.

A few more announcements including details of our stretch goal will come soon!

With gratitude, 

Allison Devers

By Popular Demand
almost 6 years ago – Wed, May 23, 2018 at 09:56:43 AM

Last week we had the honor of writing about The Second Shelf and its mission at The Guardian. And had some instant demand for Bookwoman merch. We aim to please. So we have added two new perks. Additionally in our survey, our backers who have already contributed will be able to select the shirt or tote of their choice.

£50 Bookwoman Tote + Subscription An annual print subscription (four issues) to The Second Shelf: A Quarterly of Rare Books and Words by Women, and a “Bookwoman” tote. Issue 1 to be sent in July, the following issues at 3 months intervals thereafter.

£35 Bookwoman T-Shirt + Quarterly A “Bookwoman” t-shirt and a print copy of The Second Shelf: A Quarterly, Issue 1

Because of you, The Second Shelf nears our goal daily. Thank you so much for helping us start up this woman-focused rare book business.