Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Furry Book Month: October 2016

Announcements
#1

With the aim of getting more people reading more furry books, we’re making October 2016 Furry Book Month.

Here’s the plan of action:

[ul][li]Ask authors and publishers to offer discounts and deals during October, and promote the event on their websites/social media[/li]
[li]Promote the event on furry news sites e.g. Flayrah, Dogpatch[/li]
[li]Ask readers to make a pledge or resolution for October, e.g. read 3 furry books, try a new author, give a furry book to a friend, post a book review online[/li]
[li]Create a page on the FWG website listing special offers, and maybe a #FurryBookMonth Twitter feed.[/li][/ul]

Can you help?

[ul][li]If you want to promote your work during Furry Book Month, drop me a PM or email agent99@dryden.co.uk with the details and I’ll add it to the list[/li]
[li]I’ve dispatched some emails towards our publishers, and a few authors who sell their own work as well as going through those publishers. But if you know a furry author who doesn’t hang out on the forum, please pass the word on to them[/li]
[li]If you’re on the Slack chat, you’ll notice a furry-book-month-2016 channel has appeared. Feel free to drop in with suggestions and comments[/li][/ul]

#2

Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far! There should be a nice selection of offers from authors and publishers to tempt everyone.

And there’s still plenty of time to get in touch if you’d like to add to them :slight_smile:

#3

Would it be possible to maybe post some of what’s already planned, so those of us who haven’t firmed up our plans yet can get more ideas?

#4

Sure. There are discount codes from Rabbit Valley and Sofawolf (FurPlanet has also expressed interest), and some self-published authors have offered discounts (I’ll let them go into more detail if they’d like). Er, that’s it! (Genius marketing ideas welcome.)

#5

It’d be kind of neat to have some type of art-based reward for readers who make pledges to read/review a certain number of books. The same way FurPlanet did that Certified tag for people purchasing a certain amount, maybe to have a Certified Furry Reader tag (or something like that; doesn’t have to be that artist) that people can download after submitting a pledge. I’m also thinking about how NaNo does banners and profile pics for people participating, tying everything in together visually and building awareness that way. That’s harder to line up than things that authors and publishers can do, of course, but I’m hoping we have some members who know artists and might be able to convince them to help out a good cause. :slight_smile:

#6

That would be really nice - not sure about the mechanics of it, though. It could work with a webform: enter your pledge and get taken to a page with the download. (Obviously you could type any old nonsense into the webform, but then you can cheat at NaNo too if that floats your goat.)

#7

My lovely friend Ultrafox has come up with some logo concepts. Which do you like best? (I know one of them says Furry Book Week - pls ignore!)

He might have a slight fox bias :wink:

Option 1:

Option 2:

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Option 3:

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#8

They’re all great! But I love the last on where you can just see his ears poking over the top of the book.
<3

#9

I like the second one myself, though I think if the fox should look more like it’s laying down. With how it is, it looks like he’s performing an uncomfortable yoga pose.

#10

I vote for the last one, though I must also register an obligatory protest of the fox-as-default-furry stereotype. :slight_smile:

#11

I really like the design of the third one, but I voted for the first. As-is, it’s the closest to being good to go. Only problem with the third one is the big grey bit where the book is. If you go with that one, make sure the book has a cover or at least a less bland cover. Just my two cents. I love the little ears peeking up above it too. ^^

#12

Thanks for all the comments - really helpful!

I should confess that my instinct is #3; it’s simple, it’s bold, it’s less species-specific, and that’s clearly a very absorbing book :slight_smile:

Hire fox artists, get fox art…

#13

I vote for #3, too. If the book is given a cover as FuzzWolf suggests, I suggest Essentials of Furrydom as its title.

#14

I think it would look good with just a pawprint on the cover too. :slight_smile: So as not to compete with the other text element.

#15

I was going to suggest a pawprint too, though personally I think it’s okay left blank; gives the whole thing more of a logo feel. (Or a small pawprint on the spine and nothing on the front cover?)

#16

I second this. I like it as is – if something gets added to the cover, it seems like it shouldn’t have any actual text, because that would just detract from the words Furry Book Month. Also, this way, the book could be a stand-in for any book.

#17

Until I saw this comment, I actually couldn’t make any visual sense of the second option, because that fox is so twisted around that I thought I was looking at two foxes; I just couldn’t figure out what had happened to the first one’s head – it seemed to have disappeared under the book somehow.

#18

Ooh, good call, I love pawprints :slight_smile: I’ll tell the artist we want #3!

#19

A reminder that Furry Book Month will be launching on October 1st!

In the next few days I’ll be posting a press release and final logo here - if you would like to post these to your website/blog on the 1st, please do.

If you’re a publisher or self-published author and you’d like to promote your books with a special offer during October, PM me or email agent99@dryden.co.uk to get on the list!

#20

OK! Attached is a press release explaining what we’re doing. You are free to use this on your blog or website as it stands, adapt it to your needs, or do your own thing. Whichever you decide, please make a post on October 1st to let the world know what we’re up to.

Also attached is the final version of the Furry Book Month logo by Ultrafox - I hope everyone likes it, and thanks for the votes and feedback!

Furry Book Month - press release.rtf (1.62 KB)

FBM logo 800.png
FBM logo 800.png800×800 190 KB