^{Photo by LubosHouska}

Hey! I'm @carn and I'd like to introduce The Steemit Book Project to you. Its goal is to donate books to be digitized and added to Open Library's website where anyone can read them for free.

What is Open Library?

Open Library is a website run by Archive.org that lets you borrow books to read online. You can sign up for free and read books that are still under copyright. Besides letting people borrow books for free, they also provide the DAISY format (a type of audiobook) for people who have visual impairments.
They are able to let people borrow these books because they are not scans of physical books that they own. Only one book per scan is available to borrow so they are only loaning you the book and not reproducing it.

The Steemit Book Project will donate books to Open Library so this free library of books can grow.

The Three Steps of the Steemit Book Project

Step 1: Earning SBD

The Steemit Book Project will earn SBD three different ways.

• Followers upvoting @steemitbooks's posts will be the main way that the Steemit Book Project earns. These posts will include project updates and book discussions. Your upvoting these posts will help the Steemit Book Project buy more books.

• Giveaways will be another way that the project will use to support itself. Upvoting and commenting on the giveaway will enter the user in a drawing. For every $30 that the post earns, a winner will be chosen to receive one free book of their choice (provided it does not cost over $10 used). The winner(s) will be notified in the Steemit Chat and will message me their address. If they don't feel comfortable sharing there address, they can choose one book for the project to buy.

• The project will accept donations of SBD. If you send 2 SBD or more, be sure to add a note with a title of a book you'd like the project to buy.
  If you can't donate SBD, you can help by messaging the project with a book review written by you. You will get 50% of the SBD that the book review makes and the other 50% will be used to buy books.

Step 2: Buying Books

I aka @carn will use the SBD earned by the project to buy books from two locations.

• Thrift stores near me will be the cheapest source of books though they will (probably) not have well know books.
• Online book stores will be used for buying books when the Steemit Book Project has enough funds. While this will be much more expensive then thrift stores, it will allow the project to buy books that followers request.

I'll buy books that I recognize or that look interesting and that aren't in the Open Library. When the project has enough funds, followers will also be able to request books to be bought.

Step 3: Preparation and Shipping

Once the books have been bought, a special Steemit Book Project bookplate will be glued on the inside of the cover. This way, when the books are scanned, the readers of the book will be able to see that it was you who helped donate the book.

Next, @steemitbooks will release an update with a picture of all the books and a list of their titles. They will then be packed in a box and be shipped to Open Library to be scanned. When Open Library has finished scanning them, people around the world will be able to read them!

It's Up to You

Without you, this project won't go anywhere. We need your support, even if it just following @steemitbooks and upvoting its posts. If you want to help out more, resteem the project's posts or donate in one of the ways mentioned above. I hope that we can work together to help make books available to everyone.

Questions?

If you have any questions or want to contribute, you can contact me by email or Hangouts at [email protected] or direct message @carn in Steemit Chat. More info about donating books to Open Library can be found here

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Giveaway!

Upvote this post and leave a comment with your favorite book and if this post goes over $30 you'll be entered in a drawing to choose a book to get for free! If you leave some type of contact info (Steemit Chat name or email) in your comment it will make it easier for me to contact you if you win.