The Travelling Book Project

GUIDELINES AND LEGAL GUBBINS

 

There are a few guidelines, namely:

• First and foremost, I do not take any responsibility for what people put in the book. If you put anything in the book, make sure that the publication of any content within the book is consented to. Do not include information, contact details, photos etc about other people without their consent.  Do not include any information that would not be intended for public consumption.  I take no responsibility for anything that you read in the book, for what is or is not put in the book.

• Please only send the book on to someone that you know will complete it and send it on.  They will need to put in a modicum of effort, and pay to get the journal to another person (unless they're giving it to their next door neighbour or something).  I would recommend getting in contact with the person first and confirm that they're up for getting involved.

• I'd love for you to share in the book about yourself and your life, but please don't use up a whole book telling your story - in my prototype book I managed with three pages for my stuff (although that wasn't a lot - four would have been better!).

• Put whatever you like in the book, but be aware, as previously mentioned, that it is for public consumption, so go easy on the adult themes.  Don't put anything in the book that you don't feel comfortable sharing with others, and don't include personal information or photos of anyone without those peoples consent.

• Please bear in mind that the book will (hopefully) be around for many many years, so you may not want to fill up a dozen pages about how dreadful it is that your brother/sister/refuse collector has a cold.

• We'd like you to get in touch and let us know whereabouts in the world the book is.  You don't have to, but it'd be nice just so that we know that it is safe and well, and we may mention its location on the website (not with your personal information, although we might mention your first name unless you don't want us to).

• If you want to know when the book gets home and is available on the Internet to be read, include your email address or Twitter handle in the book.  Or if you feel uncomfortable doing that, email me and let me know which book it is you've had (each one should have a hashtag near the front, for example the first book is #tbook1).

• If you do put photos or other stuff in the book, make sure that they are really well fixed in so that it doesn't fall out!

• A little bit of legal wording also I'm afraid - I (Mike Raven) am the Publisher, and any contributors to travelling books are "the Author".  The Author hereby grants and assigns to the Publisher, its successors, representatives, and assigns, the sole and exclusive right to publish (i.e., print, publish, and sell) or to license the Work for publication in the English language or in any other language in the United Kingdom and in any other foreign country.

• What does the above mean?  Well, depending on the success of the project, we might want to do something with the works beyond providing them on the Internet.  We might want to make them into a real book.  Or publish a snippet somewhere when talking about the project.  And it is likely to be difficult (if not impossible) to track each and every person that has contributed to the books to get their permission etc.  This isn't about anyone making tons of money from selling other peoples life experiences (and I can't imagine this happening even if I wanted to do that), it's about allowing the information in the books - which should be entered with a view to general consumption by the public anyway - to be as widely available as possible.  The likelihood is that the books will just be scanned and made available for free on the Internet, but I don't want to exclude the possibility that we might be able to share the information via other routes also in the future, for example via YouTube videos or e-books.

• Do check out the forums and say hi to other people that have been involved in the project.

• If you have a blog / twitter / Facebook / YouTube channel / any other social media channel thingy, do feel free to post about the book!  And do let me know if you do put it on a public thing like a blog or YouTube, I'd love to link to it!

• Finally - thank you for taking part and do have fun!  I really hope that the books help us to understand each other by finding out what other parts of the world are like.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

 

Q: What is the Travelling Book Project?

A: A initiative that aims to enable a pack of journals to travel the world, from person to person, with each person contributing to the book about themselves and their lives.

 

Q: I'd like to get involved but I'm not travelling anywhere!

A: That's okay - you don't need to travel, the book is the thing that needs to travel.  Could you mail it to someone that would carry it on?  Or even walk it round to a friend?

 

Q: But if I mail the journal, then I have to pay!

A: Well... yes, you do.  The odds are that someone, quite possibly a lot of someones, before you, have paid to mail the book on.  And we're asking you to do the same.  If you really don't want to, then you can always try to find someone local that will take the book and deliver it to them instead.

 

Q: What can I put in the book?

A: Anything you like.  It could be informative, funny, thought provoking, philosophical... it's up to you.  It could be about your life, where you live, your hobbies... all we do ask is that whatever you put in the book, it complies with the guidelines on this page.

 

Q: Do I have to put my postal address in the book?

A: No, I wouldn't expect you to and to be honest I wouldn't recommend that you do.  What I would suggest is either including an email address or Twitter handle, so that when the book is scanned and put on the Internet I can let you know that it's available for reading.  If you feel uncomfortable sharing these details, you can always email me and let me know which book it is you've received (each book will have a number with it's own hashtag, for example the first book is #tbook1)

 

Q: I like the idea but I'm not comfortable with sharing my name / address / photo / other personal information.

A: That's okay - the only thing that I wouldn't really want you to lie about in the book is what it's like where you live (if you're going to write about where you live).  If you want to use an alias, that's fine.  I would like you to say where you live because part of the reason for the book is to educate people on what life is like in different parts of the world, but just put something like the town and country where you are, e.g. Hull, UK, or Des Moines, Iowa, USA.

 

Q: Can I get a book?

A: Sure, just click on the Donate button at the bottom of this page, £5 (£10 non-UK) reserves you your very own book!

 

Q: I don't understand why you want money.  Just send me a book!

A: Well, I would love to send you a book, but it costs money to make and mail a book, plus running this website costs money too.  Depending on the destination and cost of the book used, it can cost me over £10 GBP ($17 USD) to get one of these bad boys out into the world.  When I first thought of the project I planned to pay for five books out of my own pocket, but demand swiftly outstripped supply!

 

Any spare money will go towards the running of the website, or will be held back for the scanning of the books (ideally I'd prefer to get a professional document scanning company to do a proper job rather than have a go at scanning them myself on a little home scanner).

 

Q: So how much money do you want out of me?

A: Whatever you'd like to donate will be much appreciated, but it is £5 minimum (£10 outside the UK) to receive a book.

 

Q: I'd like to take part, but I have difficulty writing with hand everything that I want to say - can I type instead?

A: Certainly, you can print out your words and glue/tape them into the book.  Just make sure that they're really well attached and aren't going to move, the last thing I want is for your contribution to come loose and be lost without making it home. 

 

Q: I've received a travelling book, but there's spelling errors / words crossed out in the bit written by you Mike!  What kind of professional outfit are you running here?!?

A: Not a professional outfit, I'm afraid!  I do like handwriting the guidelines and the "about me" bit in the book because I feel that it is more personal and shows that I have taken the time to write in every book.  However, it does mean that I may make an error and have to cross it out.  Sorry about that but I hope you'll understand the reason why I've made this decision (which is purely my decision - if everyone else wants to print out their bit and glue it in that's perfectly fine).

 

Q: I've received a travelling book and I really really really can't think what to do with it.

A: If you don't have anyone that you can think of to pass it on, why not leave it in a local library or coffee shop for someone to happen upon?  Travelling books have been left in places like the library at Hull College, on an underground train in London, and in a tourist information centre in Geiranger in Norway!  The only rule is fill it in, and pass it on!!!

 

Q: I'm the last person! The book is full!  What do I do?

A: Congratulations!  Email me and I will give you a mailing address to send it home.  I will scan the book, put it on the internet, and contact everyone that received the book (if they left their contact details in the book, or got in touch with me direct) so they can see the scanned copy.