December State of the Thing

LibraryThing: State of the Thing Dear {NAME}, Welcome to the December 2018 State of the Thing. We're in the middle of our first-ever 12 Days of LibraryThing scavenger hunt, check out our Top Five Books read in 2018, and add yours to the list. If you'd rather receive a plain-text version, [edit your email preferences](. You can also [read it online](. Our newsletter archive lives [here](. You can like LibraryThing on [Facebook]( and follow [@LibraryThing]( on Twitter for up-to-the-minute site news and updates. Top Five Books of 2018 As the year draws to a close, LT staff returns to one of my favorite traditions: our Top Five list! Each staff member reflects back on their year in reading, and picks their five favorites. Check them out on [the blog](. We'd also love to hear about your top reads from this past year! Come tell us about your favorites on [Talk](, and [add yours]( to the master list. Note: books on this list weren't necessarily published in 2018—we're more interested in the best of the best of what you read this year, regardless of publication date. Introducing the [12 Days of LibraryThing](: a holiday scavenger hunt! Tis the season for fun and merriment. Solve the festive clues to find pears hidden around the site! Find the pears and win prizes. [» The clues are here!]( Those of you who are familiar with our treasure hunts past ([Pirate]( and [Halloween]( themed, most recently) will notice something different about this one. We're raffling off a set of [LibraryThing/TinyCat coasters]( for each of the 12 days. Here's how it works: - New clues launch at midnight EST (5am GMT). There will be one new clue each day through Dec. 24th. - Decipher the clues and visit the corresponding LibraryThing pages to find the pears. - If a page has a pear, you'll see a banner at the top of the page. - We encourage you to find as many pears as you can, but you only get credit for the daily prize if you find the pear on the day it was posted. - Come and discuss your pear hunting and exchange hints on [Talk](. - Full details can be found on the [blog](. Members have until Dec. 31st to find as many pears as they can. After the 31st, we'll draw one lucky grand prize winner, who will receive a [LibraryThing tote bag](. Questions? Comments? Join the discussion on [Talk](. Happy pear-gathering! LibraryThing Holiday Store It's not too late to get your favorite LibraryThing and TinyCat swag at a discount! The [LibraryThing Holiday Store]( is open for business through January 6th! Everything's s on sale: CueCat barcode scanners for $5, t-shirts for $7, tote bags for $18—even our brand new, double-sided [LibraryThing/TinyCat coasters]( are on sale. Stock up on your favorite gear at the [LibraryThing Holiday Store](. Holiday Wrap-up [SantaThing Arrivals]( SantaThing is in its final stages. We had a grand total of 527 Secret Santas joining us this year! If you missed out this time around, we hope to see you next November. Gift deliveries have already begun to arrive, and, as is tradition, we're mapping Santa's stops around the world over with our [SantaThing Arrivals Map](. If you've received your gifts, be sure to let us know on [Talk](. If they haven't arrived just yet, don't worry! Either way, you'll be able to peek at who your Secret Santa was and what books they picked for you on December 25th, so look out for a message from us then. [Card Exchange]( For the fifth year running, we've been pleased to host the LibraryThing Holiday Card Exchange. Members sign up, and indicate how many other LTers they're willing to send holiday cards to—anywhere from 1-10 cards. LTHQ usually gets in on the fun, and sends cards out to the participants as well. Among the 127 members participating, we all pledged to send out over 742 cards this year! If you're still in the process of mailing, or receiving cards, join the conversation on [Talk](. Free Books: Early Reviewers httsps://www.librarything.com/er/listYou are not currently signed up for [LibraryThing's Early Reviewers]( program. You are missing out! Early Reviewers offers free books to members—about 100 titles a month! Since 2007, we've given out over 160,000 books. The catch? Publishers want your honest review. How you review a book won't help or hurt your chances of winning books in the future, but not reviewing your winning will. [» Sign up for Early Reviewers]( The December batch of [Early Reviewers]( books features 5,250 copies of 112 different titles. The deadline to request a free book is Tuesday, Jan. 1st at 6pm, Eastern. Look for the January batch around the 7th. The most requested books so far from the December batch: TinyCat News [TinyCat]() is the online catalog for small libraries, created by LibraryThing. It turns your existing LibraryThing account into a simple, professional, web-based catalog. TinyCat Library of the Month Every month we'll be highlighting one of the real-world libraries that uses TinyCat for their collections. You can see this month's Library of the Month on the [LibraryThing blog](. Meet [The Brain Charity Library](! Check out our [Tiny Tutorials]( and [LibraryThing for TinyCat Users]( series. Every other week, Kristi highlights a different feature, and walks you through how to use it in 30 seconds or less. Other Resources - Email us tinycat@librarything.com - Follow us on [Twitter]( - More tutorials on our [YouTube Channel]( Weekly Webinars We also offer free, weekly webinars giving an overview of TinyCat Wednesdays, at 1pm Eastern. We're taking a break for the holidays, but you can join us for our next one, Wednesday, Jan. 9th, at 1pm EST. Head over to [this link]( at that time, and look for the TinyCat Webinar. If Wednesday at 1pm doesn't work for you, let us know—we'll be happy to schedule a session for you. You can also see a pre-recorded webinar from November 2017 [here](. Hot titles this month - [Educated: A Memoir]( by Tara Westover - [Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine]( by Gail Honeyman - [Crazy Rich Asians]( by Kevin Kwan - [Pachinko]( by Min Jin Lee - [The Woman in the Window]( by A.J. Finn - [The Hate U Give]( by Angie Thomas - [The Bear and the Nightingale]( by Katherine Arden - [Little Fires Everywhere]( by Celeste Ng - [Turtles All the Way Down]( by John Green - [Artemis]( by Andy Weir That's it for this month. I'll see you all next year! Questions, comments, ideas? Send them my way. —Loranne (loranne@librarything.com) This message was sent to {NAME}. Click to [edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from future emails](.