Check out our new (freebietastic) Talk topic

[RachelMumsnet]

Hello, a few words about this new Talk area .

In case you weren't aware, each month we giveaway around 250 books from our book club newsletter.

We aim to include a variety of books and in the past we've given away Booker longlisted novels, historical fiction, crime, 'chick lit' as well as cookery books, children's books and parenting books.

We've created this new discussion topic so we can announce each month which books will be included in the giveaway and also to give you a place to share your thoughts and discuss the giveaway books you acquire with other Mumsnetters once you've read them.

As you know, nowt comes for free and the more feedback we can give the publishers, the more likely we are to continue getting such a wide range and abundance of great books to offer for free each month.

To make sure you're up to date on all things literary on MN, sign up to the book club newsletter, follow @mumsnetbookclub twitter feed and check this area of the site each month.

Thank you, have signed up for the newsletter.

Sounds brilliant - very disappointed not to have got hold of a copy of Faye Ripley's cook book t'other day but was working! This might motivate DW and me to read The Marriage Plot which we were very lucky to get a copy of recently. It has vague echoes of Possession to me but will happily read and be proved wrong!

Marking place

Will sign up when I get to a PC. Link not working on the app/phone.

sounds great, thanks mn

Thanks for the reminder about the newsletter.....just signed up.

I had no idea about this. All signed up now.

I tried to sign up for several books on the day they came out but I kept getting a 'failed' message come up with a try again button. I did try again (for most books!) but all had the same problem.

Sorry, meant to report it at the time. Not sure if it is because I was trying to do it at the same time as lots of other people and the server couldn't cope or if it was something else.

Signed up.

@zipzap

I tried to sign up for several books on the day they came out but I kept getting a 'failed' message come up with a try again button. I did try again (for most books!) but all had the same problem.

Sorry, meant to report it at the time. Not sure if it is because I was trying to do it at the same time as lots of other people and the server couldn't cope or if it was something else.

Hi Zipzap, sorry about that. There was a slight delay in making the giveaway forms live on Wednesday, so I'm guessing this caused the 'failed' message. We usually open the giveaways at midday the day after sending out the newsletter to ensure everyone has a fair chance. They do go quickly, so it's worth setting a reminder to go in and apply. We email everyone who has been successful within a couple of days.

The give aways usually start at midday. Any chance of varying the time (eg evening) to give those of us who can't get on t'interweb in the day a chance?

Great idea. I got one of the Susan Lewis books and didn't know where to join/start a thread. Think it ended up just me and no reply because picked somewhere a bit obscure.

ps I thought the book was worth a read and had some interesting topics interwoven.

Thank you. Signed up.

I agree with vogon I can't get online during the day either.

I've read quite a few books that I would never normally have thought to try thanks to the MN book giveaways. Have followed on Twitter and I already get the newsletter.

Still waiting to hear about the Fay Ripley book. I loved her first one so I've got lots of things crossed

How did I not know about this?! I can't make a rl bookclub at the moment so even if I have to get the book from the library/buy one I'll do this...

Have the e-mails been sent about the recent giveaway yet?

I have been lucky enough to get a few of these giveaways (possibly my favourite thing about Mumsnet to be honest) however I do agree that maybe varying the give-away times would be fairer.

Thanks for that RachelMN

It was probably sometime between 1.00 - 1.30pm on the Wednesday that I tried and got the problem. Pure fluke that I spotted the email then and thought it was worth a try. I just assumed that I was too late and that they had all gone but I was just a bit worried that I wasn't getting a page back but the requests were getting logged and you'd think that I was being greedy for requesting two or three copies of each book!

Ooh, have signed up :)

Hmm, I have to agree its very unfair to people working - but on the other hand, I suppose you need to limit the number of people who are able to get on and try, so the website doesn't crash! I wish the giveaway was on my day off once though.

Have the emails been sent out to the people who were successful? I applied straight after the forms went live but haven't heard anything.

Have thread saved to 'Watched'

I signed up the minute the forms went live and haven't heard anything yet.
I guess loads of people were sitting waiting, refreshing the page (just me?) as well!

I have just this second had an email and I will be getting a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Thanks MNHQ

Would it be fairer to have a 24 hour period in which to express an interest in a book and then for MNHQ to pick some at random?

Sharpkat, me too