Talking with Sara about Book Subs & Discords

2023-12-11

It's not hoarding if it's pretty books! This is a show many months in the making! Turns out coordinating a podcast with someone in Australia is not as simple as you would think. But it finally worked out and here we are! I wanted to talk to Sara because she runs a fairly awesome bookish community that would've been wiped from existence if she didn't raise it from the ashes. And now, it's alive and thriving and about 200 people strong. In this episode, we're talking about monthly book subscription boxes, special e...

It's not hoarding if it's pretty books!

This is a show many months in the making! Turns out coordinating a podcast with someone in Australia is not as simple as you would think. But it finally worked out and here we are!

I wanted to talk to Sara because she runs a fairly awesome bookish community that would've been wiped from existence if she didn't raise it from the ashes. And now, it's alive and thriving and about 200 people strong.

In this episode, we're talking about monthly book subscription boxes, special edition books and how they appeal to the collectors in us, and of course, the discord that brings it all together.

Check out below for all the info we discussed! If I missed anything, reach out and let me know and I'll update it.

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

Here are the links where you'll find the top 4 monthly book subscriptions we discussed. If you're really curious, every site has a catalog/past book database where you can see the offerings they've had in the past. If you want to really dive into it and have more questions, the link to the discord is below. Every subscription is going to have a waitlist you have to sign up for, some of which could be as short as a few weeks to as long as 10 months. So keep that in mind!
- Fairyloot
- Illumicrate
- Owlcrate
- The Bookish Box
Fourth Wing was brought up a lot. So you can find more info on the book itself right here.
If you want to check out all the absolute madness that happened when it first came out, along with the first run copies that were going for over $500 (you know, the one I could've bought for $15 but I cancelled it..) Then go ahead and check that out right here.
Bonus: Here's a really good round up on all the special editions of Fourth Wing that are out there! (For reference, the 3 that I have are the holiday edition, Waterstones', and Fairyloot's)
And here is Sara's Fourth Wing collection!
Sara mentioned a copy of Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan that she just HAD to have, despite it being in Italian, a language that she does not even SPEAK. If you want to check out La figlia della dea della luna and see if it's worth it, you can do so here.
We discussed Sword Catcher by and how superior Illumicrate's version of the book was (the version Sara has) when compared to Fairyloot's version (the one I had). If you want to see the difference, then here is Illumicrate's, and here is Fairyloot's.

Here are our Top 5 Books of the Year! After editing the show, I realized that maybe I should've gone with books that actually came out this year, as oppose to books I've read since some are a few years old. But too late now! Here they are, along with the books that we did not like!

Sara
- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (by S.A. Chakraborty)
- Bonesmith (by Nicki Pau Preto)
- Sword Catcher (by Cassandra Clare)
- Divine Rivals (by Rebecca Ross)
- Yellowface (by R.F. Kuang)
- Silver in the Bone (by Alexandra Bracken) (did not like)
Los
- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (by S.A. Chakraborty) (freaking READ IT!)
- A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (by T. Kingfisher)
- Legends & Lattes (by Travis Baldree)
- Fourth Wing (by Rebecca Yarros)
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (by V.E. Schwab)
- The Jasad Heir (by Sara Hashem) (did not like)
- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (by Gabrielle Zevin) (did NOT like)

Lastly! Here is the invite link for the main topic of our conversation, the Fairyboot Discord! Remember, do not be a jerk. Sara WILL cut you.
- Fairyboot Discord invite link
Head over to https://themanthechefthedad.com/links/ where you'll find a bunch of different ways to help me out via affiliate links and referrals. Remember, all you have to do is get to Amazon via one of my links for it to register to me.
https://designingbyknight.etsy.com -- Here is my Etsy Sticker Shop! Now updated with holiday designs, bookmarks, and magnets! It's leaning more towards book centric stuff, but I'm looking to focus on gaming a lot more next year.

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