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Change the World for a Fiver: We Are What We Do
This book marks the launch of We Are What We Do, a national movement that aims to inspire people to use everyday actions to change the world.
It has illustrations of 50 simple everyday actions presented with directness, whimsy and wit. This book has been produced on a gratis basis and any proceeds will go towards the development of the movement.
What the authors say
Change the World for a Fiver is the work of a team of people drawn mainly from the creative industries all of whom gave their time and talents to the project for free. This enables us to keep the price of the book down to £5 which, when you see the incredible range of illustrations, photos, graphics and gimmicks (pages that tear out, a packet of Christmas tree seeds, pages stuck together, a jacket that unfolds to become a wall poster plus lots, lots more!), we think you’ll agree is pretty amazing.
The book features 50 simple things we can all do to make the world a better place. These include things which will have an impact on our environment (decline plastic bags, turn off appliances at the mains), our families and friends (spend time with someone from a different generation, have more meals together), our health (register as an organ donor, give blood) plus loads of others.
Some are serious (find out how your money is invested), some are frivolous (have a bath with someone you love) and some are so blindingly obvious you’ll wonder why you never thought of it before (turn the tap off while you clean your teeth).
The book is rocketing up the bestseller list (number 7 in the Sunday Times) and we’re really hoping that it will be filling Christmas stockings all over the world this Christmas.
We’re also working on translated editions of the book in 2005/6 – we’re talking to publishers in Germany, Italy, Israel, Greece, Australia and South Africa! So please, watch this space!
One of the amazing things about the book is that book sellers have taken the book at just a 10% discount. This is much lower than their normal deals with publishers and is a clear indication of the book trade’s support of the We Are What We Do movement (and that goes for Amazon too).
There are lots of other companies behind the book as well as the many talented individuals:
- our publisher has made no money out if it
- The Book Service (part of the Random House group) has done all the distribution and warehousing of the book for free
- Cathay Pacific gave us flights to Hong Kong to check the proofs
- Getty Images provided all the photography
- and Illustration Ltd provided all the illustrators.
Take away any single one of these ingredients and we wouldn’t have a best-selling book on our hands.
We’re really hoping that people will help us to get the We Are What We Do movement off the ground by buying our book and making it the Christmas Number 1! Wouldn’t it be great if the best selling song and the best selling book this Christmas were both aiming to make a very real difference to the world?
Oh, and one final thing. Any profits from the sale of the book will be used by Community Links to fund the on-going development of We Are What We Do, keeping the website exciting and ever-changing, developing an education programme for 2005, subsequent editions of the books plus lots, lots more. We hope you will enjoy our beautiful little book!
Reviews
A great idea beautifully executed.
— The Bookseller Magazine
Change the World for a Fiver is a charming book.
— Sunday Telegraph
Change the World for a Fiver is full of great graphics and design quirks.
— Time Out Magazine
“The question is not whether we should act alone, but how we can act together. Through its best-selling book, Change the World for a Fiver, and its website, We Are What We Do is demonstrating once again that the voluntary sector, particularly when it works creatively in partnership, can offer solutions to both specific and general challenges which will never be solved by government alone.”
David Cameron MP
WATCH: We Are What We Do
More on We Are What We Do from Shift Design.
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