Hi there, Amelia (@meelworm) here! As we wriggle into October (my birthday month!!!) I'm excited to share what we’ve been cooking up in worm world. From new features to giveaways to, of course, the hottest trends on Bookworm, let’s dive right in!

In Today’s Newsletter:

• ✨ Fresh Features: What’s new in the app

• 🎁 Wormtober Giveaways!

• 🔥 Hot Worm Trends

• 👀 What I’m Reading

• 🤝🏽 Supporting our Nonbinarian Book Bike besties

✨ Fresh features: What’s new in the app

New Book Tagging Feature is Here!

I’m thrilled to announce that our new Book Tagging feature is officially live! Now you can tag books directly in your comments and conversations, making it easier to share your favorite reads with fellow worms. Start tagging books in your discussions and help others discover new gems!

Dark and Wormy Night Reading Challenge

As the leaves start to fall for us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the perfect time to curl up with a good book and join our Dark and Wormy Night challenge! Set a personal goal for how many books you want to read this season (your secret is safe with your bookshelf), and your wormy will sport the cutest Wampire outfit—made by our favorite worm’s favorite artist, Pixie. Who’s ready to tackle that TBR pile?

Wormtober Giveaways! 🐛🎁

Know someone who would love Bookworm? Is your book club somehow not yet on Bookworm? Now’s the perfect time to invite them! For every friend you refer this month, you’ll gain one entry to win a Bookworm Baseball Cap or a Super Serious Reader Kit —winner’s choice!! We’ll give away 5 prizes to 5 lucky winners! ProWorms, as a special thank you for your support, every friend you refer counts twice! We can only send gift packages to winners in the US, but everyone is welcome to participate! The more friends you refer, the more chances you have to win. Let’s grow our wormy community together! 💌

Not sure how to refer friends? It’s easy!

Want to make your referrals count twice? Go ProWorm today!

In case you didn’t know, Bookworm is completely volunteer-run. Besides all the generously-donated labor, it costs a good chunk of change to run an app like Bookworm. Help us stay free and independent by going ProWorm today. Plus, you unlock super cool features like personalized reading stats, besties for your worm, and more!

Hot Worm Trends

What I’m reading

September was a really good reading month for me! The best of this year in fact!! (In number of books that is. Somehow February beat September in number of pages 🤔)

I devoured Little Rot in 24 hours—it’s a book that’s hard to cope with and even harder to put down. Everyone is messed up and everyone is the center of their own universe and everyone thinks they’re better than the next person. Before Little Rot, I read two books by Ingrid Rojas Contreras, after Caro De Robertis recommended her memoir The Man Who Could Move Clouds in our last Community Corner. (And before that, I loved and savored every word of The Palace of Eros, our Bookworm Book Club pick for September.) I also had a lot of fun reading That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, a cozy adventure romance that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I hope to keep up this momentum into October—so I ask: got any recs for cozy autumnal page-turners? Feel free to reply right here with recs or recommend them directly to me (@meelworm) in the app! (Did you know this feature exists? See screenshots lol😇)

Support our friends at the Nonbinarian Book Bike

In case you haven’t met the Nonbinarian Book Bike in the parks of Brooklyn, or seen their fire memes on Instagram, or joined their thoughtful book club discussions on Zoom, let me introduce you! The Nonbinarian is a trans and queer led initiative bringing free (!!) LGBTQIA2S+ titles for all ages, all genres, and all languages directly into the hands of the Brooklyn community. Yesterday, they launched a Kickstarter to fund the opening of a brick-and-mortar, all-queer bookstore in Brooklyn! And there’s an early-bird discount until tonight I snagged the early bird tote bag and bookmark and I cannot wait to see the store!

Thank you for being part of this wonderful community! I’ll be back soon with more updates. Happy reading, wherever you are in the world!

Wormly 🐛,

Amelia Goodman (she/her/meelworm)

founder of Bookworm