Trade news
Welcome to the latest National Book Tokens news and updates for booksellers. Scroll down for news about our products, services and campaigns, or read our latest retailer newsletters.
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High Five for independent bookshops - it's back!
Our popular promotion has returned, with independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland ready to reward their loyal customers with free £5/€5 National Book Tokens.
High Five for Bookshops is a national e-gift card giveaway that launched during Independent Bookshop Week in 2019, and aims to give indie bookshops a very tangible way of rewarding loyal bookshop customers, as well as driving footfall and repeat custom.
Independent bookshops who sell and redeem National Book Tokens should have received a book of 100 vouchers by the start of Independent Bookshop Week on 14th June. Each voucher includes a unique code which lets the recipient claim a free £5/€5 e-gift card – which they can then bring back to spend on more books! The kit also included a poster and some fun ‘I love my local bookshop’ stickers to give to younger booklovers.
The £5/€5 e-gift card is intended as a free gift for your customers. It’s entirely up to you how you decide to give them away, but here some ideas. You could give vouchers to…
… your most loyal customers
… attendees of your events or members of your book group
… customers signed up to your loyalty scheme
… a hand-selected group of your favourite customers as and when you see them
… customers at random by hiding vouchers inside books
… winners of prizes
… customers who place orders with you.
The promotion celebrates independent bookshops and the booklovers who shop in them, driving footfall and incremental sales over the summer and beyond.
For full information, view our Frequently Asked Questions. Plus, check back soon for downloadable social assets and printable posters to tell your customers about your plans. This year, we'll also have assets available in Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh.
If your free High Five POS kit and vouchers haven't arrived, or if you have any questions, get in touch with us at marketing@booktokens.co.uk.
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Announcing the winners of the Jhalak Prize 2025
This year's Jhalak Prize winners, across three categories - Prose, Poetry and Children's & YA - were announced at a special ceremony at the British Library on 4th June.
The Jhalak Prose Prize winner:
Namesake: Reflections on a Warrior Woman, N.S. Nuseibeh (Canongate, 9781838852634)
The Jhalak Children's & YA Prize winner:
King of Nothing, Nathanael Lessore (Hot Key, 9781471413247)
The Jhalak Poetry Prize winner:
Collected Poems, Mimi Khalvati (Carcanet, 9781800173330)
Promote these prize-winning books instore: download free digital assets for your site and social channels, along with printable A4 posters. If you're sharing on socials, don't forget to tag us @book_tokens and @jhalakprize, using #JhalakPrize25!
Celebrate with us in 2026
2025 is the fifth year of our partnership with the Jhalak Prize, which celebrates books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. Our support ensures that you can celebrate and promote the longlisted, shortlisted and winning titles to your local community and beyond. This year, we've distributed point-of-sale kits to more than 180 bookshops, with digital assets going out to many hundreds more. 2026 is set to be bigger than ever, as the Jhalak Prize celebrates its tenth anniversary.
Would you like to get involved? Let us know if you'd like to be added to the list to receive FREE point-of-sale materials next year, or if you have any other ideas about how you can support and celebrate the prize in your bookshop. Just email us at marketing@booktokens.co.uk.
Introducing our Presentation Card: offering new options and flexibility for local schools
We have introduced a new Presentation Card in response to schools and their requirements for prizegiving at the end of term, and throughout the year.
This new product incorporates a personalised or standard design National Book Tokens gift card into an A5 presentation card which can also include certificate-style information about the reward or award being presented. It offers greater flexibility and additional options to school customers looking to encourage reading for pleasure and give the gift of reading, in what is a very competitive market. What's more, there's no additional cost to personalise the Presentation Card.
As a bookseller, you can offer this new product to local schools. As with personalised gift cards, we will manage the production process for you, and the transaction will go through your bookshop account. Just let us know how many Presentation Cards the customer would like, and the values to load, and we will do the rest on your behalf.
The Presentation Card includes all the usual details that you would expect to see on a gift card, and is processed the same way at the till. To find out more, email Uzo Onuora or call 020 7421 4654.
Email Uzo
