On social media and by email, I sometimes get questions about my book. On this page, I have done my best to answer all questions. If your question is not answered on this page, feel free to contact me by e-mail. You can find the contact buttons at the bottom of this page.
My book Nothing new, yet it will surprise you is an awesome route to a more sustainable life. In my book, I share everything I have learnt over the past few years on my sustainable quest. In 2019, I made the shocking discovery that if everyone lived like me, we would need four earths a year. Four earths! And so I started exploring how I can start living more sustainably as an average consumer. From the start, I tackle my quest as a journalistic project. Everything I learn, I share on my site and social media channels. And so now in a book too!
Yes and no. Of course, part of a more sustainable lifestyle is to reuse more and buy second-hand. Research also shows that those very stuff purchases are the biggest ‘culprit’ of an average Dutch person (and it was no different for me when I started my green journey in 2019), but the title Nothing new has a double meaning. Because it's all nothing new what I'm telling you. We have long known that the planet is not doing well and that it is warming and polluting because we buy and consume too much. In the book, I actually show the full breadth of more sustainable living. Never buying new stuff again is a nice aspiration, but in my opinion not achievable for an average person. So yes, the book is bursting with second-hand shopping tips, but I also talk about how you can buy things new but more sustainably or consciously and how you can green your lifestyle in other ways. What I have discovered about this is also nothing new. It's just that we often kind of forget or sometimes forget about it.
Topics covered in the book include: your clothes, your stuff, your kids, your digital footprint, your beauty routine, your cleaning ritual, your diet, your energy and water consumption, your holiday style, your transport, your money matters, our nature and much more.
The publisher of this book is thegreenlist.nl.
Thegreenlist.nl is the lifestyle magazine and largest green Instagram community for people who want to live more sustainably. What started in 2020 as a personal hobby project has grown into the Netherlands' sustainable lifesty platform with an amazing team working on it every day. It was founded by me, Saskia Sampimon-Versneij. I am a trained journalist and have been working as a journalist and content creator in the media for over 18 years. In March 2023, I took the plunge and quit my regular job to go for this sustainable entrepreneurial adventure. If I manage to get one person a day to make a different, more conscious choice, my day will be a success. Want to know more about what I do, Then download my media kit on this page.
Yes indeed! Coming:
Download the press release here.
Download the bookkit here.
Download the media kit of thegreenlist.nl here.
Download photos for publication here.
A mention of the photographer would be nice, but is not obligatory. The photos were taken by the enduring photographer: Angela de Vlaming / @angeladevlaming.
My mission is to make more sustainable living popular with a wide audience. A greener sound in the media is badly needed and that is what I am working on with thegreenlist.nl for. I already do that through my online magazine, newsletter, podcasts and social channels, and from now on also with print productions, like this book.
The planet is not doing well. More is needed to get people moving en masse. If you want a message to stick, a physical book is many times more powerful than an online book. Besides, you cannot simply say that an online book is much more sustainable. Data is also a burden on the environment. And how many unread or forgotten files do people have on a device? Why a physical book:
My mission is to make sustainable living popular and to reach people outside the green bubble. And in my opinion, that includes a great designed book. My book is substantive and journalistic and over 80 thousand words, but it is also easy to read and beautifully designed with colour photography. This type of book is unsuitable as an e-book. In addition, research shows that an e-book is not necessarily a more sustainable choice. This too depends on several factors, including reader behaviour. An e-book is a more sustainable choice if you read an average of two books a week and have an e-reader that lasts for years. If you read less, then a physical book (even new) is a more sustainable choice. That a person reads less is plausible: an average Dutch person reads an average of 2.5 books a year (that includes e-books).
In creating this book, we have made as many sustainable choices as possible.
Text: Saskia Sampimon-Versneij, thegreenlist.nl
Design: Robert-Jan van Noort, pankra.com
Final editing: Margriet Hunfeld & Mahlee Plekker
Corrector: Pieter Versneij
Photography cover: Angela de Vlaming, angeladevlaming.com
Inside photography: Angela de Vlaming & Saskia Sampimon-Versneij
Printer: Wilco, Amersfoort
Coaching: Irene Moors & Ina Boer
And many others who contributed voluntarily to the creation of this book.
The retail price is €34.95.
Creating a book is a very time-consuming and expensive project. It involves a lot of time and money. Think of costs for final editing, design, photography and printing. And then I am lucky to have very kind people around me who have volunteered to contribute to this book, such as all the proofreaders, reading experts and my father as a proofreader. And I do a lot myself to keep costs down. As an ambitious young entrepreneur, I financed the book myself, because I believe this book is necessary to enthuse a large group of people to make more sustainable choices. And of course I also think it is too crazy to make a book myself and yes absolutely I also hope it will be a commercial success.
If I manage to sell 700 books through my webshop, I'll have paid off my external costs, but I won't have earned anything as an author and publisher. If I manage to sell about 2,000 books through my webshop, I will have both earned something myself and have enough financial resources to write a second book. And that is my goal. The idea is already there!
In my webshop, you will find a donation button that I have set at 5 euros (and that you can increase in increments of 5 euros to an amount of your choice). By making a donation, you support me as a creator and bring the realisation of my second book another step closer. You can make a donation here.
For now, there will be no English translation. I don't have the financial resources to realise that and I don't know how big this market is in the Netherlands. And I don't have a distribution network in other countries for the time being.
It is often thought that online purchases are inherently worse for the environment, because of the delivery vans driving around and extra packaging involved. But you can't just argue that either. If you order my book, a letterbox package will come your way from Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Together with the printer, I deliberately made other choices so that the book fits through the letterbox. That way there is never a delivery driver standing in front of a closed door who has to come back later. I use PostNL, they are one of the world's most sustainable transport services.
The book is available online at my webshop. Shipping is free.
The book is also on sale at more than a hundred better bookstores, sustainable shops and department stores, concept stores and upmarket second-hand boutiques. In short, like-minded shops that I have chosen with care because these are the places where my potential reader also visits. Check out all the cool outlets here.
Great fun! Feel free to send me an e-mail.
Great! Feel free to send me an e-mail. If so, I will be happy to make a customised proposal!
Ah, how sad to hear! Here you will find my shipping and return policy
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