It’s here! We made it! It’s time for another 24in48 readathon. If you’re joining us by the official clock, it’s 12:01am EST and we’ve got 48 glorious, book-filled hours ahead of us. If you’re joining us for the first time, welcome! We’re so happy to have you. To those of you who are chalking up another 24in48 on your tally board, we’re thrilled you’ve returned. As of right this minute, we’ve officially broken 2,500 readers for this ‘thon, which completely demolishes our previous record of just over 1,900. You’re all amazing and we can’t wait to get going!

Your hosts (that’s me, Rachel, and Kristen and Kerry) have made a few changes (lookit that pretty new logo :insert heart eyes emoji:) for this readathon, but the basics are the same. The three of us will be posting throughout the weekend, here and all over social media. We’ll be taking turns on the official social handles — Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Litsy (@24in48) — and keeping track of the official hashtag #24in48.

We’re bringing back book tracking from our last ‘thon in July where you can log all the books you’ve read during the whole readathon weekend. As you finish a book, enter it HERE and we’ll be adding those to Goodreads throughout the readathon. (Please be patient if you don’t see your books on Goodreads immediately; it’s a manual process for your hosts.) You can also check out your hosts’ TBRs and recommendations.

Additionally, don’t forget about our PayPal Donate button to help cover the costs of international prizes, which allows us to include many more of your fellow global participants in the prize giving. We’ve gotten a few donations so far this year, but the more we get, the more prizes we can offer. Click on the button in the sidebar or go to this link to be taken to our donation page. 100% of your donations (minus PayPal’s fees) will go toward helping your fellow participants who are not US-based the chance to win prizes. As more donations come in throughout the weekend, we’ll add to the prize page so as many people as possible can win. Thank you to all of you that have already contributed. In July, we were able to offer dozens of prizes to international readers that we wouldn’t have been able to give away without your generosity.

Plus! If you haven’t gotten your #24in48 merch yet, what are you waiting for? We’ve got tons of swag, including coffee mugs, t-shirts, hoodies, totes and more. Pick up your 24in48 stuff HERE or click on the baseball tee in the sidebar (it’s on sale throughout the weekend). All commissions we make go right back into to the running of the readathon, including helping us ship prizes out to you lovely readers.

Okay! Now that we’ve covered the administrative shenanigans, let’s get into some readathon-ing. Starting now at midnight EST, we’ll be posting updates every three hours until we put this ship of fun to sleep on Sunday night at midnight. It’s not too late to sign up (and you still have plenty of time to drag your friends and family in as well), which you can do here. Even if you don’t think you’ll hit 24 hours of reading, you should still absolutely sign up. Only a tiny fraction of participants do a full 24 hours but everyone that signs up and participates is entered to win door prizes and can complete challenges throughout the weekend for additional prize entries. Don’t forget: the goal is not to hit a target time, but just to spend the weekend dedicated to reading. (Click the Follow button at the bottom of the screen to be emailed every time we post a new update here.)

Speaking of prizes, challenge entries need to be sent via Google forms linked in each challenge post. Entries only added in the comments will not count toward prize eligibility. (Speaking of prizes, have you seen the prize list?)

For more tips and instructions, check out our post on how to readathon and the FAQ page.

Now, let’s kick this thing off with our intro survey. Introduce yourself by fill out the form below to be entered to win, then check out your fellow readers’ answers in the spreadsheet below. Winners will be announced at the midway point, Hour 24.