Welcome to Rainbow Crate – Custom Queer book goodies delivered every month!
STATUS 5/1/2021:APRIL boxes have all shipped! MAY boxes are scheduled to ship on time (the week of MAY 16-22nd).
Supscription spots are full, so We are CURRENTLY ON A WAITLIST SYSTEM. PLEASE EMAIL WAITLIST@RAINBOWCRATEBOOKBOX.COM AND YOU WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY ADDED to the waitlist and contacted when a spot becomes available. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT! WE COULDN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!
A brand-new lgbt+ book box
Hi! We are Jamie and Danielle – an artist and a librarian by trade!
We, like a lot of you, love love love book boxes. But we had come to notice that it seemed like queer fictional couples (even main couples) were being overlooked in favor of straight ones in. We looked and looked for a queer subscription box, but while there are a lot of great boxes, there just wasn’t one focused on lgbt+ lit.
So, we started to toss around the idea of creating our own box. A book box seemed kind of daunting. It would be a LOT of work (we had no idea how much, but we do now). What if we did all this and nobody cared?
But the thing is…. we just love love love queer books. We want to read them. We want to see merchandise featuring queer pairs (of all sorts!!). We want to make people excited to open a box and (hopefully) love all of the things that we lovingly curated inside. And so, we talked about it. We asked around in book communities. We got a mentor . And ultimately, we decided that we had to give it a shot. Nobody else was going to! And so… here we are!
This is THAT queer book box that we wanted!
Photo of our June 2020 Crate courtesy of seahorsestories.
Photo of our July 2020 Crate courtesy of rainbowbooksandbeyond.
Photo of our June 2020 tumbler and chopstick set courtesy of awildbooknerdappeared.
Photo courtesy of anxious.librarian.
what is a book box?
A book box is a subscription service where subscribers receive a box, usually monthly, containing a new-release book and book-related goodies! Most boxes are limited in quantity, and once that box is gone, it’s gone. Genres and age ranges of the book vary depending on the box (in case you haven’t guessed, we are only doing books with major queer characters in them! More about that later this week!). The goodies made for that month’s box are curated by the box, and not available for sale any other way. Most boxes have between 3-5 goodies in addition to the featured book of the month, and all of them relate to a theme.
Photo of our August crate courtesy of obscure.pages.
Photo of our Timekeeper pin from the September Crate courtesy of Manicfemme.
Photo of our September book and metalmark courtesy of Merrowchild.
Photo of our OCTOBER 2020 DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY GLASS MUG courtesy of awildbooknerdappeared.
the June 2021 theme (WAITLIST OPEN now!):
“Pride Is Among Us“
What better time to celebrate our anniversary than PRIDE month?! (this was on purpose) PRIDE is the reason we created Rainbow Crate. Love, acceptance, pride in being who we are. It’s what all of us work so hard for every single day. So, for June our theme is PRIDE IS AMONG US! (We also love puns, can you tell?)
Our botm (book of the month) is The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer! Where do we even begin? This book has been one of our favorite reads this year… maybe of all time. From the outside, Darkness seems like a pretty basic story about two boys from opposite corners of the planet on a rescue mission in space, but IT IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS. We can’t stress that enough. There is nothing basic about this story. Something is afoot, and right as we thought we got it, things changed. Then again. There are some HUGE twists and turns in Darkness, and you’re going to be biting your lip until the end when you finally get the whole picture. Although the characters are both teens, Darkness reads much closer to a New Adult book than the marketed Young Adult.
As usual, our copies are gorgeous new hardcovers and come with a signed bookplate and an author letter.
LGBT+ REP: pan m, bi m, mlm (pan, bi), side nonbinary character
CW: death, suicidal thoughts, suicide, self harm, depression (all violence is either off page or not detailed)
Our ebook for June will be announced soon!
FANDOMS:
– CUTE MUTANTS by SJ Whitby (monthly magnet) (wlw, nb, pan f, trans m)
– THE BRIGHT SESSIONS by Lauren Shippen- (ace, gay, bi m, bi fl, demisexual)
– CAMP by LC Rosen (femme&masc gay, trans f, lesbian, nb, pan, genderfluid, aro-ace, demisexual, gnc (gender non-conforming), Middle eastern, Jewish, Afro-Brazilian, Korean)
– MULTIFANDOM PRIDE item with character and book art featuring a lot of favorites (it’s a surprise who!) and a multitude of identities
You can expect something related to each of these books as well as our main book, AND another great rainbow present! This one might just help calm you a bit while you’re reading! All our fandom-specific items now are approved by the publishers! You can expect something to keep your book safe, something to keep your bookshelf organized, and something to light your way in case you get lost, among others!
We’re currently operating on a waitlist system. To join the waitlist send an email to waitlist@rainbowcratebookbox.com! If we have any additional openings they will be offered to the public in early June.
All of our monthly boxes ship during the third full week of each month. For June, that would be between June 20-26th!
how does it work?
curate
We start by requesting upcoming lgbt-related manuscripts from publishers. And then, we hunker down and start reading. A lot. We create lists of our favorites, and then discuss what book we want to feature that month. From there, we start talking to our contact at the publishing house and secure an OK that we will be able to feature that book.
After the book is set, together we choose a theme that fits the book, and fandoms that would fit within that. We chose very popular fandoms for our first box, but from here on out, we plan a range of popular and more obscure fandoms. There are a lot of great stories out there that just aren’t being discovered! Then, we discuss items, and after a loooooooot of work, voila!
subscribe
Choose your plan! We offer 1, 3, and 6 month subscriptions. You don’t have to worry — your box will come until you cancel! We also have limited one-time boxes while supplies are available.
Plans start at $39.99 monthly,
plus shipping. We are a new company, so we have a little higher shipping than some, but we are working to get you the best! If and when we get better discounts, we will pass the savings on to you!
arrive
Your Rainbow Crate is delivered to your address by a charming postal worker.
We ship each monthly crate during the third full week of the month! If you’re unsure of when that is, please don’t hesitate send us an email!
enjoy!
Read your book and enjoy discovering your items! Please let us know what you think! We love to get comments and photos on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and in our email!