I do not know if you have the same problem as I do that you feel you are drowning in a sea of books due to the fact there are so many around you. I read books very quickly and tend to over load my bookshelves with books I have only read once and do not have any intention of reading again. It could be that I didn’t enjoy the book or that they made zero impact on me as a reader, but there they remain on the shelf. There is also the situation that I tend to spend a lot of money on buying books, which then once I am done get thrown somewhere never to be read again. So I go through the never-ending process of buying books, reading them and leaving them to rot on my shelf or somewhere in my flat. Of course this also includes the tedious routine of clearing out your book collection, sometimes it is nice and sometimes you realize you have been buying rubbish books for the past 6 months. Now there is a great situation to this problem that I have stumbled upon- book swap! This is an old idea that you would swap books with people you may know, and the idea of borrowing books also plays upon it. This has been a latest book craze going on in the UK and maybe it is popular elsewhere but I have never heard of it. These websites provide an opportunity to get rid of those unwanted books and gain books you actually want to read, FOR FREE! I know…for free! Can you believe it? I didn’t at first but now I am hooked! The websites are easy enough and this is what you do:
– Create a profile
– Add a list of your books you want to swap and their information to your book list
– Search fellow members and see if you fancy swapping books with them
– Then when you find a book, notify that member as you wish to swap. They will then have a look at your list of books and see if you possess any books they want.
– Do not get upset if they decline your swap, there are plenty of other people and books out there so don’t worry too much about it.
– If they have accepted, you exchange addresses and you mail each other the books.
– Then your NEW book arrives in the mail a short time after you have mailed your own.
Of course you have to pay for the shipping of the book but that isn’t too much, books tend to be very light in weight so it wouldn’t cost you too much. So instead of spending a ton of money on a brand new book, you can pay out a small amount of money to get that book for free and get rid of the books in your library. I use Readitswapit.co.uk which is a great site to use and is very helpful. Some of the sites are based off points that you earn from how many books you post for swapping and how many you swaps you do, and others are a direct swap- a book for a book. Here are a few others to check out:
USA: http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php This site is based on points
http://www.bookins.com/index.php?p=LibraryThing This site is based on points
http://www.swap.com/ Direct swap, can swap anything on this site
UK: http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/TheLibrary.aspx Direct Swap
http://www.bookhopper.co.uk/ Based on feedback
International: http://bookmooch.com/ This site is based on points
http://readersunited.com/ This site is based on points
http://www.titletrader.com/ This site is based on points
http://whatsonmybookshelf.com/ This site is based on points
I would also suggest you do your own research about online book swapping. You can do it through Yahoo/Google groups as well so if you fancy doing the idea then go ahead.
Now what are you waiting for? Get rid of those unwanted books and gain books you really want instead! Go swap!
(Reminder: The Competition to win a FREE book is still open! Its open till Wednesday, here is a link to the post to check it out and enter:
https://acomfychair.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/competition-just-to-say-thank-you/ )
A Comfy Chair in the Corner 