paperbackswap.com

[alicebentley]

This morning's distraction provided by paperbackswap.com (and taking a nap...)

I have a lot of older paperbacks that aren't worth enough individually to ebay, aren't desired by my local used book shop, and are still too good to just recycle as paper.

I've tried setting up a book sale or book swap here on the island with not much success. So I'm quite intrigued by this project to unite books with people that want them. They have more than a million books available, with about 500 to 800 being added every hour. I'm sure there's some amount being taken out the system as well, but I didn't run across that number yet.

I put in a completely random bag full of entries, and had two matches to things people were looking for. My only concern is that listing books that no one speaks for means that I'll be committed to having them on hand and available for a really long time. Or, at least, until I delete the lists again. meanwhile, maybe some books will find good homes.

Comments

Have you considered setting them free?

[prettyshrub.livejournal.com]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/

I've seen a few books like that.

I haven't tried it myself yet.

Linda

Re: Have you considered setting them free?

[alicebentley]

I joined Bookcrossing right after it launched, but many of the books I tracked were clearly being discarded when found. Also, I live so far from a major metro area that hauling the books to the city seemed counter-productive.

The thing I like about the paperback swap is that I know the books are getting to where they are wanted. I'm trying to ignore the illogic of spending money to get books out of here that I used to charge for.

As part of the swap, I can request books that I would like, and they will arrive at no charge to me, but since I'm far more interested in getting books moved out, this argument doesn't have the usual strength.

Re: Have you considered setting them free?

[prettyshrub.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me. Have you considered http://www.freecycle.org/ ?

It's a good way to get rid of stuff, and maybe find something that you want.

Linda

Re: Have you considered setting them free?

[alicebentley]

Yup, I've been a member of vashonfreecycle since it started - but once again my very small, almost rural community has less interest in these titles than one could hope for. There are just not that many people here.

And while dragging the books off island would increase the number of people they could reach, there's still serious difficulty matching them up with people that want them. I'm talking hundred of titles, that are uncommon or worthwhile reads, but just not very valuable monetarily.

[prettyshrub.livejournal.com]

Vashon has it's drawbacks...