Writers are readers. It's no surprise to writers' homes and offices packed with shelves loaded with books. Stacked on the floor, squeezed into every nook and cranny. But the owners of these libraries would invariably admit their collection is not complete.
New books are published all the time. That favorite novel just came out in paperback. There's always 'a few more' needed. The trouble is, books cost money. And they take up room.
Enter a new solution: swap the ones you don't need for the ones you do. There are at least two services that allow book lovers to do this. BookMooch and PaperBackSwap. Both sites let users post the books they have. When another user wants that book, you send it to them via Media Mail, which is quite inexpensive. Each book you send out garners points that can be used to request books from others. You only pay postage for the books you send, not the ones you receive.
If you need an inexpensive way to fill your shelves and weed them at the same time, these sites may be your solution.
What makes you decide to get rid of a book on your shelves? Is it whether you liked it or not? Whether you actually read it?
What a great idea Debbie. I have to admit when I first started reading the post I thought you were going to be praising the e-book.
ReplyDeleteI love the real thing, and I think you must have been peeking in my window, as I have stacks of them scattered throughout my home. I'm going to save those sites you mentioned to my favorites. Thanks for the tip.
Leah
Here's to bigger and better stacks, Leah!
ReplyDelete~Debbie
We have our stacks of books hidden as our toddler loves to remove books from their shelves. This book swap might be a way to trade out some of those hidden ones. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a great idea--except for your favorites!
ReplyDelete~Debbie
I keep books if I expect I'll reread them, or if they completely blew my mind.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of bookcrossing.com? It's a cute idea.
I've actually read a few bookcrossing.com books, and sent them on. It's fun to see where they've been!
ReplyDelete~Debbie