I remembered I met a girl last year who said she was a member of some website where she swapped books! At the time, I thought it sounded like a dorky online version of going to the library or buying cheap used books (yes, I can be such snob, can't I?) so I didn't give it a second thought until now. My book collection has grown like wildflowers in my room, not just from my own handpicked beloved selection and books from college courses, but also books people gave me, books I don't have a need for anymore (like CBEST prep and computer books), and books that I've outgrown (that were fun reads for me five years ago but silly for me to have now).
Well, I immediately googled "book swap" and tons of links appeared! I went with the top three that I noticed (smart enough to pay for advertising or smart SEO and marketing), which were PaperBackSwap.com, Bookins.com, and SwapTree.com.
When I checked out those three sites, I immediately liked SwapTree. The site is well made, nicely designed and with technology, it had a tour of the site and told me before I signed up that all I'd have to do was enter my books' ISBN numbers and then find what books I wanted. So I signed up, entered ISBN numbers, and then realized that what the site's algorithyms do is match me up with a list of books I could pick based on the book I entered. So it's a literal trade, I have X book, person with Y and Z books want my X, I can swap for Y or Z. It didn't take long for me to see that some of my unwanted books are also unwanted by others or wanted by those who don't have what I want.
So I jumped ship (haha) and signed up for PaperBackSwap (oh, after glancing at the three sites I decided Bookins looked the least interesting, not well designed, and you pay a flat shipping rate of $4.49 per swap whereas the other two sites said the average shipping was about $2.29 or so per book). PaperBackSwap works differently in that you receive credits for the books you list, and then you use credits to get the books you want (one credit = one book, two credits = one audio book). You get two complimentary credits by listing 10 books (so I took down books from SwapTree that didn't have any books I could get or any that I wanted) and listed those here. Yay, 2 credits! But...what the hell? No Haruki Murakami books? Oh wait, there's ONE...in Vietnamese! *sigh*
To be honest, I really like getting books from Amazon and Borders. I especially like supporting current living writers like Haruki Murakami, Alice Sebold, Lisa Glatt, David Hernandez, Kim Addonizio, etc. I'm not sure how it works with book swaps but I know that at least when I buy their books from Amazon and Borders I am supporting their sales and popularity. However, I do have books that I want to get rid of so that's why I decided to try the book swap. I used to just pass them on, give them away, or give them to my mom's church to sell at their garage sales but they sit and take up space in the meantime.
On a happy note, my three new Haruki Murakami books have arrived from Amazon and Barnes & Noble! So I'll be reading After Dark, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and Murakami Diary 2009. Pics later when/if I have time.
Will let you know how the book swap goes! =)
