confessions of a swapaholic

Months ago, my cousin told me about Paperbackswap.com, a site that allows you to post books you don't want anymore and in exchange, get books that you do want.

After looking at my bookcases that had a number of books on it that I've either read and don't really need to keep, half read and never had the interest to try again, or have had for years and never got around to reading and subsequently lost interest in it, I finally joined last week and I am having so much fun with it!

Here's how it works - you create a free account and if you post 10 books right away that you're willing to mail out, you get 2 free credits. 1 book = 1 credit. There are audiobooks on there, too which are 2 credits each to obtain. You can search around to see if any other users have any books you want and if so and if you have enough credits, you can request that they mail them to you.

If someone wants a book you've posted, you'll get a notice and the opportunity to send it out. If it's a small enough paperback, you can print out the postage (you'll pay a little extra money to do this which helps support the operation of the service) and to/from mailing label, wrap it up like a present and drop it in the mailbox.

For larger books or hardcover books, you will need to go to the post office, but for under $5, I can get rid of some books that I don't want anymore (knowing that they are going to go to someone that does want them) and can replace them with ones I do. Most of which are on my booklist.

So ... I had 2 free books coming my way just for signing up, and 4 people have requested books that I posted which means, 4 more books of my choosing will be coming. It's like my own personal interlibrary loan system. And really, nothing beats sending and receiving things in the mail.

I'm sure the excitement will die down a little after this initial period, when I still have a number of books posted that no one wants and don't have any more to add but ... for now it's fun.

If you join, find me as a friend (nickname: inawonderland). If you add other users as your friend, you're able to request books specifically from them (instead of the more random selection of saying you want a certain book and having no idea where it's coming from)

In the meantime, I'll be waiting for Bel Canto, Water for Elephants, Runaway and more to come my way!