So, I'm a college student. That means I don't have a lot of cash to spend on books, however voracious my appetite may be. The library is great, but the two libraries in my area don't always have what I'm looking for, and sometimes I really would like to own a book, to read it over and over or to pass it on to a friend.
That's when I turn to BookMooch. BookMooch is a book-swapping site - there are others out there, and I can't vouch for whether they're good or bad, but I've loved using BookMooch. It's easy to use, free, and the people there have been very nice.
In addition, there are book moochers all around the world - It doesn't matter what country you're living in or what language you speak (or what language you want to read!), you can still use Bookmooch. Many people will ship internationally. You have the option whether you want to always accept international mooches, never accept them, or have the moocher ask you first if you'd be willing to send the book. I've mooched books from several countries, in a few different languages, and I've sent books to a few other countries myself. I usually can't send heavy hardcovers overseas, but I'm always willing to ship a small paperback. That's why I love the "ask me first" option.
You list your collection of books you're willing to part with - I had a TON, mostly children's books - and if someone wants your book, they "mooch" the book from you, giving you points. You send it to them (media mail is cheap), and you have points to spend towards a book that you want. Bookmooch organizes it all for you, so books are easy to list and find.
Listing a book gives you .1 points, so if you have 10 books you want to give away, you can mooch a book yourself right away. I find that my points build up pretty quickly - I send out more books than I mooch - and if you've got points that you don't want, you can give them to any of a number of charities that have partnered with BookMooch. Give some books to a new school, or a library in Kosovo. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?
I can't ever bear throwing books away, and I love that with Bookmooch, my books will go to people who will enjoy them as much as I did. It's a really great service that has kept me in summer reading for the past two years! So I recommend that you mooch a book today!
By the way, I'm not making any money off of this ;) I'm recommending it because I love this site and Bookmooch has kept me in books when money is tight. And the more people that use Bookmooch, the more books we can all share. Isn't that swell?
~Joy
5 comments:
I also like BookMooch, but there seem to be a lot of members that have abandoned their accounts, yet still have inventory listed. Sometimes it takes a month or more to get a response to a request. PaperBackSwap is better, in my opinion.
My daughter will love this. I'll tell her to check the site. TFS!
The Modern Mom
I also use both Paperbackswap and Mooch. I like 'em both; they each have strengths and weaknesses.
happy reading!
Thanks for recommending BookMooch. I used to love book swapping when I lived in the UK, but since I moved to Australia, I haven't been able to find a book swapping site that I could take part in. I will check it out!
Post a Comment