When I decided it was time to retire, one of my first thoughts was, “Wow – now I’ll have time to read!” I have stacks – and stacks – of books living in bookcases, boxes, bags and closets. I’ve read them all. I want to hit a bookstore and buy more. But…have you seen the prices of books these days?? Yikes!
Enter www.PaperbackSwap.com, an online book swapping club. This site has been around for years (I joined in 2005) and currently has more than 1.5 million books available for trading in every genre you can think of. To join, just add books that you are willing to trade to your bookshelf (it’s easy – you just type in the book’s ISBN number and verify that the photo matches). When someone chooses the book, you mail it out to them (PaperbackSwap provides a printable mailing label). When they receive the book, they mark it as received and you get a point to use to order a book you want.
I spent a good part of an afternoon adding books to my PaperbackSwap bookshelf, and already have six books ordered and ready to send out. Of course, I also found more than six books to order! And I’ll get them just for the cost of the postage to mail out books I no longer want. Win, Win!
An extra benefit of PaperbackSwap is their ‘friends’ program. You can search for people that live nearby. As friends, if you offer a book that someone local wants, you can drop off a book or meet with them to get it – saving the postage cost, too! Plus you just may make a new local friend.
Hope to see you on PaperbackSwap.com soon – let me know in the comments section if you join! Or if you know of similar programs, please share that information too!