Logo artwork courtesy of BookMooch.com
As of today I have officially given away one hundred books via BookMooch.com (not counting those still in transit). Such a milestone seemed worthy of recognition.
For the uninitiated, BookMooch is a website that facilitates the swapping of books across the globe. As is the way of serendipity in a web 2.0 world I first discovered the site, indeed the whole notion of web-enabled book swapping, when reading the profile of one of my GoodReads friends (thanks Sun). I joined BookMooch in April 2008 and fell in love.
The concept behind BookMooch is that you list books you’re willing to give away and each time you give away a book you get a point (or 3 if you send the book out of your country). You then use those points to request books that are listed by other members of the site. You pay nothing to join the site and nothing for the books you get but you do pay for postage on the books you give away.
Here are my top five reasons to love BookMooch:
It’s a cheap way to feed my addiction. I’ve spent roughly $500 on posting my books which might sound like a lot but in the same time I’ve received 75 books and have accumulated enough points for 45-90 more (depending on whether I get them from overseas or within Australia). So each book I mooch costs me a maximum of $5. That’s sweet economics in a country where new release books cost upwards of $35 and even a decent second hand book is likely to be $10.
It’s a better option than second hand shops in a small city. There’s a shop that I’ve visited once or twice a month for three and a half years and not once have I seen any Scandinavian crime fiction or much other than mainstream blockbuster authors on the shelves. BookMooch offers me a global bookshelf from which to choose. I have sent books to or received books from people within Australia as well as the US, Japan, Hungary, Cyprus, Poland, France, The Philippines, Greece, Ireland, England, Switzerland, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Canada and Trinidad and Tobego! I have several regular moochees (is that a word?) who are happy to wait on the exceedingly slow sea mail from Australia.
Warm Fuzzy Feelings. I’m pathologically incapable of throwing books away but I have limited storage space. I do donate some books to charity but they’re getting picky these days and I get a real buzz out of sending my books around the country and across the globe to fellow book lovers. In case you think that makes me odd in a survey of BookMooch members conducted last October 75% of respondents reported feeling good when they send books away. We can’t all be barking mad.
I can try new things. When I see a review of a book somewhere and think it sounds interesting I add the title to my bookmooch wishlist and wait for someone to add it to their inventory. It’s probably not the quickest way to do it but it’s cheaper than buying books I might not like and it’s proven more successful than using my local public library at finding new-to-me authors. Some of the books I’ve mooched have been so awful I’ve re-listed them without even finishing them but they are a tiny minority.
It’s Green. Ish. Buying books which will be read once and sit forever more on a shelf is not the kindest thing we can do for our troubled planet. Even though the publishing industry is starting to introduce more sustainable practices such as using recycled paper and funding sustainable tree farming there is still a massive carbon footprint from the publishing industry. Obviously reading e-books would be even more planet-friendly but in Australia this just isn’t feasible yet as we don’t have much choice in the way of e-readers. While I wait for an Aussie version of a Kindle I’m trying very hard not to buy new books which will only be read once. We have to consume less and share more in all facets of our lives and swapping books with fellow addicts is a good step to a more carbon-friendly life.
For the record I do know there are other book swapping sites but the main “competitor” to BookMooch is annoyingly US-only so I’m not giving them a plug 
