The Next Best Book Club discussion

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to TNBBC, although I've been lurking around for quite some time. Lori has graciously allowed me to throw this idea out there to see if anyone's interested.

Another group has started a book exchange or book "swap" that I thought was a great idea. For the cost of mailing one book (paperback) you could potentially receive 36 books, for free, from people all over the world! It works like a pyramid, but since there's no money exchanged, it's not a scheme ;) Essentially it works like this:

1. You receive an instruction letter with an address label on the back and 6 completed address labels inserted in the envelope.

2. You mail your book (new or gently used and preferably one that you particularly enjoyed) to the person whose address label is attached to the back of the letter you received.

3. You copy the instruction letter 6 times and affix one of the enclosed completed address labels to the back of your 6 letters. Mail these letters to the 6 people who agreed to participate in the exchange. Include 6 completed address labels with YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS in each of the 6 letters you mail out.

4. The 6 people you chose to send letters to will mail their one book to the name and address on the back of the letter that you sent. They will then copy the instruction letter and attach YOUR address labels to the back and enclose 6 of their own completed address labels in the 6 letters they send out.

It sounds complicated, but it's really not ;) all you need to do is find 6 people who want to participate and think that they can find 6 people and so on. Mail out ONE book and 6 letters and then wait for you books to arrive!

If anyone's interested in participating, either post here or PM me and I'll give you more information.

Thanks and happy reading!
Shannon

include eBooks and I'm in. Where I live, books cost a fortune to send, and take forever, if ever. Your idea sounds good, but it excludes non-USA writers. same thing with book give-aways, which usually mention 'USA only'.

j
www.jguevaranovels.com

soooooo, how will you share ebooks. if it is a free ebook...you can just tell people where to find it.

Who said anything about free? eBooks are published just like hard copies are, except they're a lot less expensive. You want to swap, we exchange coupons is all. In this case, for example, I set up a coupon for 6x. I get 36 back. Everyone is included, not only USA addresses.

Just making a suggestion here that's long overdue. Non-USA resident writers are excluded from a lot of things, not only on Goodreads. Kindle, for example. If you don't have a USA bank account, Amazon won't publish you on Kindle. Try opening a USA bank account if you don't live there. Good luck. Same with Scribd.com; you can pub there but you can't sell there.

Granted, Shannon's idea works well with writer to writer when both have pubbed eBooks. But a lot readers also have eBooks in they're library that they can swap. I know, you're not supposed to pass eBooks, but so long as it's a swap, where's the harm? 'The author is not getting his royalties" blah blah etc. I don't worry about such piddly nonsense. I've got a great agent. Her name is Karma... and the rumors are all true; she's a bitch.
j
www.jguevaranovels.com

What a backwards book exchange. (Seeing as there is no swapping.) If you're sending first anyway, why don't *you* send the six people books, and then they send six books?

There's no incentive for people to join later in the chain, having to clear a higher bar for inclusion with lower rewards.

Kaion- It could likely be adapted to suit a lot of different "tastes". I'm merely suggesting this as one option and consideration of the suggestion doesn't require participation. I suppose you could just find 6 people to "swap" with, but I like the idea of receiving books from people I don't know in the hopes of exposing myself to some new material.

J- I'm not sure how this precludes "non-US" writers? I don't live in the US and I read a variety of world literature.

how would anyone send their books? snail mail? fed ex? Not practical.

Shannon, I would like to participate. Since I'm new here I don't have alot of friends, so who would I be able to send them to. Is it just for people who are members of this group? That sounds like a pretty silly question, but since I'm new here I don't know all the rules. I did try to figure out how to send you a PM but I couldn't seem to figure out how. Also do you send them to people that are not your friends in this group? Do you just send out a letter to one person to start this? Please explain, my brain is not working today. LOL

Erika, you're right that it sounds like a pyramid scheme. I'm curious about how the "scheme" would benefit anyone, but I can see how some would be put off by the mention of "pyramid", lol. Actually, I've already done this once with a group of local women and it turned out really well. I'm currently participating in this "exchange" in another GR group and have my 6 people.

Seeing the numbers of this group and having lurked on the threads for awhile, I assumed that there might be some people who would be interested in the concept. As I mentioned to Kaion, it's only a suggestion ;)

I'm in - have a wide variety of books to send, as long as we go priority mail (takes 6 weeks otherwise to Hawaii) Maybe the participants could mention what they like to read.

Someone offered this to me awhile ago and I bowed out. I can't remember details but after looking into it nothing sounded good anymore. I'd rather stick to paperbackswap any day and get what I know I want.
I think it's nice to try it though if people want to. I just don't think many will be with it. And then you'll have the people that don't live up to their end of the bargain although you'll probably have less of that with this group admittedly.

I actually completed this one already. We had a few people who said they wanted to participate and then didn't, but I expected that. Admittedly, it's not for everyone. If there are other variations, I'd be interested in trying those out too. When I get books I don't necessarily care to read, there's always someone to "re-gift" them to or my local used bookstore will trade me for something that I actually want to read. It's a win-win for me ;)

So it went okay then for you and the others? It's not something that would work for me and I already get and send dozens of books a month on PBS but that's great. I can definitely see how it would be cool and work out for some people.

If you go to the boards on bookcrossing, there are a lot of variations on bookswapping that I think sound very fun and more efficient.

One is a bookbox ring. A list participants is compiled, and the first participant assembles a box of 10-20 titles, usually, and sends said box to the next participant. This second person removes as many books as interest him or her, and replaces the same number to the box, and sends it along the line. This repeats, and the last person sends the box back to the original box assembler. The boxes are often themed.

Often the switching of books in-and-out of the "box" is actually virtual and the whole procedure completed on the online thread... and therefore at the end, books that are chosen are shipped from their original owner directly to the person who "removes" them from the "box" (thereby cutting out the unnecessary postage). Very cool, if requiring a somewhat organized coordinator.

Kaion, that's a great idea. I think we'll try that next, thank you.

I like that idea better. The pyramid does not make too much sense to me. I would not know where to find 6 people.

This sounds like a great idea! Are we going to do this???

I would definitely love to get into something like what Kaion suggested. They pyramid one was a little confusing for me. lol

We do lots of bookrings, bookrays, and travelling bookboxes via bookcrossing.com. Works very well -- I've gotten to read some great books that way, just for the cost of media mail, and also get to see what others had to say about the book.

An easier solution is to join Paperback Swap or Book Mooch. They are both similar but PBS has a larger inventory. Besides, I'm sure that some people hate "chain letters", just like me!