Bookcrossers discussion

I have an OBCZ at the local smoothie shop (Keva Juice in Carson City Nevada). I've been running it for several years now, checking in and adding books every 4-7 days.

Once in a while I get donated books, but not often. Once the donations were actually registered by another bookcrosser first, but usually I have to take the books home and register them and bring them back myself.

I have less than 1% rate of JEs or Catches.
Quite often books get 'borrowed' from the shelf and I see them reappear later - which is against the idea of 'continuing journey.'

I'm getting tired. Any advice would be welcome!

I run an OBCZ but get very few JE's. There isn't an easy solution. You could try putting a sticker on the books asking people to go on the website.

As regards getting people to register them, I did hear once of an OBCZ that left pre-registered labels for their donators- not sure how successful this was

I think the point is to simply release the books and let others enjoy them. Many people are not the type to log onto a website and register or discuss books. Of course it's fun to see where books have been travelling, but I think the concept is still foreign to most people. When I did a release walk whereby I went up to strangers and gave them books and explained bc, they were delighted at the idea of bc, but they never did login and enter je's. Maybe once in a while they put anonymous JE's.

I have had JEs anytime from the same day to a year later; hopefully eventually the books will check in.

I know it's frustrating when you don't get JEs, but at least you know people are taking the books, presumably to read. Even if they bring them back, that doesn't mean that's the end of the story. Who knows who will take it next, and where it will end up? There is an OBCZ in the next town which gets through boxes of books, with relatively few JEs. Only a small percentage of the population uses internet for fun, and not everybody cares what happens to books they've read. BookCrossers are exceptional people;-D Every so often you get a fantastic JE, though, so don't give up! Have a look on the BookCrossing Site Watch forum for inspiration.

Well the thing is, I have a better rate of JEs with Wild Releases. I would think a well-established bookshelf, with a nice clear sign on top and good stickers in the books, would get something a little better.

But I do realize JEs are rare. I'm hoping for tips from other folks who manage OBCZs. How do you keep going month after month, year after year? Do you do anything to keep the shelves fresh & fun (other than rotate stock of course) for you or for your readers? Do you have better luck with getting donations, and if so do you have any idea why?

Thats quiet normal. I get for my own releases about 10% journals, for our OBCZ here in Braunschweig, Germany in a higly frequented pub, less.
But we see the books move. Ofte we get journals later from obviously someone eho hasnt take it from the OBCZ. But thats ok.

For me the main purpose is, to share... not the journals.

As our meetups are at this pub and we leave books there everytime I dont have much work with it. Once in a quarter I have a look and maybe take some books off but not very often. Sometimes there are books not registered, those I take home and bring them back registered.

Maybe that's what I need to do - move it from a smoothie shop to a pub because I'm tired of smoothies!

It really isn't so much the lack of JEs, or even the lack of donations. It's just that I'm tired of the whole experience, all the different aspects of it. It's become a chore.

I tried having our group meet there so at least it would be convenient, but our most regular member doesn't like that place to meet, so I had to accommodate her. That's a good idea in principle, though! :)

In Canberra, we used to meet at the Starbucks in Civic, once a month, and at the end of the meeting we'd reload the shelves with the leftover books. Books would come and go during the month. I doubt we got them all registered, but the books moved, the management loved us, and we loved the meetings.

Then Starbucks pulled out of Canberra. :(

I've often wondered whether OBCZs could benefit from some sort of "passport" stamp, with the name of the OBCZ and a date stamp. To help record the travels and provide a bit of advertising.

Here in Holland, I come across quite a lot of books which are added to an OBCZ, then taken to a meeting where they are moved to a different OBCZ, without anybody reading them. They'd need passports to follow their journeys, yet they're still unread and unloved, poor things.

Please elaborate what you mean as 'passports' - would they be attached to the books or the Zone? I have lots of blank stickers so I could brand all my books as they passed through my OBCZ by printing up Zone stickers.... ?

Sorry, Cheryl, I was being facetious. I just meant that as they travelled to so many different OBCZs, they would end up with lots of different stamps (like stamps in a passport) if each OBCZ had a different stamp. It wasn't a serious suggestion;-)

Well, maybe it should be (serious). I've never even seen a passport so I don't know what you mean, but let's think.

I could put a sticker inside each of the books that passes through my OBCZ that gives the name of the shop, an icon for it, the city it's in... and if other OBCZ hosts did the same we might eventually see a book that has two different stickers in it....

Thoughts, anyone?

Cheryl wrote: "I have an OBCZ at the local smoothie shop (Keva Juice in Carson City Nevada). I've been running it for several years now, checking in and adding books every 4-7 days.

Once in a while I get do..."

Cheryl, from what you wrote, I think one of the things that would make the experience less of a chore is to keep pre-numbered labels with you. I always have a sheet of them and some "This book is free" type stickers in my car (sort of a BC emergency kit). Then you can take any book you find, sticker it, and release it immediately, no need to take it home. If often take the time to write down the BCID and the ISBN, but it isn't 100% necessary to do it. Also, in your settings on your BC profile, make sure you have a default journal entry set up, so that when someone picks up a book you stickered quickly and left in the basket, it has a greeting from you already as the first journal entry.

Those ideas (already) do save work, 'tis true. I guess I'm just bored. Thanks for trying to help!

I run OBCZ @ a library. My colleagues were V excited about the concept, but their behaviour betrays their apathy towards the whole project. They have the same concerns as voiced throughout this thread... My response is always, "We {I} have established a zone, with the support of BookCrossing & we regularly register & release books donated by members. In that, we have succeeded in achieving what we set out to achieve :) We can't control how others choose to interact with BookCrossing..." Thus far, I have avoided highlighting the fact, that they too, have not engaged so...
On a brighter note, I have constructed an A5 document, entitled, 'Are You New To BookCrossing?' of which I always place within books I release. It's a bit of a 'how to' guide to establishing a profile, journaling & releasing books... I guess, that I remain motivated because I enjoy the process & therefore act as a BookCrossing Ambassador :)

I have no idea what A5 means, but, is there a way you could share this document with us? I'm always looking for new ways to explain bookcrossing to newbies.

I wonder if BC will ever achieve a 'tipping point.' I cannot understand why people find it so hard to make Journal Entries.

Of course you'd want to include your username (maybe real name too) on it so you'd get credit.

On a kinda related note, there were a bunch of books at my OBCZ yesterday. Some were registered (and I should have noted their BCIDs and made JEs so that I'd be able to follow them, and some were not. It looked like two different people made donations last week!

The odd thing was, though, that I never saw Go Hunting release alerts about new books at the zone. Someone dropped them off without releasing them? Or...?

@ Cheryl
LOL... Why, A5 is half of A4!
Not relevant anyway, you'll find your own way, I'm sure!
I have just recorded the contents of the 'document' as a draft ARTICLE in BookCrossing...
I will post it here, if or when it is published on BC.

Wow - thanks! - that's an interesting guide - I can't imagine the people who pick up my books being ready to make such a commitment of personalized information - maybe attitudes in different cities or countries work differently.

I emphasize, when I include a note or a label with my own text, that the catcher can remain anonymous (though I do mention that they could have more fun if they join). Of the JEs I get, the majority are from anonymous folk. And the majority of people who do create an account due to catching one of my books, never does anything more with their account.

Hmm... something to think about...

BTW, I just looked up A5. It's what I, in the US, would use to get the document twice on a standard letter size paper.

When I include a note in a book, I imitate the bookmark they sell (sold? haven't checked lately) in the bookcrossing store. I take out some of the words to make it easier to visually scan, though.

Melissa wrote: "@ Cheryl
LOL... Why, A5 is half of A4!
Not relevant anyway, you'll find your own way, I'm sure!
I have just recorded the contents of the 'document' as an ARTICLE in BookCrossing...
http://www.bookc..."

Just so you're aware, the article isn't fully public on the site right now, and can only be reached by the link you give. Were it to be accepted for publication, it would then be available for all. As the former editor of the newsletter, may I give some suggestions to help increase the chances of publication? I'd expand the intro to explain in a short paragraph in the beginning what you're trying to do. IE that as the manager of a new OBCZ you hoped to increase your catch rate by helping people who pick up books understand more about BookCrossing. I'd also add the information about how the flyers are printed etc, and if it does seem to have helped (or maybe "too soon to tell the results, but I still wanted to share with other BookCrossers.")

Considering they still do sell the bookmarks, they might not want to publish an article that undercuts that, but maybe it won't matter. Dunno.

Hope that's helpful, and good luck with the OBCZ!

@ Bookczuk
Righty-O! Thanks...
I've included some more info in the title & sub-title. I see that other articles have a date underneath, so I'm assuming that would be the date of 'publication'? Is it an issue that I've pasted the link on Good Reads before the article was accepted for publication?

The date does indicate the date of publication. As to if it's an issue, it is in the sense that the link should only work for you, logged in as you, and indicates there's a bug. Normally, unpublished articles should only be seen by the editors and newsletter staff, and the writer. With the tech team having other things on their plates now, I doubt the bug will be fixed. My concern would be that people think this is a published/accepted article at this point, when in fact, it's still your draft.

To be honest, I'd shift the "extra info" you put in into an introductory paragraph and leave the title/subtitle simple. But that's just my tastes, and what I would have suggested when I was the editor. I'd want to see more information on how you used the flyer, and if you had any feedback/success with it to date.

Something to consider.

Each OBCZ works differently - some will get a high percentage of JEs (and few returns), I know of others that get few JEs but frequent returns. As long as the books get read, I'm personally not really that bothered about JEs.

Some suggestions:

Bring pre-reg stickers with you, it saves you from bringing the books home only to return them (it can lighten your admin/travelling overhead and can in tturn lighten your mood if you dont have to regularly think "I have to drop those *&*&% books back").

Make sure that the OBCZ is clearly marked, is in a visible place, that you're making use of the Bookcrossing OBCZ kit (including the posters etc);

Do the people at the juice shop know about the shelf and are able to explain it to people when you're not there?

Are you able to hold meetups there (BC or otherwise)? The shop workers will promote it more if they know it brings business in, and guests will use the shelf more if they see others using it.

Then quite a tough set of questions: Is the OBCZ in the right shop? Are there any better shops it could be in? (if the only problem is books coming and going with no JEs then I suspect there's little wrong with it).

Are you still willing to run an OBCZ (any OBCZ)? Is it time you took a break for a bit, walked away and see what happens? Pass it on to someone else to keep an eye on it?

What Sorcha is quite true. I currently manage 7 OBCZs here in Charleston and one in Georgia that I get to visit every month or so. There's an article that is linked to in the front of the OBCZ manager forum, that I wrote years ago, with lots of helpful tips/info on running an OBCZ.

Have just re-read your original post Cheryl and am again struck with your comment that returning is "against the idea of continuing the journey". Do you only go to a place once, never to return because it'dbe "against the idea of continuing the journey"?

Rather than getting stuck on the idea that they've come back, think of it that they've had a "day trip out" (or a quick holiday), have seen the sights and have now returned to await another day trip or the one person who can whisk them away to somewhere else.

It took me several years to get over releasing books and getting a low journal rate. The only books I feel sorry for now are the ones who stay there and never move

I cycle books that come back or don't move at all by releasing them at the library exchange rack or into the Wild. I don't mind returns - I just think it'd be awesome if they "continued" onward on their journey.

I think it'd be awesome if I only had to go in once a month. If I let it go any longer than a week the shelves get so messy that, not only do the shelves look unattractive, but books get actually damaged.

The turnover at the smoothie shop is such that most workers have only a vague idea what's going on. They can answer basic questions like "Yes the books are really free" and a couple of staff members told me, smiling, that lots of people look at the books. But that's it.

I spend money on smoothies or snacks every week or so when I go in. And I've tried to hold meets there - but the thing is, I'm the only active BCer in the community. No JEs, no attendance at meets, nobody to turn management of the shelf over to, nobody from whom to get assistance, very few donations - it's all of a piece, and so altogether is disheartening.

I hope I didn't come across as so whiny I want to totally quit. I've just been talking about how much nicer it would be if I had some community support, at some level or in some aspect.

Things go in cycles. We've had lots of BookCrossing activity here, and also close to none. There have been times when our core group of BookCrossers has been from no one being in touch with anyone else, to 15 getting together regularly. Right now, our basic group is 2 or 3, thought there are others out there, just not able to meet.

And my zones, in the same city, vary wildly. One has just about no turnover, another restocks itself weekly. The rest somewhere in between.

If you want mettups etc, look to see who is the closest active bookcrosser to you and begin a correspondence via PM, maybe even to swap a book. Meetups don't have to be huge or grand. STart small and see if it wants to grow.

Huh. You all have such good intentions, and I appreciate the advice - but the thing is I've been working on this. For several years. I have PMed all the Carson City bookcrossers who are at all active, and welcomed all the folks who have entered JEs on books they've found on my shelves - it's easy when we're talking less than a dozen people.

I've also joined Meetup.com and PMd readers there.

15 folks, huh? Let's see, the time we combined the Yahoo groups for Northern Nevada Games and Bookcrossing Reno, and met in Reno, and I brought all five of us in our family, and my other friend brought her husband, and a person who shows up about once a year brought her rugrats, we were up to about 12 people.

Bookcrossing Reno has been meeting every single month on the same day of the month for many years. We've added meetings in-between those in Carson City, and combined with the game group, and at other locations and times, and we still have a core group of two-three families. We each have to drag our spouses along just to have enough folk to play Apples to Apples or whatever.

Sorry. My point is, if you're having *any* more luck than I am, you're not allowed to whine.

(Not that anyone was; I'm just kidding.)

Ok, I'm done with this conversation for a little while. I'll come back next time I have a small success to celebrate.

I'm not whining. Honest. I just came back from one of the best meetups ever, and it was just 3 of us. We've been meeting for 7 years, and even had conventions/unconventions here, and still the numbers cycle drastically. That was my point -- not bragging. Frankly, I really love it when I get together with just one bookcrosser, if they're someone I enjoy. It can be deadly if there are a bunch of people who don't share your humor or reading tastes even if they're BookCrossers.

Good luck!

I manage an OBCZ in a coffee/donut shop. It is not as successful as I had hoped in terms of JE's, but I do notice books moving in an out periodically. Kids books do well there. I try to go once a week and cull out the books no one wants and release them elsewhere. It's hard to be excited about, but I think the shop owners really enjoy having it there, so I fine with supporting it. Even putting a book in someone's hands makes me feel good, so it is satisfying in that way. I many wild releases also at my local shopping area where there are park benches and starbucks tables outside. I find that outside the petshop and in front of the salon and starbucks are great locations for releasing. Even the books I have left at bookshelves in Panera have never gotten JE's. Maybe we need to be satisfied with making the world a library rather than getting JE's, huh? It's all we have control over...

Love it Judy!

We register - we release - we've succeeded

Everything else is a bonus!

I'm really enjoying participating in other interactive elements of BookCrossing as well - to keep the inspiration & motivation flowing...

I finally managed to tag someone {from Finland} as a part of the 'WISHLIST TAG GAME'. Then I was tagged by someone from Portugal - How wonderful :)

Love it Judy!
We register - we release - we've succeeded
Everything else is a bonus!
Melissa, I suggest "We register - we release - we've succeeded" as the motto for OBCZ Managers!

Judy, great ideas on releasing. I actually let my books sit on shelves longer than a week -- sometimes up to several months, then I move them to another OBCZ or wild release. Sometimes books that lag on one shelf get snapped up immediately elsewhere.

I have one shelf that in 6 years has only gotten 2 catches, and books can sit there for years and another where books fly away as quickly as I can put them up. Go figure.

It's all good. Nice to let books have a parole from sitting unread somewhere else. Still loving this discussion. Thanks all!

If we don't get any JEs, how do we have any idea our books aren't in landfills? Sorry to be so negative all the time, but really...

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "If we don't get any JEs, how do we have any idea our books aren't in landfills? Sorry to be so negative all the time, but really..."

Granted, some may be, but I've seen enough return to the shelves, and heard from releases years out that have been MIA in the interim that I know many get through. I'm always finding long lost books at goodwill, and at book sales. If you give your books to charity, or even sell at a used book store, a number get pulped, too, if they don't move quickly. I prefer to be optimistic, and give my books a chance to delight someone by being found in the wild.

That's all we really can do, is just be optimistic. :)

I guess we don't know they are in landfills, and some of them will surely end up there. And even those are bio-degrading and become food for little critters in the dirt. I like that idea better than sitting on a dusty shelf for 100 years. Maybe the earthworms are really book worms :)

I like to picture in my head all of the places my books might be, like on some little kid's bookshelf, to be read at bedtime, or in a homeless person's cart, to be read when lonely, or in a classroom or a Goodwill shelf or on bookczuk's TBR pile next to the bed. I really think that most of them are still out there, but so many people aren't interested in the internet, or are too busy to journal, or feel self-conscious about what to write, as I used to. Also, so many people read a book and then stick it back on their shelf, as many of us used to do. But the book is still out there, and someday will go to a yard sale or get passed along, etc. I think Cheryl said it, all we can do is be optimistic. Maybe the secret lives of books is something we aren't meant to fully know :)

One other comment -- if you pass books along to other BCers often enough, you do get frequent JE's even if they are not on your wild releases, and with enough volume of books released in a variety of ways, your JE's start to increase so that it becomes more motivating and satisfying. That's been my experience with it.

"Maybe the secret lives of books is something we aren't meant to fully know :) "

I like that. I can live with that. Thank you!

We have an OBCZ here in Aberdeen at The Belmont cinema cafe/bar. We think it is an ideal place for our meetups and our shelf is well stocked. Unfortunately most of that is to the fact the books are a bit 'sticky' and don't move very much. However on occasions they do disappear....we think great something has been taken...next meetup they have come back again, ineveitably with no new journal entry. Shame folk just don't go on to the site and leave an anon journal for us to see. We quite often just get books left too, which is great we aren't ungrateful, but would be nice to see some new bookcrossers names on our shelf. Talking of which we are needing to have a bit of a clean out, books been sitting around for quite a long time.

Tx for your perspective. I don't feel so alone now.

I will say that staff at the shop has been doing a better job keeping the shelf tidy. I can stop in less frequently without fear of books being all bent up and scattered. Also, more are being taken. Still almost no journal entries/ catches, and still the (few) donations are unregistered, but at least I can enjoy the maintenance of the zone a bit more.

I've frequented two OBCZ shelves quite a lot, and managed them too. One of them was in Cork, which I left when I moved to Austin. And here there was a nice small OBCZ in a Vietnamese cafe, but unfortunately they closed down nearly a year ago (fortunately not for running out of business, but because they got bored). Well, I'm still looking for a place for having at least a small OBCZ around... both of the ones above were in a place where you could have food and coffee and some drinks too, and affordably too. And those places worked. Now even the one in Cork has shut down...

Oh wait, I also started a small book exchange shelf where I worked in Cork in a corner of the cafeteria, and that worked also fine. (If I had a similar larger cafeteria from some workplace around that I could attend, I'd use that).

The only place with food I know now here in Austin is in Potbelly. But sandwiches are boring (especially when you avoid wheat... there's not much to eat there), and it's always really cold in there, so I don't really go there often.

But I've seen many places that I'd love to use as an OBCZ if I just had some of those around. Pubs - there were some really awesome ones in the small villages in Ireland. Most of them had a bookshelf anyway - so take or leave something. And even if some books stayed on teh shelf for a while, I still get JEs for books left a few years ago :) in the pubs books feel loved, and eventually the right reader will come. Also a nice small coffee place would be nice, but I haven't found one around here. A place where they would like readers and already have a bookshelf ideally... just not a tiny Starbucks or similar next to a grocery if there's never anyone there and where one doesn't feel like sitting down. Or of course some place with good food would work... just haven't found a perfect place for it yet.
A pub would just be great. Too bad the closest pubs to where I live don't really have a bookshelf or an area that would work for an actual bookshelf.
Or it would be also fun to have a small place for books somewhere in the open, as long as it's weatherproof...

So, kind of waiting to find a proper spot around here. Meanwhile... I'm releasing books slowly mostly in restaurant entrance areas to see what would work. Or like now, saving a pile to drop an OBCZ when I travel :)

Maybe all us OBCZ people should start swapping book from our shelves to each other....lol.

Nah, the point isn't to get just as many journal entries as one can but to actually get people to read the book.
Ever notice how some books end up in a bookbox, and after that the next entry is (after receiving it) only about putting it in another bookbox? Did someone read it? Or at least try reading it (and didn't like)? Or is it just traveling like... well, someone who wants to travel but doesn't care about finding out anything about the places they visit, and to not talk with any locals..?
It's not about getting to two hundred book boxes or 30 OBCZ if no one still wants to have a look at the book or read it.

But if we don't get journal entries, we have *no* idea if they're reading the books. At least if they say 'caught in CC, thanks' we know they *might* be reading it!

And if the book is just plain sitting on the shelf, then for sure nobody is reading it!

Diane, I agree we could send boxes to each other sometimes. I know science fiction doesn't move at all on my shelves, but I bet it's popular elsewhere.