Although I was told numerous times during my pregnancy that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with my reading when the baby came along, I’m finding that to be false. I’ve got an abundance of time on my hands while nursing so I’ve caught up on many of my chick-lit books that have been gathering dust on my bookshelf.
The one thing I am faced with though is how to keep up with my reading addiction. I enjoy supporting authors and purchasing books from various bookstores, but justifying spending the money on a book versus spending the money on my new baby girl is hard. I know what you’re thinking; I could just pick up the book from a local library. Sure, I could do that but until the library in my town is finished being built (it’s completion date is set for December of this year), finding the time to load up the baby to travel to the nearest library fifteen minutes away, unload the baby and browse the books is next to impossible.
I’ve finally found a solution, thanks to the fine folks at paperbackswap.com. This family-owned website is dedicated to book-loving individuals who, like me, have books gathering dust on their bookshelves. To get started, all you have to do is list nine books into the system and in return, you are given three free book credits to you started in the trading. For each book you successfully mail, you earn a credit, which can be used to request another book from another member. The more books that are posted, the more chances there are of having someone request your books. It truly is a shared system!
Paper Back Swap also makes it extremely easy on it’s members (especially new mothers, like me). When a member request a book from your list, you simply print the wrapper that already has the person’s address, your return address as well as the amount of postage needed. It even has an option for delivery confirmation for a few extra stamps. When the wrapper is printed, the member can wrap the book with the information already on it, add stamps and voila!
I highly recommend this site. It’s fun to get ‘free’ books in exchange for the ones you have already. So, take one trip to the post office to buy a roll of stamps, take a gander at the listed books and start reading!
Thanks for the tip. Sounds like a great idea.