Swap your books with other readers
07 August 2008
Here's a website recommendation I've been meaning to make for a while: Readitswapit. You upload a list of books you're prepared to swap. You can then find people who have books you want and ask them if they want to trade. If so, they get the pick from your list. You both post the books at your own expense, within two days, and then leave feedback on each other.
The system works very well, drawing in book descriptions and artwork automatically from Amazon. The process assumes every book is equally valuable, which you could argue is a flawed assumption. But if you're parting with a book you don't need any more, it doesn't really matter.
I've made a few successful swaps on there, releasing old books that were cluttering up the place and replacing them with new books I really want to read. I should confess I have cheated, though: I have swapped books I never got around to reading, which seems to go against the site's ethic as expressed in its title (assuming it is read that rhymes with red). Still, if you don't tell anyone, I think I'll get away with it.