I’m obsessed with books. Fiction. Nonfiction. It doesn’t matter. I love to read.

I’m also a dreamer. I believe that the next book will be the one that unlocks all of life’s mysteries. Of course, rationally, I know this isn’t true. I know that any answers I seek are already inside of me (yeah, I read that somewhere), but for me, books represent hope. Hope in knowledge, in craft, in discipline and most importantly, hope in humanity. You see, as long as people are taking the time and making the effort to write and to read books, in my mind, there is hope for the world. Because reading makes us all better. It broadens our horizons. It makes us smarter. It often makes us stronger (I told you I’m a dreamer). Books are awesome.

But books are also expensive and they take up a lot of space. I have a lot of books and sadly, I’m running out of room. For a while, I was also running out of money, because I couldn’t resist buying whatever book caught my eye. I mostly buy books on Amazon where they are less expensive than in traditional bookstores, but still.

Another problem with my book habit is that it wasn’t very green. It takes a lot of resources to print books. While it makes the publishers happy when we all buy our own copies of books, it makes a lot more sense, environmentally, for us to borrow them from the library or buy them used. I’ve been making greater use of the library in last few years, but I can’t always get what I want there.

And there’s the clutter. As I keep buying books, but not getting rid of any, I quickly become surrounded. A year or so ago, I started purging books. Then I learned about Swap.com (formerly called Swaptree) and Paperback Swap. Each service works in a slightly different way. I’ll explain both briefly here, but I urge you to visit both sites to see if one (or both!) could work for you.

Swap.com

The basics: You create a free account, then make a list of books you have that you no longer want (by entering the ISBN#). You indicate the book’s condition and off it goes into your “HAVE” list.

Then you make a list of books you want. You can search by author, title, or ISBN#. You can add and delete items from your “WANT” list any time you’d like.

The great big Oz-like system that Swap.com uses then begins searching for matches. It automatically finds books you want while trying to see if books you have are in demand. When they’ve found a match, you’ll receive an email asking you to “accept” the trade. When both parties agree, the swap is on.

At that point, you print a Swap.com label and the media mail rate is charged to your credit card, or you may opt to skip the pre-printed label and mail the book on your own. There’s also a rating system set up for swappers that allows you to leave feedback for people who send books to you.

You pay shipping on books you ship and you pay nothing for the books you receive.

Bottom line: You can receive almost any book for the $2.45 media mail rate it costs you to ship a book you no longer want.

Paperback Swap

Paperback Swap works a bit differently than Swap.com. Here, you list you books you have available and wait for someone to request them. When they do, you pay the media mail shipping rate (either on your own or with a pre-printed label from Paperback Swap).

Once you ship a book and its receipt is confirmed, you receive one credit for that book. You then use that credit to get a book you want. Send a book: earn one credit. Receive a book: spend one credit.

When you want a book, you add it to your “Want” list and Paperback Swap will tell you if it’s immediately available or if you’ve been placed in a cue to receive it. If it’s immediately available, you simply request it and you’ll receive it at no charge (other than the credit you used) within a few days. If you’re put in a cue, you’ll see what number you are and as time goes on, you’ll get closer and closer to receiving the book. For example, you may start out at #39 out of 39 and then work your way to #1. It all depends on how many other people want the same book that you do.

Paperback Swap also has its own marketplace where you can buy books for some combination of credits and cash. These books are new and can save you some money over buying from a bookstore. This is a good option if you don’t want to wait for your book to become available. There is limited supply in the Paperback Swap Marketplace, though, so you won’t be able to get every book you want there.

Personally, I have requests listed on both sites. When I learn that I’m going to receive a book from either service, I simply go in and delete the request from the other. So far, it’s worked really well.

The Up-Sides

• Saves Money – You’re essentially getting books for under $3.00, instead of the cost of a new book.
• Reduces Clutter – With every book you receive, you’re able to get rid of one you didn’t want. Or, in the case of Paperback Swap, you can actually get rid of a number of books before you ever acquire any more. At any rate, you make sure that the books you have are the ones you really want.
• Helps the Planet – There’s not much better than re-use when it comes to helping the environment. I can’t think of a better way to manage a book habit than through swapping.

The Down-Side

• The only down-side I can really think of is that you have to wait for the books you want. There’s often no way to know when a book on your “Want” list (at either site) might become available. I have such a long list, though, that it seems I’m never without something to read.

Some Tips

• On Swap.com, the more books on your “Have” list, the greater your chances of securing a match for a book you want.
• As you read blog posts or news articles and come across book recommendations, immediately add them to your “Want” lists. That way you won’t have to worry about forgetting the name of that book you’d wanted to read.
• Ship promptly and describe your books accurately. People appreciate both and that will help keep your ratings high.

My best tip, though, is to try them out. Both services allow trades on books, music and movies. Swap.com handles trades on video games, as well.

How about you? Have you ever used either of these services?

Photo Credit: John-Morgan