So many books, so little time...

Back in April, my honey and I were excited to have a buyer for our home, and were looking forward to getting out of the tyranny of NY. We ended up escaping to the hope and change NJ Governor Chris Christie was offering. Of course, with both of us from NJ originally, this was a return home in many ways.

As Project Management Professionals (PMP), we approached the move in a way that comes naturally to us - as a project. We went through our house, noting what we hadn't used in a long time, and decided to sell as much as possible to save the cost and effort of moving extra stuff. We then estimated how many boxes of stuff we had left, and how this translated to boxes. We then determined how much time it takes to pack a box, and from this calculated how long it would take us to pack. Pretty simple.


One of the categories of items we decided to sell was our massive book collection. I'm not sure how we accumulated so many, but as a couple without a television connection, books and reading are a passion for us. We have a great collection of reference books, and along the way we picked up a wide array of other types of books. 


Most of the time we use the library for our reading material. But where we lived in Rockland County, we were treated as pariahs in the member libraries, forcing us to drive to Spring Valley to get books out. If you've never been to Spring Valley, good for you. So we ended up with books.


I started selling them on Amazon.com, where I have had much success in the past. The collection quickly decreased, and as it decreased, I consolidated the books, and began to disassemble the empty shelves for the move. As the move date came closer, I had about 15 books that wouldn't sell - at any price. So my honey mentioned this to a friend, and she told me about Paperback Swap. 


I read the information related to the site and how to become a member, and decided to give it a try. The concept is pretty simple. A member offers 10 books online. This entitles the new member to 1 credit. As they ship any other books, they receive an additional credit. These credits are used to order books from other members. The person shipping the book pays the shipping, so you pay for your books to go elsewhere, and when you order a book, that member pays to ship to you. Shipping is via Media Mail, which is a little more than $2 a book. 


It took about 3 weeks for 12 books to be ordered from me. I shipped them out, and watched the credits accrue. I packed a small stack of unwanted books with the keepers, and we got ready for our move. After we moved, I began to order books with my credits. It has worked great for me. I have a small stack of unread books, and as I read them, I repost them to the site, and as I ship them, I get more credits. 


Check the site out - www.paperbackswap.com, and if you register, please credit "surlyrider" as the person you learned of this site from, and I will get book credits for each of you. This is a much better way to get a book than buying them at full price. They hae an inventory of almost 5 million books. I still use the library, Bergen County has a great system, but this site has provided me with many great reads. I can take my time with them, and if traveling, can swap them on the road, and keep reading. 


Give it a try, if you like to read, it is a great resource.