Sounded like some people are interested in getting rid of books when I was reading the simplicity topic. I thought it might be worth having a new thread.

I have managed to get rid of most of my books. I grew up in a house with 1000s of books, and pretty much decided at some point that I didn't want that to happen to me as an adult. So lately I've been doing a few things to make sure I don't take on more books. First is that I've been using my public library. They have a poorly designed but functioning website that lets me request any book in the system be sent to my local library. I use it like Netflix. When I see a book I want on Amazon I check the library's site and they usually have it. I request it, it generally arrives at my local library within a week (faster if it was actually owned by the library), I get an email and pick it up on my way to work (dropping off the finished books while I'm at it).

I've also been using BookMooch to get rid of books I own and replace them with new books. It's worked well for me. My wife is pretty into knitting books, which she wants to own for a while not just take from the library, and bookmooch has been good for that. (I am zenkenobi on bookmooch but I'm all sold out at the moment).

I also use LibraryThing to keep track of the books I read. I don't actually own the books I add to Library thing, but it satisifies that 'collection' impulse that is part of enjoying books. I'm benbr on library thing.

What do you do to control your media collection?

We buy more bookshelves. Seriously. My husband and I are loathe to give up books, and we tend to be reading three to four books at any one point, so we are accumulating books like mad. It's kind of cool, but then...I look at the number of bookcases we're going to end up needing and I get a little light-headed.

I always end up owing more for library books than it would have cost me to buy the silly things, so...

I'm not one for reading a book more than once, so I've never seen the point of buying books. Other people (i.e. my wife) are the opposite... they accumulate books like they're going out of style.

I'm convinced that some people just keep getting books because it makes them feel more literate, or more educated - the huge bookshelves are a sign of personal accomplishment, I guess. In a past life I worked in a bookstore, and the only feeling I got toward the books was the frustration over how heavy some of them were (I primarily dealt with business and computer books, which are much heavier than the average paperback).

My wife and I have come to a bit of a compromise - she only acquires new books if she's certain she'll read them at least three times, and she's thinned out some of the old ones by trading them in at the local used bookshop. For the most part, we utilize the local library - we can take out up to 40 books at a time, and keep them for 3 weeks. All of this for only $12 a year. Compared to buying hardcovers at $30-$40 each, or paperbacks for around $10 each (Canadian), it's a steal of a deal.

I was up to over 1,000 books.
It's crazy! As a mystery writer, granted, some of them are reference or favorites, but some are just trophies.
You know, you stalk it in the bookstore, then shoot it (purchase it) taking the bagged trophy home to show and prove your worth as a hunter and a collector.

Sometimes it's devoured immediately.
Sometimes it sits on the shelves, gathering dust.

So I decided to get rid of the trophies.
"Books are not trophies" is my new mantra.

a) Sell them to others via amazon.com's used book program. I've made up to $400 a month via this program. It's dead easy. Find the book on amazon via the ISBN, look on the right where it says "Sell Yours Now" and you're off. Amazon even reimburses you for shipping via Media Mail or Priority Mail.

b) http://www.bookcrossing.com - this is a brilliant little site. Take a used book, slap a specialized sticker in it with a tracking number and then leave the book alone in a conspicuous place. Someone finds it, logs it in via the website and you can follow that book from owner to owner. Very groovy.

c) Donate to the local library. Helloooooooo tax credit.

- Bill

All the books I've kept over the years are ones that I loved enough to want to re-read. However, as the decades dragged on and I didn't find time to re-read them, I came to the realization that I probably never would. So I went through a few purges over the past several years, selling or giving away more than 70 percent of my books. I now only keep reference books (including nature guides, cookbooks, dictionaries, computer books, how-to, etc.), a few favorite books of poetry; a couple dozen novels, short story collections, essays, and nonfiction books that I do in fact re-read from time to time; and a handful of others that I hang onto for sentimental reasons (the copies of Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and Winnie-the-Pooh that I had when I was a kid, for example).

My policy with new books is that once I'm done reading them I pass them on, so I no longer accumulate books. I should use the library more often, but all the libraries in my part of town only have books in French (which is useful for improving my French but not always what I'm looking for in a relaxing read!).

That's a great idea. I unloaded my CD collection that way, and found I got much better prices than I would selling to the used CD store. Somehow books bring out my submerged socialist impulses so I always want to give them away or swap.

I'd vote that you sell what you can via amazon to get some positive cash flow into your commune, and then, when you can't sell any more or grow tired of it, donate them to the library, where you can visit them at any time, bring them home for a short visit, find out how they are doing and get reacquainted

- Bill

Mize, you've piqued my interest. Selling via Amazon, huh? I have a lot of crap, especially books and CDs. I usually try to sell these at garage sales, but have little luck. And eBay can be a hassle. Would you be willing to write a guest-post detailing how the "sell through Amazon" system works? If not, I may try to set this up myself and document the process.

I'm reminded that I still have some college textbooks I'd like to get some money back on. Textbooks are such a racket, don't get me started. Before I dump them, I'll post a few blurbs à la book reviews as there are some good financial topics among them.

I put up a bunch of books for sale on Amazon as well. So far I've only sold one, but my books are pretty esoteric, plus the market in Canada is a lot smaller than in the US (I had the option of making them available in the US as well, but then you've got customs to deal with.)

The trick seems to be to look at the current going rate for the book as sold new on Amazon, then check to see what other people are selling it for used, and try to underprice them, even if only slightly.

One small hassle to consider is that when you do get an order, you're supposed to get it out as quickly as possible in order to avoid complaints (and thus bad ratings) by the person who bought it. Unless you have a stash of the right-size boxes handy, this can mean you have to rush out and get a box and then go to the post office, something that's not always convenient to do. Whenever I order books from Amazon I keep the boxes so I can use them for this purpose, but I have a few large books that don't fit in anything I have on hand.

When I sold off my CD collection what I did was buy a bunch of CD envelopes in advance. When I shipped out the first one, I got postage for the rest of the envelopes (since i knew the exact shipping price at that point) and put the stamps on the envelopes. I kept a box with all CDs I currently had listed and my envelopes with potage under my desk. Then when I got a notice that one sold, I just stuck the CD in an envelope and addressed it, then mailed it on my way home.

Of course, that all worked because CDs all weigh the same! I guess it work with DVDs as well. But books are trickier, unless you want to get into postage scales and all.

Definitely avoid buying packaging at the (US) post office. It's convenient, but they overcharge compared to office supply chains.

(btw, one advantge of bookmooch is that people are so happy you sent them a book that you have a lot more leeway around shipping)

Absolutely! Drop me an email (willmize at yahoo dot com) please, and let me know what you're looking for, and I'll be glad to give it a go.

Thanks!

- Bill

Would be Paperback Swap.

List what you got to send, list what you're looking for, and let the swapping begin!

http://www.paperbackswap.com

Enjoy those empty bookshelves!

- Bill

I've always felt that books should be read and then given away with the understanding that when the recipient finishes it, they should pass it along, as well. It does no good sitting on a shelf.

Books are not trophies.
Books are not trophies.
Books are not trophies.

I hope this works...

But they prove I spent five years of my life in university getting an engineering degree and that I'm a very smart person!

Books are not trophies.
Books are not trophies.
Books are not trophies.