New Ways to Acquire Paperback Books

From BooksFree.com And PaperbackSwap.com

Trisha Bartle
Paperback books are piled next to a comfortable leather armchair. Each book is worn through as though it was the only book available; pages folded, book bindings cracked. Does this scene look familiar? If you're a voracious reader, it may. There are some readers who go through more than three books a week; sometimes much more than that.

Since new books can be expensive, there are other, cheaper options for people who read often. These websites can save an avid reader a lot of money on paperback books.

BooksFree.com
BooksFree.com is a subscription style paperback book rental service. It operates a lot like the movie service Netflix. There are no late fees or due dates for the books you receive. You can keep them and read them for as long as you like.

When you sign up at BooksFree.com, peruse their listing of over 79,000 books to build a queue of books you'd like to read. The company will send you a book on your list. When you're finished, pop it in the mail. Once they receive it, they'll send you the next book in your queue. Shipping is free both ways.

Pricing plans start as low as $8.49 per month which gets you two paperback books at a time. This is a cheap way to read books for people who read often. Plus, there's the added benefit of it getting delivered straight to your home.

PaperbackSwap.com
Paperback Book Swap's book trading service is essentially free. It's free to join and free to receive books. The only time you'd spend money is by sending one of your books to someone else. That usually costs the price of four stamps. Quite a deal! The website works with a system of credits. Each credit you have means you can receive one book. After signing up, if you enter nine of your own books for trade, you'll get three credits good toward getting free books of your own.

Essentially, PaperbackSwap.com is a trading service. Users list paperback books they're willing to get rid of, and other users ask for them. When a book is requested, the book owner pops it in the mail for the other person to receive.

What's great about Paperback Book Swap is that the books you receive are yours to keep. If you like it, you don't have to trade it back to anyone. They also have a fairly large selection of all types of books. They even have nonfiction books like computer manuals and writing resources.

By using these paperback book resources, the avid and voracious reader can save a lot of money. Use these websites the next time you have a hankering for a good read.

Published by Trisha Bartle

Creator of several popular blogs about beauty and motivation, Trisha Bartle is also an award-winning fiction writer. She won first place in 2005 with "The Walk" and third place in 2006 with "Misconceptions"....  View profile

7 Comments

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  • Trisha Bartle2/26/2007

    The way I think of it is that these ways are very similar to that of going to the library. Michelle, as a novelist, are you also against the library? Just wondering.

    Thanks everyone for the kind comments!

  • Charlotte Kuchinsky2/24/2007

    I know I'm the exception, but I really don't mind paying for a good book. I keep in mind all the work that the author had to put into it and, in the long run, it doesn't seem like such an expensive item them. I know, stupid maybe, but just me. Interesting idea, though, and well presented.

  • Michelle L Devon (Michy)2/23/2007

    As an author of several published books, I have an issue with this. I would receive ZERO royalties from sales if this occurred.

  • Christy M2/23/2007

    Hmmm... I don't get why you'd pay $8.49 a month when you can just head to the library. Unless you're housebound, of course. Anyway, my problem (according to my husband) is that I want to have a copy of the books! Interesting article. Thanks!

  • Sophia S.2/23/2007

    Cool, thanks for those websites. I've been a member of titletrader for a little while but I'll look into these as well.

  • Trisha Bartle2/23/2007

    You're welcome! And thanks!

  • AM Jett2/22/2007

    Thanks for the info! Great article!

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