Read It Swap It

Another useful titbit from The Thrift Book was information on the book swapping website Read It Swap It.

I go through fiction books quickly, reading daily for 2 hours on my journey to and from work and although utilise charity shops, car boot sales and swaps with friends I find I don’t always get to read those I want as I do not like paying anything more than £3 for a book (and don’t get me started on how much charity shops seem to be charging for used books these days!).

First I had a look around the site to see what books I wanted were available (I had an Amazon wish list devoted to fiction so I could keep an eye out for titles on my travels), of which there were many.

I created an account, deleted my Amazon wish list and added one to Read It Swap It with the option to receive emails whenever a swapper adds any of the titles to the site.

Next I gathered up the 3 latest books I read (cursing myself for just recently handing over a bagful to a friend and selling some on a recent boot sale) and added them easily to the site using the ISBN numbers (its very quick and simple!).

Swap requests were next. Some were declined as swappers did not want to read anything from my list which I appreciated due to my limited listings but I have just had one accepted. Then it’s as simple as posting the book out, you pay postage on your book and they theirs. Similarly to eBay there is a feedback facility and you can aim for “Super Swapper” status!

Over the holidays I received and brought a few new books so I won’t be swapping for the next couple of weeks but it does mean I will have a number to add once they are read and I can hopefully access a few more of the titles I’m interested in reading.

This is certainly a great way to obtain books you’d like to read cheaply and recycle those you have no use for if like me once read the books are passed on anyway.

Let me know if you try it!