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Swap Books And Save Money

Thrifty Living Times (Newspaper) - 12/15/2009 by Mark Falco
Smart internet users are finding out there is a better and cheaper way to get hold of books than spending a small fortune on new hardback and paperback novels. At an average cost of $25 for a new hardback and around $8 for a paperback novel, reading can work out to be a pretty expensive hobby for those of us who love books. In these harsh economic times, who can afford an expensive hobby?
Well, actually we can give thanks to the brilliant minds behind book swapping and trading websites!

Bartering is a form of trade which quite possibly dates back to caveman times but is making a big comeback thanks to the joys of the global communication medium which we like to call the internet.

Book bartering is alive and kicking online with sites like paperbackswap.com in the United States and readitswapit.co.uk in the UK offering up millions of books ready to be swapped amongst the thousands of book lovers who have already joined these sites for free and made their unwanted books available for trading.

Using these sites, you can get new books to read for just the cost of one book of your own and the postage to send it to another eager reader. For sending out books you no longer want, you earn credits, and those credits can then be used to request books from other members of the site.

Effectively, you are trading your books on a one for one basis and getting new books for the cost of media mail postage. For a typical paperback or hardback book, that works out at a couple of bucks which is a vast improvement over $8 - $25 for buying new.

Book swapping is easy, fun and you can also wrap yourself in the warm fuzzy feeling which comes from the knowledge you are doing your bit to help the environment.

Think how many trees are not being cut down, or how many acres of rainforest being preserved by the reuse and recycling of books going on through used book swapping sites. One site has over 2.5 million books ready for swapping. That’s a lot of trees!

So book lovers of the world unite and get sharing your old books with like minded readers across the globe today!