Any avid reader worth their mush has a decent home library. Treasured moments spent in the bosom of couch cushions, immersed in strings of words – an epic tale, a wrenching coming of age story. Isn’t it almost safe? Other worlds at the mere flip of a page? Ah, now you are poised, ready to experience our complex world firsthand.
It’s time to travel, baby!
Possessions need to be donated, hauled away, or sold. How the heck to get rid of books?
SELL THEM
Harder than I anticipated. My naive brain thought lots of people love reading just like I do. Unless you’re a book collector or pack rat from A&E’s Hoarders, physical books just don’t hold intrinsic value like they use to. Nevertheless, some ideas.
Craigslist
I listed my books under the ‘garage sale’ or ‘books’ section. Although perusing the ‘books’ section there seems to be a great number of textbooks for sale. So, fresh university grads use this section! I have a few books that collectors might snatch up – the entire Dark Tower series for instance. Price books at a reasonable rate, otherwise you won’t attract buyers. I’ve set mine at $2.00 to $5.00.
Book Resellers
Pulp Fiction will purchase paperbacks or hardcovers. The cut is up to 40% of the resale value, so a book priced at $13.00 won’t yield much payout. Since I’m now living like a nomad in my own city, a small amount stretches a long way. Even nomads deserve a latte periodically. 2422 Main Street, (604) 876-4311 or 3133 West Broadway, (604) 873-4311, Vancouver.
Canterbury Tales Bookstore also purchases books, however, payout will depend on the condition of the book. The proprietress was a kooky, but knowledgeable woman. Just what I seek in a book expert. 1990 West 4th Avenue, (604) 733-1130 or 2010 Commercial Drive, (604) 568-3511, Vancouver.
I recommend researching your area to see what used bookstores will purchase books. Here’s a starter for Vancouver: Yahoo local search for bookstores.
Abe Books
The purist site for booksellers and buyers. Very handy if there’s ample lead time prior to departure. I don’t have any! Abe buys back over 1,000,000 titles entailing textbooks, cookbooks, coffee books, trade books or out-of-print books. They offer 3 options: become a professional bookseller, sell used textbooks, sell only a few titles. Simply enter the ISBN of the book(s) and Abe will automatically reveal a buying price. All that and ship your books for free! www.abebooks.com.
Kijiji
Strikingly similar to craigslist, but am told more popular in Eastern Canada. www.kijiji.ca.
Ebay
Seems only worth listing here if you’ve kept a copy of the original run of Alice in Wonderland under lock and key. www.ebay.ca.
DONATE THEM
An unpopular choice if you’re interested in fortifying a travel fund, but this might be the only option if selling is unsuccessful.
Big Brothers
Big Brothers is a valuable community service that matches fatherless boys with screened adult male volunteers. They accept books, among other items. The advantage is they will pick up right at your doorstep, saving time and money on renting a truck or using gas. All items are sold to Value Village and the profits are used for mentoring programs. Here’s a list of acceptable items for donation: www.bigbrothersvancouver.com/clothingpickup/items
General Thrift Stores
I always seek out stores aligned with a charity or church. As Junius said, ” How much easier is it to be generous than just.”
Battered Women Support Services
A personal favorite. I interviewed the Executive Director a few years back and was agog at her personal story. She was a former streetwalker who began volunteering, rising through the ranks to run the whole show. Still can’t believe the spirit of this woman. BWSS adheres to the principles of social enterprise with two stores in Vancouver. All the profits from both stores are reabsorbed into BWSS to fund programs that teach battered women independence and empowerment. The Commercial Drive store accepts clothing, household items and furniture. Books, too! www.bwss.org. My Sister’s Closet located at 1029 Commercial Drive, (604) 254-7471, Vancouver.
When it comes to giving to charity, it helps to find a cause you wholeheartedly support. Could you put yourself behind the Donald Trump Foundation? Yeah, no.
Book Crossing
Book Crossing is the concept of randomly leaving a book anywhere for others to discover, read, and pass on. There’s even a website devoted to this movement. Become a member, log in to Book Crossing to generate a BCID number, affix the number inside the cover, then add additional markings, even stickers to distinguish the book. It’s encouraged to leave a book on a park bench, in a cafe, your hostel room. Here’s the cool bit, you can log in to track where the book travels. It could start in damp Vancouver and end up in the parched desert of Egypt. Seems like a tailor made avenue for wanderers, don’t you think? www.bookcrossing.com.
WHAT TO DO ON THE ROAD
So you are pathologically attracted to reading, how to maintain this pastime on the road? It’s the age of e-books. Go electronic.
- Kindle.
- Barnes & Noble.
- Sony Reader.
- Kobo for Smartphones.
A few top sellers. Check out what made the cut: e-book reader top ten reviews.
Photos: texasgurl and florian.b
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{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
If you are in the US – probably most of North America actually – you can always donate your used books through Better World Books. They re-sell them online and the proceeds go to fund world-wide literacy initiatives through programs like Room to Read and Books for Africa. As attached as we get to our books, sometimes we do have to cull our collections. BWB is a great way to go! Of course, I can never donate without also shopping the BWB site – free delivery in the US and 2.99 international shipping can’t be beat. Add in carbon off-setting to the funding of literacy programs and it’s a no-brainer!
I’ve been selling my used books on Amazon.com. Just find a book on the site, and click “Sell yours here” to get started. I’ve made a few hundred dollars in 2 months. Most are non-fiction though. Fiction books do not have a good resale value.
@Alison – LOL.. but yours is infinitely easier on the body and soul. :)
@Sanya – It’s hard for all of us. Any curious person who enjoys reading finds it difficult. :)
This was definitely the hardest thing for me and my husband. We both love books. In fact , even though we got rid of loads before we moved to Belgium, we still ended up bringing four boxes of un-read books with us. Now we tend to donate most of our used books to the charity booksale here in Bxl (although we still buy way too many ourselves) or give them to friends. I guess we all have our vices… I just wish mine weren’t so heavy.
It is very hard to get rid off books to me. I know there are plenty of them I will never read but whenever I want to part with me I spend hours reading them and keep them . Some books part of my life memories.
Hardest thing- parting from books, but has to be done. We still have text books from undergrad and grad school. It is shameful I know. We’ve been selling and donating. We donate a lot to Emma’s school, local libraries, college students, to college libraries or to other professors who might find them useful. Also taking Books and CDs to half price book store.
Lots of great tips here Jeannie. Will refer to them for sure. Thanks.
@Candice – Great suggestion m’ lady, but isn’t the purpose of this post to not gain more books?? Awww, you’re so cute, really attached to your babies. :)
Ohhh man, I find it SO HARD to give up my books. They’re like my babies.
You could also do a bookswap! Like with bookmooch.com. You mail out your books to people who really want them, thus collecting points and then later you can cash them in for more books. It’s pretty sweet.
@JoAnna – I’m sure it can be disheartening when books you so violently loved is assumed to be MIA or not logged in (Book Crossing). I try to think of it this way: it probably was picked up and is living some fantastic life, we’re just not privy to it. So similar to the millions of stories we’re rarely exposed to, but know exist. Man, I’m so deep tonight. :)
@The Longest Way Home – Hi Dave! Haven’t seen you in these parts in a while, welcome back. :) It is such a personal choice? I also adore the idea of books traveling with you, the wear and tear they receive is akin to what we experience as we travel… knowing me, I’ll take 1 or 2 with me. Even if Kindle becomes my new reading source. Thanks for the quick critique on e-readers. :-D
@Shannon OD – Such a curse for writers. We are the most voracious readers, the most emotionally connected to our fave authors.. letting go proves hard. Hey, if I can do this, I know you can!
@Erica – No prob, hope the post generates some ideas for you. And a million isn’t so bad (that’s me lying). :-D
@Andi – Haha.. hoarding seems to be the theme in the comments. I am just as weak. I’m quite *green* in every respect except books. My dirty secret, and apparently yours. :)
@Maria Staal – Good call on youth hostels! Another sound way to pass on reads. :)
@Jetpacker – I struggle with the same, to me, a true read is touching a bona fide book, licking my fingers to flip pages… Services like Book Crossing and your suggestion might fill that void. However, I plan to try the e-reader thing and see what becomes of it. We’ll see. :-D
@Colin Burns – Wow, Colin – Tracy has the fever bad! Books nourish her a great deal. It’s too easy to hoard when storage is available. The dilemma of it all. :)
I’ve done Book Crossing before. It’s a lot of fun, though a bit of a bummer if your book is never picked up or recorded once you drop it.
I sold only the reference ones. True literary treasures come with emotional attachment. Not only that, with any luck they will accumulate in value over time.
1st prints especially. Though I imagine 1st release ebooks will also be worth something in the future too.
I-Pad has too much glare to be an effective ebook reader. And the kindle, while great to read on, lacks options. Couldn’t read Shantaram on any ebook reader. But my preference is paper. The smell, the look, the feel, the places you go with it.
What a great collection of resources – I am such a book hoarder that I have a box still in LA and many, many more boxes stored at my parents house. I just can’t let go! But when I do eventually have to downsize I will seek out some of these charities you listed – they’re great!
Ugh. There are so many things we’re going to have to let go of. While I thought I had minimized our stuff, I really need to get on it.
Thank you for your book suggestion! I have a million. :)
What a helpful post!!! Personally, I’m an Ebay girl. I don’t think there is a book I have yet to sell on there. But, I tend to hoard my books like they were my children. :)
I am with Jetpacker on this. I like the feel of a real book.
During my travelling I discovered that many youthostels I stayed in had sleves of books where travellers could take one for the road if they donated another one. I love that system. That way the books get to travel too. :)
I can’t get into the e-reader. There’s something… impersonal about it. I love the feeling of the page between my fingers, the crisp sound as I turn the page, the weight of knowledge in my hands.
Anyway, I like to use http://www.paperbackswap.com. Trade books for credits that you can use when you return from your travels. That way you can rebuild your collection! When you’re done, if you don’t want to keep the book, put it back on the site, get another credit, get a new book. Love it!
My wife reads two or three books a week so when we left we went through our bookshelves and created a donate pile and a storage pile. You can trust me that the storage pile was a thousand times as large as the donate pile.
I swear that about 40% of the storage shed space is taken up with Tracy’s books ;)
Cheers,
Colin
@James Clark – That seems to be the general theme, an emotional connection to our books. Not surprising, since knowledge tests and opens the mind. One day, you might have to let go. :)
This is a tough one for me. I still have boxes of books in storage that I haven’t been able to part with. This might change once I lose my free storage.
@Mark – Trust me, I can relate. I procrastinate on placing a book in the donate/sell box, convincing myself I can store it at my friend’s or haul it in my backpack – it won’t take up much room… Yeah, right. :)
@grace b – Thanks for commenting! Abe books is such a treasure. As a former buyer, if I was looking for an unusual book, Abe had it, always! Good luck on purging. :)
@Stephanie – Great suggestion Steph, and thanks for sharing! The library initiative seems to be an international one.
@Jack @ eyeflare travel – Great system. New book in, old book out. I should have adopted that attitude with books and men years ago. :)
My books are going into storage when I take off for longer than a few months. They’re too dear to me, and right now I could probably only part with a third of them.
Good suggestions! I am getting rid of a huge chunk of books I don’t read (and textbooks I can’t sell back) just today at this amazing place called The Book Thing here in Baltimore, Maryland. They take donations, sort them, reshelve them and then they are free to anyone. Unfortunately they are only open on weekends but you can drop off books anytime.Thanks for the abe books link, I will definitely be using that!!
I’m SO happy you wrote this! I have 4 bookcases full of books, spilling out onto the floor and some of them really really need to go.
The ones I can’t sell are probably going to go to my local library. They accept book donations all year round for the big bi-annual fundraiser book sale. Actually a lot of my books came from that sale in the first place!
Ah, yes. The book purge… I do this maybe every other year, and it’s painful each time. I think the trick for me would be to discard the books once read, and only buy a new one when almost done with the last.
Will never work though, unless I do like you and just sell up and go nomadic.
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