I heard about Bookcrossing a while back from ace author Linda Gillard and it has been on my To Do list for ages. Finally I joined up and listed two of my own books for release into the wild …
What? My husband was totally confused about what releasing a book into the wild consisted of (dropping it in a field? throwing it out the window of your car?), so I thought I’d try and clear that up right now. Bookcrossing.com is a brilliant community where people pass on and share books they’ve read. You can wish for a book and hope someone will post you a copy, or you can search for one which has been released by a reader – i.e. left somewhere warm and dry and safe ready for you or some other lucky person to find. If you happen upon a Bookcrossing-labelled book (see picture below), you can enter the book’s unique code on the website and find out where that copy has been and who’s read it before you. It sounds so exciting, and just the sort of thing someone passionate about reading and books should be involved in.
Joining Bookcrossing.com as an author
I checked on the Newbies forum for the rules relating to authors releasing their own books and it’s absolutely fine – in fact, the members who answered thought it was pretty cool. As well as releasing them into the wild there are a couple of other ways to find readers who may be interested in reading your book and then passing it on, like Book Circles. It’s all new to me and I’m still finding my feet, but this week I released both Murder at the Maples and Cupid’s Way in the Countess of Chester Hospital, which I thought would be a good place to find bored people hoping to be distracted!
Isn’t it just giving books away for free?
Well, yes. But it’s a really cool way of giving books away for free, and it appeals to the slightly anarchic part of my psyche 🙂 Look at it this way: Bookcrossing is a community, and I don’t plan on merely releasing a couple of my own titles. I’m going to look for other books in the local area, and share books I’ve read and enjoyed. I’m going to get involved in the forums – because these are people who love BOOKS (and it’s a hell of a lot friendlier than Goodreads). Right now my paperback copies are in a box under the bed in my office, waiting for me to find the time/inclination/energy to do some kind of event to hand-sell them. Wouldn’t it be nicer and more fun to release a few into the wild and wait and see what happens next?
So, over to you – I’m really interested to hear about your experiences of Bookcrossing.com. Has anyone ever found a Bookcrossing-labelled book completely by chance? And any tips on how best to use the site greatly received.
Joanne Phillips 
August 30, 2014 at 10:32 pm
Sounds like something out of a story itself – very cool 🙂
August 31, 2014 at 6:28 pm
It is cool, isn’t it? And there are a few Bookcrossing locations in Shrewsbury for you to check out 🙂
August 31, 2014 at 4:13 am
Yes, I released mine (at my hairdresser’s) but I expect to wait a pretty long time before it goes anywhere interesting. We were on holiday in Mexico last year and the hotel had a bookshelf for guests, so I’ll probably release one on our next trip.
Hope yours travels far and fast!
August 31, 2014 at 6:29 pm
That’s a great idea to release one when you’re on holiday – we stay at a log cabin in Derbyshire and there is a bookshelf in the reception area that would be great for Bookcrossing. I bet your hairdresser tells everyone she has a client who’s a brilliant author x
August 31, 2014 at 5:54 pm
What a brilliant idea – I want to do it! Obviously not with my own as I don’t do paperbacks, but just generally, I love it!
August 31, 2014 at 6:30 pm
It’s a great idea, I’m really glad I finally got round to joining up. I do keep lots of books and read them again, but my bookshelves are groaning with the strain and this makes a chance from just taking the surplus to the charity shop. x
September 3, 2014 at 2:01 pm
I love the idea. I’ll definitely look into it. I was aware of the basic concept but didn’t know enough about it. Thanks for the post. 🙂
September 4, 2014 at 8:06 pm
It’s great fun, Wendy, you should definitely check it out 🙂
September 3, 2014 at 8:28 pm
I’m Catherine, and I’m a Bookcrosser.
(Yes, it can become an addiction!)
It’s always great to see authors getting behind the idea – there are some who are sniffy, worrying it will lose them sales (I’m sure Linda’s put you right on that!) and others who abuse it, releasing nothing but their own books and making no effort to become part of the community – either online or in real life. Glad to see you fall into neither of those categories.
Good luck with your releases, and hope to meet you at an event in the Midlands sometime.
September 4, 2014 at 8:08 pm
Thanks so much for commenting, Catherine! Linda has sung the praises of your lovely community for ages, I just wish I hadn’t waited so long to get involved. Still finding my feet there just now, but I’ll be sharing more books very soon – not my own, though!
I didn’t realise you had real life events too – that would be really cool! I’ll look out for those x