What do I do with 1000+ books?!

[theluckiest]

Currently clearing out my parents’ home as they have, very sadly, both passed away.

They were both avid readers and collected well over 1000 books. There are a few I’ve kept and some in brand new condition that I plan to sell but have absolutely no idea what on earth to do with the rest.

Are there any companies that would take them? Or would libraries take any?! There are a lot that are now out of print. Any amazing ideas?!

I could do a few car boots but there are so many books that I just don’t know where to start!! I don’t particularly want to open a second hand bookshop…

Donate to a charity shop?

Music Magpie? World of Books? Loads of online sellers of second hand books...

I have a lot of books from teaching that I am slowly winnowing down.

i used webuybooks who are quite good, you need to parcel them up but you do get money for them. Some they won’t take.

i have now discovered my local Emmaus is happy to take lots and lots of books and they’ll be going there.

Ive just started a de cluttering thread and theres good advice on there

https://anglodoorstepcollections.co.uk/what-we-collect/

Charity shops by us aren’t taking donations of clothes or books at the moment.

I’ve downloaded the World of Books app. I’ve already sorted the books into resellable & non-resellable. I’ll have a look at webuybooks as well

im still left with piles and piles of books!!! I can’t possibly parcel all of them & send all of them off..it’d take months

That looks promising @TeenToTwenties
Thankyou!

And I’ll check that thread out too. 👍
Thanks all

See if you can find out if there are any charity book sales near you. There’s a big annual one for guide dogs for the blind near us, I believe they collect all year for the one sale.

World Of Books app. Get lots of medium boxes (not too big as you will struggle to lift). Scan each book, works of books pay between about 5p and £5 per book, average price I find is 0.50p. All the books they don't want, drop off at a book bank, or book stop/book box scheme. Book banks are hard to find, some recycling centres have them, I know where 2 are in my town, they tend to be next to cloth banks in car parks, but not as many as clothing banks. If you can't find a book bank, big supermarkets and service stations tend to have book sale tables for charity, you could distribute them there. Charity shops can be tricky as they can't take large donations of books but if you can split them into smaller donations you will have more luck.

Offer them for sale as a bulk buy rather than separately.
A professional secondhand seller might take them.

I forgot to say, works of books give you a digital label you don't need to print, and you can either drop them at Inpost lockers or arrange a collection.

Many second hand bookshops will come to you if you have a lot of books. They'll look through what you have and make you an offer. I can recommend one in Cardiff that I think covers the whole of South Wales, if you're anywhere near there.

You can also recycle books in poor condition at the paper bank at your local dump/recycling centre in most authorities (check your council website). You just need to remove the jackets first.

Webuybooks is good and quick.

A neighbour of ours recently got rid of a similar number of books by putting them in the front garden every day when it wasn’t raining for about a week with a sign inviting people to take whatever they wanted. They mostly went despite some being quite niche!

I would sell the rest as a joblot on marketplace/gumtree for people to collect if you want rid fast.

If they have any books that are on specialist subjects or may be out of print it may be worth getting a proper valuation done. I'd use world of books etc for average paperbacks and novels but they don't pay well.

Are you anywhere near hay on wye they have so many second hand book stores and I think they’ll always take donations

It really depends what the books are, popular fiction (Jeffrey Archer, Lee Child, Martina Cole etc) is generally worthless, charity shops if they'll take them or recycling. Books on specialist subjects can be worth something to the correct dealer, old text books are also normally worthless once a modern edition has been published. https://www.thebookguide.info/ lists all the second hand dealers, call a few local to you to see if they're interested.

There are still a few second hand bookshops that will buy books. That's how we sold my MILs collection.

Also, unless they are first editions, nobody wants hardback fiction.