Bookcrossing Website

[DuchessofMalfi]

Has anyone used this Bookcrossing? I like the idea but can see there could be all sorts of problems, like people chasing after you saying "you've left your book behind!" or the cafe (or wherever) refusing to allow you to leave a book there, or the book is just taken and not logged on Bookcrossing, or just thrown away.

I've probably talked myself out of registering with bookcrossing now, so I'd like to hear some positive tales, please :)

There are a couple of places near me where they have dedicated bookshelves for Bookcrossing books, one is a cafe and the other is a pub. It works well for them, they get lots of extra traffic because of it.

Its definitely not for me however.

Hi

I have been Bookcrossing for years and never had ANY problems; in fact I?ve discovered a couple of great authors through random swaps.

With regards to getting caught wild releasing books, do what I do and make sure that no one is looking , or else register books and give to friends and family, or pop them in Bookcrossing zones (I?m sad that there arn?t many near me). There is some great advice for newbies on the forums if you need to ask questions before taking the plunge.

And yes, a LOT of books never get a journal entry, but it?s really exciting when they do - especially when they leave the country and end up going on a better holiday than you.

Hope this helps!

We have found 3 books, one on holiday in Scotland, one in Cambridge and one at a junk swap. We put one out in the wild and never heard what happened.

Never heard of it Duchess but will have a look.

Regarding Bookcrossing - an excellent site. No strings attached, no personal information given out. Read books, release them, either at a local meet-up of bookcrossers, if you have one (we - about 1/2 dozen ladies, meet once a month or so, for coffee and a chitchat about books. We asked a local cafe if they would have room for our small book shelf, and they said yes.) Anyone can go any time and take or leave books, no coffee purchase required. You can also leave books anywhere. Personally, I'm a bit shy about leaving them when there are lots of people around (only one person, once, did ask me if I had left a book, when I got up from a shopping mall bench - I said, "oh, no, it's not mine. It was there when I sat down!") You can also try to find books at locations where other bookcrossers leave them. I found three, once in a local city park. What a delight! For a while, in my city, there were some bookcrossers using Geo-locator information to stash books for the finding. You can also gather books for different occasions, and there are prizes from bookcrossing contests. (don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover contest is one that comes to mind.) You can also send boxes of books across the country, and box is mailed to each bookcrossing group as it travels, with bookcrossers taking and putting in different books as it goes along. Sometimes you never hear about a book again, but at other times, you get journal entries on the bookcrossing site, and learn that your book is travelling the world -kind of like that old TV commercial with the garden gnome being photographed in front of world tourist sites.

Oh, one more thing - in larger cities there are sometimes huge meet-ups - conferences -hundreds of bookcrossers, with talks and readings from authors, chances to meet publishers, other bookcrossers, etc etc. Lots of fun.

I found a book once on a bench in SE London - made my day