BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books.
BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for
books you really want.
* Give & receive: Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point
and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you've
read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for
someone else, as you wish.
* No cost: there is no cost to join or use this web site: your only
cost is mailing your books to others.
* Points for entering books: you receive a tenth-of-a-point for every
book you type into our system, and one point each time you give a book
away. In order to keep receiving books, you need to give away at least
one book for every two you receive.
* Help charities: you can also give your points to charities we work
with, such as children's hospitals (so a sick kid can get a free book
delivered to their bed), Library fund, African literacy, or to us to
thank us for running this web site <grin>.
* World wide: You can request books from other countries, in other
languages. You receive 3 points when you send a book out of your
country, to help compensate you for the greater mailing cost, and it
costs the moocher 3 points to get the book. John Buckman, who runs
BookMooch, has lived in California, England, France and Germany, and was
frustrated by the vast number of books that were printed in just one
country and not available in the other countries (for example, many
books are published in Britain and never made available in America).
* Wishlist: you can keep a "book wish list" that will automatically
arrive to you when you have the points and/or the book becomes available
in our catalog.
* Feedback score: each time you receive a book, you can leave feedback
with the sender, just like how eBay does it. If you keep your feedback
score up, people are most likely to help you out when you ask for a
book.
* How we pay our bills: We tap into Amazon's book database, and if you
follow an Amazon link from our web site, we receive a commission from
Amazon if you buy that book instead of getting it free from BookMooch.
* Why "Mooch"?: dictionary.co.uk defines "mooch" as: "to obtain
something without paying for it, or to borrow something without
intending to return it" as in "You're old enough to get a job and stop
mooching off your family." And so, the word fits this project: BookMooch
is a way to get books without paying, and without any intention of
returning the book. This is the American definition of "mooch" and one
of two British definitions. The other British definition is "to walk or
act slowly and without much purpose" as in "Stop mooching about in your
room and do something useful!" which isn't an entirely appropriate
definition for this web site, but it is funny so we'll just live with
it.
* Why create this?: if you're passionate about books, you know how
emotionally difficult it is to throw a book away, even if you will never
read it again. You want to find a good home for your books, have them
find someone who appreciates them. Also, you may be interested in trying
a lot of books out, and keep the ones that are great. It's a great crime
to have a book disappear, out of print, for none to read. BookMooch
keeps books in circulation, and finds new readers for them. If you're
not interested in getting free books, you can donate to charities, the
points you gain by giving your books away.
* Who are we? BookMooch is conceived, designed, written and
administered by John Buckman.
For more details: http://bookmooch.com
BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for
books you really want.
* Give & receive: Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point
and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you've
read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for
someone else, as you wish.
* No cost: there is no cost to join or use this web site: your only
cost is mailing your books to others.
* Points for entering books: you receive a tenth-of-a-point for every
book you type into our system, and one point each time you give a book
away. In order to keep receiving books, you need to give away at least
one book for every two you receive.
* Help charities: you can also give your points to charities we work
with, such as children's hospitals (so a sick kid can get a free book
delivered to their bed), Library fund, African literacy, or to us to
thank us for running this web site <grin>.
* World wide: You can request books from other countries, in other
languages. You receive 3 points when you send a book out of your
country, to help compensate you for the greater mailing cost, and it
costs the moocher 3 points to get the book. John Buckman, who runs
BookMooch, has lived in California, England, France and Germany, and was
frustrated by the vast number of books that were printed in just one
country and not available in the other countries (for example, many
books are published in Britain and never made available in America).
* Wishlist: you can keep a "book wish list" that will automatically
arrive to you when you have the points and/or the book becomes available
in our catalog.
* Feedback score: each time you receive a book, you can leave feedback
with the sender, just like how eBay does it. If you keep your feedback
score up, people are most likely to help you out when you ask for a
book.
* How we pay our bills: We tap into Amazon's book database, and if you
follow an Amazon link from our web site, we receive a commission from
Amazon if you buy that book instead of getting it free from BookMooch.
* Why "Mooch"?: dictionary.co.uk defines "mooch" as: "to obtain
something without paying for it, or to borrow something without
intending to return it" as in "You're old enough to get a job and stop
mooching off your family." And so, the word fits this project: BookMooch
is a way to get books without paying, and without any intention of
returning the book. This is the American definition of "mooch" and one
of two British definitions. The other British definition is "to walk or
act slowly and without much purpose" as in "Stop mooching about in your
room and do something useful!" which isn't an entirely appropriate
definition for this web site, but it is funny so we'll just live with
it.
* Why create this?: if you're passionate about books, you know how
emotionally difficult it is to throw a book away, even if you will never
read it again. You want to find a good home for your books, have them
find someone who appreciates them. Also, you may be interested in trying
a lot of books out, and keep the ones that are great. It's a great crime
to have a book disappear, out of print, for none to read. BookMooch
keeps books in circulation, and finds new readers for them. If you're
not interested in getting free books, you can donate to charities, the
points you gain by giving your books away.
* Who are we? BookMooch is conceived, designed, written and
administered by John Buckman.
For more details: http://bookmooch.com
