Have you ever wondered what to do with those old books you have sitting around on your bookshelf at home? Thought about giving them to a local library, sending them in to a charity shop or church bazaar? Perhaps, you were going to ebay them or even just throw them away? Well stop! Ever thought to swap books with other readers? If you like to read there is a better use you can put them to and it might just save you money into the bargain.

Buying books brand new is not cheap. Sure, you can waste time searching around the internet and probably find a few dollars off the price of a paperback and some pretty good deals on hardbacks but you are still looking at around $4-$5 a book.

Then there’s Ebay or Amazon’s marketplace or any of the used books stores online for some really good deals second hand books…but then you’ve got to pay postage which really hikes those prices up, often to around the price of buying a new book!

You’d think there would be a better way to get your hands on new reading material! Well, guess what? There is!

Used book clubs are revolutionising the way people obtain books online. As a member of one of these free to join book swapping clubs, you’ll be able to swap your old books with millions of other book lovers around the world and pay nothing but postage.

Typically this works out at less than $2 per book, plus you get to free up space on your bookshelf by offloading unwanted books and thus decluttering your life into the process.

Book trading is simple, will probably save you time, will definitely save you money and gives you access to a huge library of book swaps from all over the country and in some cases, the world.

The general principal most of these trading sites work on is this: you list the books you want to get rid of. If someone requests one from your list you send it to them and receive one trading credit for each book you send out. You can then use this trading credit for requesting books for yourself from the millions available. You only pay the postage on the books you send out so it’s a “pay it forward” sort of arrangement.

The really nice thing about book swapping is you are not only going to save money but you are also helping do a little bit for the environment as well. Book trading is effectively recycling by another name. Instead of buying new books and contributing to deforestation, you are recycling already printed books and that can only be a good thing.

So, if you like reading, have surplus books sitting around you’ll never read again and want to use them to get books free for just the cost of postage (and an old book) then book swapping is for you.

So, where can I swap my books online? How about starting with the following great book swap sites:

Paperbackswap - a great place to swap books for US book traders.

BookMooch - the only site I have come across which allows international book swaps. Trade books throughout Europe and the world!

ReadItSwapIt - aimed solely at British readers this UK book swap and exchange web site has tonnes of books read for swapping.