Another reason to mooch books at BookMooch!

We wanted to remind you of our partnership with BookMooch, a great book-swapping community, with a simple and user-friendly point system, where every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch.

With more than 74,000 members from over 90 countries and about 500,000 book titles that are available, there's always a good book you can mooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. And yes, it's totally free. You only pay for mailing your books.

BookMooch and Eco-Libris are partnering to offer Green Mooching - a special bonus for bookmoochers who balance out their books: For every 10 books you balance out with Eco-Libris, you will receive one bookmooch point you can then use at BookMooch to mooch a book online for free (and If you don't have a BookMooch account yet go get one right now :)

The process is very simple – Email us your BookMooch username after you make a purchase on Eco-Libris website, or enter your BookMooch username in the comments box during the payment process. We will credit your BookMooch account accordingly.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

How about some green bookmooching?

We wanted to remind you of our partnership with BookMooch, a great book-swapping community, with a simple and user-friendly points system, where every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch.

With more than 74,000 members from over 90 countires and about 500,000 book titles that are available, there's always a good book you can mooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. And yes, it's totally free. You only pay for mailing your books.

BookMooch and Eco-Libris are partnering to offer Green Mooching, a special incentive for BookMoochers to balance out their books, and to Eco-Libris fans to start mooching some books.

So what's the incentive? For every 10 books you balance out with Eco-Libris you will receive one BookMooch point you can then use to mooch a book online for free. If you don't have a BookMooch account yet go get one :)

The process is very simple – Email us your BookMooch username after you make a purchase on Eco-Libris, or enter your BookMooch username in the comments box during the payment process. We will credit your BookMooch account accordingly.

And while you're visiting our website, don't forget to check our green gift giveaway, where you can also get free "green" books and gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim for balancing out 25 books or more.

Yours,

How you combine free book swapping with generating more income to authors? "Mooch Before You Buy" may be the answer!

Our friends at BookMooch are conducting a very interesting experience that could generate a new model into the book world.

The concept behind the new "Mooch Before You Buy" program is actually very simple as John Buckman, the founder of BookMooch, explains on BookMooch blog:

"An author freely gives away copies of their book through BookMooch. Once you’ve read the book, if you:

* didn’t like it: relist it on BookMooch and send it to someone else.

* liked it, but want to give it away: consider a small donation to thank the author.

* want to keep it: give the author a larger gift, about the price you’d pay for the book new in a bookstore. "

The goal Buckman explains is to encourage authors to publish books in this “Mooch Economy”, as an alternative to the traditional publishing industry route.

I think this can be a great win-win model, adding another important layer to the swapping system - compensation of authors, who so far didn't receive any proceeds after the first sale of the book, no matter how many times their book was swapped and read afterwards. We had the chance to learn a little bit about this issue from a guest post we had on our blog of author Justine Locke who addresses a similar problem with sales of used books.

In all swapping provides many other indirect benefits for authors such as exposure to new readers, which will be translated in some cases to reviews on Amazon and in other cases to purchases of other books of the author when the reader wants to read more of the author's work. But again I'm sure some authors would still find it unsatisfying in terms of compensation for their hard work, and that's the missing part this new model can provide.

We're living in a digital era, where free content becomes more and more popular, or as Chris Anderson, the author of the upcoming book "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" defined it:"In the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all". We see creators constantly looking for new models that adopt to these changes and still provide them with fair compensation for their work.

Taking that in mind, it will be interesting to follow the BookMooch new model and see how well it manages to make both readers and authors happy. We hope it will generate great success because as we said before the concept of book swapping is very eco-friendly, making the most out of every printed copy, and hence communities such as BookMooch are a great example of sustainable reading.

The first book on the "Mooch Before You Buy" program is “A Cat May Look at a King“ of author and moocher Ramsay Wood, who had provided BookMooch with 32 new copies of his book. “A Cat May Look at a King“ is a beautifully full color illustrated set of ancient stories featuring cats, retold by Ramsay.

And last but not least, I would like to mention our ongoing partnership with BookMooch to offer Green Mooching, a special incentive to BookMoochers to balance out their books, and to Eco-Libris fans to start mooching some books. For every 10 books you balance out you will receive a free BookMooch point you can then use to mooch a book online for free.

So if you don't have a BookMooch account yet go get one :)

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Did you mooch some books on 2009 already?

BookMooch is a very cool book-swapping community and a dear partner, so a new year is a good excuse (not that we need one) to remind you of our collaboration with them and how you can benefit from it!

BookMooch is based on a very simple and user-friendly points system, where every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch.

With more than 74,000 members from all over the world and 500,000 available book titles, there's always a good book you can mooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. And yes, it's totally free. You only pay for mailing your books.

BookMooch and Eco-Libris have partnered last year to offer Green Mooching, a special incentive to BookMoochers to balance out their books, and to Eco-Libris fans to start mooching some books.

For every 10 books you balance out you will receive a free BookMooch point you can then use to mooch a book online for free. If you don't have a BookMooch account yet go get one :)

The process is very simple – email us your BookMooch username after you make a purchase on Eco-Libris, or enter your BookMooch username in the comments box during the payment process. We will credit your BookMooch account accordingly.

As we wrote here before, we believe that book swapping is a great concept: you can find books you are looking for at no cost, give books you want others to enjoy and of course benefit the environment. It's very similar to the concept of a library - maximizing the usage of every printed book minimizes the need to print new ones and saves many trees from being cut down.

Don't get me wrong - we don't want people to stop buying new books, but as long as books are printed mostly from virgin paper, we would like to see maximum usage for each printed copy. Therefore, we support the concept of book swapping and communities such as BookMooch.

No only that - from some data gathered it appears that the free swapping actually stimulate new book sales, as well as bring more people to read more books, so all in all it's this model is also beneficial for the book industry as well. You actually don't need this data to get to this conclusion with the growing free content that is provided by authors and publishers online to promote their books' sales.

For more information please check BookMooch website - www.bookmooch.com

Enjoy your mooching,

Raz@ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Mooch a Green Book - More Earth Day Giveaways!

Just to remind you, Earth Day is around the corner, coming up this Tuesday, April 22! For the last few days, Eco-Libris, BookMooch.com and several of our fabulous partners and friends in the world of books, have teamed up to give away, recycle and promote a bundle of wonderful green books.

How does that work?

Every day we are publicizing and making available five (5) free copies of a new green-related book on the BookMooch.com online book swapping community. Each of these copies will be balanced out by Eco-Libris - one tree will be planted for each copy, which will also come with our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying 'One tree planted for this book'.

These are the books given away so far:

Saturday’s book is “Growing Toward Balance: Achievable Ideas for Bringing Harmony to Your Mind, Body, and Spirit”, by Mary Kearns.

The publisher has made 5 copies available. Those will go quickly, so please put this book on your wishlist, so you can get it after someone else is done with it:

Direct links:

Book detail page

Add this book to your wishlist

Amazon info page

Please leave comments on the Amazon info page for this book once you read the book. You can also buy a copy from Amazon, if you’d rather not pass the book onto someone else after mooching it.

Friday’s book is “Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet”, by Norma Lehmeier-Hartie.

The publisher has made 5 copies available. Those will go quickly, so please put this book on your wishlist, so you can get it after someone else is done with it:

Direct links:

Book detail page

Add this book to your wishlist

Amazon info page

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Thursday has two books is “A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids (Understanding Climate Change and What You Can Do About It)”, by Julie Hall, and “Here, There, and Everywhere” by Mira Tweti.

The publisher has made 5 copies available of each. Those will go quickly, so please put this book on your wishlist, so you can get it after someone else is done with it:

Direct links for “A Hot Planet…”

Book detail page

Add this book to your wishlist

Amazon info page

and for “Here, There, and Everywhere”

Book detail page

Add this book to your wishlist

Amazon info page

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Wednesday’s book is “The Ovum Facto”, by Marvin L. Zimmerman.

The publisher has made 5 copies available. Those will go quickly, so please put this book on your wishlist, so you can get it after someone else is done with it:

Direct links:

Book detail page

Mooch this book

Add this book to your wishlist

Amazon info page

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Tuesday’s book is When “Santa Turned Green”, by Victoria Perla (Author), Mirna Kantarevic (Illustrator).

The publisher has made 5 copies available. Those will go quickly, so please put this book on your wishlist, so you can get it after someone else is done with it:

Direct links:

Book detail page

Mooch this book

Add this book to your wishlist

Amazon info page

Please leave comments on the Amazon info page for this book once you read the book. You can also buy a copy from Amazon, if you’d rather not pass the book onto someone else after mooching it.

Mooch a Green Book - Wednesday's Book

Today's green book giveaway is The Ovum Factor, an eco-thriller by Marvin L. Zimmerman

This is part of our special Earth Day celebration with BookMooch.com and some of our fabulous partners and friends in the world of books.

How does that work?

Every day until Earth Day, we will publicize, and make available five (5) free copies of a new green-related book or two on the BookMooch.com online book swapping community. Each of these copies will be balanced out by Eco-Libris - one tree will be planted for each copy, which will also come with our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying 'One tree planted for this book'.

All you need to do is join BookMooch and add The Ovum Factor on your wishlist. Once a copy becomes available you will be able to receive it from another user.

Direct links:

Book detail page

Mooch this book

Add this book to your wishlist

Amazon info page

Here is a short description of the book:

David Rose, a young investment banker from New York, becomes swept up in a whirlwind of international espionage, assassination, and sabotage. David finds himself on a journey that takes him to the unexplored depths of the Amazon in order to fulfill two ancient prophecies for saving mankind and at the same time to realize his own destiny. “

Yours,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris
Plant a Tree for Every Book you Read!

Mooch a Green Book - an Earth Day Giveaway

Earth Day is just around the corner, coming up on April 22, and it's going to be a merry season indeed for everything green! Eco-Libris, BookMooch.com and some of our fabulous partners and friends in the world of books, have teamed up to give away, recycle and promote a bundle of wonderful green books.

How does that work?

Every day from now until Earth Day, we will publicize, and make available five (5) free copies of a new green-related book on the BookMooch.com online book swapping community. Each of these copies will be balanced out by Eco-Libris - one tree will be planted for each copy, which will also come with our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying 'One tree planted for this book'.

We've mentioned BookMooch in the past, and been working for a while now together in promoting the ideas of book recycling and tree planting to book lovers. In order to be able to accept the generosity of these authors and publishers you will need to have an account on BookMooch.com.

So what can you do to show your support for this generosity? Here are some ideas John Buckman of Bookmooch already suggested on his blog. We will also add a few of our own.

1) Mooch the book, read it, and then pass it on to someone else by re-listing it on BookMooch. This is about reuse, and the power of book trading to lessen the number of trees felled to reach an audience.

2) Leave your comments, reviews, ie on the BookMooch page for each book, but also on each book’s amazon page. That’ll help the publisher sell more copies, and help them see that helping book trading and being green can help their goals too

3) Blog, blog, blog about the book, the publisher’s gift, and give your encouragement of this

4) Mention book trading to your friends both in person, and in the online forums you participate in

5) Mention Eco-Libris to your friends and make a point of discussing responsible use of wood, paper, and recycling this Earth Day season, and beyond.

6) Plant trees for your books.

Today’s book is When “Santa Turned Green”, by Victoria Perla (Author), Mirna Kantarevic (Illustrator).

It’s November up in the North Pole. Everything’s going along smoothly at Santa’s workshop until he discovers a leak in his roof. Santa soon learns that this little leak is connected to a far bigger problem. The North Pole is melting because of something called global warming! Faced with the reality of what this could mean for Christmas, not to mention the planet and the future, Santa is determined to turn things around. To do so, he calls upon the people he knows better than any other–the children. Much to Santa’s joy, they respond in a way that makes all the difference…in the world.

Direct links:

• Book detail page

• Mooch this book

• Add this book to your wishlist

• Amazon info page

Please leave comments on the Amazon info page for this book once you read the book. You can also buy a copy from Amazon, if you’d rather not pass the book onto someone else after mooching it.

Yours,
Eylon @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

Green Mooching! Eco-Libris is partnering with BookMooch

I wrote almost 3 months ago about BookMooch, an online community for book swapping. Back then I was very excited to learn about it from an article I read on the NYT. Now, I’m even more excited to announce a new partnership between Eco-Libris and BookMooch!

BookMooch is a very cool book-swapping community, created by John Buckman with a simple and user-friendly points system, where 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. And yes, it's totally free. You only pay for mailing your books.

Now BookMooch and Eco-Libris are partnering to offer the BookMooch community (with its more than 500,000 members from all over the world) a special green option to earn points.

Starting today, BookMooch members can earn points by planting trees with Eco-Libris. All you need to do is to choose the number of books you want to balance out by planting trees. For every 10 books balanced out you will receive a free BookMooch point you can then use to mooch a book online for free. If you don't have a BookMooch account yet go get one :)

The process is very simple – Email us your BookMooch username after you make a purchase on Eco-Libris, or enter your BookMooch username in the comments box during the payment process. We will credit your BookMooch account accordingly.

As I wrote earlier, book swapping is a great concept: you can find books you are looking for at no cost, give books you want others to enjoy and of course benefit the environment. It's the same idea of a library - maximizing the usage of every printed book minimizes the need to print new ones and saves many trees from being cut down.

Don't get me wrong - we don't want people to stop buying new books, but as long as books are printed mostly from virgin paper, we would like to see maximum usage for each printed copy. Therefore, we support the concept of book swapping and communities such as BookMooch.

We also got into it - Eylon Israely of Eco-Libris is a BookMooch member for a couple of months and has already sent about 30 books so far. And of course each book you will mooch from him is also balanced out with our sticker on it!

So check out BookMooch blog for more details and start mooching books and gaining points with us. You will be able to receive great books from fellow members with these points and will benefit the environment at the same time. Is there anything better than that?

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

Mooching books has never been easier

The source of today's post is again the New York Times, where I find new treasures every day. This time it's BookMooch, an online community for exchanging used books.

Joanne Kaufman wrote last Monday on the NYT ('Clear the Bookshelf and Fill It Up Again, All Online') about BookMooch, " a book-swapping Web site created a year and a half ago by John Buckman, a bibliophile who describes himself as a “wealthy ex-dot-com person.”"

The concept is very simple - BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want. Buckman created a system based on points, where according to the site "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." And yes, it's totally free.

Book swapping is a great concept: you can find books you are looking for at no cost, give books you want others to enjoy and of course benefit the environment. It's the same idea as with library - maximizing the usage of every printed book minimizes the need to print new ones and saves many trees from being cut down.

Don't get me wrong - we don't want people to stop buying new books, but as long as books are printed mostly from virgin paper, we would like to see maximum usage for each printed copy. Therefore, we think the concept of book swapping is definitely a way to green up on your reading and make it more sustainable.

BookMooch is not the only book swapping website (The list includes also SwapTree.com, TitleTrader.com, SF-Books.com, tbxn.com for textbooks and others), but what differentiates BookMooch from the others is according to Buckman " its neighborly feel. “If someone has been especially nice, very explicit about the condition of the books they’ve sent out, you can give them a ‘smooch,’ which is an anonymous thank-you gift of one of your points,” he said. Members can also donate their points to selected charities — New Orleans libraries, for example, which are restocking their shelves in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.""

BookMooch looks like a great website, we recommend to check it out. I haven't used it yet, but I intend to do so in the near future. I won't be there alone it has already 40,000 members around the world and according to Buckman, who by the way runs BookMooch by himself, 300 new people are joining every day. Participants The “library” has some 750,000 titles, and Buckman estimates it will hit one million by the end of December.

Enjoy BookMooch,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!