What to do with piles of already read books?

Catfish_Fan

What do you do with your piles of books when you are finished reading them? I'm having a space problem.

Seven full bankers boxes of already read books, I have no idea what to do with. I had a yard sale by the road @ 25 cents per book and made a few dollars, but what genres sold and which books baffled me. I mean, why buy book 2, 4, 5, and 6 of a series and leave book 1, 3, and 7? Mostly fantasy books sold. Mostly hardcovers. I don't really know what to do with the rest, it seems like a waste of time to try to sell them by the side of the road, I don't want to throw them away, and a library donation for a used book sale seems about like throwing them away. (Have you ever been to one of those, in a gymnasium full of books sorted into paperback, hardcover, and cookbook only, with no sorting beyond that? It can be a great place to fill a bag for $5 and spend an afternoon looking at randomly placed books. What do they do with the books at the end of the sale? Dumpster? I can't even justify the drive to the city for that.)

Lately I have been getting e-books online at libraries instead. I am still emptying my library room of books that I read, adding to my piles in the boxes. I'm not getting rid of books that I haven't read yet. My library room is a great, cozy place but seriously I hoarded too many from garage sales and library book sales!

Any ideas?

FitMary202

I've even been turned away by the Goodwill! They don't want the books...
But I understand that some organizations will accept books for prisons: https://libguides.ala.org/book-donations/bookstoprisons Maybe you can find one near you so you could avoid postage? I imagine there are overseas organizations too. Don't give up, in any case!

Btrflydog

Love your library room! I take mine to a used bookstore first - of course then you end up bring new books home. Then it's yard sale or donation. Have you thought of looking into giving to retirement home or hospital?

Catfish_Fan

Btrflydog wrote: »

Love your library room! I take mine to a used bookstore first - of course then you end up bring new books home. Then it's yard sale or donation. Have you thought of looking into giving to retirement home or hospital?

Thanks for the suggestions, @FitMary202 and @Btrflydog. I have not looked into any of those options, maybe the retirement home has a library that would appreciate some of the gently used books? Or the local prison (one isn't far away)?

I have looked into a used book store and there is one in the city located in a retail book shop, but they are looking for strictly genre specific used books (they post the genres that they are accepting) and they will only look at 25 at a time. They offer 30% of what they could sell the books for in trade (in-store credit) and it takes 3-4 days to evaluate your collection, then you have one week to pick up the voucher and any non-accepted books. I did the math and that won't even pay for the gas money to and from the city twice, if they bought a generous TEN out of the 25 books they were looking at. That doesn't work very well for me. I wish there were a better used book store that will accept gently used books, but that is all I can find. Used book stores are a way of the past, at least as far as I can locate around me.

I found some gems on my bookshelf that might be worth money online though. The complete Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan brand new unopened (boxed sets sealed in plastic) should be worth something (I have that set on Kindle). I also have a rare copy of the Hearst Essays by Aldous Huxley that is out of print and selling for $100-$150 used on Amazon. My only problem is finding a buyer since I am not an e-bay seller (been burned there as a seller too many times).

beccaboo1276414

I take mine to the used bookstore too, and whatever they don't buy, I leave at their backdoor for other ppl to have freebies! I get some good freebies that way, too.

Btrflydog

beccaboo1276414 wrote: »

I take mine to the used bookstore too, and whatever they don't buy, I leave at their backdoor for other ppl to have freebies! I get some good freebies that way, too.

I never thought to check the back door Now I'm going to have to do that next trip to the used book store - will be sure to leave something if I take something.

Hanoverlady1

Some places have "little libraries" but they can be hard to track down. Usually set up by private citizens on their yard. It's kind of a "leave a book, take a book" kind of thing. Free. If you see one of those you could leave some books there. Assisted living places sometimes have libraries which rarely have a budget.

Catfish_Fan

I haven't gotten any established relationships with any institutions to know what sorts of books they are looking for to stock a library yet. Many of my books are eclectic in taste (SFF or thrillers and the like) and many are incomplete series as well. I do have a set of Lee Child "Jack Reacher" thrillers mixed between paperbacks and hardcovers (because hardcovers for the earlier books in the series are hard to obtain). I have a smattering of earlier John Grisham that might be appealing, as well as some Michael Crichton (although those two authors are getting dated, I enjoyed them but the books are old). I have a set of Jeff Shaara historical fiction that some lucky person would enjoy. I'm starting to pare down my stacks though and what is left is more like random stuff, maybe more appealing to a Goodwill (and let them sort out the details).

I had a Free Used Book Giveaway on Tuesday by the roadside, impromptu without advertising, and unloaded three large boxes of books on local traffic neighbors. I assume from the reception that they were appreciated by those that came. A bummer on the day was the box that was run over by a hit and run driver, which had to be purposeful as the books were well off the road in the side of the yard. He destroyed 6 old paperbacks and most of the books in the box were untouched, but those 6 books were completely trashed and unsalvageable. I had the twelve boxes in rows sitting on large empty boxes to use as tables, not daring to use actual tables down by the road because they would be stolen. Right away someone stole the large empty table boxes and left all the books! I consider the day to be a success given that I didn't even put signs up by the corners, didn't list on social media or anywhere else. A young lad took very many nice Stephen King books, he had 3 or 4 armload trips to his car with them. I don't care if he sells them or uses them in an outhouse, just as long as I am not responsible for throwing them away, which seems to be such a shameful thing to do to good books.

If I do the Giveaway again I might be more organized next time, put up signs on the corners and in the nearby town. I'd like a nice weekend with no rain or high wind but we haven't had one of those lately. OR maybe I will simply put books out when I have good weather, like I did Tuesday, and see if I can move some more random books. I only need to get rid of a box or two more and then I can donate them to a thrift store, as long as I don't bring in ten boxes all at once and overwhelm them.

Thanks for the great suggestions as to what to do with already read books. It seems that they have less value today than ever, now that e-books are so popular. Even with me I would much rather read an e-book than a large hardcover and I'd rather borrow them electronically from a library so I don't need to own them, I only intend to read them once in most cases.

Btrflydog

I still like the feel of a real book. But sometimes ebooks come in handy- especially waiting somewhere- just open an app on my phone and start reading. Glad you consider it a success. Maybe with some notice you'll get more people who will appreciate them. The used bookstores around here are always packed on the weekends so there are still us old school readers hanging around. I'm in a big city so I have more options for trading them. Good luck rehoming the rest of your books.

Catfish_Fan

My FINAL attempt to get rid of books by the side of the road was today. I put out 10 boxes this time, set up on the truck tailgate and the ground (single layers with the spines facing up, like authors grouped). Almost nobody stopped. I thought maybe holiday weekend traffic and a weekend day might help? It did not. At the end of the day I packed up all the books as many as would fit into each box and I have 5 1/2 boxes to donate to Goodwill. They are packed in the trunk of my car for the next run by Goodwill, with gas being so expensive I am not making a special trip. I think I did poorly for all the effort, but better than nothing. If the cities weren't so far away from me (I live in rural Michigan) I might be unloading these better.

Having a library room is great! This is the downside...

The best news of the day is that the Tigers tied the game on a home run in the bottom of the 9th against the Royals and walked it off on a homer in the next at-bat! Tigers win 4-3! Glad I stuck with that until the end.

FitMary202

Awww, heck. Sorry about the lack of interest, Catfish Fan. There IS a reader out there, the perfect one, if only we could find him. Well, maybe they'll have better luck at the Goodwill...

Catfish_Fan

Chances are that they are not my neighbor, ha ha. Each reader has their own personal taste in books, many people may not be interested in the same genres and authors as me.

I didn't even list on Craigslist, that might have drawn a local crowd, but then again I don't know... out here in the sticks. The road is paved, not dirt, at least, and is across from a golf course, but maybe golfers are not the right crowd to be interested in used books? I know from experience that garage salers are not book lovers, what a waste of time trying to sell them at a garage sale is! I did do better than when I tried to sell them at a garage sale.

I suppose people can scour the Goodwill stores at $1 a book, or has the price risen to $2 or $3 now? I haven't been in there in a long time.

FairryDust

This is a bit of a late comment, but maybe others have run into the same issue.

I used to donate mine to the local public library. Public libraries don't necessarily have a lot of funding, and donations can help them add to shelves, give the books away, or do a book sale to raise additional funds. Unfortunately, the library closest to me stopped taking donations because of COVID, but there is still a free for the taking shelf that people can add to. I've also taken them to "free little libraries." There are some at local parks near me. Checking with a local parks and rec department might be a solution.

Another option is local schools. Librarians and English teachers are book lovers too and are always trying to get more books into their students' hands. They may make donated books available for the taking or add them to classroom or library shelves. Don't forget local colleges as well.

Catfish_Fan

Thanks! I have taken boxes to Goodwill lately just to be rid of them, but currently have FIVE boxes waiting to do something with again though so your suggestions are appreciated.

Btrflydog

Great suggestions @FairryDust - I will keep them in mind when I clear my shelves again.

PinUpGirlAtHeart

Put them on bookshelves, then buy more bookshelves, and repeat. I'm a rereader, so I definitely keep my books.

FitMary202

Just had a discussion yesterday about the "need" to buy more bookshelves!

Catfish_Fan

FitMary202 wrote: »

Just had a discussion yesterday about the "need" to buy more bookshelves!

I have seven bookshelves, but I culled enough books that one could be empty and removed if I wanted. Books are somewhat sorted by genre, so none are completely empty at this point. I used to have overflow media shelving holding books too at one time. Those are gone.

I am attempting to remove books, such as Grisham and King, that I have already read, or remove them as I read them. No need to store books that I am not going to read again, I'll just have to move them to a new house or apartment someday.

A few authors I collect. Tad Williams, Terry Brooks, Robin Hobb. I won't ever part with those collections. The rest can go as I get finished with them, which is the original problem. Which reminds me to mix in physical books with my e-book reads, so I can get rid of more. I currently have 3 large boxes ready to go again.

I wish Better World Books nearest drop box were not 110 miles away! There was one 15 miles away in 2015 that I used heavily the last time I moved, but I suspect some bad person or people dumped garbage in the bin and it was removed.

FitMary202

@Catfish_Fan, are you near one or more of those "little libraries" people build? Our hospital has one in front of it, and there are several in various neighborhoods around town. Maybe leaving a few books here and there would be a way to rehome some of the ones you don't need?

Catfish_Fan

Oh, I wish! I live in a pretty rural area and about 40 minutes from any proper city (a bit closer to some suburbs). Some of the closer towns might have something like that but nothing around me. The local hardware store in the village had one of these but the store closed due to lack of business (I think).

I have been donating boxes one or two at a time to Goodwill in a nearby town when I go to get groceries sometimes, but I don't feel that is a good use or very worthwhile (as I am not sure I agree with the business model, or hiring model of paying people with disabilities less than minimum wages), it is just a way to avoid throwing them away.

I sold my Wheel of Time boxed sets through my sister's Poshmark account because I have the entirety on my kindle in one file; I did make some money off that sale, enough to purchase nice Bluetooth headphones to use for audiobooks.