SITES ON BOOK SWAPPING There’s more than one way to trade online. Here are details on PaperBackSwap and similar sites:

BookCrossing.com

Users: More than 730,000 Books registered: About 5.3 million Cost: Free Just books? Yes Notes: Works not through trades between members, but by users “releasing” books into the “wild” in public places (park benches, coffee shops). Those who find the books register their finds on the site, tracking their progress around the world.

Bookins

Users: More than 30,000 Books available: More than 512,000 Cost: $4.49 to receive a book; sender’s postage provided. Just books? No, you can give and receive DVDs, too. Notes: The site coordinates transactions and handles any follow-up, so users don’t have to deal with other members directly.

BookMooch

Users: About 25,000 active users Books available: About 52,000 Cost: Sender pays postage. Just books? Yes Notes: Operates internationally, unlike most swapping sites.

Novel Action

Users: Company doesn’t disclose this information. Books available: About 7,000 Cost: $25 a year plus postage Just books? Yes Notes: Good for bulk readers. Pick out an entire box of books at a time, and then ship back an equal number of quality books.

PaperBackSwap

Users: “Tens of thousands,” according to co-founder Richard Pickering, with 10,000 logging in on any given day. Books available: More than 2.7 million Cost: Sender pays postage. Just books? Yes, but points can be traded to sister sites SwapaCD and SwapaDVD. Notes: The biggest book-trading site on the Internet recently had titles by Jodi Picoult and T.S. Eliot.

Source: Washington Post