As an avid book reader it occurred to me the other day that I am too picky with what I read. I thought about it and had an idea about it, what there existed a service where every month you would receive a random pre-loved book for you to read. The book would be from a variety of genres but you could list what you prefer? Would other people be interested in something like this and how much would you be willing to pay?
A Subscription for Pre-Loved Books, Would You Be Interested?
LFlyinBanana on 26/08/2015 - 16:04
Comments
All you can read ebooks onKindle Unlimited
And also Scribd does it for $8.99 USD a month.
I know paper books are fundamentally different from eBooks, but for ardent book readers as opposed to book collectors the choice of a ebook subscription makes more sense. I used to collect books and still have a massive collection but they require far too much space.
Aren't both the unlimited ebook services quite limited in titles?
I have so far found every book I wanted, then again my reading list is not exactly varied.
There's the option of a free trial on both services, so you can trial them for 14 days to a month and see if their selection of titles suits you.
I toyed with just this idea a few years ago. I concluded:
- you would need to work out economical shipping. If you limited it to books under 20mm thick it could go as a letter.
- you would need to have some sort of quality filter on the books. There is an unlimited amount of dross in the charity shelves.I concluded a good way to do it would be to limit it to Penguin classics. They are all 'classics' to address the quality, and most seem to be in a compact edition which is good to mail. I reckon people might pay $10 a month. I was also thinking a bit like netflix, that they could return the book and get another anytime included in the price. Fast readers might go through 2 or 3 a month, slower readers one or two.
PM me if you want to discuss further.
I am a big fan of Bookmooch and would prefer to use something like that rather than a service that would provide me with books not of my own choosing.
Good on you for thinking outside of the square, I hope there are others that are keen.
library or op shop for books.
Often I'm too picky when choosing books and that limits what I may be exposed to. so now sometimes I pick up random fiction to experience new stuff/writing styles.
Just finished Alan Booth - The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan. This Englishman started at the top of Hokkaido (most northern point of Japan) and walked to the southern most point of "mainland" Japan -called Sata (which was where sata hdd connectivity was developed. awesome book by a guy with a very sullen but honest writing style, combined with a dry wit.
read his other book - Looking for the Lost, (also about long distance walking in Japan) 11 years whilst living in Japan but ran out of time to put into practise what he had done. something to savour once the kids are out of home and I can buggar off back to Japan for 6 months.
alan booth - bought both books from a UK shop via abebooks for $15 delivered.
Shipping would kill this idea. I suggest you go down the Op shop and just pick something off the shelf. Usually costs $3-$4 per book and then you just donate them back. Otherwise check out if you have a book swap in your area.