Write Stuff

Bookcrossing on-air

I'm not sure why the idea of BookCrossing came into my head. I'd heard about the idea well over a year ago when a TV programme investigated books being left on park benches in Manchester. But something spurred me on at the beginning of August and I started my quest to become one of Shropshire's BCers.

It took a little while to find the BookCrossing website, but after half an hour of playing on search engines I finally came across what seemed to be the official site.  It's been three weeks since my first foray into the world of BCing… this is my story.

The first thing that struck me is that the whole thing is free – sure you can buy official supplies if you want to – but you don't have to… all it costs is a little bit of your time and effort. It took a little while to get my head around the idea and the logistics of how to pass on my books to absolute strangers, but the more I read the more excited I became.

The thought of all those books that have been sitting languishing on my shelves being read by other people who I don't know (and will probably never meet) seemed perfect!

So I went to my shelves and the first book I came across was “Lucky” by Alice Sebold.  The book itself is quite harrowing, but still a really good read.  It's the kind of book I enjoyed once, but it's unlikely I'd ever pick it up again. So I dutifully popped it into my bag to register it (and myself) at work the next day.

Registering was easy enough. I came up with a screen name (one of the major things about BookCrossing is that it's completely anonymous if you want it to be), and put in the bare minimum of detail and hey presto – the 'Laneycakes' bookshelf was born.

I duly registered Lucky and was then given a BCID (Book Crossing Identification number) which I wrote on my newly printed out label which I downloaded from the website and that was that - first book registered.

The next decision was where to release my book. I thought through the places that people might have time to stop and pick up a book… Places like a park bench, perhaps a bus stop, or maybe the doctor's waiting room. But in the end I chose a café – one of my personal favourites in the centre of Shrewsbury. 

Now came the task of inputting the release notes of where and when I would set my book free. This bit at first was a little confusing because there are several stages (after all BookCrossing is a worldwide phenomenon!) but I soon got the hang of it. Within about 10 minutes I was sorted – my book would be released that very afternoon.

But how would people know that my book was a BookCrossing book? From the outside it looked normal – no clues to how special it was. That's where my bright pink post-it notes came in – I got a big black pen and wrote "Free Book! Look Inside my front cover" – on it and stuck it to the front of the book.

So time to let go. I met up with a friend and had a scrummy hot chocolate while we chatted, and before we left I popped the book down on the table, pink post-it glaring away and said bye bye.

Over the next few days I kept adding more books and got friends to drop some off in exotic places, as well as dropping off another couple myself. I regularly checked my emails and the website to see if any had been picked up. But every day I faced an empty inbox.

That was until just over a week later when out of the blue I got my first 'catch' - someone registering that they'd picked up one of my original books. 

Lucky had been picked up and someone by the screen name of JNana had journaled her discovery of the book on the website!  Trying to explain the feeling of getting that first catch is almost impossible. I was absolutely chuffed, and the size of my grin was… well let's just say ear to ear!! 

It's amazing to think a book that you've invested your time reading (and hopefully enjoyed) has been picked up by a complete stranger who's now reading it and journaling it before releasing it again. Just think in six months time my copy of Lucky could be on the other side of the world!

Elaine with a Bookcrossing book

Then of course came the Mid Morning show. We intended to do a 45 minute feature, but the response was so huge we decided to continue!  We had an interview with one of the co-founders of BookCrossing Heather Pedersen, a conversation with popular author Neil Gaiman, as well as the society of authors – and the star himself Steve Lucas – one of the UK’s most prolific and popular BookCrossers. 

Emails flew in from across the country and the world not to mention the phones calls – including one from JNana herself!  I was shocked but it was brilliant to know that the person who'd picked up my book was listening and enjoying the programme. Both Jim Hawkins and I had lots of personal messages offering us books and help from BookCrossers who'd heard the show or listened again via this website.

There were also the people who'd heard the programme in areas around the county and had felt inspired enough to give it a go themselves.

Since the programme was broadcast I've had a second catch, and believe me the feeling of getting a catch is still just as fab second time around!

BookCrossing has been such a success here that we've even launched Shropshire's first official bookcrossing zone or OBCZ.  It's here in our reception area and I'll be making sure it's always stocked with new or well travelled books!

I've loved my first experiences of BookCrossing and I've already made so many new friends. I can't wait to meet them at the first Shropshire BookCrossing meet-up!