erin!balser

Thanks to Descant, I recently discovered an online service called Book Mooch, where people all around the world can trade and share books.

All you do is sign up, type in the books you want to give away. Once they are given away, you receive a “point” which allows you to mooch a book you’ve been wanting to read off someone else. Read it and then keep it forever or return it to the mooching pile for someone else to enjoy.

It’s great way to meet fellow book lovers around the world, find that elusive out-of-print book you’ve been dying to read and to dispose of books you no longer need or want in a way thats helpful! It even has a handy Wish List feature, allowing you to acquire the books you’ve been dying to read.

Check it out for yourself here.

In defense of (or in solidarity with) his Wired editor, Leander Kahney is giving away his two books, Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod for free as downloads.

Bill Pollock of No Starch Press has some interesting things to say about this project here.

“I think there’s something to this and logic tells me that if we increase the visibility of our titles, we’ll sell more books,” Pollock writes.

I can’t help but wonder how much the genre of the books–non-fiction books about technology–will not only affect downloads, but also affect perception of this project and actual book titles. Getting your title out there is always a good thing. But will a book about Apple Inc. by Leander Kahney (who is awesome, by the way) be treated the same way by consumers as, say, the latest literary fiction by Margaret Atwood? I highly doubt it. While technology will play a huge factor in how publishers reach audiences, these avenues will become narrower and more streamlined. A good thing for readers but a more complicated thing for publishers.

You can download the books for yourself here.