Has anyone heard of BookSwim? It is billing itself as the Netflix for books. You pay a monthly membership fee and depending on your level of membership, you get three or more books a month.
I hadn’t heard of them until I read a Cnet news review about them. The review is mostly favorable but then the reviewer is not a subscriber either and only got the information from the BookSwim website by the sound of it.
BookSwim is aiming for avid readers. My first thought, however, was why not just go to the library? They have a FAQ page where they address this by saying that they support and encourage library use but they offer a supplement for readers who like to read the new and popular books and don’t want to be on a long waiting list. They also say they have no late fees (um this is called a fine at the library not a late fee and if I am paying close to $10 a month to rent three books I am certainly not paying anywhere near that much for library fines). Convenience is also on offer because you don’t even have to leave your house. My library is less than ten minutes away by bike and I love going there even if it is only to pick up a book on hold.
They make environmental claims too about saving trees by not buying books. Their shipping bags are recycled plastic. Recycled plastic is better than fresh plastic, but to me there is no good plastic. Oh, and by using BookSwim you are saving gas by not constantly driving to the library or bookstore. I don’t know about you but I don’t constantly drive anywhere. And I wonder how a comparison of driving to the library would look next to shipping books in planes, not to mention that my mail carrier drives to my street to deliver the mail. The post office happens to be across the street from the library. I wonder if I can bribe my mail carrier to bring me my library books?
Obviously I am not the customer BookSwim is looking for. I imagine for people who live in rural or even semi-rural areas this might be a good deal. As for me, I’ll stick with the ten minute bike ride to the library.
I’ll stick w/my library too although it does sound as if it might be good for those without a decent one around them.
Hmm, my first thought was “Cool!” My second thought was, exactly like yours, “Isn’t that what the library is for?” Sounds kind of silly. But yet still intriguing.
Since I can walk to my library, I’m not the ideal customer for this service either. I wouldn’t pay to rent books — ever. I’ll be curious to see how this venture works.
My first thought was also to wonder why people wouldn’t prefer going to a library. I guess it might work for far-flung rural souls, or people without a library in the vicinity. But still, you can get quite a few books cheap online, at sales, secondhand and so on these days. Well, no way would I do this myself but I guess time will tell whether the business makes it.
This is a similar business model to the dvds-by-post trend that is quite popular here in the UK. I have to say I found that quite weird – is it really such a hassle to trot down the road to the film shop? This is much odder and not a little sinister, undermining the library service. Sadly there’s a lot of talk about shutting libraries at the moment, just when people really need free access to books.
I was at a bookclub the other day and was surprised that I was the only one who’d thought of getting the books from the library!
See I don’t have a local Blockbusters near me so I have thought about joining Love Film (but I also don’t have a post office that opens when I’m not at work so returning the films becomes a hassle). But everyone has a local library don’t they?
Great point about it being good for people in rural areas. I grew up in one and yes, they was a “local” library….a 30 minute drive away and with a limited budget and selection. Where I live now I’d never use this service (you know, assuming it was available in Canada…last time I checked it wasn’t) but if I still lived where I grew up? Heck yes.
A prolific blogger was using something like this and I couldn’t figure out why…until I learned she lived in a very rural area.
I also love my library. I go there just to go there. Even if I don’t have a book. Sometimes I don’t even check anything out. I just go to the library.
I too, thought immediately of using the library. Isn’t this the same thing? And if you’re in a city you’re already paying to use your library through your municipal taxes; why pay more per month to a company which duplicates this service? I can’t imagine I would ever use this company myself.
Eh, if the only businesses that existed were the ones I personally had reason to patronize, I’m sure there would be a lot of other people up the creek. If one lived in a place with poor library & retail coverage (like many rural areas, as has been mentioned)…or had mobility issues but a healthy appetite for the latest bestsellers…
If it serves a function for enough people to keep them in business, why not? The rest is just marketing, and there’s no such thing as marketing that can’t be mocked.
(I laughed at asking the letter carrier to deliver your library books…my post office is next door to my favorite Thai restaurant, so I wonder if we could make an arrangement…)
I’m not entirely sure this is a niche that needs filling, but you never know. If it works, I wish them well. I would still far prefer to patronize my local library, so I guess I’m not really their ideal customer either.
I’m a big fan of new ideas for getting books around, and getting things to your home easily. I love my DVD club membership, as I just add what I want to the list, and have a surprise when a title I wanted comes through the door. Also no risk of late fees, or having to return the DVD when I haven’t had a chance to get it yet.
However I don’t want this with books. As you say the library is for that. And it’s free free free. I went to mine the other day and it’s an event in itself, the atmosphere, the browsing, you always find more than you went for. Surely one of the greatest innovations of all time. So what if I have to wait a while for new out books, I think waiting is good, it increases the anticipation, and allows for a cooling off period by which time the hype and the reviews have faded and you know whether you really do still want to read it or not.
It definitely sounds like an expensive duplicate library service. And, by the way, in some places (not where I live now), libraries actually offer delivery (which is, of course, free).