Bookcrossing – the ‘karma of literature’

Australia’s biggest ‘book release’ in one day Sat. 21 October 06

Leah of www.byokids.com.au tells she was on 7 Sunrise with Mel and Kochie last Monday promoting the Bookcrossing record breaking attempt, which she is coordinating.

“Its free, fun and educational, you just participate in your local area,” says Leah.

What IS bookcrossing?
Bookcrossing came to life in 2001 when Ron Hornbaker had an intriguing idea. It was to release books into the wild and track their progress. He decided the lives that books touched were fascinating, and that setting books free was more fulfilling than hoarding them on a shelf somewhere.

He started a website called www.bookcrossing.com to register and trackbookcrossing every book released. His concept to turn the world into one enormous library has been embraced. The idea is to read books, enjoy them and put them back out into the world for others to enjoy.

The site currently has over 3 million books registered. It is easy to join in, just dust off those old books, log on, register, write the BCID inside the front cover, and then just lose it.

You may want to pass it on to a friend, leave it a bus stop or drop it on a coffee shop table. If you are lucky enough to find a book in the wild, log on so its journey can be tracked.

There is no cost to anyone, and its ‘great karma’.

Here’s how you can join in:

• log onto www.bookcrossing.com and join as a member if you are not one already (its free and fast);
• register the books (hit the register tab in the menu bar) you wish to release into the wild. It is recommended you register your books prior to the big day;
• You can upload a special “Australia’s biggest bookcrossing release photo banner for each book if you wish (copy banners below);
• Print off your special bookcrossing labels (see links below);
• Stick them inside the front inside cover of the book and complete the details including the special bookcrossing ID number (you recieve this ID number when you register the book), so the finder of your book can go online and journal entry where they found it and where they released it again;
• Then make a release note on www.bookcrossing.com saying where you are releasing the book/s on 21st October, 2006. It’s easy just hit the “release a book” function in the menu. You can do this prior to the big release day just make sure you enter the date of the books release as 21st October, 2006 and it will be included in the count (please see note below re the BX timezone);
• then on the 21st October leave the book at a local park, shop, cafe, bus stop, anywhere at all where it will be found;
• Then just check back at www.bookcrossing.com from time to time to see what an adventureous life your book is having as it gets caught and released over and over again.

Please note The bookcrossing site operates in American time please disregard their BXtime. As long as you enter your release date as any time within the 24 hours of Oct 21 your book will be included in the count. We’ll be doing the count from the bookcrossing site so you dont need to notify us of your releases just so long as you release the books on October 21 they’ll appear in the count.