Sometimes you have to just laugh

Sometimes you get great journal entries on books you release in the wild.  We've seen those from people who were having the proverbial "worst day ever" and happened upon the perfect Bookcrossing book in the unlikeliest of places.  Good stuff!  Then there are the not so nice ones that will tell us not to leave books at a certain business, or that it is stupid to do what we do, or that *gasp* the book has been destroyed!  Once in a while you get those super bizarre ones that just have you rolling on the floor, literally!

This book, Lady Of The Knight, was one of those.  It was a Harlequin Historical romance I had released in, I believe, a Target parking lot (I sure wish BC tech could finish retrieving all the missing release entries on older books).  The response of the person who caught the book was bizarre yet hillarious!

It made happiness bleed out my anus.

My nipples are still tingling. I am going to take this book to Argentina to spread the love.

Hmm... yeah, to each his or her own, I guess, huh?

Viva la Bookcrossing!

Total Books Released: 3126
Total Releases Journaled: 198
Catch rate:  6.33%

20 books to go!

This holiday weekend, I did some things I had not done in a very long time.  First off, I found a nice used book store here.  I found an entire room full of highly discounted books, and bought a small load of them for just a couple bucks!  I have pretty much stopped buying paper books since getting my Kindle last year.  These books were purchased with the sole purpose of releasing though.  When I got home, I printed up some labels (and really enjoyed going through my old folder of Bookcrossing labels, some created by friends, some by me), registered all the new books, and started a stack on a shelf that I can grab a book or two from to release each time I leave the house!  Boy, it felt good, felt like I was getting back into the swing of my old BC craze!

Today, I released five books.  By my old standards, that is like a normal day out, but considering my releases over the past year or so have been very few and far between, it felt awesome doing five in a day.  I hope the people who came across these five books today were thrilled to come across a book and bring it home to read!  If they're like myself and most of my friends, those books will be placed on a shelf with many others, and eventually, a year or more down the line, will be picked back up and read!

I released:
The Waste Lands
Kitchen
Velocity
Nebula Award Stories 17
The Ruins

Last year was my slowest full year of releasing since joining BC.  I released 108 books last year, and am not even at that point for 2012.  So my goal for the remainder of the year is to pass that 108 mark.  That means I will need to release 19 books by Dec 31... no sweat!

Viva la Bookcrossing!


Total Books Released: 3124
Total Releases Journaled: 198
Catch rate:  6.33%

A recent catch

So one thing I will be doing a lot of on this blog will be talking about releases and catches.

For those of you not in the know, a release is a book registered at Bookcrossing.com and labeled with it's own BCID (or Bookcrossing identification) number.  We Bookcrossers will often take said book and "release" it out in the world, or as we say, "in the wild".  We'll leave them on park benches, on periodical racks in entryways to restaurants, newspaper machines, bus stops, in waiting rooms, you name it!  Then, we make release notes on the website to show that the book is released, where, etc.  Eventually, the hope is that someone whose life crosses paths with the book, will take the time to go online and enter that BCID and leave a few comments about the book and where it is.  I believe the site has an average "catch" rate for wild releases of about 10 percent.  I personally sit at just under 6.5 percent.

So last Saturday, I released a copy of Blood Moon at a local library.  Left it on the pamphlet rack in the foyer so as not to have confusion with the library's books (plus, I always clearly label the outside of my books so it is obvious they are freebies).  A few days later I got a catch!  This one copied the text of my release note, and added that it was a good book... so looks like this person joined (not a requirement) the site, then read the book and left it in the same place I had. 

As any Bookcrosser can tell you, the thrill of getting that email saying your book has a journal entry (aka was caught) is immeasurable! 

Viva la Bookcrossing!

Intro

Here we go!  So, just a little intro info about me.  I'm a bookcrossing addict, have been since joining the site in 2003.  I have spent the last year busy with many other things in my life, yet I have still managed to do some releasing of books.  My activity has toned way down from where it used to be, but I have a feeling that will be changing soon enough!  On Bookcrossing, I'm listed as Jare.

This will be a blog about the ins and outs of my Bookcrossing activity, past and present.  I hope you stay a while and read what I have to say.  I hope you enjoy it.  Even more so, I hope you interact with me in the comments on this blog.  There is plenty more to come, but for now, I will leave.

Viva la Bookcrossing!