The Literary Life

From the staff of BookSwim.com

Category: Press & Media Clippings

ChristianPF: “Netflix for Books?”

Read the article at ChristianPF.com

I remember hearing a quote that went something like, “In 5 years you will be the same person you are today, except for the books you read and the people you meet.”

I have found there to be a lot of truth to that statement. Almost all of the significant improvements in my life came as a result of reading books. Looking back at the last 10 years of my life it is pretty clear that the greatest seasons of growth came during the seasons when I was reading a lot. And I have to admit, I have been out of the habit for the last couple years, but am working on getting back into it. Which is why my ears perked up when I heard about Bookswim.

Netflix for books
I recently found out about a book rental service (basically Netflix for books) called Bookswim that allows you to rent a batch of books via the postal service and return them when you are finished.

They offer a variety of packages depending on how much reading you and your family will do each month. The cheapest plan is about $14/month which offers one book rental per month.

They also offer packages of 3,5,7, & 11 books that they send out at the same time (books of your choosing) at $23.95, $29.95, $35.95, & $59.95/month respectively. And just like Netflix you get to ship your books back for free.

Is it worth it?
The question is, is it worth it? It is quite a bit more expensive than Netflix – probably because the average length of rental is a lot longer and the shipping costs are a lot higher, but it still definitely is a much better deal than buying all the books new.

Since most of the books I read are older classics, I can often purchase them used from Amazon for a couple bucks and I don’t quite know if a service like Bookswim would be the best thing for me. But for someone who regularly reads new releases and reads a lot it might just make a lot of sense financially.

Are you a reader? What do you think? Would it be worth it for you?

Read the article at ChristianPF.com

No Comments by bookswim on December 31, 2010
filed in Blog, Company Blog, Press & Media Clippings, Website

DailyCandy: “The Weekend Guide: Online Finds, Fashion, and Fodder”

Read the article at DailyCandy.com

READ
BookSwim
What: Like Netflix for novels, the site lets you rent ($24-$60 per month) unlimited classics, best sellers, and everything in between with free shipping and no late fees.
Why: Resolution one — read things other than gossip magazines and food labels.
Where: Online at bookswim.com.

Read the article at DailyCandy.com

No Comments by bookswim on December 30, 2010
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NJIT: “Want to Rent Books or Apartments Online? Meet George Burke and Shamoon Siddiqui, two Recent Grads with Start-up Companies” by Robert Florida

Read the article at NJIT.edu

After they graduated from NJIT, George Burke and Shamoon Siddiqui used to hang out in East Brunswick at the Barnes and Noble bookstore. They’d read a lot of books off the shelves that they didn’t buy. Or they’d sit at the store’s café, drinking coffee and commiserating about their jobs. Both then had corporate jobs they hated.

George and Shamoon both also possessed entrepreneurial spirit. While students at the Honors College, they had talked in the college lounge about starting a business. Back then, though, they didn’t have a good start-up idea.

The Idea: Netflix for Books

Then suddenly one day, hanging at the Barnes and Noble, an entrepreneurial idea struck them: Why not start a Web-based book rental business – a mail service through which readers, for a monthly fee, could receive and return books? In essence, why not start a Netflix for books?

And so they did. In the spring of 2007, they quit their day jobs, dipped into their personal savings and launched BookSwim. They worked out of Shamoon’s basement with donated books, a few interns and sundry sleepless nights.

When you love your job, you smile widely and wear a book on your head. George Burke, one of the two recent NJIT grads to found BookSwim, a successful start-up, is pictured above with book hat and smile.

Now, four years later, BookSwim has grown into a full-fledged business, with an office in NJIT’s business incubator, seven bright young employees and a warehouse brimming with thousands of books. Since its first year, George says, BookSwim has grown 350 percent.

“I love running a start-up business,” explains George, who graduated in 2004 with degree in information technology. “I love the autonomy and the relaxed atmosphere. When BookSwim first started I wore sweats to work. Now I dress up,” he quips. “I wear jeans and t-shirts.”

Starting a Second Company

Shamoon recently left BookSwim – he sold his share to Burke and the two remain close — to launch another start-up called MetroFlats. It’s a website where urban travelers can rent people’s apartments. Renting someone’s apartment, Shamoon says, is cheaper than a hotel and a lot bigger. MetroFlats has an office in Cedar Grove with five employees. MetroFlats, though in its incipient phase, has a chance to prosper, says Shamoon.

An Urge to Create

Shamoon is an engineer – he has both a bachelor’s (2004) and a master’s (2005) in computer engineering – with an unbridled urge to innovate and create. While working on his master’s, he led a student team, known as DARPA, which designed a robotic vehicle. Directing that project helped to turn him into a problem solver, an innovator and a leader.

“Starting a business comes down to creation, or having an urge to create,” says Shamoon. “George and I both have that urge, that creative itch and we both needed to scratch it.”

Read the article at NJIT.edu

No Comments by bookswim on December 22, 2010
filed in Company Blog, Newspaper (Online), Press & Media Clippings, Website

Luxist.com: “BookSwim, Books at your Doorstep” by Deidre Woollard

Read the article at Luxist.com

Need a last minute gift idea for a friend who likes their books the old-fashioned way, with paper? BookSwim,the Netflix for books is offering a holiday special, any $50 gift card purchase comes with a $50 gift certificate to restaurant.com, redeemable at restaurants nationwide. BookSwim is a membership service that delivers books by mail with no due dates, no late fees, and free shipping both ways. Like Netflix, you create a list of things you’d like to have delivered and can keep them as long as you like. The holiday gift offer also comes with your choice of custom greeting card to send with it.

Read the article at Luxist.com

No Comments by bookswim on December 21, 2010
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SheSheMe.com: BookSwim

Read the full article at SheSheMe.com

Resolution: Ditch the post-holiday weight gain and gear up for your
New Year’s resolution with our diet and fitness books!

Read the full article at SheSheMe.com

No Comments by bookswim on December 16, 2010
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Seventeen: “Gift Idea: BookSwim Membership” by Cosmo Girl

Read the full article at Seventeen.com


If you’re a bookworm or have a friend with a nose always in a good book – CG has the perfect gift idea for you. Introducing BookSwim.com! It’s a brand new service that just like Netflix but for books. Their catalogue features all the latest best-sellers in every genre from fiction to cookbooks and everything in between. Depending on how much you read per month, you can adjust your membership plan accordingly. When you’re done, you just pop the books into the mail in the pre-paid envelope the books arrived with. It’s better than the library because there are no due dates or late fees to worry about.

Thinking about giving a BookSwim membership as a gift? They’re offering a free trial when you sign up now…..

Read the full article at Seventeen.com

No Comments by bookswim on December 15, 2010
filed in Blog, Company Blog, Magazine (Online), Press & Media Clippings, Website

Time.com Techland: “Techland’s Guide to Nerdy Stocking Stuffers” by Allie Townsend

Read the article at Techland.Time.com

BookSwim Subscription

Bookswim offers book rental through the mail – yes, it’s like “Netflix for books.” Though e-books are trendy, there are those who still treasure that tactile sensation as they read. Plans start at $24 per month, for a three-books-at-a-time subscription, so you should guarantee your reader will actually use the service before you buy.

Price: $24 and up per month, Bookswim.com

Read the article at Techland.Time.com

No Comments by bookswim on December 14, 2010
filed in Company Blog, Magazine (Online), Press & Media Clippings, Website

MomBlogNetwork: Book Swim


I thought BookSwim was a great idea when I saw and thought I would share it with you to see what you think! It’s like NetFlix for all kinds of books, so as an example, you can read all the beauty and style books out there without spending so much money. I have gotten books from the library sometimes when I want to read a book that just came out, but my branch doesn’t have what I want most of them. If you are in college they even have text books available- that seems like a pretty smart way to have your books for class without buying one at the insane prices text books seem to be sold at. How can you beat having the books just show up in your mailbox?

No Comments by bookswim on December 13, 2010
filed in Blog, Company Blog, Press & Media Clippings, Website

Interior Design Magazine: “Shopping Green” by Penny Bonda

Read the full article at InteriorDesign.net

Ok everyone, we’ve got a big shopping weekend coming up. Of course you’re going to shop green, which means online. Back away from your cars, stay away from the malls, and save some wear and tear on our planet and yourselves.

Herewith a short-list of suggestions:

I read books on my iPad, which saves a lot of trees, but if your loved ones demand actual paper page turning, consider BookSwim.com, a hardcover/paperback book rental service. It mails books “Netflix-style” with no due dates, no late fees, and unlimited rentals per month. Most shoppers choose gift memberships that are good for 2 to 6 months (ranging from $40 to $120) on average, but can start at under $10. Many categories, good selection.

Read the full article at InteriorDesign.net

No Comments by bookswim on December 10, 2010
filed in Company Blog, Magazine (Online), Press & Media Clippings, Website

Summit Daily: “Summit Up 12-9-10: Where Canada steals all our snow”

Read the full article at SummitDaily.com

So, how’s the Christmas shopping going? We have a last-minute suggestion if you find yourself in a jam before the big day and need to buy something for a book over. Check out www.bookswim.com — it’s like Netflix for books, where you pay a monthly fee and get books in the mail. Keep them as long as you want and then mail them back with a prepaid thingy. It works great. You can get three books at a time for $24/month — about what you’d pay for one hardcover new at the store. They’ve got a free trial deal going on now, too, so give it a spin.

Read the full article at SummitDaily.com

No Comments by bookswim on December 9, 2010
filed in Newspaper (Online), Press & Media Clippings, Website

TheNibble.com: GOURMET GIVEAWAY #2 ~ Three-Month Subscription To BookSwim

Read the article at TheNibble.com

Do you have books spilling out of your bookcase? No time to visit the local library whenever you want to borrow a book? Want to make sure you love a cookbook before you commit to actually purchasing it?

BookSwim may be your answer. With a Netflix-like subscription to the online book rental program, you can create a pool of books to read from an extensive catalogue, and then have the books shipped straight to your door. When you’re finished enjoying the books, you just ship them back in a pre-paid envelope.

BookSwim is giving one lucky Nibble reader a three-month subscription to its three-books-at-a-time plan. Choose books from Cooking, Food & Wine and nonfood categories. Read them yourself or share with a friend.

Approximate retail value: $72.00.

To find out more about the online book rental program, visit BookSwim.com.

Read the article at TheNibble.com

No Comments by bookswim on December 2, 2010
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CNBC Business: “No More City Limits” by John Brandon

Read the full article at CNBCMagazine.com

Once used as a means of escape from the real world, virtual reality is increasingly dictating what’s happening in it. John Brandon reports……

…..END OF THE LIBRARY, BIRTH OF THE RENTAL SERVICE

If the Netflix model showed one thing, it’s that you can “virtualise” anything. The decline of bricks-and-mortar movie stores such as Blockbuster merely echo the point. The concept is simple: instead of the consumer going to a location to purchase or rent an item, the Netflix model brings the item direct to you.

This convenience is an excellent match for the internet as well, since there are no physical shelves, cranky clerks behind the counter, or labyrinthine commercial building codes. The web is infinitely extendible.

That’s why new services such as Bookswim. com (book rentals) and Maghound.com (magazine rentals) have emerged, and could mean that the city library becomes less important. Why? Once city residents realise everything at a library is readily available online they may stop funding the physical entity through their tax dollars. And what else could be “rented” online? Anything from cars to bikes, computer equipment, clothes, and even entire houses. Just point and click, stay for a month, and “order” your next abode……..

Read the full article at CNBCMagazine.com

No Comments by bookswim on October 10, 2010
filed in Magazine (Online), Press & Media Clippings, Website

The Book Lady: “Have you met BookSwim?” by Rebecca Joines Schinsky

Read the full article at TheBookLadysBlog.com

It’s like Netflix, but it’s for books. And that makes it about a thousand times cooler.

I met the folks from BookSwim at Book Expo America this year, and they were kind enough to offer me a free trial of their services. I’ve been playing with BookSwim for a couple months now, and I want to tell you about it not because the BookSwim peeps have become my friends (disclaimer: they have) but because I think it’s a fabulous, innovative idea. Like, I wish I’d thought of it first because it just. makes. so. much. sense.

And even if it’s not a service you want to use, I’m willing to be you know someone who might.


So, BookSwim. It’s simple. You select a monthly plan—the first one, at $17.96 per month is basically the cost of one paperback book—and build a list of books you want to read from BookSwim’s inventory. BookSwim takes stock of what’s on your list, and they send you the first matches they have in available. (So, if you get three books at a time, as with the $17.96 plan, it sends you the first three of your highest-ranked books it has on hand.) Your books arrive with a return envelope and a shipping label (all shipping costs are included in your membership fee), you read and enjoy them at your leisure, and then you send them back with the provided envelope and do it all over again.

And here’s the best part: THERE ARE NO DUE DATES AND NO LATE FEES.

Which means that if you’re like me, and you like the idea of using the library but you’re not so good at reading things on a schedule, and those overdue books quickly become “books I accidentally stole-slash-bought from the library,” then BookSwim just might be your match.

Here’s another great thing: there is NO LIMIT to how many books you can read in a given month. If you get three books at a time and devour them all on the day they arrive, you can turn around the next day and return them and get another shipment several days later. Lather, rinse, repeat…ad infinitum…as many times as you can or want to. And you can get up to ELEVEN books at a time, which is basically the BookSwim equivalent of filling up your tote bag on each trip to the library.

I’ve been using the three-books-at-a-time plan, and it’s a great complement to my book purchasing habits (and the towering pile of books I’ve received for review consideration), but I know people for whom the bigger plans would be useful, and I’m planning to gift a seven-books-at-a-time plan to my best friend (whose local library is on a buying freeze) for her birthday.

Sure, BookSwim probably isn’t for everyone. If you don’t spend any money on books (i.e. you get all of your books at the library or on loan from friends), then this is likely not be the thing for you. But if your local library has limited resources, or you’re looking for books they don’t have in their inventory, it could be a fun way to augment your reading. If you have a book buying budget but are tired of having to buy new bookshelves every couple months to accommodate your acquisitions (not that I’d know what that’s like or anything!), you could reallocate part of it to this service and save some space. Read books, and then send them back!

Of course, if you’re like me and you like to write in books (or if you’re like my husband and you need to keep a copy of every book you read as a kind of trophy), this will be a bit of a challenge. (See also: reasons the local library is glad I don’t check out books more often.) So far, post-it notes have satisfied my need to mark important passages, and I’m happy to say that I’ve returned BookSwim’s books without a single hint of ink or sticky note residue.

Now, basset hound drool….that’s another story.

Read the full article at TheBookLadysBlog.com

No Comments by bookswim on September 16, 2010
filed in Blog, Press & Media Clippings, Website

BookSwim.com’s Top 20 Rentals

Read the full article at PublishingPerspectives.com

US Book rental service Bookswim.com offers their Top 20 rentals for the week…

#1 – Safe Haven

#2 – Wicked Appetite

#3 – Freedom: A Novel

#4 – Room: A Novel

#5 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

#6 – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

#7 – I’d Know You Anywhere: A Novel

#8 – The Girl Who Played with Fire

#9 – Last Night at Chateau Marmont: A Novel

#10 – Graceling

#11 – Best Friends Forever: A Novel

#12 – Spider Bones: A Novel (Temperance Brennan Novels)

#13 – Maybe This Time

#14 – The Widower’s Tale: A Novel

#15 – The Postcard Killers

#16 – The Hunger Games

#17 – The Help

#18 – What the Night Knows: A Novel

#19 – Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1)

#20 – Fly Away Home: A Novel

Read the full article at PublishingPerspectives.com

No Comments by bookswim on September 16, 2010
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Forbes.com: “DRM: Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be” by Chip O’Brien

Read the article by BookSwim’s Director of Member Service CHIP O’BRIEN

While working at BookSwim, we have listened to quite a few debates about digital rights management (a.k.a. DRM, which is the term for access-control systems used by hardware manufacturers, publishers and copyright holders) and its role in piracy. In an effort to shed some light on the land of piracy, we visited a popular torrent site and grabbed some statistics on its most downloaded torrents in the books category, as well as the release date of the physical book, list price, Kindle price and Amazon price.

Here’s what we found:

Rating Number of Downloads Title Release Date List Price Kindle Price Amazon Price
1 156,106 The Beatles Complete Songbook (Guitar Tablature/chords) 2000 $24.99 $14.84 $16.49
2 104,034 180+ For Dummies eBooks (all types) n/a n/a n/a n/a
3 98,576 All 6 Harry Potter eBooks n/a n/a Not Available n/a
4 97,006 All Physics Books Categorized (71 textbooks) n/a n/a n/a n/a
5 92,576 Kama Sutra eBooks (10 in total) n/a n/a n/a n/a
6 83,787 Building Flash Web Sites for Dummies 2006 $24.99 Not Available $22.49
7 83,591 Web Design for Dummies 2nd Edition 2006 $24.99 Not Available $16.49
8 78,325 AutoCAD for Dummies 2008 $24.99 Not Available $16.49
9 69,573 Men’s Health – Total Body Workout 2001 n/a n/a n/a
10 66,523 Visual Basic 2005 eBooks n/a n/a n/a n/a

Here’s what we learned:

1. DRM does not stop e-book piracy: 40% of torrents (files shared) contain books not available in e-book format in their current edition. This means that someone bought a physical copy, cut the spine, scanned the pages and used optical character recognition (OCR) to get a first draft. They then crowd-sourced the Internet to help read through the OCR, correct the files and set up linking. In fact, the process was extremely similar to the professional conversions that publishers are doing today. This is particularly true for J.K. Rowling’s books, which were only recently digitized.

2. E-book piracy may be overstated: 50% of the most illegally downloaded files are collections of books, most of which are irrelevant to the pirate downloading them and therefore do not represent lost sales.

This is a strong statement–let us explain: Typically, an individual seeking a particular “For Dummies” book downloads the entire collection, weeds through the titles and opens only the handful of files that are relevant. The remaining titles never get read. However, from a reporting standpoint, one download of the No. 2 torrent “180+ For Dummies eBooks” represents 180 counts of e-book piracy, not the handful actually consumed. In this case, piracy counts are grossly overstated. Even if 50% of the “For Dummies” collection was opened and read, this would still overstate piracy counts by 100%. In order to estimate an accurate count of losses from piracy, look at the consumption rates of pirated titles, not the sheer numbers of books downloaded.

Piracy is real, but perhaps we should rethink the magnitude of e-book piracy and how effective DRM is as a solution.

Read the article by BookSwim’s Director of Member Service CHIP O’BRIEN

No Comments by Chip on August 27, 2010
filed in Blog, Company Blog, Magazine (Online), Press & Media Clippings, Website
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