The Literary Life

From the staff of BookSwim.com

Category: Blog

SunshineRewards: “Win a BookSwim.com Membership at Sunshine Rewards”

Enter at SunshineRewards.com

We’re always excited when we introduce a new merchant at Sunshine Rewards but even more exciting when we can do it with a contest! SR has partnered with our newest merchant, BookSwim.com, to give you a chance to win a membership for yourself AND a friend!

What is BookSwim? It’s often called “Netflix” for books but that’s completely do it justice. BookSwim is a membership based service that allows you to rent books for as long as you want. You simply choose the monthly plan that works best for you and then visit their site to start queuing up your books. They will then send the books to you from your list. Take as long as you want to read them and after you return them, they will send you more. It’s a perfect solution for people who love to read but are tired of paying $10-30 per book. Unlike the library, you won’t be on wait lists for months just to get new releases. And now on with the contest!

The prize: A 2-month membership to BookSwim.com for both you AND your nominee (plan will be the 3 books at a time plan given as a $50 gift card).

To enter:

1) Leave a comment below telling us who you know that deserves a BookSwim membership and why (one entry).

2) Twitter about the contest and leave a comment below with your Tweet (one entry).

3) Post this contest on Facebook and leave a comment below with what you posted (one entry).

4) Blog about this contest and leave your link to the post below (two entries).

Entries must be received by midnight Eastern on July 6, 2010. Open to U.S. residents 18 and older only.

Don’t want to wait for the contest to get a membership? Save even more with BookSwim.com with BookSwim.com coupons and cash back at Sunshine Rewards. Watch our video below to learn even more about BookSwim might be for you.

Enter at SunshineRewards.com

Mashable: “HOW TO: Rent Anything Online” by Sarah Kessler

Read the full article at Mashable.com

As dumpster diving and extreme anti-consumerism edge their way into the mainstream, more and more renting seems like an easier way to “go green” while cutting costs.

While not everything should be rented, (toothbrushes, underwear, I can go on) most things can be, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you can borrow just about anything without having to leave your home, or office, or coffee shop – basically anywhere you use your computer. Log on to these sites and let the wonder of temporary ownership begin.

People have been renting books since as early as fourth century BCE, but only recently have they been able get their lit fix without logging off the Internet or succumbing to the annoyance of a due date.

There are a number of “Netflix for books” businesses that allow bookworms to read and return books at their own pace. Book Swim prices its plans depending on the number of books taken out at one time (a “devout reader,” with 11 books rented at a time, pays about $60 per month)……….

Read the full article at Mashable.com

Forbes.com: “Book Publishers Can Learn from Film and Music” by Chip O’Brien

Read BookSwim’s Director of Member Service CHIP O’BRIEN at Forbes.com

What is happening to the future of books? Consider this: Amazon sold more Kindle books than paper books on Christmas Day in 2009, despite decisions by publishers like Harper Collins (Palin’s Going Rogue) and Simon & Schuster (King’s Under the Dome) to delay the release of eBooks long past the release of their hardcover counterparts. It seems the popularity of eBooks is growing much faster than publishers’ willingness to embrace them.

But e-publishing doesn’t have to bring an end to traditional paper books, or spin its wheels trying to translate the paper book model into a far different space. Instead of trying to understand eBooks within the space of the old paper-and-binding universe, we should examine the media that survived the first wave of the distribution revolution: movies and music.

Taking cues from the music and film industries, here are five things book publishers should offer:

Combo Deals: Bundle purchases of paper books and eBooks. According to science fiction novelist Eric Flint, releasing a free online copy of his novel Mother of Demons raised the book’s sell-through rate by 11%. While it can’t be shown that his subsequent novel, 1632, definitively benefited from being available for free as an eBook from its publishing date onward, its own 88% sell-through rate doesn’t seem to have been harmed. Many print novels, especially series volumes, currently include a “sneak peek” chapter of a forthcoming book at the end. Instead, why not offer a free download code for a large online excerpt of another title, or even a complimentary eBook in its entirety? It would be an easy way to add value to a paper book purchase, and a great way to promote other titles.

More Flexibility: With the rising popularity of book-swapping sites like Book Mooch and of online book-rental clubs like BookSwim, readers are finding flexible ways to get and keep (or return, as it were) books. Meanwhile, eBook file formats seem almost deliberately restrictive: Nook books can be read only on Nooks and PCs, Kindle books only on Kindles. The music industry long ago gave up on DRM. Offering eBook files that can display on all eReader devices would be a friendlier option for the consumer, allowing the same book to be read on a Nook, a Sony eReader, or any PDF-reading program on a computer.

Product Expansion: The eBook format can break down the traditional linearity of a book; why not use that to the book’s advantage? Like a VHS tape, paper books give access only to the finished product in a single linear sequence. As with DVDs, versatile ebook technology would allow content-producers to “layer” content that would be impossible to include in a paper book, from author commentaries with a display/hide option to extras like deleted chapters or characters that didn’t make the final revision. Links to blurbs of background information could be embedded in the text, so the interested reader perusing The Da Vinci Code could click a link to see a picture of the Louvre museum or a snapshot of “The Last Supper.” Publishers might even consider including free user-submitted content like fan commentary and analysis—material with little-to-no cost that still enriches the basic text.

Some may object to the idea of book “extras” in the same way Spielberg refuses to record audio commentaries for his films: because it might distract attention from the work itself. Would these changes take away from the mystical self-completeness of a book? Perhaps, but it may be time for the book to lose its one-way conversational flow. When you increase the interactivity of a book, you increase its ability to engage an Internet-age audience.

Friendlier Reading For Short Attention Spans: When a would-be reader complains that he or she doesn’t have time to read, it’s more likely that they’re simply missing a continuous block of free time to plow through several chapters at once. It may be worthwhile for publishers to take inspiration from such sites as DailyLit, which breaks novels into 1,000-word chunks and emails those excerpts on a customizable schedule. We may not have time to read 500 pages today, but we could certainly read two pages a day for a few weeks. Many of today’s classic novels, from A Farewell to Arms to Great Expectations, were originally published in serial form—what if, like a band releasing several EPs instead of a single long album, publishers released books in segments?

Social Experience: Reading has traditionally been a solitary activity, which may explain the growing appeal of blog-reporting over traditional newspapers: through comments and follow-up posts, the text talks back. But armed with wireless connections, eReaders can finally create a seamless social reading experience. They might include the option to connect with other readers currently working through the same section of the book, allowing for a kind of impromptu disposable book club. Another possibility is to “Wiki-fy” every text: Allow readers to add comments throughout the book, while others vote on the relevance and helpfulness of those comments.

Finally, a note on what not to do. Netflix recently reached an agreement with Warner Bros. to delay rentals of the studio’s movies until four weeks after their retail release. This bears an uncanny parallel to publishers’ delay of eBooks to preserve hardcover retail sales. In both industries, though, scrabbling frantically for retail sales will fail when the consumers know they can rent (or, dare I say, pirate) the product elsewhere—and the appearance of bullying consumers into buying at hardcover prices is highly unlikely to give readers a sense of compassion for beleaguered publishers.

This is the exact wrong time in history to fret about the imminent death of reading—eReaders have the power to transform books into far richer, far more interactive experiences than ever before. Instead of deriding the eBook as a profit-killer, why not unite our old ideas of reading alone in quiet rooms with the vast potential created by new technology? Let’s re-imagine what books can become.

Read BookSwim’s Director of Member Service CHIP O’BRIEN at Forbes.com

“BookSwim Plays ‘Telephone’ at BEA” by Karen Holt

Read the article at PublishingPerspectives.com

If someone hands you a spiral-bound notebook during BEA and asks you to begin writing where they left off, consider it your chance to become a published author.

If you’re already a published author, that’s okay, too. The notebooks are part of an innovative (and surprisingly spontaneous) marketing campaign by BookSwim, the company that bills itself as the “Netflix of books.”

Here’s the idea: The notebooks are being given to five well-connected people in the industry with the mandate to write for as long as they want in a certain genre and then pass the book on to another person who will keep the book going. When BEA ends on Thursday, the notebooks will be collected and the contents published on BookSwim’s website, www.BookSwim.com. The chosen genres are romance, mystery, sci-fi and children’s. A fifth book will be all about BEA.

CEO/CFO Jeevan Padiyar sees the project as a non-pushy way to get BEA attendees talking about BookSwim. “There’s a glut of people saying, ‘Can I sell you this? Can I sell you this?’ We didn’t want to be that way.”

It’s also an example of what a truly “nimble” company looks like. Nick Ruffilo, BookSwim’s CIO and CTO, thought up the idea Monday evening. “It’s really a message to the publishing industry to say, ‘you can take small risks, don’t be afraid,’” Ruffilo said. In this case, small means $30 plus tax — the price of the five notebooks he bought at Staples Monday evening.

Read the article at PublishingPerspectives.com

CITYist Magazine: “Net Reads” by Eva Medoff

Read the full article at CITYist.com

Now readers of the Internet age can forget Barnes and Noble or that (sadly) antiquated establishment, the library, and opt for the anonymity of the web to obtain their reading material. Bookswim—billed as the “Netflix for books”—is an easy way for voracious readers to get bestsellers and keep potentially embarrassing summer reads under the radar.

Better yet, you don’t have to commit to any purchase, instead receiving—and sending back—books through the mail for a flat monthly fee (really—we were serious about the Netflix thing). The system could work for everyone from beach combers looking for a cheap read to serious bookworms—it does, after all, offer Wuthering Heights along with the latest from Lauren Conrad.

Read the full article at CITYist.com

TheStreet.com: “Do We Own the E-books We Buy?” by Seth Fiegerman

Read the full article at TheStreet.com

In today’s digital world, just because you buy something doesn’t mean it’s yours. If you have ever downloaded a song on iTunes or installed a piece of software on your computer, you may be surprised to learn that you don’t actually own these products. You’re just licensing them……

…..Then there’s the issue of being allowed to lend the book out to friends. Barnes & Noble made a splash in the market at the end of last year when they announced that the Nook would have a lending feature, something that neither the Kindle nor Sony Reader offered. But as Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, pointed out and other critics echoed, users are only allowed to lend out each book once on this device and only for a limited amount of time.

This issue is something that George Burke has struggled with more than most. Burke is the founder of Bookswim, a company that lets users rent regular books much in the same way that Netflix lets people rent movies. Now, Burke is looking to expand his business to include e-books. “The policy makes it an extremely difficult thing for us to transfer our business model of renting physical books in the mail to renting e-books. It requires an extreme level of permissions and contracts in place, which is tough for us,” he said……..

…….Google announced earlier this week that it will launch its own e-book marketplace called Google Editions in late June or July. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The company is hoping to distinguish Google Editions in the marketplace by allowing users to access books from a broad range of websites using an array of devices, unlike rivals that are focused on proprietary devices and software.” Some hope that Editions will focus more on user rights rather than just publisher’s rights, especially considering their ongoing project to scan and digitize all the world’s books. But even then, would we actually own the books?

Haber, the VP of Copyright Clearance Center, speculates that we may one day. Instead of paying $9.99 as a flat price for an e-book, publishers may allow for different pricing models where customers pay less to have the book for a couple months, or to buy just a few chapters, and pay more to actually purchase the whole book and keep it forever. But this could be years away. In the meantime, consumers will have to ask themselves whether ownership is all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe it’s enough to just be able to enjoy reading a book once through and forfeit the rest.

Techlicious: “Mother’s Day 2010 Gift Guide”

Read the full article at Techlicious.com

BookSwim Membership

If your Mom isn’t ready to take the plunge into ebooks, consider a gift subscription to an online book rental site, like bookswim.com. This Netflix-type service lets her have three or more books out at a time–New York Times Best Sellers, cookbooks and even children’s books. When she finishes and returns one, the next one on her list will be automatically sent out. And shipping is pre-paid as part of the subscription.

Subscriptions start at $24 per month for 3 books out at a time. Purchase a gift subscription at BookSwim.com

Read the full article at Techlicious.com

The Simple Dollar: “Digging Into the Rental Argument” by Trent Hamm

Read the full article at TheSimpleDollar.com

Shanna writes in:

You’ve written before about how Netflix is a good deal if you’re an avid movie watcher and Gamefly is a good deal if you’re an avid video game player. You’re an avid reader. Have you ever looked at BookSwim?

……….BookSwim basically functions like Netflix for books. You can check out some number of books at a time (depending on the plan you use). They mail the books to you with a postage-paid return mailer (a bag) and you can hold onto them as long as you want. When you’re done with a book, drop it in a bag and drop the bag in the mail – a few days later, you’ll get the next one on your list. Simple as pie, and exactly like Netflix…………

Read the full article at TheSimpleDollar.com

MomAdvice.com: Great Reads for Moms

Read the full article at MomAdvice.com

What if I told you that you could read all of these books for free? Well, today we are offering a fun reader giveaway for the avid reader in you! There is a great innovative book program out there called BookSwim that is a book rental program to help feed the bookworms in your family.

For the past few months, I was given a trial membership to share with you the details of how it works. The best way I can describe it is that it is just like Netflix. They send you a stack of books that you can read, you read and keep them as long as you want, and then you drop them back in the mail to return them to the company. They will then ship your next round of books for you to enjoy and the process goes on from there. The plans start at $9.95 a month and up, which is exactly the same price you might be paying for a movie club.

For me, the rental plan would not make sense. My library is the mecca of brand new books and (it seems) has unlimited amount of copies of the bestsellers. When I lived in Massachusetts and had a dated library that was never stocked with current books, I would have given my left arm to have a membership to BookSwim.

Here’s who it makes sense to for me:

1. My readers with small children who don’t have time to enjoy a leisurely visit to the library and are instead keeping their children well-read rather than themselves.

2. My readers who don’t have a great library system or access to great free books.

3. My readers who want to switch out their movie club membership for a book membership that they can enjoy with their whole family.

Lucky for you, I am giving away a free membership to BookSwim to one lucky reader. We will be giving one reader a three month subscription on their 3-at-a-time book plan!………….

Read the full article at MomAdvice.com

Inland Empire FAMILY Magazine: “Book Swim” by Jules Russo

Read the full article at InlandEmpireFamily.com

Oh, have I got a treat for you! Do you love reading as much as I do? Because, trust me, reading is my greatest passion. I will read anything, but when I find that story that captures my mind completely, it’s like the world stops. I don’t eat. I don’t sleep. I don’t do anything other than curl up into a paper-filled fantasy land.

I must admit, I’ve been deep in a book the last few days. I’m thrilled my children our bathed and fed, really.

So, if you are a book lover like me, you know that the habit is a touch expensive. Oh, sure, we have the library. But, alas, Inland Empire residents are avid readers. Best sellers are checked out almost immediately and the wait list is pages long. Never fear, I have a solution! Rather, Book Swim does. Book Swim is to books what Netflix is to movies. I am not even kidding.

You pick a rental plan. You receive your books in the mail and return, with free shipping, when you are done. Like the book too much to part with it? It’s yours with a click of the button.

Unlimited books. Free shipping. Buy if if you love it. How sweet is that?

Read the full article at InlandEmpireFamily.com

RotorBlog.com: “6 Cool Online Rentals” by Andrew G.R.

Read the full article at RotorBlog.com

Today’s tough economy has consumers socking away cash instead of buying big-ticket items. But all hope is not lost. You can carry a new-to-you designer handbag each week, or get your hands on a jackhammer … as long as you don’t mind giving it back when you’re done. A handful of niche online companies are offering high-demand rentals at an affordable price…….

……4) Paper and water never mix, unless you’re taking a dip over at BookSwim, THE place to rent the hottest book titles. A lit-lover’s dream, BookSwim(mers) can browse around the clock for new reads or old favorites. BookSwim will even purchase a book you’re looking for if it’s not already in their inventory. Keep a book as long as you like, and never worry about late fines. And if you become smitten with a borrow, it’s yours to keep with the click of a button. At the highest subscription level, 11 reads can be borrowed at a time, with free shipping. Subscriptions start at $9.99 for one book a month…….

ExpertClick.com: “Innovative Businesses Appeal To Over 50s” by Phyllis May

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 4 million people retired, effective Dec. 31. For many, retirement and age are life-altering events that require changes in the way things are done and the attitude to be willing to change and adapt.

Pre-boomers are now a vibrant part of the retirement community and those in the boomer community and those in the early boomer generation, after 1946, are retiring at the rate of 10, 000 per day for the next 20 years. A changed lifestyle and eventually some different needs has created new businesses, catering to a demographic with a technological past and an generation characterized by determination, entrepreneurship and comfort. It is not surprising that new businesses are now owned by these retirees or are simply others who now see a niche.

For example, while this generation did not grow up with the technology of renting video movies, once the technology became mainstream, it wasn’t long before a video rental store seemed to be located as frequently as fast food restaurants. And while books preceded everyone, now the concept of video rentals is being applied to book rentals, specially targeting a population who might need the convenience of home delivery at some point. www.Bookswim.com is a service that aspires to be the Netflix for books and while they promote the fact that they are inexpensive, a feature appreciated by many retirees with a reduced income, it also saves time and hassle of traffic and it helps the environment. One convenience not thought of is gift cards for retirees. Especially for those confined to an assisted living facility or who aren’t able to get out as much, a gift card could be great help to children and friends with gift problems…………

CE Pro: “7 Weird Holiday Tech Gifts” by Tom LeBlanc

Read the full article at CEPro.com

Some are kind of cool. Some are the electronics equivalent of fruitcake.

12.22.2009 — This isn’t the most useful list of holiday gift ideas for tech lovers, but it might be the strangest.

We searched for quirky electronics gift ideas and came up with some gems.

Do you know anybody who’s frustrated that their toilet paper holder doesn’t play music? There’s a solution for under $30.

Would you like Florence Henderson to provide someone you love with tech support? You can make it happen for a small monthly fee.

Do you know somebody in need of a computer mouse shaped like a chili pepper? They only cost $19.99!

Can you think of somebody who would deem a microchip-shaped cuff link a nice accessory to a dress shirt? I’ll be amazed if there aren’t some electronics industry reporters wearing these at the next press conference.

Unlike some of the products populating it, this guide might not be useless. If you have a quirky electronics enthusiast on your list, our guide to weird tech gifts might come in handy.

BookSwim Gift Certificate
The company markets itself as an “online book rental library” lending books “Netflix-style directly to your house” for $9.95 per month.

There’s also something called a library that rents books — for free. Granted, it’s not “Netflix-style” but again … it’s free.

To be fair, it appears that BookSwim offers new releases before they’re available at local libraries and getting access to new books without having to buy them definitely has value. Also, the company recently added college textbooks to its arsenal — that could save a lot of students a lot of money.

Price: $9.95/month (free shipping)

Read the full article at CEPro.com

MomsLikeMe: “Bookswim – Netflix for books” by Eileen Drew

Read the full article at MomsLikeMe.com

I found this site that allows you to reserve books, have them sent to your home, read them at your leisure (no late fees) and return them when you are done, similar to Netflix but for books. Here’s the site.

Would you do this? I’m thinking that I would rather use the library, but then again, DH drives past it on his way to and from work, so it’s no big deal to reserve something and then have him pick it up. If I had to make a special trip to get stuff? Not sure.

So this website sounds interesting. Would you use something like this? Or give a subscription as a gift? Let us know your thoughts.

Read the full article at MomsLikeMe.com

NY WPIX Tip of the Day: “A New Way To Shop Is To Rent” by Howard Thompson

Read the full article at WPIX.com

As a result of challenging economic times, many women and men today are looking for newer, smarter ways to shop. Many companies are offering people an entirely NEW way to shop – allowing them to rent vs. buy – during a time when consumers are really looking for alternatives to buying.

Renting gives access to luxury without the guilt, clutter or commitment of ownership.

Avelle, at www.avelle.com is the new Bag Borrow or Steal, offering everyone access to luxury and a new way to shop. They were the first rented luxury retailer and remain the biggest.

The experience of renting from Avelle is not only about convenience and flexibility, but more importantly, having access to more. Renting gives members the opportunity to indulge in all the latest trends, always have the perfect accessory and quite simply, enjoy more of the luxury they love.

Avelle allows everyone to experience luxury by providing access to the most coveted designer handbags, jewelry and sunglasses from high-end designers, including Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Vera Wang.

Borrowing designer accessories at Avelle is easy. You can borrow accessories by the week or the month. You can keep an item for as long as you’d like and when you are done with it, return it for a new one. Many members borrow multiple accessories at a time.

For members who fall in love with the accessory they’ve borrowed, they have the option to purchase it.

If you’re still shopping for your daughters or your sisters, try Rent the Runway.

Rent a Runway offers designer dresses for rent at an amazing price, starting at just $50.

Designers include Herve Leger, Proenza Schouler, Helmut Lang, Alice & Olivia, Brian Reyes, and more – with new ones being added every day

Dresses available for rent include a Vena Cava Disco Diva Shift. This is a $75 rental which retails for $750 Or consider a Lela Rose Strapless Bow Dress. This is a $150 rental which retails for $1,250.

Gift cards are available for the holidays at different price points as well as packages such as the Dress of the Month Club, A Dress for Every Season, etc.

They’ll deliver same day in Manhattan; next day around the country or you can reserve in advance and the dress will arrive at your doorstep beautifully packaged in a garment bag with a “fit kit” (which includes Braza items such as double sided tape, deodorant wipe, and magic clip bra converter) and when you’re done you can just pop it any mailbox.

If you’re shopping for sons and brothers consider GameFly.

GameFly is the #1 online video game rental service offering members more than 7,000 video game titles, including new releases and hard-to-find classics at a reasonable price. You can start for as low as $8.95 for the first month. Just go to gamefly.com to sign up. GameFly members can rent games and keep them for as long as they like; no due dates, no late fees.

If you love a game you are playing, you can buy it from GameFly at a great discount. GameFly will mail you the original packaging and manuals.

For Dad’s how about Guitar Affair.

(The Guitar featured on the show: Gigliotti Joe Bonamassa GT Custom electric guitar. The manufacturer is Gigliotti, pronounced Ja lot ee (kind of like Gelato but with a long e at the end) Gilgiotti is a small manufacturer in Washington State that makes very high end, hand crafted guitars.The model is a signature model of a very famous blues guitarist named Joe Bonamassa.)

Guitar Affair helps guitar enthusiasts to enjoy their hobby when they are traveling for business or pleasure. It is becoming a huge hassle to carry a guitar when on travel, especially for business travelers.

Also, like car enthusiasts, guitar lovers want to try out beautiful instruments no matter how many they own themselves.

One of these guitars is a Gigliotti Joe Bonamassa GT Custom electric guitar. The manufacturer is Gigliotti, pronounced Ja lot ee (kind of like Gelato but with a long e at the end) Gilgiotti is a small manufacturer in Washington State that makes very high end, hand crafted guitars.The model is a signature model of a very famous blues guitarist named Joe Bonamassa.)

With Guitar Affair, they can have a beautiful, hand-crafted guitar like this one, waiting for you at your hotel when travelling on business, or vacation. Use it while you’re there.

You also get an amp, training materials, or anything else guitar related.

When they are done, they simply close up the case, put on the return label, and drop it off at the concierge or any UPS shipping location.

The process is simple. Go to www.guitaraffair.com, join Guitar Affair, and reserve the instrument you want to play. We take care of the rest.

Try BookSwim for a loved one who loves to read.

Many people now keeping themselves to a strict budget, cringe at the thought of inevitable holiday expenses. That’s why BookSwim (www.BookSwim.com), the Netflix for books is offering a $10 gift certificate for everyone on your holiday gift list! Begin the year off with a reading head start by suggesting your favorite book for your friend! We are offering a coupon code FREEGIFT10.

Select the special readers on your shopping list, add money to their gift card to give a few months or a full year of BookSwim.

Remember the first $10 of every gift card is on us.

*Add $50, get a bonus gift of $50 Restaurant.com certificate for you or the gift recipient.

*Or double it with $100 to Restaurant.com with each $100 BookSwim gift card

Read the full article at WPIX.com