The Literary Life

From the staff of BookSwim.com

Category: Television (Online)

NorthWest Cable News: “Twilight teen trends, TV and toddlers, rent a book” by Shaniqua Manning

See the video and read the article at NNCN.com

No more library fines

Well here’s a novel idea that’ll get your kids to drop the remote and save you a trip to the library. Bookswim.com is like Netflix for books. The website charges a monthly fee starting at $24 to rent three to 11 books at a time. Keep the book as long as you like. When you’re done return it in a prepaid envelope and you’ll get another book from your reading list mailed back to you. That will save you a trip to the library and help you avoid those pesky overdue fines……..Something to check out to help your kids beat summer boredom.

See the video and read the article at NNCN.com

NBC Atlanta 11 Alive: “Bookworm on a Budget Rents Best Sellers” by Valerie Huff

Read the full article and watch the video at 11Alive.com

Bookworms can read as many books as they like for free just by joining the local library. But nabbing the latest best seller could take a while.

Amber Lawson reads between 15 and 20 books per month and joined Bookswim.com after realizing she was spending $125. every month in new and used book stores.

Now she’s down to $30 per month using BookSwim.com. “You can get as many books as you want for one set price and they send me all the books I want,” she said. Prices at bookswim.com start at 9.95 per month. Bookswim.com has different plans depending on how many books per month you want to read.

The books are mailed to subscribers along with a postage paid return label. “I send back the books I’ve read and they send me the next ones on my list,” said Lawson.

Lawson said she also has the option of purchasing a book she wants to add to her collection rather than returning it.

If you have a money saving tip you can email it to vhoff@11alive.com and follow Valuesval on Twitter.com

Read the full article and watch the video at 11Alive.com

Sacramento CBS13 News: Save with Dave

View the video at CBS13.com
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Read the article at CBS13.com

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― You’ve probably heard about renting textbooks, now that system applies to all books with a new website called “Bookswim.”

By their own description, Bookswim.com is like Netflix for books. For around $10 a month, you get unlimited book rentals and the shipping is absolutely free!

The books are delivered to your house and you can take as long as you need to read them. Just ship the books back when you’re done.


You can even buy the books you like after you’ve read them.

First, you sign up with the service, and then pick the books you want to read and put them in the “rental pool.”

There’s no checkout, you just wait for the books to arrive and start reading! If you have one of those e-readers, or read on your phone, they offer I-book rental as well, at ten to twenty dollars off the cover price.

And best of all, there’s no contract, and no cancellation fee, you can quit at any time.

So how do you save by renting your bestsellers?

If you bought ten books in one month, the company says this service would save you $175 by using Bookswim!

View the video at CBS13.com
- OR -
Read the article at CBS13.com

WFSB-TV Better Connecticut: “If you didn’t get what you wanted — Rent it!”

See the article at WFSB.com

Watch the video segment for Better Connecticut

Why don’t you rent the items you didn’t get for Christmas? Kara talks about renting designer bags, dresses and even books! Rent Books Netflix style!

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

CBS 2 New York: “More And More Goods Now Available For Rent” by Kirstin Cole

Read the full article at CBS

You’ve probably rented cars, apartments, and even movies before, but what about a wedding cake, a purse, a pooch, or a best-selling book?

“We’ve gotten to a point where you can rent almost anything,” said retail expert Marshal Cohen.

Call it the rise of the rental industry. Born out of the faltering economy, retail analysts said consumers who can no longer afford to buy are renting goods from dozens of websites for a week, a weekend, even longer.

On this website, you can find designer dresses that retail for hundreds or even thousands of dollars, up to 90% off.

You can rent a $2300 classic Chanel bag for only $80.

“In many cases it’s someone who’s been entrepreneurial creates a collection, puts that collection out for rent and it’s just been growing for them ever since,” Cohen said.

And it’s not just luxury items. Basic, everyday goods are available to rent too.

“Books we rent are mostly popular fiction and popular non-fiction, all the newest best-selling hot releases as well as all the classics,” said Eric Ginsberg, spokesman for BookSwim.com.

You can borrow books from the library for free, but at most book rental sites there are no due dates, no late fees, and free shipping to your door.

“You can rent your textbooks online for up to 75 percent off and that can be the difference between affording to go to school full-time or part time.

Tired of shelling out money for toys your kids outgrow? Rent them like mother Connor Herman does.

“We’ve got choo-choo trains, we’ve got puzzles and books” she said.

And it doesn’t have to end there. For all you June brides, you can rent everything from your dress to the wedding cake.

You can even rent a dog. “Flexpetz is a flexible dog ownership program for people who love dogs but are unable to own dogs full time,” said spokeswoman Marlena Cervantes.

“Another benefit to renting instead of buying: it’s much more environmentally friendly because the goods get recycled.

Read the full article at CBS