Briana, a Swimmer with a lot to say about book rental, gave us TONS of suggestions. I’m willing to bet many of you share the same opinions. Let us know what you think.

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“Here are sort of some general thoughts as well as the suggested books to add. My sort-of expertise is genre fiction, most specifically science fiction, fantasy, and romance, but I do hear a lot of buzz about certain books and will be glad to mention them

Additionally, I’d love to help out in any way possible. I’m a voracious reader, member of my library system and Booksfree, but I’ve become frustrated with the long wait time for books from Booksfree, sometimes almost a YEAR. I have a LOT of ideas and knowledge about the industry and I think I could be an asset to the BookSwim team.

Anyway, I do have a lot of opinions, and I won’t be upset if they aren’t taken. Just think of me as the average bibliophile

The biggest plus in this service is to supplement the libraries and book buying. I have a great library system (Fairfax County, VA) but they often have only hardbacks of books that are HUGE (500+ pages), which are unwieldy, or, even worse, they’ll have books three and six of a series, but not the rest of the books. Or they’ll have four books from an author that I love and then I’ll have to seek out all the author’s other works. Readers, especially those fans of genre fiction, are incredibly loyal to their favorites and very susceptible to “If you like such and such author, you might want to try this.”

However, books are increasing in price steadily. When I last worked in a bookstore (1996), mass market paperbacks topped out at 4.99 unless the book was by a best seller, then they were 5.99. Trade paperbacks were limited to non-fiction and literary fiction, and most genre oriented hardbacks were only from the best sellers. Mass market paperbacks ten years later are 7.99, with best sellers at 8.99, then you have the larger size paperbacks that bridge the gap between mass market and trade, going at 9.99, then you have a lot of trade paperback and more authors than ever releasing in hardback. Small Press books can be found in Borders and B&N alongside the “big” NY publishers.

And yet many families can’t take the risk of trying new authors and making that investment on a long term basis. This is where Bookswim is so brilliant. Readers can try out new authors with only the same monthly investment. Struggling family joins up, orders a few books. Mom orders an erotic romance novel in trade paperback. Her budget won’t allow for a 14.99 investment on a new author, or a genre she isn’t sure will meet her needs. Dad orders a thriller he’s heard a lot about. He doesn’t want to spend the 7(or 8!).99 on something that might not work for him. Maybe he saw the DaVinci Code movie but heard the book wasn’t as good. Teenager has been on the reserve list for Harry Potter since the book released and she reeeallllly wants to read it. Yet, she’s hundreds back on the list.

You can fulfill all of these people’s needs this way.

Trust me; buying a book these days isn’t cheap. And I rely on my library for new authors and new books. I’m most assuredly not the only one! Yet, my library doesn’t carry any erotic romance, or urban fantasy, and no small press books to speak of.

I spend MONTHS on the reserve list at my library, waiting for the new James Patterson, or Dan Brown’s illustrated version of the DaVinci Code, etc. And I’m utterly frustrated when I read book one in a series and then the library system never gets book two and beyond. As I said before, I’m not the only one!…

…My biggest suggestion is to beef up your genre lists. These readers will be the ones who stick with the service, with the anticipation that there will always be new and interesting books in their favored genre. They’ll be the ones who will tell their families and friends and their loyalty to the genre will mean thoughtful reviews.

Also, court the small press market. I was delighted to see that you had some books from Subterranean Press, which aren’t easily available.

Court the erotic romance market, too. Some people are still too ashamed to go into a bookstore and pick up something with a racy cover, and with the shipping option, nobody has to see what they’re checking out. Even though erotic romance is becoming more “mainstream”, there is still a bit of embarrassment about buying it in a bookstore.

Manga! And Yaoi! These are so popular!

Young adult fantasy. I don’t know that this needs to be said, but there is a lot of literature beyond Harry Potter.

Urban Fantasy. This genre is so popular with both science fiction, romance, and fantasy fans.

Literary fiction. Always enduring, always popular.

Mystery series. From cozy mysteries to police procedurals, these have fans who will read every last book.

Thrillers, especially the new trend of literary/religious/historical thrillers. Authors like James Rollins, Matt Reilly Dan Brown, etc. etc. etc.

Having a recommendations section would be great. Have the subscribers recommend authors. If you’ve enjoyed this author, try this one.

Having a short link to books in a series, especially series that involve many different authors (Athena Force from Harlequin) would be brilliant.

Highlighting special events or authors would be a great idea too. When Robert Jordan passed away earlier this month, ALL of his books were checked out of my library by that evening! With Ken Burns’ WWII special on PBS, a dedicated page to WWII non-fic and fiction would save the customers the work of finding those books. And the holidays are just a few months away, so a holiday books feature wouldn’t go awry…

Thanks for your time!”

Briana