Decluttering: Selling Books

I'm not really in the mood to declutter today, but it's time to jump in and get started! We have lots of books that need a new home. Some of them the kids have outgrown, and some the grownups have read and don't plan to read again. Many are books that we purchased used or received used from others, and I want to send them on their way so that they get connected with others who want to read them.

Today I started with Powell's Books, a new and used book store in Oregon that buys used books from individuals and pays for their shipping via Media Mail. I learned about their service in this article here. I like that they want to keep books in circulation.

 Wow, was this easy! I typed in the ISBN numbers from the back of the books, and they immediately returned with an offer telling me which books they want to buy. They only want used books that are in top condition, so I was careful to enter only the best of the bunch. It too less than 10 minutes to enter 39 of our best-looking books, a wide variety of titles, and they made an offer for 26 of them. All I need to do is print the shipping label, pack them carefully in a box, and drop them off at the post office. The offer is tentative until they receive and accept the books, but right now I am expecting to receive $51!

26 books down, but plenty more to go... I might enter another batch of books to send to Powell's, but I have some other book-selling strategies I want to try, too, and I'll report back here on what I try and how easy or challenging it is.

For now, things are a little roomier in my son's bookcase: