One thing I have a lot of, and that many people I know have a lot of, is books. Somehow we have shelves and shelves of books all over the house, and we don't re-read most of them. Most were read once long ago. So surely I can whittle us down to just say 500 books and get rid of the rest.

So first I look on Amazon to see if it's worth something. If so, I list it there on the used market. It's free to list and they take a commission if it sells.

If it's on Amazon for just a penny, then I go to PaperBackBookSwap and list it there. When I send it off, I get a credit and can then let a friend get herself a free book. So it helps multiple people all at once.

I also routinely send notes out to my friends of my unwanted books, and they take some of them too.

I used to have PILES of book all over the house because I get deluged with free review copies. Now that I've made a serious effort, I now have much smaller piles and they are clearly labeled that they're listed on Amazon, listed on PPBS, or are waiting to be reviewed by me.

My book project is going very well. I have small piles in an upstairs small room, each labelled. Some are listed on Amazon. Some are listed on PaperBackBookSwap. Some are in a pile that are for editor-related giveaway, because those were review copies sent to me. So order is coming to the books!

Hurrah! I am now at the point that every book not actually on my shelves and a "keeper" is somehow in queue to leave the house. I have my piles upstairs and slowly but surely they're either being bought by someone on Amazon or being distributed via PaperBackBookSwap. I highly recommend both techniques for clearing out old books!

You are doing great, Lisa! Hurray!

What do you do with ARCs and bound galleys?

Jilly -

I get very few of those, and I would pass them along to editors to then review. Mostly I get finished books.

On Vine I tend to avoid books because of the stack I already have. I get objects instead.

I have waaay too many Vine books, but I don't see that stopping any time soon. I have an entire shelf unit just for those, since we are supposed to keep them forever.

Dear Jilly -

My reading of the "keep" rule for Vine is that they don't want people to be selling them items. Amazon had a lot of problems with people getting items solely to resell them again. So when I pass them along to editors to review, I figure the publishers would be happy with me for doubling their exposure.

I guess we'll find out if one complains.

I currently have 47 of my books listed on PaperBackBookSwap. When I first began listing things would just fly out of the house, but apparently the books I have left are the lesser read books and they just sit there waiting and waiting for someone to choose them. So I have moved the stack into the closet so they don't take up visible space. I figure eventually someone will choose one, if I just wait long enough.

These are books that would lose me money if I listed them on Amazon, once Amazon had me pay their fee to them. But I'd still rather PPBS them than donate them to a library around here. I've heard of many libraries literally throwing books into the trash because they can't be bothered to even recycle them, and the thought bothers me. So I want to do my part to ensure they at least get to another reader.

The PPBS books move along slowly but surely at this point, maybe one every week or two. The stack is in a closet now, out of the way.

I have about 100 items on Amazon. Most of them are books, although a few are old video games. 50 of those are at $5.99 or less. So these are all fairly cheap books. They also sell very slowly, maybe one a week. Those are in stacks in the music room. I need to put those in the closet too. No need for them to take up usable space when they're trickling out the door.

I am actively working my way through my books-to-review stack. I would guess I have about 40 books in the music room to review, and another 10 in my office. I used to have a stack in my bedroom too but I am finally through those.