You read constantly. The manager at the bookstore knows you by name. But what do you do with all of those books after you´ve read them? If you´re like me, you have ten overflowing bookcases in your house and a husband who wonders why you need to keep adding to the collection.

Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to have space for so many bookcases, or a budget that allows for frequent trips to the bookstore. So what to do with those books you don´t deem ´keepers´ could be a dilemma. You can trade with your friends, but what if your friends don´t have the same reading taste? You could end up trading your sexy Bertrice Smalls for a dry mystery, or even a literary novel. Not that there´s anything wrong with either of those, but you want romance. Well, fortunately, you do have options that won´t involve gumshoes and unhappy endings. (Authors, you may want to stop reading now.)

There are used bookstores popping up all over the place, including online, and many of those will take your books in trade or for credit toward the books you choose from their shops. I´ve even discovered some mailing lists online where the readers offer the books they´ve read in trade for whatever you may have. In some cases, people even post their wish lists. I have a friend who keeps a bag of books in her car trunk at all times, in case she happens by a used bookstore. As she says, you never know what you might find, and you might need that credit.

(A little off-topic, but very relevant, are the used bookstores that will search for what you want, including hard-to-find, out-of-print books by your favorite authors. Some charge a fee for this, but I have heard of a few who don´t.)

Some people offer their books-for-trade on their websites. Very easy to find, if you know where to look. Or how to look. Many people list their personal websites on the main search engines, and this is the easiest way I´ve found to locate romance reader websites. Sign up for readers´ mailing lists. A good place for that is Onelist/Egroups. The host email lists for countless groups and may be your best bet for finding what you need. Below you´ll find a few places to start your search for booktraders. And in the meantime, send me an email, or post a message on the bulletin board to let me know what you´re reading now.

See you next week!