What is The Book Exchange?

The Book Exchange is all about offering avid readers nationwide a price-friendly way of discovering, reading, buying and recycling books.  

How are we going to do it?

By becoming a member you will be able to choose and buy from an ever-expanding selection of fiction works and will have the fantastic opportunity to trade-in your pre-loved books for credit to redeem against ANY book on the website.  

What good does that do you?

Not only does our unique trade-in service free up your beloved book-shelves for ‘new-to-you’ books, our stock is priced incredibly competitively at £2.50 per item.  And (call us biased but we think this is the best bit), safe in the knowledge that your book retains a value and you can return it to us after reading, you now have the freedom to sample new authors, publishers or genres you wouldn’t normally consider – you read more, you save more – perfect!

Why are we supporting the Children's Reading Fund?

At the book exchange we are committed to building a sustainable and passionate readers community, one where everyone can come together to discover, read, buy and recycle books. One of the ways we are doing this is by supporting the Children's Reading Fund.

For every book traded in 20p is donated to the Children's Reading Fund so our members can help create a world where even the most disadvantaged children in the UK can benefit and share the joys of reading a good book this year and beyond.

Find out more here

A note from the founder

I love to read – always have, always will – over the years I’ve bought all sorts of books from tatty, scrappy second-hand titles simply because the cover art-work was amazing right through to magnificent hard-backed editions with their ‘brand new book smell’ which I felt exhilarated to open and couldn’t bear to put down – it’s a fantastic addiction but I dread to think what I’ve spent in bookshops around the UK!  

About five years ago I had my first ever book exchange experience while travelling in Australia. Down-under book-shops offer you the fantastic ability to swap a book you’ve finished with another book you want to read and I became completely enamoured with this service.  Not only do you get to take a book you’ve loved and enjoyed and turn it into another book full of potential and mystery at very little cost to your pocket but you do so knowing that another lucky reader is going to fall in love with your original book – it’s green, it’s sustainable, it’s cheap – it’s a great feeling!  When I returned to the UK I was determined to keep this new found concept alive so started swapping books with friends and family, we did blind swaps or recommended titles to each other and I read books and discovered new favourite authors which I wouldn’t have considered if I was paying full price in the shops.  A few years later I’d read the bulk of their books too and that’s when it struck me – I need a place where I can send my old books and get a never ending supply of ‘new-to-me’ books in return.

The Book Exchange is that place, it’s a forum for avid readers to buy books, up-cycle their pre-loved books into different titles and chat to other readers to discover new authors, read reviews and get recommendations.  

It’s simple and easy, just send us the books collecting dust on your shelves and we’ll credit your account with money to spend on any book listed on the website.  Your credit is completely flexible and never expires, if you don’t fancy anything in stock simply wait until you do and in the meantime meet other book lovers, get involved with discussions and tell other readers all about your favourite titles.

I hope you enjoy being part of our book-lovers community; we have big plans for The Book Exchange and we would love you to be part of them.

Maxine
Founder and Managing Director
The Book Exchange

maxine@thebookexchange.co.uk