About Us
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 by Aussie Book Karma
ABK is manned and operated by Annie, Alaine and Sheree, three women dedicated to helping Aussies get more books for less dollars. We are passionate about books. Obsessed, even. You see we believe that a good story is like a hospital for the mind...and the past year there have definitely been times we've felt in need of mental hospitals!
We also believe in karma. There is nothing better than the conversation that comes after your friend has loved a book you recommend or lent her. For that reason we're passing on the good stories. Yes, we're keeping our absolute favourites on our shelves (they're like family heirlooms after all) but if we can bear to part with it, we're sending it on. In fact, just for the launch of this site, we even bought a couple of our absolute all-time favourites brand new to give away. From Bestsellers to New Releases, from Classics to undiscovered gems, you'll find a great range of books to swap. We know not everyone has the same taste though...so why not swap the novels that weren't quite your cup of tea? If there's anything we've learnt from one another it's that everyone's tastes are different.
We don't just want to create an Aussie book-swapping club either. We want to create a community. Did you swap a book? Tell us what you thought about it! Even better - review it. There'll be book reviews, reading challenges, online discussion groups and eventually maybe even meetings. Every Friday on our News and Reviews Section, we'll post a link to the latest Borders voucher, plus notify you of any other book sales we're aware of. If there's a book bargain to be had, we'll bag it for you. After all, let's be realistic, just because you swap books doesn't mean you will stop buying them. We might as well try and ease our credit card bills by buying them on sale.
Because we are a free site run by a Mother, a Daughter and a Best Friend, we are currently quite low-tech. This does mean a massive amount of manual entering and co-ordinating that we are happy to do. Having said this, if you come across an error or if something's gone astray, please contact us via email. We're really approachable and appreciate all feedback and suggestions.
We also believe in karma. There is nothing better than the conversation that comes after your friend has loved a book you recommend or lent her. For that reason we're passing on the good stories. Yes, we're keeping our absolute favourites on our shelves (they're like family heirlooms after all) but if we can bear to part with it, we're sending it on. In fact, just for the launch of this site, we even bought a couple of our absolute all-time favourites brand new to give away. From Bestsellers to New Releases, from Classics to undiscovered gems, you'll find a great range of books to swap. We know not everyone has the same taste though...so why not swap the novels that weren't quite your cup of tea? If there's anything we've learnt from one another it's that everyone's tastes are different.
We don't just want to create an Aussie book-swapping club either. We want to create a community. Did you swap a book? Tell us what you thought about it! Even better - review it. There'll be book reviews, reading challenges, online discussion groups and eventually maybe even meetings. Every Friday on our News and Reviews Section, we'll post a link to the latest Borders voucher, plus notify you of any other book sales we're aware of. If there's a book bargain to be had, we'll bag it for you. After all, let's be realistic, just because you swap books doesn't mean you will stop buying them. We might as well try and ease our credit card bills by buying them on sale.
Because we are a free site run by a Mother, a Daughter and a Best Friend, we are currently quite low-tech. This does mean a massive amount of manual entering and co-ordinating that we are happy to do. Having said this, if you come across an error or if something's gone astray, please contact us via email. We're really approachable and appreciate all feedback and suggestions.
- If you'd like to know more about Annie, you can check out her blog Reading, Writing and Ranting.
- For more info on Alaine, see Alaine's Reading Blog.