book swap

There are many book review sites. And many more e-commerce book sites that sell books. It is not only Amazon apparently, and there ARE book stores that are cheaper than Amazon by the way. A list of book sites has been documented here; 5 Sites To Buy Cheap Books (Not Amazon)

But what about book swap apps?

One thing for sure, app developing is not easy. It is lengthy and takes much effort if the app is built from scratch. If not, it is possible to buy or hire help to develop an app to allow seamless book swaps within a region. Yet the question is, how and when can this cost be recovered? Through the paid subscription by members? Or through advertising revenue within the app? If these methods are possible, then the next question is who should risk this seed capital to develop the book swap app?

We, Team BooksAvenue last checked the app development cost to be S$10k. A good 10 grand! Wonder how long and how should this cost be recovered since BooksAvenue is a not for profit project.

Thankfully, there are free book swapping applications developed by book readers for book readers. The app is free and there are no paid subscriptions or whatnots.

The free app for book swap is Hawkins Decentralised Library. The app developer is currently a local student (Singapore) who used to lend/trade books on various platforms on SG for several years. His friends and himself built a mobile app during their free time for sharing books amongst ourselves. And now they decided to build it further for more books lovers in SG.

In case the words on the app descriptions are too small,

Borrow a novel from a neighbour, swap trusty paperbacks with a friend or simply explore others’ bookshelves for free

* List books you own and share your bookshelf
* Browse by category, or check out a live map of the books available around you
* Chat and meet other bookkeepers. Exchange book recommendations express mutual admiration or gripe about plot holes.

The app looks decent with clear fonts and sufficient pictures to communicate messages amongst users. This helps to facilitate the book swaps needed. Based on the number of downloads and demographics of the users, it is assumed that the users are mostly based in Singapore.

In any case, this is good for us. And with the app, it allows mobile book swaps, connecting readers to books on the go.

If you like to contact the app developer, please go to our BooksAvenue Telegram page. The same telegram group allows users to swap books too. So do share and spread the word.

On an ending note, BooksAvenue and the app Hawkins Decentralised Library are not affiliated or connected in any way.

Similarly, should you have a good idea or project and would like to work with BooksAvenue, do drop us a message on our Facebook page.

If you have benefited from our site, do drop us short review/post on our Facebook page. Your small gesture helps us to go a long way.

🙂

The idea of having a book swapping app has always been our dream. This will surely facilitate book swapping for free. And if the idea goes well, it is easy to replicate the same model and expand out of our home ground, Singapore.

So far, most of the costs are borne by Team BooksAvenue, coming from personal pockets to build a dream. Everyone wants cheap and good, someone has to start something. And that’s how BooksAvenue started.

Yet how can we build an app when there is no knowledge or monetary strength to support so?

After much brainstorming, a solution has been found. It is a cheap and good solution.

A Telegram group has created to help facilitate book swaps in Singapore. This group will help book swappers to source and search for books available to swap. It’s a brilliant solution, much mobile and efficient in matchmaking book swap requests.

As such, all requests should be channeled to the Telegram group.

The quest for building our app is not over. The desire for building the app remains, but at the same time, it is necessary to advance forward with time.

So to break the vicious cycle of waiting, an alternative has to be done first. Hopefully once we have sufficient users, it is justifiable and in fact, more motivating for us to seek out ways to build the app.

Currently BooksAvenue has a friend in Malaysia who is willing to partner and work with us to build the app. While there are main jobs for us to perform in the day, it is only fair to execute this within our means and in our freetime.

The telegram shall be a public group and will be monitored. Moderator roles will be given, and similarly, it can be requested from Fox. Feel free to share the group with our fellow readers in Singapore. This will help to facilitate readers to swap books efficiently.

A simple solution to a challenge that has bugged us for months!

Such an epiphany!