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Published On: August 7, 2019Categories: Guest PostsTags: 11 Comments

Welcome to The Bibliosmile Project, a series here on Novels & Waffles that aims to spotlight how books (+ the bookish community), has brought smiles, happiness, and positivity into our lives. Through an ongoing series of guest posts, different readers will share their stories of bookish happiness and spread some much-needed positivity, sunshine, and smiles with us all. Hopefully, reading about how books have brought a smile to their faces, it will bring one to yours as well. You can read more about this series in my introduction and catch up on previous guest posts here.

If you’re interested in writing a guest post as part of The Bibliosmile Project, then please contact me at my email, [email protected].

Me @ Books

Andrea’s Bibliosmile Story

I  had no idea what I was getting into when I started book blogging at The Little Red Reviewer.  I liked reading, and I wanted to get better at talking about books I’d enjoyed, so book blogging seemed a good hobby.  I quickly became friends with two other bloggers who had a joint blog, and one of them mentioned she liked postcards. The three of us began sending random postcards back and forth. 

Then the box of books arrived.  I’d mentioned an author I liked, and she already had my mailing address, so she mailed me a box of paperbacks.   At some later date, this friend also mailed me an obscure anthology, and in the table of contents she marked her favorites. 

Wait, mailing books to random acquaintances was a thing you could do?  Not only could I talk about books online with people around the world, but I could also physically put the book into their hands??   

And that was when I realized the physical connections I could forge with other book bloggers. Blogging could be way more than pixels on a screen!

Yes, yes, I know books are available as e-books, and you can read them on your phone or have them delivered to your house or get them from the library.  But! I can mail you the exact same physical book that I read! Your fingers will touch the same pages that my fingers touched. You’ll know exactly which pages I dog-eared,  you’ll know if I broke the spine on the paperback or not. You’ll have a physical object that was important enough to me that I left my impression on it. 

In lesser cases of the above situation, maybe I got an ARC and it wasn’t for me, so I’m happy to pass it on to a blogger friend who might enjoy it. And? Maybe I’m just culling my collection because I want space on my bookshelves for more books. Those are all excellent reasons for me to mail books to people!

Not only does book blogging let me share my love for books online, it literally lets me share my love of physical books, and our physical interaction with books, with other people.

I recently shipped a box of books to a friend, along with a note on each book telling him why I thought he might like it. Was book blogging some requirement, for me to mail books to friends?  Nope. but through book blogging I’ve met other book lovers who I’d otherwise have never known. Mailing books to a “blogger friend” seems extra special to me.  

I also read a lot of obscure stuff.  Out of print books, small press, imported stuff,  weird stuff that isn’t at Barnes and Noble. These titles, authors, and publishing houses often came to my attention in the first place because a friend either recommended it, or simply gave me a copy and said “I think you might like this”.  

And now I can pay that forward.  Not just by blogging about the book, but by physically putting a copy in your hands. LOL, I just realized that pre-book-blogging, that was EXACTLY how people promoted their favorite books, was by giving a copy to their friends!  What’s old is new again, I guess?   

That obscure anthology my friend mailed me all those years ago, it was a Clockwork Phoenix anthology, published by Mythic Delirium.  That book blew my mind. Authors I’d never heard of writing gorgeous short stories. I started following the careers of many of those authors, and as the years went on I bought more of their works, and in many cases I was able to connect with them online and even interview them. 

All of that, because someone who barely knew me decided to mail me a book that they thought I might like.  

So much of the joy that I’ve gotten out of book blogging, the gleeful “omg I can’t believe I’m getting to interview so and so!!!!!”,  the gleeful “how did I not know this author existed??”, so much of that, because someone thoughtfully mailed me a book.  

Selfishly, the more books I mail out,  the more space I have on my bookshelves for . . . . more books! And the more books I bring into my house. . . the more I have to give to people. Before you think I’m made of money – I receive too many ARCs (many unsolicited), I buy lots of used books, I buy books at garage sales and Goodwill, and yes, I do buy books new.  Does mailing books get expensive? Domestic book-rate costs about as much as a fancy drink at Starbucks. 

And if my friends who mail me books are just trying to get rid of them to make more space on their bookshelves, that’s ok too!  Sharing physical books back and forth has brought me dimensions of book blogging that I never knew existed. It’s put a huge smile on my face!

Is mailing books something that will put a smile on everyone’s face? I have no idea. But it puts a huge smile on mine!  It helps me connect with other bloggers in ways I never expected.

More About the Author

Andrea runs the book blog The Little Red Reviewer. She’s on twitter at @redhead5318. She’s been lucky enough to have worked with SFSignal and Apex Magazine.  Be careful about giving her your mailing address, she might send you random postcards, recipes, or books.

What do you think about bookmail?

Have you ever received bookmail from a friend?

In what ways has book blogging become “more than pixels on a screen” for you?

11 Comments

  1. Abi @ Scribbles and Stories August 7, 2019 at 7:43 am - Reply

    I’ve never mailed a book but I do often pass on books I don’t particularly want anymore to people I think will want to read them more than me! I totally agree with the post, it’s beneficial both ways! ❤️

  2. Redhead August 7, 2019 at 10:33 am - Reply

    thank you for letting me blab on and on and on about how much I love sharing books with people! and um, yes, they know me at the post office.

  3. Julianna @ Paper Blots August 7, 2019 at 12:27 pm - Reply

    Honestly, I hardcore wish that we didn’t have to pay postage when mailing books!! Because then I would mail books to my friends around the world all day every day!!!

  4. […] ♡ Kat @ Novels and Waffles […]

  5. Kelly | Another Book in the Wall August 8, 2019 at 12:57 am - Reply

    Awww, this is such a sweet and relatable post!! I smile every time I receive a book in the mail! I distinctly remember how happy I was to receive a book as a Christmas gift from one of my book blogging friends! It absolutely made my day! <3

  6. Sophie @ Blame Chocolate August 8, 2019 at 4:14 am - Reply

    Awww this is so cute!! Bookmail has to be the best mail ^^ Too bad about postage costs, or I would mail one every month!
    Thanks so much for sharing, Kat and Andrea <3

  7. Malka @ Paper Procrastinators August 8, 2019 at 1:06 pm - Reply

    This is such an amazing post and it makes me want to send book mail to everyone I know! I think one of the things that struck me the most while I was reading is that sending book mail is a way to turn online friendships into something more tangible. Not because it’s a gift, so much as it’s a physical object from someone you normally interact with only over the internet. I think this was such a wonderful post and definitely made me contemplate sending out books to people I interact with on the blog in the near future!

  8. Emma @ AFCTL August 8, 2019 at 3:20 pm - Reply

    This is so amazing!
    Book mail is such a wonderful way to connect even further with friends internationally, and I love the story behind this post!
    This is an amazing post and I am debating doing this with my friends too!
    -Emma :)

  9. Nish and Ngoc August 9, 2019 at 1:24 pm - Reply

    That is so cute!!! I actually LOVE posting books to my friends & I started doing it back when I had a booktube channel. Once, a friend I’d made on a booktube sent me a new book from my fave author just because she knew I had exams & wanted to cheer me up 😭 I don’t know a lot of bookworms IRL so the book community has definitely brought more opportunities to give & receive lovely bookish packages!!

    💛 Ngoc

  10. […] And! my guest post about book mail was featured at Novels and & Waffles as part of their BiblioSmile Project!  check it out! […]

  11. bkfrgr August 11, 2019 at 9:05 pm - Reply

    What a beautiful post! Book mail is definitely the BEST – more so when it comes from friends, and worth every penny of the postage. :-)

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