On June 30, I went to the Bookworm Brigade with my bag of second hand books. I was excited to meet people and to sell books. In this event, participants were allowed to swap books for free, donate books, or sell them for P100 or less.
Jonver, Jonard, and Cariza
This event was organized by Cariza, Jonver, and Jonard. They were just three friends who had an idea, and they turned that idea into reality. They said they were just talking on Twitter, and they were telling each other that they wanted new books, but they were low on cash. Swapping books became a logical solution, but then they thought, “Why not invite more of our friends?” then they became more ambitious and said, “Why don’t we create a Facebook event?”
With the help of Facebook and their fellow fashion blogger friends, they were able to promote the event. For the venue, a deal was made between Jonver and his boss at the Moonleaf Tea Shop. It was a win-win solution as the event got a venue for free, and the tea shop attracted more customers.
The event was a success. Books were swapped, donated, and sold. Of course the most popular pile was the free for all bookswap pile. Authors like Haruki Murakami, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Lemony Snicket, Shakespeare, and other popular authors littered the tables.
Everyone had a blast as they looked through mountains of books, searching for their kind of paper-bounded treasures. It started to rain, but people kept on coming.
Ja with Jessica Zafra books
As for me, I went for the Jessica Zafra books.
It was a really fun event. It was so nice to meet the organizers of the event and to hear their story. People like them, people with initiative, are the kinds of people who can bring a lot of good in the world. They have inspired me and challenged me to dream big and to do something to make that dream real.
Taken from the Bookworm Brigade Facebook Page
To get updates about the next bookswap event, like the Bookworm Brigade’s Facebook page.
For more about books, check out these links:
- My Online Second-Hand Bookstore: The REaD Hunter
- What do you love about second-hand books?
- The Books I Bought at the Floating Book Fair
- Sugar on a World: A Review of Mahdur Jaffrey’s Climbing the Mango Trees
- My Virtual Notebook: Writing Tips from Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark
Check out my other blog categories.
Age of the Diary by Jasmine T. Cruz. If you like this post, please subscribe to this blog. Follow Ja on Twitter: ageofthediary. Email Ja at: ageofthediary@gmail.com.
Ja, you can have my books but they are all nonfiction… Tita Monette
Thank you tita!
Awwww I should have known this!!!!
Hey Aileen! Follow my blog, and I’ll keep you updated about events like these.
Great idea! Too bad I missed this! I have tons of books to dispose.. but I always end up buying new ones.. Haha.
Can I have your books? Haha. I actually made an announcement about this in my blog way before the date of the event, and I usually post about events like these here, so follow my blog, and you’ll get updated.
Wow! I wish I knew about this. @_@ Will check out your second-hand bookstore! Thanks for this!
Thank you for adding my second hand bookstore. If you follow my blog, and I’ll keep you updated about events like this.
Thank you very much for sharing. I think this is such a wonderful event and it is something that can be done in other cities in the Philippines and around the world. I am involved daily with a number of projects on the internet but I still take time out everyday to put an actual book in my hands and I read.
~ Gary ~
Yes I think there should be more events like this. Maybe you can organize one in Bacolod.
I think this is really a wonderful idea and I will begin to organize in Bacolod City. Wish me luck.
~ Gary ~
Good luck!
Thanks so much for going! It was definitely a pleasure meeting a fellow book lover like you!
It was also a pleasure to meet you guys! I hope we do this again soon!
When you say “swap”, does it mean no money was exchanged at all? I would really like to attend one of these events.
Yes no money was exchanged in the bookswap. So all you need to do is bring the books you don’t like, then you can pick from the pile of books, and get the ones you like. You can also donate your books if you don’t want to swap. There are also some books that are for sale, but there’s a ceiling price of P100. There are different piles of books for each category.
Thank you so much, Jasmine! <3 It was so lovely to meet you. We're definitely doing this again!
You’re welcome! It was so nice to meet you too! Can’t wait for the next one.
Thank you thank you thank you!! We really hope we can do this some other time! And it was nice to meet you there
You’re welcome.
I can’t wait for the next one. It was really nice to meet you too! 