dummel

Hello,
I'd like to eventually get rid of all my books in English as I have read them all, and actually for years now I have much preferred reading on my Kindle.
(Also removing the whole bookcase/books from my spare room would free up valuable space for my electric bike).
I have mostly French Classics, English Classics, modern Eng lit, pychology/self-help, bios/memoirs, food/diet/recipes/health, etc.
There is a bookshop selling second-hand English books in my town but they're not taking any more books from anyone.
Has anyone any ideas how I can pass these books onto people that would be interested in them, and hopefully make me a little "pocket money" in the process?
I have tried sites like vinted/leboncoin but there are never any takers for my English books, even when I put them up for ridiculous prices, or even free.
Perhaps you know of any sites that exist where expats can buy English second-hand books from each other?

dmu

Even in my neck of the woods, there's an English book section in the local Ressourcerie (or, elsewhere, Emmaüs or any charity shop). In fact I use it as a sort of lending library - pay my 50 cts for a book, then take it back. There are also four "Boîtes aux livres" in town, where I deposit books and sometimes find others in English. Google "Gibert". They have an English section and usually accept second-hand books in good condition.
You could also set up a stall at the next Vide-Grenier in your town - ask at your Mairie for details. Even if there aren't many Anglophones in your area, many French people like reading in original version....
HTH

scrubbedexpat143

Alas, secondhand books are a drug on the market these days, virtually anywhere. Even here in Indonesia, where not so long ago the locals would grab them like hotcakes, and pay for them too. In Australia, even the local charity shops no longer want them. They say they are being inundated with old books, and it seems nobody under the age of 50 reads anything on paper nowadays.

The scourge of the electronic age... Sad, but there we are.

You could consider renting a table at your local weekend market, and flogging them off. Parents of students who are studying English, may be interested, tho les infants are most likely doing as you are, and reading off their Kindles.

Don't expect to take much from your books, but you may meet some interesting people in the process.

dummel

Thank you dmu and JDWoowoo50 alas my experience so far trying to flog them off is that the French don't seem interested (not even when I offer them free lol).

The ideal solution would be an exclusive online "expat used-book store" along the lines of leboncoin where we could all just recycle each other's books!

I think the least chronophage solution for me is to put an ad on LBC or Vinted with the list of all my English books (@ 50ct each).

I'm just wondering, would I be allowed to alert people on this forum to that list? In case anyone here would be interested in them?

Rosemary

No you cannot do that on this forum as it contravenes the no advertising rule.

Rosemary

scrubbedexpat143

My books are like my cameras and our cats. Valued possessions.

In my life I try to avoid the trap of knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing. With books, it isn't so much what you paid for them or how much space they take up (altho' the latter is an important factor to be considered, I admit it), but what you got out of them.

Can you not find space to put them away, out of sight, for a while? Then give them away to selected friends as they come along.

This is what I would do, but then I I've in a fairly big two bedroom house with a garage. There is always space in that garage. Sort of...