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Earth-friendly reading
13 Plays1 month ago
In honor of Earth day, here are some eco-friendly ways to enrich your reading life discussed in this episode:
Library resources
- Borrow the traditional way
- Libby
- Hoopla
Amazon resources
- Prime Reading
- Kindle Unlimited
- Kindle First Reads
Secondhand
- Facebook marketplace
- Goodwill
- Library book sales
- Ebay and Amazon
Friends and fun
- Book swap with friends
- Friends Scholastic book fair
- Swap books in little free libraries
Happy Earth Day and happy reading! You can always find me on Instagram @Kristinsnextchapter
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Transcript
Introduction to Eco-Friendly Reading
00:00:01
Kristin Paulin
Hi, I'm Kristin, the host of Kristin's Next Chapter, a podcast to help you find your next read and introduce you to debut authors. Today's episode is in celebration of Earth Day, which is April 22nd, with a deep dive into Earth-friendly ways to enrich your reading life.
00:00:18
Kristin Paulin
But first, I want to share what I'm currently reading, as well as some of my favorite bookish moments recently. So I'm currently reading The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett.
00:00:29
Kristin Paulin
I mentioned this book on the last episode. It's a darkly comic and heartwarming novel about a lottery winning man on a cross-country road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart, accompanied by his daughter, two orphaned children, and a therapy cat that predicts death.
00:00:51
Kristin Paulin
As far as bookish moments, I'm recording this episode in advance, so not a lot of time has passed since I recorded the last episode. And my bookish moment is something that I'm looking forward to rather than something that's happened recently.
Celebrating Birthdays with Bookstore Visits
00:01:08
Kristin Paulin
Tomorrow, my mom and I are getting together for our birthdays, which are a month apart. It's something we do every year with a little bit of local shopping. And two new bookstores have opened near her recently. And frankly, it's about time. It has been ages since there's been an indie bookstore anywhere near her. And there were two that opened in the last month.
00:01:31
Kristin Paulin
One's a used bookstore and the other is a traditional bookstore. And we're going to visit both of these. I always look forward to checking out new bookstores and, of course, supporting them in general with my purchases. And I'll let you know about them on the next episode.
Sustainable Reading Practices
00:01:48
Kristin Paulin
But for the topic of the day, let's talk about Earth-Friendly Reading. I'm personally in a moment in my life where I like to own copies of the books that I love. However, I often read the book electronically or take it from the library before I decide if I want to own a copy. In celebration of Earth Day, let's talk about the many ways to have a full reading life in an Earth-friendly way. So the first category is library resources.
00:02:18
Kristin Paulin
This, of course, includes the traditional borrowing of physical books, but it also includes the electronic resources available from the library. This often means the Libby app. That's the one most people are familiar with.
00:02:32
Kristin Paulin
The app is not exclusive to the U.S., but there is a feature that I understand is exclusive to the U.S., and that this is that you can borrow e-books and have them sent directly to your Kindle.
00:02:47
Kristin Paulin
I love that part myself, and if it isn't available internationally, I truly hope it is someday. It's it's a very, very nice feature.
00:02:58
Kristin Paulin
So each library has a certain number of copies available, and patrons have to queue for these copies. And this, unfortunately, can take months, very, very long wait periods for popular and new titles.
00:03:14
Kristin Paulin
There is also a limit to the number of titles that can be borrowed at any one time. It's usually between 5 and 20, and it depends on the library. Another electronic library resource is Hoopla.
00:03:29
Kristin Paulin
It seems that this app isn't available as widespread as Libby, but when it is offered, one of the best qualities is that there are no lines. Instead, patrons are just limited to the number of titles they can borrow a month, and this is set between 5 and 10 per month. At my library, it's 10, but if you reach the limit, Hoopla offers a selection of bonus borrows to bonus bridge the gap until the the new month where borrowing limits are reset.
00:04:00
Kristin Paulin
The selection on Hoopla is somewhat limited compared to Libby, but I have found that it is still wide-ranging and includes brand new releases of popular titles as well.
00:04:15
Kristin Paulin
And both Libby and Hoopla also offer audiobooks in addition to e-books, which do count within the limits of the 5 to 10 books or whatever number your library sets.
Exploring Reading Services
00:04:29
Kristin Paulin
Now, the second category is Amazon resources. This is a bit controversial. Of course, not everyone wants to support Amazon. I personally love Amazon and hate It it has some great electronic reading options, though, if you're willing to use the company. So first, they offer Prime Reading.
00:04:50
Kristin Paulin
This is a library of around 3,000 rotating titles available for Kindle to subscribers of Amazon Prime. And borrowing with this is limited to 10 titles at a time.
00:05:04
Kristin Paulin
And the second main option that Amazon offers is Kindle Unlimited. This library includes more than 4 million e-book titles for Kindle.
00:05:15
Kristin Paulin
It does come at an additional cost of $11.99 per month in the U.S. Borrowing is limited to 20 titles at one time. And another Amazon resource that is free for Amazon Prime members is called Amazon First Reads. And it is early access to new books across a variety of popular genres.
00:05:44
Kristin Paulin
Every month, You can choose one e-book to download as well as the featured novella for the month. Both are free.
00:05:55
Kristin Paulin
And they are they are yours to keep, not just to borrow. And the program is also available to non-Amazon Prime members. But in this case, the books are $1.99 per her title rather than being free for the amazon prime members And then finally, Amazon offers Audible, the audiobook program that has various subscription options.
00:06:25
Kristin Paulin
I tried it oh while ago, and honestly, i just don't think it's a very good deal. In my opinion, I would not recommend it. I believe you're better off borrowing titles from your library apps and then making one-off audiobook purchases that you may otherwise recommend.
00:06:42
Kristin Paulin
want or need to given the situation. Audible costs $14.95 per month for one credit or $22.95 for two credits. And the credits allow you to purchase a single book.
00:06:57
Kristin Paulin
And then on top of this, subscribers get access to their Plus Catalog, which is where I don't see the value. I have not found one title in this catalog that I'm interested in Audible does offer a free trial trial though, so if you think you might be interested, there's a free way to find out and you can look through that plus library yourself and decide if it's something that would work for you.
00:07:25
Kristin Paulin
But then there is an indie source. for purchasing audiobooks and this is called Libro.fm. So Libro.fm is an audiobook service that allows you to purchase audiobooks that support indie bookstores. You select which store this is and so essentially your purchase of the audiobook is credited to a store as if you went in and bought a physical copy, which is kind of neat.
Eco-Friendly Book Buying and Sharing
00:07:53
Kristin Paulin
And then the other category, or I should say the next category, is secondhand. So basically, don't forget about your secondhand options like Facebook Marketplace, thrift stores, and library book sales. You can also buy secondhand books from eBay and Amazon. In my experience, eBay has a far better selection and better prices.
00:08:19
Kristin Paulin
You're going to find thrift shops selling through eBay, and this is amazing. where the way that I'm finding better prices and selection. And while you're still getting the physical item, because it's already been produced for the market and purchased firsthand, I consider this secondhand to be ah an eco-friendly option.
00:08:41
Kristin Paulin
And then finally, the last category is friends and fun. So Here, there are some ideas that you can do with your friends, your book clubs, and this includes hosting a book swap where you and your friends or book clubs can get together and exchange titles that you have either read and don't want to hold on to or books that maybe just didn't work for you in particular but may work for someone else.
00:09:12
Kristin Paulin
And another idea is to hold a scholastic style book fair for adults, similar to just the book swap that I mentioned. um Friends just getting together with their books and sort of setting it up just like – aim traditional school book fair from when you were growing up and everyone, all the friends get to shop the book fair for free just like when we were kids and it it's just another fun way to get together with your friends as well. And then finally,
00:09:52
Kristin Paulin
Book swaps. Another idea with this would be the little free libraries that you may find in your or other neighborhoods. This is a good way to donate books that you are now no longer interested in and maybe pick up a book that you are now interested in And that'll do it for my ideas for Earth-Friendly Reading.
Book Clubs and Independent Bookstore Day
00:10:18
Kristin Paulin
And next, looking at my reading intentions until we meet again, i am going to be going to a book club for the Road Tender Hearts book that I mentioned i am currently reading. This is at my local bookstore.
00:10:34
Kristin Paulin
and then going to book club. I will also be celebrating Independent Bookstore Day with that bookstore crawl that I mentioned on the last episode with my local book friends.
00:10:46
Kristin Paulin
And I really can't wait to tell you more about this. i think I'm going to make it the episode topic for my next episode.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:10:56
Kristin Paulin
But that's it for today. Thank you for listening. If you liked this episode, please tell a friend. In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram at Kristen's Next Chapter, all one word. I'd love to hear from you. What are your favorite ways to make earth-friendly choices in reading or other parts of your life? Happy Earth Day and happy reading.