Free a Book

Write a gift inscription in your book and set it free.

Your book, and the inscription you write, will be a time capsule, like a literary message in a bottle. So imagine you are speaking to the person who may find it 50 years from now.

Write a gift inscription

Your handwritten inscription should be at the front of the book, wherever there is a large enough blank space.

Make sure that you ask the person who finds your book to contact you, as this will significantly increase the number of responses you receive.

Ask the finder to pass the book on to someone else after reading it.

If you want to make it extra special, include details about where and when you left the book. The best book inscriptions always contain a location and date.

Track your book

To track your book, simply add an email address.

You may wish to create a separate email account specifically for this purpose, in which case you could have a cute address like emilys-book@gmail.com.

You could also include your social media username as an additional option, so that people can send you a message or tag you in a post. But remember that some people are not active on social media, so an email address should always be your primary contact method for the best response rate.

Example

This is an example of how to write a gift inscription in your book.

Free a book

You can set your book free in the following ways.

• The most exciting option is to leave your book in a public place, like on a park bench, but please do this responsibly by making sure the book has been picked up, to avoid littering. Also avoid locations where any unidentified package may be a security risk, such as an airport.
• Leave it in a Little Free Library, or any free community book exchange. This is the simplest method, as your book is guaranteed to be found by a bookish person. Book exchanges are plentiful and obviously, no permission is required to leave a book there.
• Leave it in a cafe or coffee shop that has a bookswap shelf for their customers. If they don't have a bookswap shelf, simply ask for permission to leave your book on a table for the next customer to find.
• Leave it at any other venue that has a bookswap shelf. You can sometimes find them in bars, laundrettes, waiting rooms and other quite unexpected locations.
• You can simply hand a book to someone in person of course. This guarantees that your book will find a new owner.

I wouldn't advise donating your book to a charity shop or thrift store, as most charities will discard books that have names or inscriptions written inside.

Sticky notes

If you leave your book in a public place, it's advisable to add a sticky note to the cover with "Free Book" written on it. Without this, people may assume the book has been lost.

If the book is left in a community book exchange, or a bookswap shelf in somewhere like a cafe, it's not necessary.

Let us know

When you set a book free you may wish to post it online. If so, please tag us in the photo and include the #FreeaBook hashtag to increase the visibility of your post.

Free a Book is on X, Facebook and Instagram.

Bookcrossing

How does releasing and tracking books with Bookcrossing compare to Free a Book?

Bookcrossing vs Free a Book