South Africa
books
found?
labels
wild tips
people
meetings
(photos)
bookcrossing
press
shelf/html
Wild tips
One of the most exciting parts of bookcrossing is the public release or so-called wild release of your books. Mostly because it's not overly easy to leave a book somewehere, just like that...Many a bookcrosser has been called after by, for instance, the personnel of a catering establishment: "Sir! Madam! You forgot your book!" If you answer with "I did that on purpose", you have a lot of explaining to do.
General
Ofcourse you stick a clear label with the BCID (the book's unique number) on the inside cover. Or write a text that leaves no doubt about what the finder should do.
Do make it very clear on the outside as well that it's a bookcrossing book. Do not be modest! Best results have been with books that had stickers beyond the limit of decency with Very Clear Instructions. Apparently this kind of "neon indication" works best.
Labels, leaflets and the likes are to be found on the labels page.
Good locations
Allright. Then what? Where to leave your cherished treasure? Naturally you'd like most of all for it not only to be found and valued, but referrably to be reported as well.
There aren't that many places that yield good results for any and every bookcrosser. One can be enthusiastic about the local coffee shop whilst another never had any report from a similar place.
An extra impediment in South Africa may be the huge amounts of cleaning and security people. They tend to have orders to dismiss left behind property or put it in the lost&found.
Swift pickups by a reader may be helped by targeting the right audience. Chicklit and romances usually don't work well in computer shops; a philosophy book may suffer a difficult time at a playground, if only because undivided attention is hard to get there.
Success?
As bookcrossing is fairly new to South Africa, success spots have not been identified yet. Leaflet racks tend to do well though; the newspaper section of a coffee shop. Sometimes the vegetable section of a supermarket.
Many crossers are fond of theatres or cinemas for book releases. Hotels and hotel rooms are dubious at best. Sometimes very good catches, sometimes shelf life in the hotel library, sometimes - goodness gracious - found books go straight in the bin!
Same thing at airports. Some may see your book as a potential bomb, others as trash. You're lucky to find a reader beforehand.
But let's be honest. Mostly there is no clue as to what will happen. A long stretch of releases in a university building led to nil catch reports. In a different building almost everything is reported back. A release on a very busy traffic point (impossible to stop and ponder) led to an enthusiastic and swift response.
Themes
More for your own enjoyment than assignable for better results: theme releases. How about "The guns from Navarone" in a weaponry, "Chicken soup for the Christian women's soul" in or near a church, a detective from the "The cat who..." series in a pet shop or the vet's, the spy handbook of "Men in Black" next to the movie in the video shop? Great fun to implement, especially making up the best applicable locations. Lack of inspiration? The mail group and/or the international fora love to help out!
Patience
Don't give up too soon. Certainly there are books reported found even before the crosser had the opportunity to state the release. But it's not unusual either to see three years pass before a reader ventures to the website and takes the time to write a bit. Sometimes that book has travelled half the world in the meantime.
Often you see someone take the book... and you never hear from it again. Not only strangers: scores of friends and family members promise dearly to report. And never do. (We've tried different sorts of pressure - they don't work. People have to see the greater idea before they will write)
In conclusion a solace. Almost always your book is found and valued as a present. An unexpected gift. Even if you never hear from it again, you did give someone a bright day!
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