I run meetings for the local bookcrossing chapter in San Francisco. We meet up monthly in the book-lined bar of a local literary hotel and talk books over a glass of wine or a meal. We share books with each other at the meetings, and also with strangers and hotel guests sometimes. Occasionally a hotel guest even joins us for the discussion. (Anyone in the Bay Area is welcome to join us!)
In addition to these "controlled releases," I have done hundreds of "wild releases." I've been known to leave a book perched on the ledge of a phone booth. I will stick books into free newspaper vending boxes (excellent for protecting them from the elements, plus, you already know the person is looking for reading material). Free book shelves in coffee shops are good, too. But my favorite place to release bookcrossing books is the Jury Waiting Room. Every single time I get called for jury duty, I take a huge stack books to leave there. You've got a captive, very bored audience. You can really have fun with releasing books. I once had a chick lit novel the cover of which depicted a shark tank. I left it propped against the glass of the shark tank in the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
It's true that you never hear back about most of the books you put out into the world, but when you do it's sooo cool! Several years ago I released a book called 52 Reasons Why You Need a Passport at our local meeting. I have no idea who took it, but it must have passed through several hands. A couple of years later, it showed up on a small island in the Phillippines! (You get an email every time someone logs on the book's individual ID number.) In fact, I had a brief, pleasant correspondence with the girl that logged it in. I think of the wild releases as literary messages in a bottle. You never hear about most again, but that's okay. It doesn't mean the person that found the book didn't read and enjoy it. And occasionally you'll get a book that will travel far and wide through many hands. It more than makes up for the ones that fall of the radar.
Once in a blue moon, a bookcrossing book may get thrown in the trash, but I don't think it happens very often. I think if you put some thought into where and how you release, and also mark the book as a "free book," most folks will either take it or leave it alone.
Oh, one more type of controlled release has been incredibly fullfilling... Occasionally I take bags of books out and offer them to homeless people on the street. They are so grateful! Friends have suggested that they're just taking them to sell, but I don't think so. In my experience, they really take time reading back covers and purusing the selection. Even if you didn't want to get quite so "hands on" in the outreach, I bet there's a shelter in your town that would love a donation. My thought is, it's a terrible life on the streets. Who could be more in need of a bit of entertainment or diversion?
BTW, I'm "Suetu" on bookcrossing, if anyone wants to check me or my shelf out. :-)
Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at:
http://bookcrossing.com/friend/Suetu
