Bookcrossing
Pairing Coffee and Books: Enhance Your Image, Increase Traffic
by Hilda Brucker
photo illustration by David Drouin

Bookcrossing-the word recently was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, and it's a practice that's providing unique opportunities to coffehouses and tearooms across North America. The term "bookcrossing" is defined as "the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise." The founders of this worldwide movement say their goal is to make the entire earth a library. And to the literature lovers who serendipitously come across a free book, it's like finding a message in a bottle.
   Not surprisingly, coffeehouses are favored spots for bookcrossers to release their books "into the wild." As BookCrossing founder Ron Hornbaker notes, "The most common places [to leave books] are where people slow down a bit and look at their surroundings: coffee shops, cafés, park benches, Laundromats." If you already have a small library or shelf where your patrons leave books, becoming an Official BookCrossing Zone is the logical next step. With a very small investment-and perhaps the help of a bookcrossing volunteer-you can set up your shop to be an Official BookCrossing Zone, thereby attracting bookcrossers who are linked via the Internet. They can use the "Go Hunting" feature of BookCrossing.com to find out which books have recently been released at your location, leading both local patrons and those who are traveling straight to your counter.

How It All Works
BookCrossing.com is largely a labor of love, combining serendipity with altruism in a unique mix that has been called "instant karma." The idea came to Hornbaker in 2001, when he found a similar site that tracked disposable cameras released into the wild. He started thinking about what other items people might enjoy tracking and soon focused on books. Internet research confirmed that nothing like BookCrossing existed at the time, and Hornbaker went to work programming the site. BookCrossing.com was launched four weeks later. In the beginning, members trickled in at a rate of 100 or so a month, until media outlets around the world picked up the story and ran with it, giving Hornbaker plenty of free publicity. Today, Bookcrossing.com claims it gains about 300 new members a day, with worldwide membership numbering upward of 300,000. Bookcrossing has become a global phenomenon, with established movements in more than 150 countries, from Antarctica to Zimbabwe. And if the current growth rate holds steady, there could be several million people sharing books within just a few years.
   The system is relatively simple. Interested participants grab a book from their shelves and go to BookCrossing.com to register it online, jot down a few words of recommendation for the book and receive a unique BookCrossing Identification (BCID) Number. From there, they print a bookplate, record the BCID number on it and paste it into the front of the book before releasing the book for someone else to find. When the bookcrosser also makes "release notes" for the book online, others can search for the book by name within the site and then try to find it at its point of release. The lucky recipients of found books are urged by the information contained in the bookplate to also visit BookCrossing.com and make journal notes stating where they found the book and what they thought of its contents. Each time a new person comes into possession of the book and visits the site to record its whereabouts, the original owner receives an e-mail notification, allowing him or her to track the book's journey across town and around the world.

What's the Point?
When asked about the purpose of BookCrossing by a correspondent for the BBC, Hornbaker answers, "We're trying to increase the love of reading and increase the incidents of generosity or 'random acts of kindness.' If we can make just little differences in both literacy and kindness, I think we have done an okay thing." But from a café owner's point of view, there are a few more valid reasons to participate in movement: to increase customer traffic, to generate free publicity and to do something positive for the community at large.    It's a well-known fact that many people seek out coffeehouses with character and a friendly atmosphere. The trends toward including comfortable, upholstered furniture and high-speed wireless Internet access make customers feel free to sit and linger for longer than it takes to drink a cup of coffee, and reading material becomes a welcome diversion. "Books and coffee are a natural mix," says BookCrossing spokesperson Amy Romanczuk, pointing out the rise of coffeehouses located within large bookstores such as Barnes & Noble. She sees setting up a BookCrossing Zone as good public relations. "It's a gesture from the [coffeehouse] manager to the community, like saying, 'Here are some books you can take; relax and have a good time.' And if visitors want to buy a cup of coffee, fine, but it's not a prerequisite. It's a win/win situation," she says. Tony Jones, owner of Rutledge Coffee & Cream in Charleston, S.C., sees his BookCrossing Zone as a boost to business as well as a positive image builder. "I feel it's increased traffic, and it makes the neighborhood coffee shop experience more community-oriented," he says. "People in the neighborhood come in anyway, but now they have one more reason to come in." He has one of the biggest zones around, in terms of the volume of books, and estimates he has at least 100 books shelved at any given time, with a surplus stored in boxes. And because there's an elementary school directly across the street, he tries to keep a supply of children's books on hand and has teamed up with a local literary association to encourage donations.
   The vast majority of cafés sponsoring bookcrossing are independently owned; only a handful of Starbucks shops across the country are registered with BookCrossing.com as an Official BookCrossing Zone (OBCZ). The notable exception to this is Panera Bread of Iowa, a franchisee of Panera Bread that operates 14 bakery-cafés in the Midwest. In the fall of 2004, the franchise office registered all its cafés with BookCrossing and put the day-to-day management of the zones into the hands of each local management team. The franchise office provides any support materials needed and has provided its zones with more than a thousand books.
   "We started the zones for a number of reasons," explains marketing manager Michelle Scoville. "We are all avid readers in our franchise office, and we were fascinated with the BookCrossing concept. It excited us, and since we reflect our customer base, we thought it would excite our customers, too. From a business standpoint, we felt that BookCrossing Zones would reinforce the concept of being an 'everyday oasis,' a place where it is okay to come and purchase a coffee drink or a cup of tea and a pastry, bring a book and get comfortable. We're not going to rush you out." She also notes that the core customer is the stay-at-home or working mom-women from ages 25 to 45 who use Panera Bread as a place to conduct business or social meetings, pick up food for the family or office, or relax by herself or with friends. That demographic coincides perfectly with the demographics of the average bookcrosser: a woman between the ages of 25 and 45.

Starting and Promoting
Much of the information you'll need to become an Official BookCrossing Zone is available at www.bookcrossing.com/promote. When you register, try to come up with a screen name that has something to do with your shop. Also, consider clicking on "Forums" and posting an announcement about your new zone to get the word out to other bookcrossers.
One of the most important decisions you'll make is whether to manage your zone yourself or recruit a BookCrossing volunteer in your area to help out. Mary Zimmerman, the volunteer manager of OBCZs in two Maryland coffeehouses, notes that the shop managers are very busy and are thrilled to have her help. "I stop in every so often and make sure there are books on the shelf," she says. "Sometimes people just leave unregistered books there, and I register them. I also make sure there are BookCrossing brochures and bookmarks handy." If you'd like volunteer assistance to get started, Zimmerman suggests going to BookCrossing.com and posting a request on one of the forums. Sometimes, volunteers like Zimmerman approach coffeehouse managers and offer to set up an OBCZ. To proceed on your own, you'll need a bookshelf and a few books. Bring books from home or buy a few popular titles to start out with. Register the books online to get an ID number for each, and record the numbers permanently in the books. There are three ways to label your books:

•Using a permanent marker, make a handwritten entry on the inside cover (not a page that could be torn out). The BookCrossing Web site suggests the following text: I've registered this book at BookCrossing.com so I can track its journey through this world. Please go to www.BookCrossing.com/123-456789 to let me know you found it, then read it and/or pass it on for someone else to enjoy. Thank you! (The book's BCID number follows the domain name and a forward slash.)

•Print blank labels from the BookCrossing Web site, record ID numbers in the blank spot provided and paste them onto the inside front cover of the book. If you have a lot of books to register, you can simplify the process by printing pre-numbered labels that will automatically identify you on the site as the original owner of the book.

•Order pre-printed labels from the supply store on the BookCrossing Web site (other printed materials are also available for sale). Once you've registered your books, they'll show up in the "Go Hunting" pages on the Internet and will generate an e-mail "release alert" to anyone in your city who is signed up for alerts. To promote your OBCZ, keep information on hand for customers who ask about it-a variety of brochures and bookmarks can be downloaded from the site. A BookCrossing poster (also available online) in your shop window can help generate curiosity and draw in passers-by. If your baristas are avid readers, they also may be eager to encourage customers both to take books and to release them at your shop. For even more exposure, write up a short press release announcing your new status as a BookCrossing Zone and send it to the local press. Small neighborhood weeklies will readily print this kind of community news. A sample press release (you'll need to personalize it with your own information) can be found online.

   Setting up a BookCrossing Zone requires minimal initial cost and effort and is an easy, effective way to establish your shop's identity and differentiate it from the competition. It lets your customers know you have an interest in giving something back to the community. BookCrossing's focus on generosity and random acts of kindness can only reflect well on you.

---

Hilda J. Brucker is a freelance writer based in Atlanta. Comments on this article may be sent to comments@freshcup.com.