Contribute to Free Library? Postcard Swap?
Our little free library empties quickly. Wanna help?
When we bought a little country place it came with a small heirloom apple orchard and this little free library. Being alongside a rural road, I wrongly assumed the library wouldn’t see much activity. The turnover is amazing as is watching people pull over to swap books or even leave a bit of nonperishable food. Sometimes we’ll see a stack of vintage postcards or craft supplies for kids. As I write, there are two unopened bottles of vegetable oil (shrug). The community has embraced the library and, for the most part, I don’t need to do much but occasionally fill a sparse shelf. My mom sends donations and I buy from local used bookstores.
The community’s tastes are eclectic and impressive. I’ve reaped the benefit by snagging Karl Ove Knausgaard, Mary Gaitskill, John McPhee, Colm Tóibín, and Kerouac. Awhile back I added in a few duplicate copies of literary journals and thought of how that could connect writers I follow to new readers. Taken a step further, I wondered if it would work to invite writers to send their books to the free library. I’m posing it as an experiment…
If you have an extra copy of your book/chapbook/anthology (or want to boost someone else’s work), I’d be happy to add it to the library and get it circulating. I promise this isn’t a covert way for me to obtain your book for free! I enjoy supporting writers and artists and regularly buy their work directly or via support of a local bookstore. I simply think this experiment is a) fun and b) one more of the many creative ways to get writers’ work into circulation.
I find that traditional literary journals are slow movers (plus I have many to donate), so I’m not accepting those at this time. I can’t promise I can post photos of everyone’s donations, but occasionally I’ll post pics on Bluesky. Beyond that, I’m basically hands-off and don’t have the bandwidth to monitor & report back on a book’s status in the library. However, books that have not circulated after a few months may be donated locally or placed in another little free library. I cannot send books back to senders. The books that arrive in our library are nearly always in very good to like-new condition, or at least in good readable condition if they are antique or vintage.
I’ve seen every genre and such diverse subject matter grace the shelves. I hope not to curate too much, though I will flat out reject anything promoting Trump, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-immigrant, etc. Our region is proudly community-oriented, collaborative, queer friendly, and has a large & well-respected migrant workforce. We have a lot of farmers, intentional communities, artists, and tradespeople. Art books, trades/skills books, history, indie lit, activity books for kids… it’s all welcome.
Do you like receiving mail? The paper kind? I’m all for postcard or art card swaps. Simple: send me a postcard or an artsy card of your making and I’ll send one in return. Maybe it’s a simple hello. A poem or a favorite quote. Maybe a mini collage. The point is to step away from email and enjoy the visual/tactile surprise of something in the mailbox. Anything goes except see above.
Postcard stamps currently cost $0.61-.78. Media Mail for a one to two pound book runs $4.47-5.22. If you don’t want your full return address known, you might try limiting the address to city and state or perhaps there’s some other creative disguise I don’t know about. Regardless, I won’t share sender’s personal info.
Send books and postcards to:
Bradley Waters
PO BOX 65852
Los Angeles, CA 90065
P.S. The little free library is not located in or near Los Angeles. For my own privacy I do not disclose its location. I also think that’s part of the fun—who knows where your book will travel once it enters circulation. In fact, maybe you’d like to inscribe the book and let readers know where it originated.
