Second release: Karin Slaughter

So my first release was a bit hesitant. For my second and third release I had prepared a little better. On a Sunday I was going for a visit in Rotterdam. I had a few books registered beforehand. This time I knew a few about some places where to leave a book.

An informed newby
I had read the pages on the bookcrossing website under the headings "Newbies" and "Release techniques". Why should anyone wonder about release techniques. Well, the purpose of most bookcrossers is getting their books to other people who might like to read it, and maybe even get to people who will get into reading alltogether (or more likely into reading a new kind of book). They get really excited when the book they released will get a journal entry of the finder, telling them they found it, and later telling about how it was released again. But even though most will be reasonably happy if a book ends up on someone else's shelf collecting dust for a while, they will really love for the book to be passed on (and on and on).

Bookcrossing nightmares
One of the nightmares of bookcrossers is for the book to end up being picked up by cleaners and be chucked into a bin, never to be read anymore. So we will be very happy when we hear from a book - especially if it turns up after many years, or quite far from the place it was first released.

So getting a journal from a finder, even from an anonymous one is a thrill - and a relief as well. For this reason you will find questions on the bookcrossing forum about how to get a higher catch rate.... And how one could go about getting there. Does it make a difference how or where one does a release.

Bookcrossing dreams of success
It looks like there are many places where you get quite a good chance for the book to be picked up - and for it to get a journal from the finder on the site. Leaving a book in a place in nature seems to work well. Also to make it perfectly clear to the person finding the book that YES, this is a book that you (YES YOU), the passerby, can take with you.

Preparation
So this second time I was better informed about the how. Stickers on a book at all sides, cover it against the rain in special plastic bags. Paste a label explaining bookcrossing inside the book. Make sure it is registered at the bookcrossing site (it gets a unique number, its BCID). And perhaps add a leaflet about bookcrossing in it. So I had collected labels from the Dutch website. And I had bought some stickers about bookcrossing in the BD supply store. The books I registered were labeled, stickered and bagged. They lie waiting for their day of release.

Prepared this way I went to the train station. My second release was a small book written by Karen Slaughter, a mystery / thriller. I looked for my platform. Walked to the end of it. There I found a bench, no one around. I left the bag on the bench and then went and sat in the train that rolled into the station. And when the train left, I waved at the book still lying on the bench. Good luck!

And it was lucky. By evening when I returned home, I found that the book had been found, and a journal entry was made by an anonymous finder (an AF in the bookcrossing lingo). It said: "I found the book on the platform and it traveled with me to Rotterdam." Apparently, it followed me on the next train. ;-)

Yes! A catch! I was thrilled.