How to Declutter Your Books and Get Paid For Them?

Reading for pleasure is common in the UK, with 43% of Britons saying they read for pleasure at least once a week, with the most common format being paperback books (60%). Despite this, paperback books cannot be recycled due to the glue used to bind the pages together. Furthermore, physical books can take up a large amount of space in our homes, and after we have read every chapter once, will we re-read it?

A YouGov study found the average American owns between 1-10 physical books, with 3% storing over 1,000! More realistically, 10% of us own between 100–200 books. With the average cost of a paperback book expected to reach £12 (2024) choosing to declutter and sell some can allow you to recoup some initial cost, and perhaps buy new books.

How To Declutter?

Step 1: To declutter your books, the KonMari method involves getting all your books into one place, therefore, try to plan ahead and think about where you will move all your books to. Would you prefer to work at a table or on the floor? KonMari recommends the floor, as you may find your table is out of action for a while. However, comfort and accessibility are also important considerations.

Step 2: You may wish to categorise the books you own into smaller piles, this allows you to visualise how many education books, novels, and children's books are in the house. Organising books into categories can help you focus on one area at a time and avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Step 3: Only keep the books that spark joy, during this time, consider have I read the book, will I read the book and will I reference information from this book? As you sort through your books, use a Post-it note to organise which you will keep and which you will move on. This will be especially helpful if the process takes place over a few days.

Step 4: Decide a method of storing the books you have kept, children's books in their room for example. If you have a few shelves on your bookcase, utilise the space by putting work related books on a single shelf; alternatively, you may wish to use book dividers to break up the different types of books. Choosing book dividers which you like, personally I have two blue Agate Bookends which add a pop of colour against my white bookcase. I also put a few decorations around the books, making sure it did not affect the retrieval.

Step 5: With your books organised (hopefully) the remainder of the pile are the ones you wish to move on. Below are different options where you can move your books, including selling them.

Donate to a local charity. 

One method to move your pre-loved books on is a charity shop. Having worked in a charity shop for five years, I have sold my fair share of books. Donating your books to charity allows funds to be raised for a good cause and someone else to buy your book at a discounted price, as some books are expensive. The Guardian wrote that almost a million children in the UK do not have a single book of their own at home.

Pass them on to a friend. 

Another method is a book swap or club, this exchange system makes reading more accessible, and you may end up reading a book you typically wouldn't go for.

Sell your books.

There are numerous websites in the UK that buy books, Music Magpie and We Buy Books are two websites I have sold some books to. These websites value your books based on their ISBN, however, not all websites will accept every book you own. This might be down to the demand or stock the site has. Therefore, it is important to see what your chosen site will accept and the monetary value.

My approach to selling books was to make a couple of piles, though this will depend on the number of books you own. I found the ISBN and entered it online into the website of choice, in my case We Buy Books. Any books not accepted were moved into a separate pile and were entered into Music Magpie. Any books not accepted by either service I donated. I decided this approach was best for me, as most of them were academic textbooks, which had held some of their value. It is worth noting that both services I used do not accept duplicate books in the same order.

I also wanted to maximise my return on the money, and therefore checked each book against both sites I mentioned. We Buy Books offers incentives to sell more with an extra 5% added every £25 to pledge to send and 10% extra if you use their app to complete your first order.

However, selling books online means you need to ensure you meet the packaging requirements and weight requirements. It is not possible to shove all the books in one box and call it job done, as books are surprising heavy. It is important to understand the packaging guidelines before agreeing to send your books to them.

If this sounds like too much hassle, WHSmith might have a simpler way, you can return 20 books with a minimum value of £1 to any participating store and be given an e-voucher to spend in-store. WHSmith explains the minimum standards here, with further FAQ's on the official page, one such question explains that you do not need to package the books, meaning you do not have to seek a sturdy box.