How to join the relay

The idea in four pictures

1. 1

   A book gets a code

   Its owner sticks a small plate inside the front cover. The plate has a QR code and a short code.

2. 2

   It is left for a stranger

   On a shelf, in a café, on a train. Anywhere somebody will pick it up.

3. 3

   The finder scans it

   They mark roughly where they are. It takes 20 seconds. No account, no app.

4. 4

   The map grows

   Each scan adds a stop. Anyone can watch the book travel, hand to hand.

That is the whole thing. Nobody is paid, nobody is reminded, and nobody knows how far any one book will get.

For finders

If you found a book

You are holding a book that somebody gave away on purpose. Here is all you need to do.

1. 1

   Open the front cover

   Look for a plate, a sticker, or a line of handwriting. It will have a QR code, an eight-character code, or both.

2. 2

   Scan it, or type the code

   Point your phone camera at the QR code. If it won't scan, type the code here instead. Then mark roughly where you are and add a few words if you like.

3. 3

   Read it, then pass it on

   Keep it as long as you need. When you're done, leave it where the next person will find it, or hand it to a friend. You don't have to finish it.

For owners

How to send a book

Six steps. The first four you do at home. The last two you do when you let it go.

1. 1

   Pick the right book

   Light books travel. Heavy ones sit in a bag for months.

   • A thin paperback, under 300 pages
   • Something a person can finish on a train
   • A book you actually liked

   • Hardbacks and doorstops
   • A copy you would be sad to lose
   • Books you found dull. It shows.

   If it has a note from your grandmother inside, photograph the note and release a different copy.

2. 2

   Register it

   Give the title and your email. That's all we need. You get a code for the book and a private dashboard link by email. Nothing is public yet.

   Start a relay
3. 3

   Put the code inside the cover

   Three ways to do it. All of them work. Pick the one you have time for.

   Bare minimum

   Write it by hand

   No printer needed. Write the short link from your email inside the cover, in pen: booksrelay.com/b/CODE. Anyone can type that into a phone.

   Standard

   Print the plate

   A ready-made label with a QR code and short instructions. Glue or tape it inside the cover. Print a few spares, plates come unstuck.

   Go further

   Add an NFC tag

   Stick a cheap NFC sticker next to the plate and set it to open the same link. Then a tap works too, even through a closed cover.

   

   Two nice extras, if you have five more minutes

   • Add a blank page at the back. Write "name, city, date" at the top. Readers sign it. The map is the public record. This page becomes the object.
   • Invite one underline. Write "underline one sentence that got you" on the plate. After ten readers the book is full of strangers' favourite lines.
4. 4

   Write why you're letting it go

   This is the first thing a stranger reads. It decides whether they bother to scan. Say where the book came from and what it did for you. Be specific and honest. Don't describe the plot, they're holding the book.

   Example: the release note

   I bought this in [place] in [year], mostly because of the cover. It got me through [a specific thing, a bad month, a long train, a hospital waiting room], and I've re-read [the bit on page 74] more times than is reasonable. I don't need to own it any more. I'd rather know where it ends up. If you're holding it: read it, mark the page that got you, sign the back, and give it to someone else. Don't send it back to me. Send it onwards.

   Example: what to say when handing it to a stranger

   "This is going to sound odd, I'm giving books away and tracking where they go. There's a code inside the cover; if you scan it and mark where you are, I get to see the map. Read it, then pass it to someone else. No catch, nothing to sign up for."

   Example: a note for a hostel or café shelf

   To whoever runs this shelf, This book is part of a project: it's meant to keep moving. There's a QR code inside the cover, and whoever picks it up can mark on a map where it got to. Please don't take it out of circulation. If it doesn't move in a month, put it somewhere more visible, or give it to a guest who's leaving. Thank you, you're a stop on its route now.

   Example: a message a reader left for the next reader

   Read this on a night bus and completely missed my stop. Page 112 is the one. Whatever you do, don't leave it on your shelf. It's had four owners and it isn't done.
5. 5

   Leave it in a good spot

   Best places first. These are where books get picked up and seen again.

   1. Hostel bookshelves. Travellers already swap books there, and everyone at that shelf is about to move on.
   2. Little free libraries and street book boxes. Used by people who already understand a travelling book.
   3. A friend who is flying out. The cheapest way to get real distance.
   4. Long-distance trains and buses. Seat pocket, on your way off. Overnight routes are best.
   5. Cafés with shelves, laundrettes, waiting rooms, common rooms.

   Avoid: park benches in bad weather, places with a fast cleaning crew, and the bottom of any pile.

   Be sensible about where. Don't leave anything unattended in airports, stations, or places with visible security. It will be treated as a problem and binned. Shelves, tables and counters read as "left for someone". Floors and corners don't. If the place has staff, ask. Most say yes.

6. 6

   Record the release, then wait

   After you have left the book, open your dashboard and mark where. That puts the first pin on the map and makes the book's page public. From then on you get an email every time somebody checks it in.

Goals, returns and printables

All optional. A book travels fine without any of these.

Printables

A blank plate to fill in by hand, or a bookmark to tuck inside instead of gluing anything down. Print, cut, done. You don't need to register a book first.

Printable bookmarks

What to expect

Say it plainly, because it changes how you should treat the whole thing: this is a social experiment, not a delivery service. Nobody is guaranteeing the book arrives anywhere. You're releasing it to find out whether a stranger, with nothing to gain, keeps a small promise to an object that was never theirs.

• Most books go quiet after one or two stops. Someone loves it and keeps it. A cleaner bins it. Four people read it and each forgets to scan.
• A few travel a long way. They are almost never the ones you would bet on.
• It is slow. The good check-ins often arrive months later.

A book that goes quiet in Tbilisi is still a book that got to Tbilisi.

So release several books, not one perfect one, and treat the silence as part of it.

Privacy, plainly

• Locations are rounded to about a kilometre. The exact spot is never stored. People check in from home.
• Photos lose their hidden data. Location and camera details are removed when a photo is uploaded.
• Names are optional, everywhere. Plenty of the best notes are unsigned.
• Your email is never shown. It is only used to send you your dashboard link and news of your book.
• You stay in control of your book's page. You can hide or delete any check-in from your dashboard.

Common mistakes

• Releasing one book and waiting. Release five. Luck varies a lot.
• Checking the page every hour. Give it months, not days.
• Leaving it somewhere too clever. Obvious beats poetic. A shelf beats a statue.
• Writing a plot summary instead of a reason. Nobody scans a code for a blurb.
• Only releasing books you didn't like. Nobody carries a dull book across a continent.

Questions