bookxchange.in is a book lovers’ heaven. It’s a place where book lovers could exchange their ‘well read’ books for new titles by just paying for shipping.
It’s an easy to use platform where a book lover gets to choose from thousands of titles sourced from other readers. It was born out of a genuine need to get books at a reasonable cost at the comfort of your home. And the biggest nightmare of a book lover is to see his book being sold as part of a ‘waste-paper pile’!
All you have to do is log into www.bookxchange.in– use the platform for free – give your treasures and we will make sure it reaches another book lover such as yourself, and choose from thousands of books for yourself to read. All you pay for is the cost of shipping (a small price to avoid your worst nightmare).
And every 65 books recycled saves a tree. By using bookxchange.in you not only get to exchange your ‘well read ‘books that are gathering dust at home for new titles, you also get to do your small bit in saving a tree.
This service is currently available at Chennai and Bangalore. We are in the process of adding more locations shortly.
‘Give a book, Take a book’. We are waiting!
Mani is an industry veteran of over 26 years with large MNC banks and consulting giants.
His passion for books and his endeavour to get more people to read led him to starting book exchange, a platform that enables book lovers to exchange their ‘well read’ books for new titles by just paying for shipping. He believes that reading could significantly improve one’s overall personality, improve employability and personal mobility.
Medianews4u in a tete – tete with Manikandan Krishnan
The idea and strategy behind this venture
While reading and books have always been a passion, I wanted to do something related to books and hence this idea. We knew that recycling was always at a nascent stage in India and we wanted to catch an early wave which is on its way into becoming a big opportunity.
A successful career behind you, what made you start this?
Corporate career has its limitations beyond a point. While responsibilities increase and titles change, your job content remains the same. Starting something on your own is sort of reclaiming your time back. Pursuing a passion was always on the cards.
You have been in this business for about 3 years and more what has been the response?
The response has been very encouraging while we have dabbled with various models, we now believe we have the model that will work big, based on the feedback that we have received from various sources-customers and other opinion leaders.
Are you in a way encouraging people to get back to reading?
Absolutely yes. Reading a book reduces stress, makes you more employable, builds your personality and widens horizons. Our primary goal is to get more people to read and the response on the ground has been wonderful.
For somebody like me and many others we need to hold a physical copy what is your suggestion?
This product is precisely for folks like yourself.
An interesting research in NA says that ‘youngsters are getting back to physical books in a big way, while folks over 50 are adapting to a lot of digital reading’
How are funds being raised, are you looking at a big publication house to acquire the business?
At this point it’s a bootstrapped enterprise.
On the exit part – we haven’t thought thru that yet, though we might be of interest to e-commerce companies that are betting big on the used goods segment ( now that you have asked ) – It’s just at the thought level.
TG for your site
Our target audience is wider – at a broader level anyone who reads.
If you were to look at sharpening the focus – anyone in the age group of 5-25, 45 upwards
Expansion plans
We have started off in the south but are on our way to expand to other locations.We are also looking for investors to help us expand.
