Abstract

“Bookcrossing” is the activity of depositing a book some place for others to find, pick up, and read. By analyzing the data of Bookcrossing—a website that, among other features, records the bookcrossing actions of its members—we study the paths that books take when they are bookcrossed. We investigate how the release location, language, genre, and review score of a book influence its journey. Moreover, we compare the bookcrossing data to the book market of Amazon to reveal special properties of the bookcrossing market.