Step aside, Amazon. A socially conscious and thus superior competitor is here.

This month, I learned about a company called Better World Books (see the article in Poets and Writers Magazine). This enterprise, founded in 2002, has actually embedded social and environmental responsibility into their business model, which is totally awesome. Basically, what they do is collect unwanted books from around the world (from partnering colleges, libraries and donors), house them in a warehouse in Indiana and then sell the books online or through their retail outlet (in Goshen, IN).

As of today, they report having raised over $7.2 million to help promote global literacy as well as saving almost 30 million books from landfills. (Can you believe that unwanted books are thrown into the ground?) They house over six million new and used titles and advertise free shipping anywhere in the United States ($3.97 for international orders). Also an important note, you can get involved in the efforts by hosting a book-collecting drive (they’ll give you everything you need) or by selling them your unwanted books.

I wanted to test the hype for myself, so I ordered Maryanne Wolf’s Proust and the Squid, fittingly about the development of reading and the brain. For $9.37, I received a hardcover version of the book in nearly perfect condition about six days after the order. Even better though, I received a very friendly email welcoming me to Better World Books and thanking me at length for the order. I was touched.

Looking back at the site today, the hardcover version is now $12.98 from the Marketplace (equivalent to Amazon’s sellers but without shipping costs) or $19.99 from Better World. On Amazon, the cheapest hardcover version is $29.00, only from a seller. Ok, so the prices vary but they are about the same or better than Amazon, who has a $25 minimum to qualify for free shipping.

What’s really fascinating here are the implications of this business model. In order for good causes to be sustainable, they must be integrated into the monetary goals of a company. And what better way than to first recycle objects that would otherwise clog our world via landfills and then to actually plan for funding literacy initiatives (thereby increasing your marketing/publicity and general belovedness). For more on the importance of sustainability and causes, read The Power of Unreasonable People by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan.

Recently, Better World Books has partnered up with BookCrossing, a free, online book club where members register and mark their own books and then leave them in public places to be found by others. Then you can go online and track the life of the book. It’s sweet, intimate, a way of sharing and connecting. Now, even though I won’t let go of my own books without a fight, I like the idea here of passing on an experience, of not wasting (we hope).

Anyway, I want to conclude here that, while I’ll still be comparing prices for a while, I think it’s safe to say that my heart is now officially with Better World Books. Sorry, Amazon. Kind of.