A note from Steph, continued

The rest of the story

It begins on the homepage, with a name in the front of a book.

On that beach, I put the book down, turned to my husband and told him I had to give it to someone.

"Just give it to one of your sisters."

He wasn't wrong. It's what happens to most finished books. They get handed sideways to whoever's nearest, because nobody knows who actually wants them, and then they move one shelf along and stop again.

I wanted it to go to someone who was waiting for it.

And I wanted to know where it went afterwards, which is not something you can find out.

Which leaves two options. Give the book away and lose it, or keep it and let it sit there. Those are still the only two most readers have.

Somewhere near you, someone has already finished the book you want to read next.

I live in a city of nine million people. Some of them wanted to read Becoming. Some of them had already finished the book I wanted next. None of us had any way of finding each other.

A neighbour has it. Someone at your office has it. Someone in your running club, or your Pilates class, or the charity shop around the corner. It isn't far away. It's just invisible.

So convenience wins.

Two clicks online, and another copy is printed, packaged and shipped to your door, when you're minutes from the same title.

I want new books to keep being written, published and bought. My argument is only with what happens after someone finishes one, which is usually nothing at all.

That was one book. I've finished a lot of books since, and I've wanted to do the same thing with nearly all of them.

That's why I built NoBookEnds (NBE). A place to find the books already around you, pass on the ones you've finished, and meet the readers near you.

And the part I wanted in the first place: pass a book on here and you don't disappear from it. You see who takes it next, and where they are, and who they hand it to after them. Years from now, someone you might never meet can open that book and find you at the beginning of it.

There's a book on your shelf right now that someone near you is looking for.

Steph Georgia Gray