AwesomeBooks was born from a love for books: to not see books thrown away when they can still be read and their stories shared.

In 2003 co-founders Mubin and Taskeen found charity shops throwing away books they could not sell. Bin after bin was getting filled with books in perfectly good condition. Books represented empowerment and education, full of wonderful stories fuelling the imagination. Bookworms themselves, the 2 co-founders set about finding a solution.

After trying various ideas, AwesomeBooks started selling books online. This model proved successful, allowing more and more books to be diverted from landfill. Today, we are a global retailer, processing over 250,000 books every day, with nothing going to waste. Books are either re-sold, donated via our literacy programs or pulped and turned into something new.

AwesomeBooks continues to invest in more ways to collect books, so they don’t go to waste and get re-read. We have set-up collection banks with many councils around the country for books that people no longer want. And we have also launched ‘Sellitback.com’, our website and app, which enables members of the public to send us books directly and get paid for them.

Of course, not every book is available in a used condition. And we know our customers love books! Since 2011 we have offered new books on AwesomeBooks too. In addition to the 5m used books we stock, customers can choose from over 20m new books!

We know that books have the power to educate and improve life outcomes. From an early stage, AwesomeBooks has supported education and literacy projects. Since 2005 we have funded reading programs in schools. In 2011 we started work with a foundation in Ghana that donates books to schools in the Ashante region. And in 2019 we formalised our program under our ‘Buy One-Give One’ scheme: for every book a reader buys from AwesomeBooks.com, we will donate a book to someone who needs it.

Our journey has only just begun. AwesomeBooks is helping to drive a new model of retailing –selling books, creating ways to recover books and continuing to pass them on. We combine this environmental good with social good. So be part of the movement: buy different and join us as we keep looking for new ways to drive our circular model. Be Awesome