Years ago while working with a book store I learned an easy method of removing those pesky stickers off of the cover of a book without damaging the book! This little handy trick has helped me through the years as many of mine own books are purchased through used bookstores. Today I’m sharing this with my fellow book lovers so that you can eliminate some hassle in your life by getting rid of those pesky stickers without leaving glue residue all over your books! Here’s what you’ll need:

A book with a sticker

A hair dryer

A butter knife (or an icing spreader)

A wet cleaning wipe (not pictured here but you can use a Lysol wipe for this)

Step One: Heat it up!

You’ve got to heat up the sticker to melt the glue beneath and cause it to loosen its death grip upon your beloved book! The time differs for each sticker of doom you encounter, but you at least want to be able to work your finger under a corner of it. 

Step Two: Peel it back!

Now that the evil glue has loosed its hold on your book you want to take your butter knife (or icing spreader) and start working it along the sticker as you slowly peel it back with your free hand. You may find that after you’re about halfway you need to pause and give the sticker a blast of hot air from the hairdryer. Some of them refuse to go without a fight. The logic behind using a knife for this part is it keeps the hot melted glue off of you and spares your fingernails. 

Step Five: Wipe out!

Take your wet wipe (I use the Lysol wipes, but I’ve seen it done with Windex and paper towels too) and wipe off the remaining glue. This should be the final step! If you’ve taken your time and not rushed through it your book should now look like this:

Yay! Sticker free! Perfect and ready to go for your next Bookstagram Photoshoot! 

It’s really an easy method of solving the book sticker crisis! Allowing you to enjoy your books and not fear what stickers they may place upon them. Thanks for reading! Hope this helps!

And a special thank you to L.E. Modesitt Jr for writing this omnibus and the store that stickered it up so that I could share this knowledge with y’all!