Stickers are a pain to remove, but on glossy paper book covers, they'll look like a cinch. This article will teach you how to remove one.

Steps

  1. 1
    Dip a cotton ball in a bottle of 91% rubbing alcohol. Make sure it is completely wet around all the sides of the sticker alone. Be careful that it isn't the 70% rubbing alcohol variety, as those can be less potent and therefore won't remove as easily.
  2. 2
    Rub the wet end of the cotton ball on the edge of one of the sides of the sticker. Rub the sticker until it begins to discolor.
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  3. 3
    Move the cotton ball down and "coat" this area of the sticker too with the same method above.
  4. 4
    Continue until you've reached the bottom section of the sticker, but don't stop rubbing yet.
  5. 5
    Take the other end (by now you're wet end has probably turned dry or has lost it's fuzzy end altogether) and dip it into the rubbing alcohol. Repeat the wetting process for this end of the swab/ball.
  6. 6
    Move slightly across the sticker until you reach a point where the spot can overlap the edge of your last rubbing area.
  7. 7
    Rub the spots onto you've gotten two lines worth of rubbing alcohol applied to the sticker from the cotton ball.
  8. 8
    Take your fingernail and begin to pry up the (what should be now) wet sticker. It'll begin to remove. Peel it back slowly and at a slant, working backwards as if to reach the opposite diagonal's corner portion of the sticker.
  9. 9
    Reapply and re-work area of the sticker with another wet cotton ball, if it stops becoming detached from that point, or if the sticker doesn't want to remove cleanly from the area.
  10. 10
    Clean the area of the sticker, once the sticker has been completely pulled up, with another cotton ball and a little bit more rubbing alcohol. You may still see pieces around the cover where the sticker was where the glue hadn't been completely removed, or where the rubbing alcohol couldn't completely get a full grip far enough through the sticker's inner threads to reach the glue that stickers use.
    • You may even choose to use some cotton swabs to do this portion of the task.
  11. 11
    Look at the book, it's sticker should be removed now.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    Is there any method that can be non-alcoholic?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    A can of lighter fluid is great for getting off stickers and lasts forever. Some folks use WD-40 successfully too.
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Warnings

  • On top of discoloring the edge of the sticker, if not done properly, you may end up discoloring an edge of the book cover. Be careful exactly how far over the sticker you choose to rub.
    ⧼thumbs_response⧽
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About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 50,789 times.
39 votes - 82%
Co-authors: 2
Updated: January 8, 2016
Views: 50,789
Categories: Removing Glue
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