acim are wonderful for entertaining yourself, expanding vocabulary, continuing your education or just collecting something beautiful, but books can be pricey. Here are some great ways to save money on books:
Buy Used Books: Books are expensive new. So why pay twice or three times as much for a book that’s only new until you walk out of the store? Chances are after you’ve read it once it will have the same wear-and-tear as it does straight off the shelf at a used book store. Besides used book stores try looking at thrift stores. Some have really good selections of books. You may even find valuable or rare old books at thrift store prices. If you’re buying text books you can save unthinkable amounts of money by buying them used.
Public Domain: After 70 years most books are no longer under copyright, thus a book can be legally copied and distributed at will. If you like to read old books and aren’t interested in collectibles you may want to try using a search engine like Google to find an online version for free.
Paperback Swap: There are a ton of book swapping websites out there but I think Paperback swap is the best. Book swaps are a great way to rotate your own library if you don’t tend to read books more than once. But don’t be fooled by the name, you get to keep the books unless you choose to relist them. Credits can be earned by sending your own books to another member or you can buy them. Then use them to buy books from other members.
Shop Online: What better way to shop around than to consult with the magic box of knowledge? There are tons of places to buy books online. Amazon, Half.com and Addall are a few of the most popular.
You probably already know that Amazon has new books at a discount price. But did you know if you click the little link that says “used and new from…” you can see books that other people have listed? These often start at one cent plus a standard shipping charge.
You can’t buy books directly from Addall but it is a great website for comparing prices from tens of thousands of booksellers. They have a wonderful search engine with as many or as few options as you want. The search results are very easy on the eye — not so complicated that you have to mentally sort everything.
Half.com brings together thousands of sellers into one easy website where you can search for almost any book you want and won’t be disappointed. It’s probably one of the best ways to shop for textbooks.
Library Book Sales: Your local library probably has sales from time to time. They may even have a shelf or a whole room that they keep open all the time. You can get some great books for next to nothing since they’re usually getting rid of duplicates or books that are rarely checked out.
Kindle: You may not own a Kindle but there’s a Kindle app for the iPod touch and iPhone. Kindle books are cheaper than real books and they’ll never wear out! If you like old books kindle is great; you can find whole collections of books that are in the public domain for free or next to nothing.
Borrow: If you have friends with similar taste swap books back and forth. Besides saving money it’s great to have someone to discuss a good book with! And of course there’s always the library.