The Best Places to Find Books at a Bargain Price (or Free)
Information is power, and reading more deepens your knowledge and the connections your brain makes between what you learn. Even so, books cost money. Your budget may not be as flexible as you’d like, but even on a small budget, you can find out more. Here’s how.
Start with your local library and free e-book sites
These two options are the most obvious, but also the most effective. Libraries are always free, so if you can keep track of due dates, you can explore as many as you like. (Here’s a handy tip to shorten your library turn-in timeline : Divide the book into sections by the number of days before its due date, and place tabs to track. For example, if a 200-page book is due in 8 days, place a tab every 25 pages.) You also You can borrow e-books for free from libraries that usually do not have the same check-in and check-out rules that apply to regular books.
There are many free e-books available on Project Gutenberg . You can also use UPenn’s search engine for classic books in e-book format. If you have an eBook reader (such as a rooted Kindle or Nook ), we previously covered some ways to get eBooks for free. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle reading software for your device and follow some of the tips from this post. If you pay for Amazon Prime , you can even borrow Kindle books for free.
Finally, try Wattpad , a community of readers and writers who share (mostly fictional) stories. There are many stories of hobbyists and hobbyists alike, but you can also find works by authors such as Margaret Atwood , Tucker Max, and James Altucher . You can download the Wattpad mobile apps for iOS and Android to read on the go and without an internet connection.
Find great used book stores and thrift stores
Thrift stores often sell great books at great prices. The main thing is to shop in prestigious areas . You can use Zillow and Google Maps to identify high-value areas and find thrift stores in upmarket areas near you.
Naturally, you can find used books online. Thriftbooks is free shipping to the US and offers used books for a fraction of the retail price. If you’re looking online, local blogs and communities also have a variety of topics and posts highlighting popular used book stores. (For example, here’s one for Austin, Texas .)
When you buy books, you allow yourself to write in the margins and take notes. You can also exchange these books with other people to get ones that you have not read before.
Online book exchange
If you’ve finished reading a book and don’t see a reason to keep it, you can exchange it with other people online. We have previously looked at services such as BookMooch and PaperBackSwap . You can also use WhatsOnMyBookshelf . Typically, these services have a fairly wide selection. Remember that there is a certain shortage of these sites, so you must act quickly if you find a book that you like. Otherwise, someone else might pick up what you are interested in.
If you have unread books at home or if you plan to visit second-hand bookstores, keep a close eye on which books are most in demand on these sites so that you can exchange them for the ones you want to read.
Read tons of books at great discounts
If you plan on reading a lot , subscribe to a service like Booksfree.com , which is essentially Netflix for books and audiobooks . You can subscribe to a limited plan that allows you to have two books at the same time for $ 8.99 a month.
The key to doing this is to go through as many books as possible. Life is too short to tell a story you don’t like. If you’ve written 50 or 100 pages in a book but still don’t feel it, send it back for a new one.
You can also try a service like Oyster , which offers unlimited e-books for $ 9.95 a month. You can read books on iOS, Android, Nook HD, Kindle Fire, and the web. You can get your free monthly subscription from Oyster here .
Alternatively, you can also try a service like Storybundle , which delivers many DRM-free independent ebooks in one affordable package. At the time of writing, you could only pay $ 3 for 4 books and a few magazines.
Discover new literary worlds on a tight budget
More reading doesn’t have to be expensive. Make the most of your budget by downloading free eBooks and borrowing from libraries, or using apps like Wattpad. Use Zillow and Google Maps to find the best used book stores and thrift stores near you. Swap out the books you don’t need for new ones and subscribe to a service that serves everything you can read. Now that you have to explore all of these worlds, your next task will be to read more efficiently to keep up .