The cost of being a bookworm can add up very, very quickly. Especially if you’re flying through four, five, or even six books per month — $18 here, $25 there, and next thing you know you’ve spent several hundred dollars in a mere few months.
There’s no reason why you need to purchase new and shiny hardcovers, when there are so many excellent, and cost-effective, alternatives around you.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON BOOKS & eBooks
BOOK-SWAP
I’m starting off with my favorite, book-swapping! This works beautifully with friends, family, and co-workers that have similar tastes as you. There are five women, myself included, in my improv troupe. We all ended up swapping around You by Caroline Kepnes, which was so much fun to talk about before and after rehearsals.
THE LIBRARY
This may be super obvious, but the library is a resource that a lot of people don’t take advantage of. Libraries have everything you could ever ask for, and yes, that includes new releases and NYT best-sellers. Though, sometimes the waiting list can be quite long. Real life example: I’m currently #944 in line for Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Sigh.
OVERDRIVE / LIBBY
Over 2 million eBooks and Audiobooks at your fingertips. Though, you do need a library card to access. Once you’re all set up, download the app for audiobooks, and / or hook it up to your kindle. I don’t have a kindle, but I have a kindle app on my iPad. Sometimes there is a waitlist for popular books, but there’s typically a large selection of available books you can download in minutes.
NETGALLEY
NetGalley is also a free resource for newer books that generally haven’t been released to the public yet. It’s sort of a testing ground for authors. It’s free though, and I’ve read some really excellent books (like Dark Matter and The Marriage Pact) from NetGalley!
PAPERBACK SWAP
This is an online book swap and the coolest concept ever. It’s also pretty easy. You create an account, list books you’d like to swap with another member. Once someone requests it, you mail it to them. In return you get a ‘credit’ which you can use for any of their 1+ million available books. You do have to pay for postage for books you mail — but hey, that’s less than $4! Or, if you don’t want to go through the hassle of listing & mailing your pre-owned books, you can flat out purchase for a cheaper price. Which brings me to my next option…
BUY PREOWNED
I almost exclusively go for this option when I buy from Amazon. It can save you anywhere from $10-$15 and honestly, why not? You can also find tons of secondhand book stores near you. If you’re in Washington, DC here’s a handy list. Or Half Price Books is a great online option!
LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
Alright, so this is totally, totally, totally hit or miss but I’ve found some little nuggets of gold in these Little Free Library’s before! I’m lucky enough to have one situated only a few blocks away from my home, so I pop in anytime I’m walking in that direction. Find one near you by searching here.
GOODREADS DEAL OF THE DAY
Almost daily GR offers daily eBook deals. I don’t search it often, but every now and again I’ll come across books that are on my To-Read list, and it’s a major HECK YES! Books are listed for as low as $1.99!
OTHER FREE eBOOKS
Did you know that Amazon and Barnes & Noble both have free eBook collections? I’m not saying this is the worlds best collection of books, but hey, if you’re super bored — maybe give it a go?
Rotating between this list, I’m able to keep my book budget under control. I truly hope this was helpful — Happy Reading!