How To Get Books On The Cheap

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Library: before you purchase a book, "test read" it to make sure it is one that you will refer to time and again.

Library: Take advantage of inter-branch loans. In many cities, you can have books sent over to a branch convenient to you for free or a nominal fee.

Become A Book Reviewer: If you have an interest in a certain subject and can do a review on a couple of books for your local newspaper (or even start a blog on a particular subject that is somewhat popular) you can often get review copies of books on that subject for free. This often means getting books even before they are available to the public

Book Exchanges: Check local businesses for book exchanges. You bring in books you no longer want, and take away books they have that you would like to read.

Start Your Own Book Exchange: If you work with people who buy books, set up a book exchange with them. Ask your employer if you can set up a bookshelf for a workplace library.

Used Book Stores: For a nice compromise between new and utterly used.

Thrift Stores, Yard Sales, Flea Markets: All offer used books on the cheap. Once you've read them, you might be able to exchange them for store credit at a used book store if they're in decent shape.

Paperbackswap.com - trade your old books for new ones.

Library Sales: Check to see if your local libraries offer an annual sale. Or even a sale shelf. On the annual sales, they often sell the books by the box or bag on the last day.

Online: Half.com, Amazon.com, Ebay.com all have people selling used books. Also a good place for you to make money selling books you no longer want.

Fetes, community fairs, any type of fund raising events- often charities will sell 2nd hand books at drastically reduced prices also look at Flea markets, car boot sales- again good source of 2nd hand books, especially publishers remainders

Family/Friends: Let your friends, family, and people you know that you are interested in books. Most will be happy to give you first look at the books that they don't want to cart off at their time and expense.

A word of caution: when the entire front cover of a paperback is ripped off, this likely means it was reported to the publisher as damaged and unsellable (and the cover was returned as 'proof'). In this instance, buying the book means neither the publisher nor the author receives their allotment of the sales price

Craigslist and freecycle: Check out these sites for books being given away and make a request on freecycle!

Garage Sales: Really cheap prices, tho not necessarily the best selection.

Online: Using a search engine, search with the ISBN number using "ISBN _". In addition to books on amazon.com, ebay.com, and half.com, it will pull up used books on other websites like valore.com which are sometimes cheaper than amazon.com. If looking for textbooks, searching this way can yield new books printed in India that are the same as U.S. editions, but are paperback, printed on cheaper paper, and about a fifth of the price.

Visit your own bookshelves: You might find new books you never read and forgot you had, but books you picked out because of their interest to you.

[crazymom]

bookcloseouts.com is a great place to buy books, especially for giving as gifts.

[LuxLiving]

Library: before you purchase a book, "test read" it to make sure it is one that you will refer to time and again.

Library: Take advantage of inter-branch loans. In many cities, you can have books sent over to a branch convenient to you for free or a nominal fee. There is also a service called inter-library loan where a book can be sent to your local library from a distant library. Ask your local librarian for details. Be sure to request new titles as well to the acquisition committee/person at your local library as well. Let them know what new books that are out that you'd be interested in reading. Don't forget your church library or the library of a nearby college campus.

Become A Book Reviewer: If you have an interest in a certain subject and can do a review on a couple of books for your local newspaper (or even start a blog on a particular subject that is somewhat popular) you can often get review copies of books on that subject for free. This often means getting books even before they are available to the public.

Book Exchanges: Check local businesses for book exchanges. You bring in books you no longer want, and take away books they have that you would like to read.

Used Book Stores: For a nice compromise between new and utterly used.

Thrift Stores, Garage & Yard Sales, Flea Markets: All offer used books on the cheap. Once you've read them, you might be able to exchange them for store credit at a used book store if they're in decent shape.

Paperbackswap.com - trade your old books for new ones.

Library Sales: Check to see if your local libraries offer an annual sale. Or even a sale shelf. On the annual sales, they often sell the books by the box or bag on the last day.

Online: Half.com, Amazon.com, Ebay.com all have people selling used books.

Fetes, community fairs, school book fairs, any type of fund raising events- often charities will sell 2nd hand books at drastically reduced prices also look at Flea markets, car boot sales- again good source of 2nd hand books, especially publishers remainders

Family/Friends: Let your friends, family, and people you know that you are interested in books. Most will be happy to give you first look at the books that they don't want to cart off at their time and expense. Make a book wish list for Christmas and other gift occasions and be sure to share with those who would normally like to gift you. Don't forget to share your Amazon.com wishlist with your loved ones.

A word of caution: when the entire front cover of a paperback is ripped off, this likely means it was reported to the publisher as damaged and unsellable (and the cover was returned as 'proof'). In this instance, buying the book means neither the publisher nor the author receives their allotment of the sales price[/quote]