I was inspired by an article I read a few days ago about getting books on the cheap and it made me start wondering where everyone gets their books.
My number one stop is usually Amazon (generally for the newer titles where I’d want a brand new copy of a book), but I realized that’s not the only place.
ARCs from publishers, authors, and even other kind book bloggers help to feed my need and at an awesome price too. (You can’t really beat free.)
Another place that many people overlook is the thrift store. I’ve happened on a number of great finds by perusing the shelves of my local secondhand shops and sometimes the price is as close to free as you can get, ranging from a quarter (yes folks, 25 cents) to a few bucks (usually for hardcover and text books). The quality may not always be the best, but there are some gems if you’re willing to do a little digging.
So now the question is out there: Where do you get your books?
# Lenore wrote on April 12, 2009 at 1:40 pm:
These days I get a lot of ARCs but I still buy books from indie bookstores when possible. I’m not embarrassed to say I buy a lot from amazon too. They are just so convenient!
# Keishon wrote on April 22, 2009 at 8:00 am:
I buy ebooks 90% of the time so I get my books from Fictionwise. ARCs that get sent my way make up 10% which is the way I like it. While I college, I loved going to thrift stores! I don’t do it much now because I think I found all of the books that were HTF that I wanted but man, I found some great treasures at thrift stores – Jennifer Crusie, even rare titles from Jayne Castle, the ones she refuses to reprint. Yet to score Nora Roberts “Promise Me Tomorrow.” Quit trying to find it. But yeah, in college, it was Goodwill, Purple Heart, Sand Dollar – all those thrift stores. I used to sell on eBay and netted a decent profit finding those HTF books. vbg
Have a good day.
# mee wrote on April 22, 2009 at 11:32 pm:
You have such a pretty blog! I can’t resist dropping a comment. What pretty boxes I had to fill in! <3
I seldom pay full price for any books. I usually get them heavily discounted or from secondhand bookshop. And of course the library!
# Anon wrote on April 26, 2009 at 12:28 am:
I usually pick books up at my local independent bookstore (they buy your used books or trade them), but recently I started working for a huge book corp. so I’ll probably be using my employee discount and buying books from there
# Karissa wrote on April 28, 2009 at 3:36 pm:
I have been using paperbackswap.com to get a lot of my books. I go through so many books that it’s nice to have a place to swap them for the price of postage. You can’t put ARCs up there, but anything else goes. I just love it! I think I’ve swapped about 100 books through there in the last 6 months.