Discussion
Topic: Books
How much money, on average, do you spend on books in a year? I spend about $250 on books in a year now that I have libby and hoopla. Before, I would spend about $500 to $600 a year. I'm just curious to see what everyone else is doing and if there are ways I can save even more money.
AutisticJester
in
Fantasy Book Club
16 comments
Road Master Yeah.... I can't help on this one. Books are one of my big expenditures.
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AutisticJester Same
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Road Master But hey! You're not alone in it!
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Julz I have no idea how much I spend on books. Probably more than I should. A good way to cut down your expenses is to thrift your books. That’s what I do. I either get them from my local thrift store or from eBay. I can buy probably 5-7 books for $20 on eBay.
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AutisticJester 5-7 books for $20!! Omg, that's amazing. I've never tried ebay and are the shipping cost low?
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Julz Yes they are pretty low. But you can get most books for free shipping. I almost never pay for shipping becuse I get free shipping.
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Brandon Reed Hoopla, Libby, library sales, used book stores, free Prime books, library loans. I get my public domain ebooks from Project Gutenberg if they're not available on Hoopla, Libby, or Prime for free. If you have a lot of family and friends who buy you gifts, put books on your online wish lists. Unfortunately, the best way to save money on books is still one of the oldest ones, predating even the movable type press: budgeting. Work on your TBR. Reread the books you like. If you don't think you'll ever reread a book, take it to a used book store to sell, or take it to a book swap if your area has those. You might even consider starting your own book swap.
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Brandon Reed In case you're not aware, Project Gutenberg is an NPO that publishes ebooks of public domain texts. They utilize volunteer transcriptionists, and they're a phenomenal resource. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/
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Brandon Reed *sigh* well, the gist of it was that your confusion is understandable since both services are from Amazon. Prime includes a large number of services, including the ability to "purchase" some public domain and low sale volume ebooks for free. These remain associated with your Amazon account even if you cancel your Prime membership. Kindle Unlimited, meanwhile, includes a much larger number of ebooks and audiobooks, but it only includes access, not ownership.
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Serena I never used to buy books at all but then I got this job at a thrift store and so I would buy the occasional book if it was something that I really wanted. (The books there are so so so so cheap tho. Like 25 cents for a kids book, 50 cents for a soft cover, and 1 dollar for a hard back.) But Recently due to a huge influx of books the store has been getting there has been a deal on books where you can get 4 for the price of one. So I've been buying like way too many books now because it's so fun to just browse and then let myself get books that catch my eye because it's so cheap. In total ive probably spent like 15 to 20 dollars.But I probably would never buy a full price book, unless it was one I read and absolutely loved and wanted a copy of. So my only advice would be to try and get books from thrift stores. I know they are not normally this cheap but you can still save a lot buying second hand books. Also maybe limit the books you buy to one's you know you'll love or know that you do love by reading it from the library or libby first. Unless that takes all the fun out of buying books. Or only get the ones that aren't in the library or on libby yet at a bookstore, and just read the rest on libby or from your library.
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AutisticJester You're very lucky to have those books available to you for so cheap. When I first took up the hobby of reading four years ago, I used to buy every book that remotely took my interest, leading to me buying many books I don't actually like and will never reread on Kindle and audible. Now, I'm far more discerning when it comes to books I buy. The only physical books I buy are my top favorites that I'll read over and over. I want to support the authors of the books I love, so sometimes I have to buy books at full price.
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Serena Yes, I am very lucky. That makes sense. It's too bad they are so expensive though, because it really adds up.
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Sarah Ortinau I buy and sell on Pangobooks. Just like at Half priced books when you sell on PangoBooks a portion of that goes back to you, once it’s cleared, you can use that money to buy other books. Unlike Half Priced Books, I can set the prices myself, so I get more back. Half Priced would buy new books for $2, and other books for $1. On Pango the get about 20% (I could be wrong), but when you set the price it calculates for you the amount you’ll get back.
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Glowbunny I use pangobooks too - you do have to watch - sometimes it's cheaper to buy a new book than to pay for the book + shipping. And some sellers charge as much for the used book as for new. (Collector books are a different discussion. I am referring to regular books). But overall, a good resource.
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Sarah Ortinau That’s fair. I do try to keep my books reasonably priced, but it depends if it’s a new book or not. Sometimes with newer releases it tends to be more
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Sarah Ortinau Also if you’re looking for a great deal on new overstock books: Bookoutlet.com. Lots of new or slightly damaged books for a fraction of the price, and if you buy $35 or more of books you get shipping free. Again, great way to ensure books don’t go to a landfill, and very affordable way to grow a book collection
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AutisticJester I'll definitely check it out, thanks.
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Sarah Ortinau Also, Book of the Month Club is a pretty good deal for a subscription service. You can start off with your first book at $5. The monthly subscription is about 17.99 (a little pricey, but considering new hardcover books are sometime $40, it’s less than half) then any book you would like to add in is 10.99-12.99 (it had a price jump). Also skipping is very easy. I like it because I like a lot of different genres and this exposes me to new books and authors. However they don’t always have a wide selection of fantasy and science fiction. If you like lots of different genres, this is perfect, but if you like one or two specific genres may not be for you
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Sarah I use thrift books because I can get books for sooo much cheaper. Like a 20 dollar book for 5 depending on the condition which you can choose depending on what's available. You can also sell books on the app
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Sarah Forgot to mention that thriftbooks is an app
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AutisticJester I had some trouble using this app, the seller took a month to deliver my package, and he didn't answer my inquiries until I almost had to cancel the order. I'll give it another shot.
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Brian strong About 75 dollars. I get most of my books on Libby or the library.
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AutisticJester Wow, that's really good. I can't imagine spending so little on books.
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Hannah Linder about $200 usually, I go to Barnes and noble about twice a year since I don't have my license and it's not close to me and I usually get library books
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AutisticJester So, you only get books two times a year? That's rough.
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