Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Ways to Read Books Affordably

It’s Top Ten Tuesday and I severely dislike wishlists and asking others to buy books, so this week is a hard no for me. Maybe one person gets many books and others get none, or someone might cancel an order. Any number of things might occur. If nothing else applies, I just find it presumptuous to attach a wist list to a blog post🤣

So I went in the polar opposite direction and am offering my top ten tips to read books affordably, audio included. From the library, to buying used, to buying new (but cheaply) on BookOutlet … I hope everyone learns something useful from this post!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together

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1. The Library. I’m going to start with the really obvious one for many people, and say your local library. Membership is free and you can read as much as you want for no cost
2. The Libby App. It is 2024 and almost every day I find people who don’t know about the Libby app. If you can’t access your local library in person, or for ebook/audiobook fans, Libby goes through your membership and gives you access to the VAST ebook and audiobook collection of your library for free. You can be a member of multiple libraries on the app and it’s super easy to navigate. Trust me I know audio books are expensive and this is a literal actual lifesaver.
3. The Chirp app. Chirp collects audiobook sales from all over the Internet and puts them in one place. There are traditionally published and indy published audiobooks of all genres and you can sort by cost or genre. Sometimes they have bundles too where you can get a whole series for a stupidly cheap price. I’ve gotten so many $0.99-$2.99 audiobooks. Since I’m only there for the cheapest listens, I filter for deals under $4.
4. Bookbub. It’s hard to tell how much of each BookBub sale actually goes to an author, but I’ve read a lot of reports that having books on that site tends to be an extremely positive experience. BB pretty much collects ebook sales and features them in one place. There is an email list with featured deals that you can filter accordingly. I personally don’t use this one but I used to get a ton of cheap ebooks off of it.
5. ARCs. With the caveat that you are expected to actually read and review your ARCs in a timely manner, browsing them can be a great way to read free books. Many times I will additionally purchase the finished copy but I definitely request and then read and review a ton of books from NetGalley and various publisher catalogs.
6. Thrifting. While I was in the United Kingdom, I learned that they have a crap ton of Charity shops where you can find books for ridiculously low prices. We have this in America as well in the form of Salvation Army, Church Sales, and many local benefit organizations. I personally do not shop at Goodwill but they also used to carry tons of 1-2$ books. This also applies to eBay, ThriftBooks, Better World Books, and the plethora of other cheap used book services online.
7. Garage Sales & Antique Malls. Always use discretion when purchasing used books but as long as they smell okay and are not visibly gross, I have no problem buying books from garage sales. Probably half of my books are 25cent to $2 purchases at garage sales. I also often times find books crammed into corners at antique malls and sometimes there are super cool finds there, both newer books and antiques.
8. Library Sales. This seems pretty self explanatory. The longer a library sale goes on the cheaper the books get. If you go on fill a bag day you are walking out of there with a treasure trove usually 😅
9. Book Outlet. IF YOU WANT TO BUY NEW BOOKS CHEAPLY… Okay sue me for talking about an Amazon owned company but Book outlet is a way to get new books absurdly cheap. You get free shipping over $35. The best thing to do is to wait until there is a super sale going on like buy two get one free, or spend a certain amount to get a certain amount free, and you just get a ton of new books for a vastly discounted rate.
10. Let’s talk about giveaways and wishlists and raffles. I don’t think it’s a bad idea necessarily but you have to be extremely careful when utilizing these things on Instagram and other social media. I spent a lot of my own money doing bookstagram giveaways before and frankly the cost just adds up quickly. For the number of followers that you gain it’s often not worth it. If you have the money to spare it then awesome but I would personally recommend against frequent giveaways. One issue with wish list trades is that many people tend to cancel their gift and/or scam people in other ways. Even if you lose you are still purchasing a book for somebody and once again those costs add up. Again by all means these things are fun occasionally but I advise people to be mindful of the cost.
11. To end on a more positive note, let’s talk about used book stores. Many used book stores are definitely charging astronomical prices these days but hunt out the ones with bargain bins and sale racks and boxes shoved under tables that are heavily discounted, you never know what you’ll find on there 😉 Yes I am typing this with a specific store in mind but if you search for it, it will come!

What tips do you have for saving money on books and reading affordably? Did you do a top 10 Tuesday this week? Feel free to link to your post and I will go interact!!