Where to buy cheap books: A comprehensive guide
Books are a great way to culture yourself, learn more about the world, expand your vocabulary, or simply pass the time. However, if you’re a compulsive book buyer, this can leave a hole in your pocket.
This article will help you find a way to buy books for a lower price and introduce you to some alternatives.
Should you buy new books or used books?
One of the ways to buy books at great prices to buy used books. Many people like the look and smell of old books, so this might sound like the perfect solution. Yet, there are also those who wouldn’t use something that had a previous owner and would instead enjoy the look of freshly-printed pages.
Used books
Pros
- Secondhand books usually come for a very low price or even as free books, so you can save money simply by digging through your local used bookstore.
- Used bookstores usually have rare or out-of-print books you can’t find at your local library.
- Used books benefit the environment since they reduce the demand for new paper.
Cons
- Some used books can be in good condition, but some might have markings, notes, and other traces of previous owners that distract you from reading.
New books
Pros
- Newly bought books sometimes come with a warranty that allows you to exchange them if the book has some defects.
- You usually don’t have to worry about finding new books unless they are out of print.
Cons
- Completely new books are often more expensive than books from a library or used bookstore.
If deciding between buying new or used books seems difficult, you can try listening to audiobooks. They’re a unique and more engaging way to enjoy books, and you won’t have to worry about where to store them.
Where can you buy cheap books?
In addition to cheap physical booksellers, plenty of bookstores offer cheap books online.
Alibris
Alibris is a reputable online bookstore with a wide selection of cookbooks, fiction, non-fiction, young adult, and kids’ books. It’s easy to use, and you can search book titles by their name, author, or ISBN.
Bargain Books
As the name suggests, Bargain Books is an online bookstore that offers a wide variety of discounted books. You can find both used and new books with prices as low as 10% of the original price.
Thriftbooks
Thriftbooks is another online bookstore that offers more than 13 million titles at a discount. You can search them by title, author, or ISBN. It also has detailed filtering options like genre, format, condition, age range, languages, and price range.
In addition to various genres like children’s books and fiction books, you can find signed books, first editions, bestsellers, rare books, graphic novels, and books recommended by BookTok. The website also offers music, video games, movies, and gifts for various occasions and holidays. You can also customize your own e-gift cards.
Amazon
Many people don’t know that Amazon started as a bookstore. Today, Amazon is one of the world’s biggest online retailers, which still includes a large assortment of books. You can find various book genres in digital and physical formats, bestsellers, and more.
Selection criteria: How to choose a book
If you’ve just recently started getting into books, choosing the right one for you might be difficult. To make the process easier, you can use the following tips.
- Consider your interests, whether they’re more connected to fiction, non-fiction, science, history, romance, etc.
- Read reviews and ask for recommendations to find out what others think or like about the book.
- Read the synopsis to get an idea of what the book is about.
Physical book alternatives
Reading books doesn’t always have to mean flipping pages and squinting under the bedside lamp. There are other ways to get through the book or simply get the gist of it.
Audiobook
Audiobooks are a great solution for book lovers who are tired of staring at their screens or book pages all day. They’re a popular choice for those who like to read on the go while doing their chores, have reading disabilities, or just want to get through as many books as possible.
Summaries
If you’re not much of a reader and long text seems tedious, summaries can be a great way to learn more about the plot and its characters. Some of the best websites that offer book summaries are Cliffnotes and Sparknotes.
Where can I read audiobooks?
Audiobooks are available on numerous online platforms today, so let’s look at the best one.
Speechify Audiobooks
Speechify is a top-rated audiobook service that allows you to listen to great books at an affordable price. You can pick any book from its wide selection of titles and genres, including new releases.
With Speechify, you can customize the voice, language, and reading speed so you can listen to books in any language you want and wherever you go.
Speechify is available on your mobile phone, desktop, or web, and you can try your first book for free today by signing up for Speechify Audiobooks.
FAQ
Is Half Price Books only in Texas?
Half Price Books has over 127 stores in 17 states across the country.
Where can I find cheap books for school?
You can find cheap textbooks in online bookstores, such as AbeBooks, Book Outlet, Textbooks.com, Better World Books, eBay, and SlugBooks, or offline from cheaper book retailers.
What are the best websites to buy cheap books online?
Some of the best book websites for buying cheap books are Better World Books, AbeBooks, Book Outlet, and Powell’s Books.
