Buying hoards of books can be expensive, but it’s also sort of our lifeblood, so … it’s complicated.

I get it. I’ve lived in a one-bedroom apartment, eating so much ramen that I still have nightmares about it, and the only books I could afford at the time were the ones I had to buy for college.

But I’m here to tell you, there is hope!

Mostly. Back then, when I was all young and bright-eyed and naive, I actually wasn’t aware of basically any of the resources available in my area to get inexpensive or even free books. Which is probably for the best, because had I known, I wouldn’t have been doing homework. When there are books to be read? Pshaw.

I’m going to preface this by saying that I live in the United States.

I’m sorry. I know, there’s a big world out there, but I can only speak to what’s available here, and there’s no guarantee it’s available … not here.

So here’s a quick rundown of some ways to get books on a budget.

❧ It may take some searching in your area, but most cities of some size have some sort of used book store.

The books are used, obviously, but they come at a discounted price, and are usually more affordable than brand-new books, while still being in fairly good condition. The best of both worlds.

The drawback, obviously, is that this might limit your selection of books to choose from.

Some used book stores might also stock newer books, but there’s going to be less of a discount on those, even used.

❧ eBay is a great source for used books, and often, you can find sales for them.

Actually, I just bought the entire Unwind Dystology from eBay with a buy 3, get 1 free sale. I also may or may not now owe Neal Shusterman my soul. I don’t know. Fine print and such. Who has time for all that nonsense?

If you keep an eye out, eBay also frequently has coupons. They’re usually a certain amount off for X money spent, but if you save up, grab a coupon, and hit a BOGO sale, that’s a pretty nice stack of books right there.

❧ A lot of second-hand stores or thrift stores, such as Goodwill and Salvation Army, sell really cheap books.

I’m talking super cheap. Here, it’s generally $0.25 – $1 per book. If you have any local thrift shops, it may be worth stopping in and seeing if they have a selection of books. Obviously, your options are going to be limited, and sometimes the book is in questionable condition. But there’s nothing quite like walking out of a store with twelve new books for $3, now is there?

❧ I feel like Amazon is an obvious one, and I’m saying it here just to be thorough, but … If you haven’t heard about Amazon, have you even been on the Internet lately?

❧ Let’s mention Amazon again to start off with because … why not? Kindle Unlimited is a thing.

For $10 a month, you can read all the books you want* on your Kindle app.

*As long as the books you want aren’t published by a major publisher or are included in the KU catalog, obviously. It’s restrictive is what I’m trying to say.

This is a great way to get exposed to new authors, and for $10 a month, if you read a lot, you’re easily getting your money’s worth.

The big drawback is that not everything is in KU. In fact, most things aren’t.

There are often sales throughout the year where one can get a discounted price for a year of KU. One that just ran recently was 12 months for $80, which is a significant reduction in the price if you can save up and buy it all at once.

❧ Follow things like BookBub and Goodreads Deals to be notified when there are sales on books you might be interested in.

I get these alerts daily. Sometimes the books listed are free. Most times, they’re between $0.99 – $2.99, and I’m not just talking about random books, too. I’ve gotten some pretty popular, well-known books on sale for cheap through them.

What this boils down to is a waiting game, but you can get some exceptional deals on books this way.

Of course, all the books are e-books, so you’ll need a way to read them.

❧ Libraries … have books. Shocking, right?

Library cards should be free to residents, also, which is a nice benefit. There’s nothing quite like skipping through rows upon rows of books and never wanting to leave, no matter how snippy the librarian says it’s closing time.

If there’s a book you want to read that your library doesn’t have, you can request it.

The process will be different depending on the library, but in my experience, libraries tend to be fairly accommodating, as long as it’s not a ridiculous request. If it’s a really niche book and unlikely to be read by other patrons, you might have more of a hard time, but for books with broad appeal, that’s certainly one way to go.

❧ A lot of libraries now are also starting to have Overdrive, where you can borrow e-books.

Overdrive is free to use with your library card, and the selection will depend on what e-books your library has bought. However, if you’re not against reading e-books, this is a really convenient way to read books. Or, you know, if you live half an eternity away from your library, you don’t have to make the trek quite as often.

If your library is teensy (like mine), this might even be a better opportunity to find books your library doesn’t shelve, and they may even join with other local libraries to offer a more generous selection.

My library is an itsy, cute little button of a thing, so we’re actually rolled into a regional Overdrive, which is great, because our library could never afford all those e-books on their own.

❧ If your local library doesn’t have Overdrive, you can pay to get a non-resident card from certain libraries and use their Overdrive.

These prices can sometimes be steep, but it’s still a heck of a lot cheaper than buying all the books yourself, and there are so many books available. Just make sure you look through the selection ahead of time to make sure there’s books that interest you.

The eBook Reader has an excellent list of libraries and what they charge here if you’re interested in learning more.

❧ NetGalley and Edelweiss+ are great sources for eARCs, or electronic advance reader copies.

The catch is that, of course, you’re expected to leave a review for the book. That’s sort of the point of this. If you’re not affiliated with anything, you can sign up just as a reviewer and request eARCs that way, but you’ll often get more consideration for popular books if you’re a blogger or somehow affiliated with purchasing books (ie. librarian). If you enjoy it enough, you could even consider becoming a book blogger. You know you want to. We don’t bite. Well, mostly.

❧ Penguin Books has First To Read, which offers a chance to read upcoming Penguin books for free.

The downside is you can’t read them on your Kindle. The only way I’ve been able to open them is with Adobe Digital Editions, which limits it to basically the computer or the phone, which may or may not be an option for you. For me, I find reading on my phone to be annoying, personally, but if you’re fine with it, this might be something to sign up for.

❧ You can sometimes get galleys straight from publishers by requesting them (if you’re a book blogger with enough followers) or with occasional publisher giveaways.

This is sometimes hit or miss. Following publisher’s newsletters will alert you when there’s a giveaway, as will following their Facebook and Twitter accounts. There are other newsletters like Shelf Awareness that will generally have an advertisement when a publisher is doing a galley giveaway.

❧ My favorite place to go: Goodreads!

I mean, let’s face it, we’re already there anyway, right? Might as well throw our hat in the ring for free books. Like all giveaways, this amounts to luck, and basic decorum is that you review books you win in giveaways. After all, that’s sort of the point, right? It’s a small price to pay for a free book.

❧ There are often posts floating around Twitter (and sometimes Facebook, but harder to find) about different people holding giveaways.

These are often hit or miss, and your odds decrease the more it gets shared, obviously. It still may be a chance to get some free books, though, or even learn about new books you might be interested in.

❧ Read all the blogs!

When a new book releases, there’s usually giveaways on the blog tour, and from time to time, blogs will host random giveaways. Usually, they involve following people to earn entries, so it’s pretty low-key and easy to enter.

❧ If you have a bit of free time, go through the Kindle books that are listed for free.

There are lots of them. This is going to be hit or miss, obviously. Some are better than others. A lot of times, they’re the first book in a series hoping to entice a reader to continue on with the series. In any case, there’s a lot of free books hovering out there in Amazon’s marketplace somewhere ready to be read.

Where do you usually go for your books? Is there anywhere that’s your go-to or that you’re particularly fond of? Do you have anything to add to this list?