I can’t possibly live without books. Books are such an integral part of my day-to-day activities that I get restless if I don’t pick up a book for a day or two. You can find a lot of books free online. But you need to buy most of the good ones. And good books are not cheap.
Well, maybe not at the time of release, but there are a number of places online and offline, where you can get your hands on good books for almost free. If you are lucky, you could even get some first editions that you can cherish, if you love to collect books.
Where to look for cheap books online?
I will begin with the obvious, for those who are exploring these options for the first time.
Ebay
Ebay is an excellent resource to get classic books and box sets really cheap. You can participate in multiple auctions to get the books at a low price. Apart from that, there are multiple sellers who just want to clear their collections for whatever reasons.
You can also get an entire collections at the price of one book. Like this one, where the seller has put up seven Danielle Steel Hardcover books for just $13.
Craigslist
Well Craigslist gets a bad name every now and then, but my personal experience has been otherwise. Like ebay, this is a great place to find books super cheap. Most of the deals here too are for a bunch of books, either by genre or sorted based on author. Search through ads in your city and those from other to find the advertised deals. You can get a pretty good deal here.
If you are collector, you can also find some old editions and rare book on Craigslist to add to your library.
Like this one here: Vintage Hemmingway books.
Amazon Used Books
We don’t think of Amazon as the destination for used or cheap books. But you will be surprised how many you can find for just 1 cent. Although there is an associated shipping cost, a good hardcover for $3 is still a good deal.
Thrift Store
In the physical world, this is your best bet to find gems for pennies. If you haven’t ever, you will be surprised how many amazing books you will find here for a dollar or less. And what’s more, if you are lucky you might just land with the first editions of some bestsellers. I have found many Agatha Christie volumes and not-so-famous author books that turned out to be amazing reads.
Library Clearance Sales
This is the best place to find some good non-fiction, science, and off-beat books at rock-bottom prices.
Most public libraries hold clearance sales once in a year or two. Keep an eye out for these. You will not only enjoy spending time browsing books, but you can also go crazy picking any book you want. I have found some very good books from 50s and 60s on writing, geology and psychology from visits to public library sale.