For many of us, reading is a passion. It’s hard to pass up good deals on books when you pass a Barnes & Noble. This often leads to a houseful of books that need to be culled down the next time you need to make a move or want to expand your storage space. If you love to read but want to cut down on your expenses and your shelved collection, there are great ways to get books free and cheap.
1. Your Local Library
Your local library is the best resource for books. Most libraries have liberal circulation policies, meaning you can check out a virtually unlimited number of books for weeks at a time. Even better are your library’s electronic reserves of music, movies, TV, audiobooks and e-books. Most libraries now let you automatically download books through Hoopla, Overdrive or Freading. They are easy to take wherever you go for reading on your tablets and cell phones. The library is the best place to get audiobooks, which are very pricey in retail, for free to keep you occupied during the next road trip
2. Paperbackswap
Paperbackswap is an old fashioned book club with new school technology. As a member, you can trade books online using their database of 3,708,138 books! How does it work? Easy – you simply sign up for free and list the books you have that you are willing to swap. Then when one of your books is requested you mail it to someone on this list. Next, you get the opportunity to request a book from someone else. The only fees you pay are postage on the books you send out; the books you receive are postage free. Once you request the book and receive it, it becomes yours to do what you want – keep it forever or list it for someone else to enjoy.
3. Kindle Unlimited
If you are an avid reader, check into Kindle Unlimited. Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service that allows you unlimited books for a monthly fee of $9.99. Amazon is the company behind Kindle Unlimited, and it frequently adds more and more books for download. The service currently has over 1 million books.
Kindle Unlimited is for the people who are compulsive readers. To determine if Kindle Unlimited has the kind of books you want to read, you can browse their catalog before you are a member. The catalog covers about 27 percent of the total books available on Amazon’s full site.
4. Freecycle and Book Exchanges
Freecycle and other networks promote recycling all consumer goods by giving them away. Freecycle.org has more than 9 million members around the world. This non-profit is totally free. The group is moderated by local volunteers. As a member, you’ll have access to the local listings of things people want to give away at no cost. All you do is claim the item and pick it up at the owner’s home or office. Add your own items, including books. Many members give away books and magazines, so you can score some exciting reading materials for no cost.
There are also free book exchanges that are modeled on Freecycle. Check out BookMooch.com, BookFreeSwap.com and TitleTrader.com.
5. Freebooksy
Freebooksy is a way to get e-books free. Authors decide which books they would like to give away for free in order to get buzz. Then Freebooksy finds the ones that best suit your reading preferences [after you complete their questionnaire]. By telling the service which e-reader you have and which genres you like, they can curate a free reading list, which they will email to you with download links. Best of all, it doesn’t cost you a penny.