Skip to main content

4 Must-Know Tips for Saving Money on Novels and Textbooks Online


4 Must-Know Tips for Saving Money on Novels and Textbooks Online

Everyone wants to get the most for their money, especially when it comes to typically expensive products, like textbooks and new novels. Whether you’re a student or just a book-lover, the cost of buying books can definitely set you back a bit if you’re not careful. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to reduce or eliminate the cost of your next book purchase by following several easy tricks online. Read on for the best ways to find books online at the lowest possible prices, sometimes even for free.
1. Always search for free copies first.
Before you ever buy a book online, the first thing to do is look for an available free copy. There are many resources online where students and readers can download copies of the books they need for free. Usually free downloads are available for people who already own a Kindle, like Barnes and Noble’s Free Nook Books. Users with accounts can browse the wide selection of titles, from fiction and romance to sci-fi and history, and download books instantly onto their Kindles. If you aren’t hooked up with a Kindle or a member of a similar book club, you can still search for other free options by googling the title along with the word “free.”
2. Do a Google Shop search for the title.
If you can’t find a free copy online, the next step is to compare prices of different book vendors. One of the best ways to do this is to Google the book title in the “shopping” section of Google search. This will bring up all the copies sold online with quick price and shipping comparisons. If you need your textbook or novel right away, choosing the lowest price option here is probably the best way to save time.
3. Join a book swap site.
When you don’t need a book immediately, but would like to pick up a copy someday, one of the perfect places to find one is on a book swap site. If you’re an avid reader, this is also a great way to clear out all the dated copies of the books you no longer need. Book swap sites typically allow users to make a membership and either buy books directly from other members or trade them for their own used books. Trading usually works via a point system, where, as soon as you give a book away, you will gain points toward selecting a book for yourself. Cool swap sites are Paperbackswap.com and Bookmooch.com.
4. Never pay full-price.
With all the book titles available online, there is no reason to pay full-price for a novel or textbook, especially if it’s been out for more than six months. Chances are someone will have listed a used copy online at greatly reduced prices. On top of that, there are tons of sites that specialize in book wholesale and usually carry the overstock copies of all sorts of titles. Amazon offers books at all prices, from new full-priced copies to old used copies. Half.com, a subsidiary of Ebay, sells books and textbooks, movies and games at huge discounts. The site also allows users to rent textbooks, which is a huge money-saver for students. Other textbook rental sites include College Book Renter and Chegg.
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey.

This is a a guest post.  I do accept guest posts only when the guest poster's link is inoffensive.  I will not accept links to payday loan sites, gambling sites or porn sites.  If you have a money saving tech post, I am willing to review it and post it here if it is suitable.  Suitable is totally subjective.  BTW I use both Paperbackswap and Bookmooch as well as Books Free Swap .  I have found all three very useful.


If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Samsung FlipShot-ho hum

I just got the Samsung FlipShot aka SCH-U900. If you haven’t noticed by now, I am very family oriented, specifically focused on grandchildren. I frequently lament that I don’t have my camera on me. However, I always have my phone on me. Thusly I wanted a phone with a decent camera. The FlipShot comes close. Samsung claims it is a 3 megapixel camera with flash and zoom. The photos are not what I would consider decent from a digital camera but compared to my last phone/camera, they are much better. The phone has a slot for a micro sd memory card. I popped a 2gb card in there for saving my photos. I have not been able to find a way to default the photos to the memory card. You have to manually move them. I haven’t given up and perhaps in a software upgrade there will be a way to get them to the card without moving them manually. Getting them off of the phone is interesting. If you don’t buy Samsung’s charging/data cable, you can send them to yourself and get them on your pc that way. You ...

Troy-Bilt 2700 PSI 2.3 GPM Gas Pressure Washer Review

Troy-Bilt 2700 PSI 2.3 GPM Gas Pressure Washer Review Item #: 75140 | Model #: 20414 When I started this blog, I assumed I would be only talking tech. Well that led to philosophic musing and then comments on other stuff. I’m not sure where a pressure washer fits but regardless I am writing about it. I was power washing the mildew off the siding and thought the odor was the detergent I was using. When I looked over my shoulder and saw the grey smoke pouring out of the pressure washer, I realized what the odor really was. Considering the age of my venerable electric power washer, I concluded that discretion being the better part of safety and how water and electricity don’t play well, I trashed my old power washer. After much research, I found the Troy-Bilt 20414 was the best bang for the buck I could find. Keep in mind I am a consumer, not some testing house, so I make my purchases based on research and price point. I wanted electric but my boys who participated in the purchase, ...

3D Printing—Way, Way Cool

You may not be familiar with the term 3D printing but I bet you remember the replicator from Star Trek. Well kiddies, it is no longer just science fiction. Replication exists! Analog Science Fiction and Fact had a great article in the November 2008 edition called: “The 3D Train Wreck”. Thomas A. Easton, the author gave a great overview of the future of 3D printing. Simplistically, take your 3 dimensional CAD drawing and print it out on a laser printer that will print layers with some type of raw material. Each layer is adhered to the previous layer until you have a full three dimensional finished product. There are a variety of existing technologies that are doing this right now. Rapid-prototyping in industry is the biggest market right at the moment. Consider how incredibly convenient it would be to fabricate or replicate things right at home. My Polaris pool sweep needed a part yesterday. The part is unavailable, without the part the sweep doesn’t work. The alternative was to buy a...