Today we were going to talk about how to get back into writing but NOOooo, something popped up and I changed my mind because the inspiration just hit like asdfghjkl. I've had this post sitting in my draft box for more than six months and I finally know what to do with it. YAY! Now I can tell you what the post is about.

I'm going to guide you through the hopeless confusing world of how to build a book horde on a budget. This is exciting because (take a guess)

a) I adore books
b) I adore money
c) I adore cheap prices
d) I'm a book blogger, what are u talking about? All of the above!

If you picked (d) then 200 points to your Hogwarts house. You're a clever smol reader.

I love cheaply-priced anything, but most of all, cheaply-priced books. Before yesterday, (stay tuned), the last book I bought was during the summer. That's slightly painful to say because it makes me realize how ridiculously poor I am. And then all these new books are coming out and I look at the price tags and cry because they say freaking eighteen dollars!! I mean, seriously, why is it that hardcovers are that expensive and paperbacks are like nine bucks? There's no way that the cost of sticking an extra-thick piece of cardboard around the paper is that much more expensive. Even if I was rich I would probably still wait a year for the paperback to come out. Long rant over. If you've been shopping for a while, then you get pretty familiar with the rules of spending as little money as possible. If you don't know these then congratulations, here's a crash course.


Be patient. I must admit that I am a totally impatient soul except when it comes to spending money. I will wait for a millennium if I think I'll get a better deal. That's not what you should do, but if you see an eighteen-dollar book that's priced 20% off, chances are that a better sale will come around eventually. As long as your survival doesn't literally depend on your getting that book immediately, you can wait.


When you find a delicious deal, go wild. Most people say that you should look at something, ask yourself if you really want it, and then wait a few days before purchasing it. Many book sales don't allow enough time to do that, especially with the once-in-a-lifetime ones. When you get the chance and your conscience starts screaming at you that you're going to regret waiting, then go for it!


ALWAYS take advantage of recurring sales and once-in-a-lifetime deals. They will extend the life expectancy of your cash jar by a few months. My mother gets deals from BookBub every day advertising ebooks for under five dollars! Some of them are by famous authors, and some are indie published, but if you love ebooks, then that would probably be a great opportunity for you to build a digital collection.


Don't buy something just because it's cheap. If you buy every single three-dollar book you won't read, eventually your spendings are going to pile up and amount to more than the eighteen-dollar book you really want to read. You would have been better off buying the expensive book. So don't buys something you won't use. Going with the BookBub deal, I don't ever buy from them because I don't like reading ebooks. However, if I were to come across a book I desperately love, then I would probably buy it.

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Should you buy books you haven't read before? I almost never do, partly because I don't know the moral content in the book and partly because I don't want to purchase something I hate. But if I come across a good deal, then I'll make that risky purchase. When evaluating whether or not to take the risk, I can do several things to ease my nerves.

1. Read reviews—if I see good reviews and positive comparisons to books I enjoy, then it's probably a worthy purchase.

2. Judge the cover—not to seem shallow or anything, but the cover tells a lot about the content of the book. If it's got a picture of a shirtless guy and some pretentious-looking damsel on the front, I won't want to read that. The cover can also hint at the genre, the vibe, and the message.

3. Aesthetic—and now we can be shallow. Even if I hate it, it looks pretty, okay??? Most of the time that makes up for the stupid story inside. Bless those cover designers.

4. Skim it—flip through really quickly to see if anything catches your interest. Interesting enough? Probably okay.

In the end, if you buy a book you end up hating and you just want to burn it, STOP THERE! Sell it, padawan! List that thing onto EBay or Amazon at a decent price so you get at least some value back. Or if you're nice, donate it to your local library. It'll probably still end up on their book sale shelf anyway, but hey, good vibes!! Community service!!


Now that you know how to make a clever purchase, it's time for you to learn the best-kept secret of cheapskates bookworms: where to purchase.


Most of the time, public libraries will have books they're trying to sell for various reasons. But who cares about the reasons. The nice thing is that most of the time those books are garage sale prices. My library sells hardcovers for a dollar and paperbacks for fifty cents, and so I take advantage of that whenever I can, (following the rules of spending as little money as possible, of course). At my old library, the librarians marked books as discarded and gave them away for free. Sometimes I find nearly perfect copies of books I love, and that feeds my bookshelf very nicely.

When you shop at discount stores, you can usually find copies of newer books for much cheaper than you normally could. I have gotten hardcovers from discount stores for five dollars or less. However, do be aware that they are not going to get new books until much later than book release dates, sometimes up to six months depending on your store.


Used bookstores are kind of fun because you can get really lucky. Normal prices range similar to that of discount stores, but if you get the timing just right and keep your eyes peeled, you can get much, much better deals. Just yesterday I went to a bookstore that's closing in a month and they sold me as many books as I could fit inside a bag for five dollars! I ended up getting the entire Chronicles of Narnia series for my brother, The Tale of Desperaux and The Thief Lord for my sister, some Ally Carter books, Brontë sister classics, and many others. My siblings and I walked out with a total of twenty-seven books. For five dollars. I'm too proud of myself for making such a great purchase.

A NOTE: Keep in mind that a lot of the books you'll find at used bookstores are older editions, which means that they won't be particularly aesthetically pleasing. So don't expect to find many books that will make your bookshelf pretty unless your store has a massive selection.


I love The Book Depository and Amazon for this, but you can also get some decent deals from notable bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million. Amazon has a feature where you can purchase used books in good condition for very little money, and BAM is now purchasing and reselling used books. I haven't had a chance to scour their selections yet, but I think it would be easier to find newer releases there than anywhere else.


Just borrow their books and never give them back. It works. They forget about them most of the time. But of you insist on being honest, offer them a minimal sum and they'll probably take it because if they're as poor as you then it'll look like a lot for something that should cost more.

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If given the opportunity to get a book for free, then take it. You're not loosing anything, so it's worth a shot.

- Enter drawings at bookstores
- Participate in your library's reading programs
- Take advantage of giveaways online
- Gamble with your fellow book dragons using books (poker is exciting)
- Get a job at a bookstore (not a library; you only get first dibs on new titles there)

Just because you can't afford something doesn't mean that you're a lower class book dragon. Poor people become rich by saving their money and spending as little as they can. In the end, you'll be rewarded. ;)


Well, this post got ridiculously long. But tell me if any of this helped you! I don't usually see a lot on the Internet about how to make clever purchases, so I thought I'd toss my brain in the fray and see what happens. Also, just a quick reminder that I'll see you all again in November, and hopefully with a special surprise that may or may not concern my one-year blogiversary. (Btw, that was yesterday! I'm saving the celebrations for my next post.) ;)