As I’m sure you are all well aware of, books are expensive.  Even when they’re on sale, the bill can still add up really quick.  I’ve compiled a list of some ways and places you can go to in order to get books for cheaper than the normal list price.

1. Books for Trade

By searching under the hashtags #booksfortrade and #arcsfortrade, you can find other book lovers who are willing to trade books with you or to let you have a book for the cost of shipping.  By mailing out a book or paying for shipping, you can get a new book for under $5 in most cases.  I’ve used this before, and have gotten a ton of great reads!

2. Library

Obviously, libraries are great places to go to check out books for free.  However, a lot of libraries have little book store sections where you can buy some books for a reduced price, so I would totally recommend checking that out.

3. Giveaways

This is up to chance, but Good Reads has a ton of great giveaways that users can enter, and many people do giveaways on Twitter and Instagram all the time.  I’ve won some great books through various giveaways, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

4. Swoon Reads Read Month

Swoon Reads, which is an imprint of the publishing company Macmillan, has a bunch of ‘read months’ a year, where they need users to read submitted books in order to help them choose which books should be published.  It’s a great way to read awesome stories that may or may not end up being published.  While the editing and plot (etc.) might not be the most flushed out, it’s still a great place to read up and coming books.

5. Wattpad

This is sort of similar to Swoon Reads, although a lot of the books might not be as developed as the Swoon Reads titles.  A lot of books that get submitted to Swoon Reads actually originated on Wattpad, and I’ve read a bunch of amazing books on there that are either now being published or have gotten crazy popular on the app.

6. Amazon and Barnes & Noble Online

Amazon has books that are usually a few dollars cheaper than the list price, and they also have preorder price guarantees that can be very helpful.  Barnes & Noble online usually has their prices similar to Amazon’s, but they are cheaper online than they are in store.

7. Books-A-Million Bargain Books

Books-A-Million has some great paperbacks and hardcovers for crazy discounted prices under their ‘Bargain Books’ section.  Some of their teen books are on sale for less than $4 to about $7.  I haven’t ordered any books from here, and I’m not sure how much shipping costs, but the books themselves are popular and are greatly discounted.

8. Book Outlet

I haven’t used this site before, but they have a lot of discounts available on decently newly released titles.  If you spend $35, you get free shipping.

9. Half Price Books

They have brand new books that are 20% off of the list price, and all of their other titles are half of the list price of the book.  They also have a clearance section where you can buy books for $2, and a lot of them are either slightly used or brand new.

10. Goodwill and other Resale Shops

These are great places to get used books at cheap prices.  I’ve found ARCs and finished copies at Goodwill and at various resale shops in my area.

11. Thrift Books

I haven’t used this site before, but they sell used books at discounted prices.

12. 2nd and Charles

I’m not sure how many of these locations there are scattered around the country, but they are similar to Half Price Books.  The books aren’t as cheap as they are at HPB, but I’ve found discounted books there before.

What are your tips and hacks to finding books for cheap?  Let me know in the comments so I can add them to this post!