Most people assume that my beautiful book collection is expensive. And considering the way that I buy books, it sometimes tends to look like I spend too much money on books. Firstly that’s not a thing. Secondly, I hardly ever buy books at full price. I might pay full price for Sarah J Maas or a signed book but that is it. Here are my seven sources for discounted books.
Print Books:
If you’re a print reader, these stores below are going to become your best friend. I know this because I am already obsessed with them and spend most of my time on their sites.
1) Reader’s Warehouse: My personal equivalent of Bookstore Heaven. Reader’s Warehouse has tons of discounted reads and I love them for it. Their stores are only in Cape Town and Johannesburg but they deliver all over South Africa. Deliveries over R250 are free and that is usually how I shop from them. If you’re ever near a physical store though, I definitely suggest you check them out.
2) Raru: Raru is an online site selling items from video games and toys to books and movies. They are also the cheapest 99% of the time. If I need a new book and I am willing to pay full price, I usually compare between Raru and Reader’s Warehouse before making a decision.
3) Bargain Books: My Durban version of Bookstore Heaven. Personally I am not a fan of all their stores but their Galleria and Umhlanga stores have great deals ALL THE TIME. Some of my greatest finds were Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas for R89, Scarlet by Marissa Meyer for R70 and their wonderful 3 YA novels for R150 deals. I get butterflies just thinking about it. They also have a factory store in Cape Town (why is all the great bookish things in Cape Town though?).
4) Secondhand stalls: Secondhand stalls are the reason I don’t order books online as much as I used to. I am close to having a pile of books fall on me. Two of my favourite secondhand stalls are the SPCA booksale and the Last Chance books stall at the Stables market. The quality of the books range from excellent to shabby but I have found some great reads so I am definitely not giving this habit up anytime soon.
eBooks:
5) BookBub: I don’t use BookBub that much (although now that I’ve seen their website on my PC, I really should) but they have been great for finding new and cheap reads. I signed up with them and every day I get an email with a list of discounted titles. It’s great because all you have to do is see if you’re interested in the book and then just click on wherever you wish to purchase it from.
6) Amazon Kindle: My absolute favourite for all of my eBooks. I think this stemmed from my time on Netgalley but I am in love with my Kindle app and sometimes just browse the Kindle store for fun. If you haven’t joined yet, DO IT!
7) Author newsletters: Subscribe to your favourite author’s newsletters so you know when they have a book going on sale. This is my favourite way to catch up on previous books in a series that I might have missed.
What are your tips on saving money when it comes to books? Did you try any of the tips I mentioned? Have you visited any of those stores? I’d love to know below.