Now that the price of a gallon of gas in the US is creeping nearer and nearer to the price of gas in the rest of the world, people are paying more attention to what they spend and how much they drive. I live in New Jersey and work in Manhattan, so I cross two types of driving cultures in my day. In Manhattan, there’s about fourteen bazillion different types of mass transportation I could choose, from subways to trains to cabs to pedi-cab bikes to buses—to helicopters if I’m feeling really frisky. Most people don’t own cars, because it costs as much as the car itself is worth to park that car for a day. Or an hour.
In New Jersey, it’s the land of the big box store and the land of driving pretty much everywhere. I once received some mass email that told me, and no word as to whether this is true or not, at any given moment, no matter where you are in New Jersey, you are never more than 15 miles from a mall. That’s a lot of malls. And a lot of mall hair.
But I have a feeling that the time of shopping as entertainment and driving to a mall to do so is rapidly coming to an end – not that I spend much time shopping as a form of joyful enterprise. There are some things, however, which I will always shop for, and which are not entertainment purchases or miscellaneous items in my budget. Up there with items like “mortgage,” “health care,” “food,” and “more food, oh my God with the EATING,” is an immovable entry: books.
No matter how high the price of gas, by hook or by crook, I will buy me some books. Maybe they will be digital Kindle books, or maybe they will be paper books, but there will be books. It’s not optional.
So what do folks like us do when the price of a gallon of gas is nearly the price of a paperback? Good question. Here are some options:
1. Obvious: the library. If you have a local library, the books are free, cheezy bread, free. Head on over, get yourself a library card, and gorge on the awesomeness.
My local library participates in a rather kickin’ program called ListenNJ, in which patrons can download and check out audio books for free, with a limit of five titles for a 10 day loan period. That’s kick ASS right there.
But what if library wonderment isn’t an option? Coupons and cheaper options ahoy!
2. Obvious, Part Deux: Used Bookstores Every now and again there’s a minor kerfuffle over used bookstores, with some authors loathing them and the lost profit, and some readers who can’t reach for the $9 paperback pricepoint loving every moment of their local used store’s hours of business. I’m personally a big fan of the local used store in my area, because it’s a treasure trove of cover snark, it’s bloody huge, it’s up the road from my favorite pet supply store, and it smells like Used Books, which is about as good as New Car and New Baby smells. So if you like to own, abuse, and drop your books in the bathtub without worrying over lost dollars, used stores rock. And seriously, the cover snark potential is just awesome.
And if you don’t like #1 and #2? Damn you’re picky.
#3: Start haunting your local bookstore’s rewards program. I work near a Borders, so I’ve got a Borders Rewards account, and every now and again I get a coupon for 20% off a purchase, or an opportunity to buy three books from a selected list, and get the fourth free. For my birthday, I received a 25%-off-one-item coupon, and I’d say I get at least a coupon a month, though I don’t necessarily use them all. Borders’ program is free to join.
Barnes and Noble also has a membership club, which offers bigger discounts on every purchase, but costs $25 to join. With their membership you get 40% hardcover bestsellers, 20% adult hardcovers (rwor!), and 10% off almost everything else. There are also member email newsletters with additional discounts. Personally, I don’t buy enough hardcover books that this is worth it for me, but I did learn something clever. A book club I know of signed up for a membership by pooling $5 a person. All you need to access the membership discount is the phone number of the member who joined. So if you round up a posse and join together, you can all access the membership benefits via one phone number.
Rounding out the big box book survey, Books a Million also has a discount club, which, for $15.00 a year, offers an additional 10% off every purchase.
If big box stores are not to your liking, and you prefer your local independent, try talking to the owner or manager about your book habit and see if there’s a discount they would be willing to offer you in exchange for goods or services you might provide. That might be a longshot since everyone is tightening the fiscal belt these days, but you never know if they might need some graphic design work, a newsletter template, some help at busy times, or what.
And what about publishers? Do they feel your pain? Oh, yes. Your inability to buy as much as you like is their pain, too. So keep your eye out for #4: Publisher Specials From package deals like Harlequin’s current buy three get the fourth free deal, to the one that caught my eye at my last trip to the store: Kensington’s Zebra Debut program.
You might have noticed the books on the shelf – they retail for $3.99 or $4.99, and are marketed as “tomorrow’s bestsellers at yesterday’s prices.” Yeah, if my local gas station had a sign like that, the line would stretch into Pennsylvania.
I asked Kate Duffy all kinds of nosy questions, and she said that the program “was the brainchild of the publisher, Laurie Parkin. It was her idea of a possible way to build a bigger audience for a brand new author.It has been very successful. Very. Sally MacKenzie was our first debut author to hit the USA Today list with her subsequent “Naked” titles. But for every debut author, initial print orders were increased beyond what we used to experience.”
Historicals, Duffy says, in particular are doing well in that program, and the line is exclusively for authors who have never before been published. Their first book is priced at $3.99, and the second novel is priced at $4.99.
And what’s the very, very best kind of book? See #1 – the free book. Duffy has offered up the six June, July and August releases for the Zebra Debut program, including Dark and Dangerous by Jeanne Adams, Lord Scandal by Kalen Hughes (which I reviewed and gave away copies of in May), Her One Desire by Kimberly Killion, To Wed a Highlander by Michele Sinclair, Lost in You by Alix Rickloff, and A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure by Victoria Dahl.
I’ll do a random comment drawing here to select six lucky folks who will each receive a free book – woo! So drop a comment, and if you’re so inclined, share your secret for feeding your need to read when you’re short on green (or red or blue or whatever color your currency is). Comments are open for 24 hours starting now.
Books are not a luxury in this house but a necessity.
When we were too poor to buy books I would haunt the UBS, yard sales and church sales for books. Occasionally I would splurge and buy a new paperback at Target, Wal-Mart or the grocery store.
Mostly though I checked them out from the library cause the Tucson Public Library rocked! Now I live in a podunk town in Oklahoma that has one itty bitty library that has nothing unless your taste runs towards inpirational reading (and not even inspy romance but straight mainstream-blecch!). Now I do buy new books and generally order them from the Waldenbooks in the mall. I have them shipped to my house cause the shipping is free. It works because I don’t have as much free time to read thanks to my pursual of a higher education so I don’t buy as many books anyway.
I lurve the thrift store for used books. They tend to be cheaper than the UBS (another serious addiction), and the books are often much more obscure. And, oh yes, the snarktastic covers!
But the best place for me is our local nature center. They sell donated paperbacks for a quarter, and hardcovers for 50 cents. The sign says, “the ultimate in recycling,” and the hubby and I come out with bags every time. It’s hard for a book to not be worth 25 cents.
love love love BookMooch.com and PaperBackSwap.com … they are a “lifesaver” for someone on a limited budget!
I’m a library whore, but then I am a librarian by day 😉 My problem is I don’t have time to read everything I get through interlibrary loan.
Okay, minor soapbox moment. If you like your local public library, and if they provide interlibrary loan with other libraries, find out that service is funded. The delivery costs associated with interlibrary loan are also going up due to gas costs, and I know of a few libraries who are cutting back on this service because they can no longer afford it. If your library’s feeling the pinch, advocate with whoever the main funding body is, local, maybe state legislators, and encourage them to continue, if not increase, library funding.
When I see one of my high school students with interesting books on their desks, I’ll often lend them an old favorite for a chance to read theirs. Not only do I get a chance to read a new and potentially interesting book, but I also get to “enlighten” that student with some seriously excellent books. Recently, I turned two of my romance-reading seniors into fans of PC Cast and Lynn Kurland.
I haven’t read all of the comments yet and I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned them yet, but I love me some library book sales. I used to live in Peoria, and the library there would have a book sale at least once a year, plus book sale rooms/racks in the various branches. Also, Bradley University’s library would have a book sale once a year, and a local museum had a book court…glee. Generally the prices were really cheap.
When I was first reading fantasy and sci-fi, I borrowed a lot of books from a friend who had a *huge* library.
baen free books… and bookmooch.com.
I’m afraid the rising prices of gas and everything else has not made a dent in how much I spend on books. I’ll just eat one less meal a day or something before I cut back! It’s not like I made a ton of money as a library tech, but it makes a difference that I have nobody else to worry about except an old grumpy cat. I have been making less trips to the big bookstores since they are an hour out of town for me, but then I just buy more books when I am at one of them thinking “Better stock up! I can’t get over here as much now.” I have been buying more of my paperbacks at Walmart lately despite the fact that I hate going in there-it’s the only thing my town has so of course when you go everyone and their brother is there. I wish there was a used bookstore somewhere around here, but there isn’t.
I second you on that, Kelly (fellow librarian here). Also, here’s an insider tip: libraries frequently get boxes of romance novels from patrons cleaning out their attics/basements/whatever. If your library’s small and your librarians know your reading habits well enough, you may just be able to get first crack at them before they go in the sale. I’ve sold hundreds of romances for the library this way.
I forgot to mention two good ways of getting cheap/free books. Library sales are excellent (and cheap!). I went to one once on the last day of the sale, and got three flats of romance novels for a dollar each. I didn’t have time to pick through for good ones, and got sick of reading them eventually, but they provided my roomate and me with six weeks of reading fun.
And, if you are not weirded out by this method, try dumpster diving. I once went with some cousins to the Half Price Books dumpster, and came out with a couple gems. I haven’t tried it since, but if they’re just going to throw books away, you might as well “rescue” them.
Aside from the books that I win online, I buy my books. I live in a rural area. The local library has really limited hours. The fantastic Jackson Hole library will lend books to residents of the adjoining county in a different state. I live 20 minutes away in Idaho. How great is that? But I don’t utilize it enough. I spend a lot of money on books. I try to buy the most of my books at the local bookstore so I don’t get much in discounts. But a local bookstore is such a community asset. I also love amazon. When I get to Idaho Falls which is 90 miles away, I cannot resist Barnes and Noble.
I love used bookstores, but there aren’t any great used bookstores locally.
Yeah, I need to rein in my book spending. Last month, I bought two copies of three different novels. Got a little too eager and forgot that I preorder from Amazon.
You want random? I got so ticked off (mild word) a couple of weeks ago when I filled up my small SUV at $75, I said screw (mild word) them. So I’m trading in my BMW for a Toyota Prius that’s a hybrid and gets 45-50 miles mpg. My SUV gets 15 miles to the gallon. I’m not even driving anywhere extra anymore because I don’t want to fill someone else’s pockets. I used to write in bookstore cafes and coffee shops. I’m waiting ‘til I get the Prius though, which is backordered for 3 months…
It’s going to be hard to get used to because I hate feeling like my butt’s dragging on the ground driving a car. I’m used to being up high, first in the minivans with the kids when they were little, and then small SUVs. But it’ll be worth it and is my way of saying a very loud (insert definitely not mild curse word) you to those who are jacking up those prices.
$75 to fill a tank. BS.
As far as buying books (back on topic), I’ll still buy new to support my fellow authors. But I used to buy used books and checked out books from the library when I couldn’t afford new, so I believe in used bookstores and libraries.
BTW—I give away—wow, really?—10 new books a month between my newsletter and chat loop and WS. And 2 a month are from a featured writer for my readers to check out.
Wow, really, 10? I just added that up. Am I insane? 😉
Just an aside—I’m sitting her with incredibly painful pageproofs (long story), drinking wine with no food in my stomach, and doing everything possible to avoid reading the the pageproofs. Okay. Bye-bye for now.
I think I’m going to get some cheese for my wine and my whine.
I buy books at the grocery store of all places. They actually have a lot of the new releases mentioned here. I will usually hit the book section last (it’s by the checkout), and if it looks like I’m going to go over budget, I’ll put back a box of cookies or something, then call the book “groceries.” Good for my waistline, too!
I have a free NetLibrary account through the university where I am a student. I can check out and download up to 10 books at a time for 21 days. There is not as much variety as I would like but still…free audiobooks is a hell of a lot better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! AND they are all unabridged! Abridgement is the tool of the devil.
During the summer I consume more than 10 books every three weeks. The way it is set up at my school all you really have to do is register at one of the kiosks in the library. That means anyone in the community (even non-students) can do it and anyone can have more than one acount. I have two.
I used to go to the library all the time, especially when my ex and I were stationed overseas because the book selection at the BX was limited and expensive. I find I don’t go nearly as often now, even with higher prices for everything because 1) I’m not quite as broke as I was then; and 2) I want the option of keeping them.
I often go to Half-Price Books and I spend way more than I’d admit to on Amazon. I also buy at the local grocery store (Kroger’s—all books are 20-25% off) and at Walmart.
Now if I could just add “I win them” to my list of dollar-saving ways…
I use paperbackswap.com and I have also been trading books through the mail with many of my fellow romance blogging buddies. It’s like round robin. One person will ship a series (say the Kresley Cole books) to another and when she finishes them, she passes them along to yet another. yay for books and virtual friends!
spam foiler: longer58. No I’m afraid books are not getting any longer, just more expensive.
I have the discount cards with both Borders and Barnes & Noble. I buy more than enough books to make the $25 worthwhile. Plus, when I get the 15% coupons, in addition to my (at least) 10% discount, SCORE! I was able to get the most recent Anita Blake hardcover for around $11, I think.
I can’t tell you how much I miss Half Price Books. They’re on my must-visit list everytime I go home to Texas.
As a graduate student who won’t get another stipend check until September and who is trying to pay her rent with a cobbled-together series of odd-jobs and internships, buying books is pretty low on my priority list until the fall. I do have a Barnes and Noble card—between books that I might need for class, things I read for fun, and presents for family and friends I feel like I get my money’s worth. I’d get a Border’s card too, but there isn’t one that’s convenient to visit at the moment.
Since I can’t buy any books until the fall, my salvation right now is my University’s library. They don’t have much in the way of current romance (or current popular fiction at all), so I’m working my way through classic English murder mysteries instead and am loving every minute of it.
Teachers: Borders and Barnes and Noble and MOST book sellers will give you a 20% discount. And they will look away if you happen to slide the latest Loretta Chase in your pile.
Libraries: If yours SUCKS, like mine who refuses to ever buy a book I want, try another count over. I know many a library is willing to mail you your books. Granted to get your card you have to be living in the area but that can easily be taken care of with one quick bill sent to a friend in another county.
Used Book Stores: GODSEND. My local took about 200 books off my hands (yes… I had too many… what’s your point??!?????!?!?!?!?!) and gave me credit. I can now walk in and check how much I have left, snag what I want and walk out again, if I return the book they just re-credit me.
Books for Troops: I know we were talking buying but I like touting this like crazy. Used books, GOOD BOOKS (they get so tired of bodice rippers), fantasy/sci-fi/historical fiction anything to get their minds out of where they are for a moment and on some good escapism. You can even get a tax write off! How can you go wrong with that?!?! You can’t!
I also make a list of the ones I TOTALLY want and wait wait wait for the coupons to come out.
If by the ‘rest of the world,’ you mean Europe, I guess so. But now their gas is even higher!
In some countries it is still cheaper than in the U.S. Mexico, for example, has cheaper gas. Quite a bit cheaper. China is subsidizing the price of gas, so it is super-duper cheapo there.
I never think it is fair to compare apples to oranges. England, France, Italy, etc. are so much smaller in comparison to the U.S. We have HUGE amounts of open space. Building public transportation in most of the U.S. makes no sense, as the number of people wouldn’t justify the expense.
However, in urban areas there is no excuse for not building more public transportation…better bus systems, light rail, subway, what have you. But for about 80% of the United States, this won’t help matters.
Sorry this wasn’t on topic…but I’m tired of the U.S. being portrayed as the bad guys when it comes to oil or gas. We aren’t to blame for what is going on right now. EVERY country relies on oil and gas to run its infrastructure, deliver products, make products.
I have the B&N;member card plus the credit card and the $25 does pay itself off with savings. The credit card racks up points when you use it with purchases outside b&n;and I just received a $25 gift card from my collected points. Even with just the membership, I save more than $25 a year. I also believe B&N;may have a special member deal for teachers. Maybe free membership or a more than the standard 10% off- I’m not exactly sure about that as I am not a teacher, but my sister mentioned it 2 me.
I listen to a lot of audiobooks, most of which I get from the library. I also have an Audible membership.
I check the libraries, used bookstores, and half.com.
When those fail, I hie myself to my local independent bookstore, though I can be lured by the Borders/B & N email coupons like the book slut I am!
Our goodwill carries a LOT of books. The first Saturday of the month is half price day, I’m the first one in the door on that day LOL. Paperbacks are regularly .69 cents, hardbacks 2.99 .. half off that is a bargain!
My local used bookstore is McKays. They take books in trade for store credit. I use that a lot.
I rarely buy new books anymore because as you said in your post, gas prices are sucking up every extra dime we have. Don’t get me started on food prices!! OMG!
I don’t go to the library anymore because everything new is always on a waiting list and takes forever to get to me so I quit going.
The only time I buy online is EBAY when I discover a new author I like I’ll find someone that is selling all that authors books in one lot.
I’m dropping 2 ton hints on everyone I know that I want a kindle. Someone eventually will buy me one just to shut me up LOL.
I have a great local new/used bookstore in my neighborhood. I sell books back and get store credit for both new and used books.
Big fan of paperbackswap.com and bookmooch.com.
Anything I can’t sell at the bookstore or online I donate to the library and/or the local women’s shelter.
Chey: Smart Bitch Hubby drives a Prius. In the summer it gets marvelous mileage, between 49 and 52 mpg. Winter is harder because the heat runs off the gas engine (I think) and the mpg goes down a bit, but it’s still an awesome car.
ooh! Free books…I’m in!
My local used book store is so awesome about giving credit for books you turn in towards your next purchase that, if I’m not buying amazon.com, I’m buying there, just to give them business. (It doesn’t help that they offered to carry my books and are damned awesome about it. Anyone who gives the self-published what little dignity they can salvage is all right in my book! Really—you never know when they show up as a secondary character—I’m all about the props!)
And I’m finally learning about smaller publishers and e-books. Not always practical in my household but definitely cheaper!
(Uhm, my password? directly69. All right. Absolutely. Anything you say Mr. Computer, sir!)
My local public library is pretty disappointing, and for some reason my university got rid of their entire leisure reading section last semester. 🙁 But because I am poor I do the used book store thang. The local Half-Price Books has an extra 20% off everything sale every couple months, and they send out some pretty good coupons sometimes. They also have bundles where they wrap up about 8-10 romances, especially category ones, and slap on some delightfully low price on there. I, of course, saw one of all LaVyrle Spencer shortly after buying like my 12th book of hers.
I work at Borders one night a week to support my book habit. I get 33% off books, and Borders has a book loan program for their employees- we can check out two books at a time for two weeks as long as we don’t wreck them.
It’s AWESOME. I’ve read books I never would have spent money on.
You could try deepdiscount.com. They offer a discount on the cover price of new books, plus free shipping. When used in conjunction with other deals, it can feed your voracious habit quite well.
The problem is, you have to be willing to give/sell some of the books back to used bookstores, ebay, the library, or whatever, or you’ll lose all your profit to the cost of more bookshelves. That’s the silent culprit, cost-wise. (At my house, we’re almost ready to add on a room , just to accommodate the I-can’t-bear-to-part-with-it books (which, sadly, = all but the duplicates).
p.s. Off topic, but deepdiscount is offering 20% off their already-discounted dvds right now. This happens twice a year, and it’s addictive. (I just ordered the first seaon of Psych. What can I say? Those guys are funny.)
In order I:
– attend a Book Swap Meetup periodically & get capsule reviews, great coffee, gossip & free books.
– Find authors that post their stories online. You’d be surprised at the number of really good novella length works you can find for free online. Especially from new authors, but even from established ones.
– find books at our local coffee shops with bookshelves. Also where I drop off my extras.
Yeah, I’m all about the free books.
My secret habit is to buy books at garage sales for a quarter and then sell them to my used bookstore for 25% of the list price—it’s a good way to buy books 🙂 And hooray for contests!
i live in quebec, where the libraries are largely french and i’ve raced through their english romances in a matter of weeks. so my local libraries are not so handy for me.
but there’s a pawn shop near my apartment building that sells ancient harlequins and regencies for $0.25 each. it’s fabulous. (though my boyfriend doesn’t think so, as they’re generally once-reads and they lay around for awhile before i get around to donating them to Value Village).
Library! Also good if you’re the kind of person who can part with books (I’m usually not) are used book stores with exchange programs. When I was growing up I lived near a shop that would trade you one of theirs for two of yours—and if you also go with the yard sale (and library selloff sale!) route, you can end up with plenty of books to trade in, too.
Thanks for the heads up on the Kensington thing – I thought it was actually a old book being re-released or something like that.
For books, I tend to go on e-harlequin because I can get them a month a head of time and if I spend $25 shipping is free, since I am 1/2 hour from the nearest town I figure I am saving some money. Otherwise I get from a UBS or BN.
Free books definitely rock! Other than that I do almost everything that’s been mentioned in the previous comments as books are my addiction as well. My sources: B&N;membership (and only one credit card so after a gazillion points receive a reward of B&N;25.00 gift card) plus the store is three minutes away; Walmart; Amazon (particularly the 4/3 sale; USB w/trade-in credit; Salvation Army; Good Will. It thrills me when I can find any book on my 20+page shopping list for a fraction of new price paperback (sorry lovely authors but I do support you buying full price as well):) I also exchange books with a good friend. Books are my passion so if any friend or family member wanst to gift me for birthday or Christmas I make it sooooooo easy for them—gift card at Amazon or B&N;…it’s all I want. Even though books are really my only indulgence I’ve had to cut back and prioritize new purchases. But…it’s not all bad…I have comfort in my mountain of TBR’s.
Library! My library can get just about anything through interlibrary loan for $1.50 per book (that covers postage). They’ll also often purchase a book for the library if you ask them to, and they’ll even call you and let you know when it’s available for checkout.
I’m sure many of the existing authors won’t be thrilled to read this, but I get most of my books used – Half Priced Books has been mentioned, then there’s the used books selling on Amazon.com (I still don’t know how someone can sell their books for .01…even sending it media mail, you are not recouping costs or mailing and wrapping it up.), and my most recent favorite: Paperback Swap (online). I also get books at Goodwill (where I found my first Nora Roberts), booksales/garagesales, and sometimes out of free boxes on the street.
I do patronize my local library, but not frequently enough…then I have to pay fines.
Well, darn. I was hoping to be the first to mention Audible, but someone beat me to it. Obviously, Audible is great for the audio-books (yes, I know libraries carry them, but I’ve had way too many scratched cds to trust those).
I’ll also add my name to the scores of others singing the praises of UBS’s, thrift stores and yard sales. Ditto for Ebay, half.com and Amazon (used or new) when looking for a specific title.
I got through my first pregnancy (bed rest – ugh) with Baen’s free online library and Project Gutenburg. I doubt my husband would have survived if I hadn’t had ready and easy access to hundreds of books at the tip of my fingers.
And a second mention of the thrift store vote: children’s books – I’ve gotten some absolutely fantastic buys on books for my kids (board books, early readers, coloring books, etc.) at our local thrift store.
For new hardback releases – public library. Because of SBTB I learned about paperbackswap.com – thanks for HaBO! I also use half.com; ebay and UBS. If it is a Must Have Author (LaNora, Julia Quinn, Jayne Ann Krentz) then it’s a discount store like Kmart or Target. I try never, ever to pay the full cover price.