If I were to develop a designer fashion habit, there are no shortage of email-based and app-based shopping opportunities for me. A whole mess of designer deals are rounded up daily, sometimes twice-daily, by sites like Ideeli, Plundr, Daily Deals, and Daily Candy so if you take a look, suddenly, you – ok, I’ll be honest, ME – find yourself really really needing a strapless dress because it’s 60% off (and holy holy of miracles it is in your size and might possibly fit). The opportunity-buy is a terrible temptation.
I’m susceptible to deals in Target and oh Lordy, do I know it. I don’t go NEAR the $1 collection of stuff I don’t really need unless it’s car trip time and I need In-car activities. Hell, I don’t even go into the Dollar Stores near me. And if there was ever a big temptation with a cash register out front, it’s a dollar store. You go in for one thing, like party favors or something, and WHAM. You have spent a lot more than $1. Big Lots is like that too – a big neon orange temptation of evil goodness.
Yet I love me some coupons. I save coupons for grocery shopping like my grandmother did, minus the accordion file, and I feel a really sick sense of kickass when I get more than $10 off my grocery bill with a stack of coupons. I have up to six different grocery stores that I can choose from, and I have coupons for each one, plus the frequent-shopper card. I even think about re-subscribing to the Sunday newspaper ONLY for the coupon sections, which is just ridiculous.
The funny thing is, as much as I buy books, I don’t have a coupon fetish for books, which I buy almost as often as I buy food, nor do I jump on discounts.
I don’t easily fall for deals like that when it comes to books. I was never a Fictionwise Micropay person, where once upon a time, you could buy books for the 100% micro pay rebate and end up with many, many dollars to spend on books. I know folks who had a LOT of micro pay to spend when Fictionwise started to lose all the books worth having in its catalog. When there’s a buy one-get one 50% book deal at Borders, I don’t often use it. Clothing, shoes, and jewelry at 40-60% off, I will take a serious look. Books that are half off? I don’t really jump on that because usually the collection isn’t romance, or doesn’t contain books I want. A coupon for a certain percentage off a book usually starts with “buy one and get…” and I don’t often use them because they don’t feel like a real bargain to me, even though mathematically I am getting half off a book. I’m still paying full price for the other one – and that’s why I wasn’t a big MicroPay fan, either.
I think it’s partially because I seek out specific books to read and take recommendations from people at the moment or soon after the recommendation. But the coupons and the books I seek or am told about don’t often line up in the time-bargain continuum. I don’t always have a coupon when there’s a book I want to buy. I also think it is partially because I buy so many digital books, and there are hardly any coupons that apply to digital book purchases (Hi Agency Publishers. Thanks for that).
What I find utterly baffling about my own buying habits is that I am an impulse buyer – when I have a reason. If someone I trust recommends a book to me, I will download a sample or the whole book in seconds, before I forget what the title was (which I will, because I can’t remember titles to save my petard). I book shop wherever I am, if I have my phone or device with me. But I don’t have coupons for bookstores or retailers that I use and pay attention to regularly like grocery stores, department stores, and household goods stores. If I did have straight up X-Amount-Off coupons for books, they’d live in my wallet and I’d use them incessantly.
I was thinking about this because I do my grocery shopping on the weekend and, for me, books are a necessity. They aren’t a luxury good that I can be tempted to buy with a sizable discount, like expensive bags or shoes or clothing from labels that involve a lot of vowels and maybe an umlaut. But they aren’t a necessity that comes with a variety of coupon or discount options, the way my groceries do, either.
One of my teeth-gritting frustrations with the Agency agreement for ebooks is that it focuses on the people selling the books rather than the customers who are buying them – which is just ridiculously short sighted from my perspective, but then, I’m the person buying the books, after all. The terms of the Agency agreement also limit or eliminate whether any book seller can offer a discount on an ebook, which means no coupons good for any book I wish to grab in the near future.
I think the Amazon Prime program and the Barnes and Noble membership programs work very well – for paper books. (To my knowledge the BN membership discount doesn’t apply to ebooks, but please correct me if I am wrong or if that has changed recently). You subscribe to the program, and you get discounts or free shipping – or both. And I know that the BN members get coupons in the mail every now and again. I wonder if, with the changing methods of selling books, there will be coupons or membership programs for ebooks as well as paper books soon, and what types of programs would work for different readers.
Are you a coupon person? Do you use book coupons for paper or ebooks? What kind of discount or coupon would work really well for you for your book buying? If you could design a book coupon program, what would you want? Coupons that can be used at any bookstore on a specific book, or coupons that are bookstore-specific? What’s your ideal (and yet realistic!) coupon for a book?
I buy mostly ebooks from the U.S. Kindle store and would like a deal such as this one—for $40, you could buy a store credit for $50 worth of ebooks. Discount coupons would be nice as well, or a membership program like BN or Borders have. I don’t think it’s going to happen though because Amazon already has such deep discounts.
Regarding Borders, the two stores that were convenient for me closed a few years ago, so I almost never shop there anymore.
I recently started using coupons for food and other household goods and it gives me such a thrill. I live for double coupon day at my local discount supermarket!
@RKCharron: Perhaps you didn’t read carefully—the Book Depository deal is for 10% off your order, not just one book. I’ve got a $300 wish list that I’m fulfilling this Christmas, so that’s thirty bucks for me. Also, you don’t have to get ten friends—you only have to get one, and for me? I just sent my “invite” to one of my spam addresses. Easy as in peasy.
I’m a paper book reader. Pretty much the only time I buy backlist books for myself is when I get a coupon. B&N periodicaly e-mails coupons to their members, and sometimes it’s a straight-up 15% off one item in store or online. Since I’m close to one I usually take in the store coupon and only use it online if I can’t find anything on my shopping list.
And I love the free shipping on all orders for members. I used to go into the store unless I had the $25 minimum for free shipping or the order included CDs or DVDs (of which my local B&N doesn’t stock many), but now I’ll also order books with a pre-order discount.
I can walk two blocks to a Barnes and Noble from home and there is one two blocks from my office but most of my purchases are on line due the free shipping they have for members. The online prices are discounted from in-in store prices for many items, plus they email coupons every so often for 15% of one item. Since there is always some book on my wish list I take advantage of the coupons. They seem to have suspended them for a while as they were going through a bid to have the management removed, but they are arriving
regularly now.
I try to use coupons at the grocery store but since I live in NYC the brand and size selections don’t always fit the coupons in the papers. I am totally in love with CVS
extra care program where there are many opportunities to get brand name products for free or close to it. Good stuff for dollar store prices.
@Beth – phone coupons – if you get your email on your phone, you can pull up the coupon on your phone and don’t have to print it out.
No coupons for ebooks is a major gripe for me. I like the library. I like getting a deal. I love Harlequin’s sales. In fact, if I remember right, they had a big sale last Nov/Dec and I’m hoping something like that will happen again.
I used to do Fictionwise’s Micropay and was very disappointed when much of their store disappeared due to the Agency nonsense. Now I shop allromanceebooks.com because of occaisional coupons, the 10 book deal, and excellent customer service. I buy online direct from Harlequin for a good sale or coupon.
I’m extremely frustrated with Borders. I loved their regular coupons when I was buying paper. They opened their ebookstore (yay!) and then they make sure that none of their coupons work there. What the heck? Why not???? Why go to the expense of setting up an ebook store if you hate your customers like that?
Another former Fictonwise Buywise club member. I’ve still got a bit over $7 left in micropay there, but with the lack of books available overall, and even fewer of them available for the UK, I’m not sure what I’ll spend it on. Probably something from Harlequin or one of the epublishers. I should probably do it soon, as I’m not sure how much longer Fictionwise will be around, to be honest.
Some folks have been having their remaining micropay disappear so it’d probably be best to use it as soon as possible.
Yeah, I’ve been afraid of that for a while, so I cleared out loads of it a few months back. My problem is that the books I really really wanted at the time (that they have) were all slightly over the amount I have, though I know there are a few Harlequin books I want now that are under it.
I have a feeling that no matter what happens, I will lose a few dollars, but as I never put “real” money into it, I won’t be too upset if it’s only a small amount.
Since I rarely read ebooks, I live for the Borders coupons. Usually, it’s 33% off INCLUDING CLEARANCE!! And every month there’s a 40% off coupon. Also, since I have Borders Plus, this means that I get an additional 10% off whatever it is, including drinks in the cafe. Borders Plus also means that I don’t pay shipping when buying online. Add all that to the Borders rewards, no wonder I spend more than I should there.
(sometimes I offer to let the people at the cafe use my card so that they get the 10% off and I get credit for their purchase – win/win all around)
Book coupons from Borders have been killer on my attempts to budget my money. I don’t bother with coupons for the most part, but when Borders sends me a coupon for 33% off I start thinking “it would be such a shame not to use it.” Never mind the fact that they always send them and I have over a hundred books that have yet to read—wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not (anyone want to start a support group with me?). It was really bad when I lived in Las Vegas a few years ago because I had THREE Borders stores within a 10 radius—so evil.
I also have a BN card, and a Nook, and no, the discount doesn’t apply to ebooks. I’m thinking that all those coupons they offer for the cafe when you’re in the store w/ your Nook are supposed to be a consolation prize. . .
I’ve been an audible.com member for years and love it. I buy packs of 24 credits (1 credit=1 audiobook) for 9.49 each, total about $230. For audiobooks, that’s an incredible deal. Audible is owned by amazon. Imagine if amazon would sell packs of ebook credits, 1 credit=1 ebook. I’d buy a pack of 25 ebook credits at $4 or $4.50 a credit and blow through it in three weeks. It would be SICK.
Or, memo eharlequin, they could sell me packs of credits for $2 or $2.50 apiece, if they’d like a quick cash influx.
@Carin That is fancy.
Up until I got my Kindle, I was a power user of those Borders coupons. In fact, I had almost entirely stopped shopping there (in favor of local independents) until they started sending me the coupon emails. I continued using those coupons pretty heavily until I got an Amazon Prime membership. Because I live in a big city, many of the items I order via Amazon only take one day to get to me—so I end up with free overnight delivery on about half of what I order from them.
I agree that the lack of discount options on ebooks—especially now that publishers are raising the prices to be closer to hard-copy books—is sort of frustrating, especially since free delivery of ebooks means that my Amazon Prime membership doesn’t really count for them anyway. It would be nice if Prime members would get a percentage discount on every ebook or if there was some sort of frequent buyer plan (such as, $10 off after every 10 ebooks downloaded).
I don’t use coupons very often. Whenever I happen on food coupons, they are for stuff I don’t usually buy. But as far as books go, I am a sucker for discount and closeout racks, and I have found great stuff, fiction and nonfiction. I use the Borders rewards thing now and then, but my big savers have been the member discounts at my local Science Fiction Bookstore and my local comics shop.
I use coupons for everythnig but books for the same reasons. I just can’t be bothered. I don’t remember when the last time I walked into a Border’s was.
Big Lots on the other hand is right down the road and a dangerous place for me to go. Best. Christmas. Decorations. Going.
I have been a coupon clipper for years. Bottle returns too. I actually keep track of how much I save from each and deposit that savings into my “fantasy vacation” account. In fact, I am in the process of building it back up since it took me to NZ earlier this year 🙂
Although I used to book and music shop almost exclusively at Amazon, an independent bookstore opened up last year near where I work so I have been giving them most of my business book-wise. And they have deals periodically like 20% off new hardcovers (which they will extend to audios if it is anew book). They also offer $10 off a purchase after you have spent so much with them.
I still use B&N coupons when they come along – especially the extra % off ones. I don’t use the ones for specific titles but the generic ones. And I do check out all the Audible sales but I don’t buy just for the sake of buying – they must have something I really want in order to take advantage of the offer.
On the other hand, the Penguin Warehouse Sale (it is an annual event here) is on all week this week and I bought about $250 worth of hc, pb, and unabridged audio for $52. Whoo-hoo. Going back tomorrow to go through the nonfiction section 🙂
EBATES, baby!
While my bn.com nookbook fixation is not discounted by my dh’s membership card, I still log in to bn.com from ebates and get my 8% back on every purchase. It is a little bit but it adds up. Like a coupon only they send ya a check!
All recreational reading is now done on my iPad (love the side-by-side in landscape, just like a print book only better), so I’d LOVE store specific coupons for e-books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iBooks (yeah, I won’t be holding my breath on that last one). And I would use them, especially if they were for a limited time, say three days to a week.
I won’t be renewing my membership with Barnes & Noble because it doesn’t help me with e-books and their coupons don’t discount textbooks.
I purchase probably 90% of my new paperback books from Amazon. But many I get from PaperBackSwap, these cost me around $2.40(postage).As I live in a small rural town, we don’t really have much in the way of independent book sellers . I keep a wishlist on the books I need so that I can tell when they go on sale on Amazon. However, as a big percentage of what I read is series books and because I generally won’t start a series until at least 3 or 4 books are out in it, I tend to wait to get them when Amazon has them on sale. You know the buy 3 get 1 free deal and no shipping if it’s over $25(or if you have a kid in college, it’s free as long as you ship under their name). And I never buy the hardback or trade size, I’m just too cheap. These I either get on swap sites or used. The 4- $7.99 books average out at $5.69. A pretty good deal. And I always double check the prices if they are a Harlequin print because they frequently have some very nice deals at eHarlequin.
I’ve never actually seen coupons for paperbacks on Amazon.
I do like Books on Board’s rewards dollars and the eHarlequin site’s regular discounts and I’m just about up to my free book from AllRomanceebooks (although I noticed that their prices are often a bit higher than other places – I tend to buy books from there that I can’t get at BoB or eHarlequin etc).
I used to use Borders coupons all the time but then I got an ereader and also discovered The Book Depository. The problem in Australia is (and this is despite the fact that the $AUD recently achieved parity with the $USD) that a MMP will cost $18-22 at Borders in the first place. If you’re lucky enough to want a book they stock at KMart or Target you might pick it up for $14 because they permanently discount their books (but their range sucks donkey balls). If I can get around geo restrictions, I can buy an ebook (even with agency pricing – which also sucks the aforesaid donkey balls) for way less than I can get it here. Or, I can pick it up from the Book Depository for $6-9AUD delivered for free (if I don’t mind waiting a week or two). Trade paperbacks are even worse – you’ll pay $30-40AUD for a TP here (so of course, I never do) whereas I can get it from TBD or as an ebook for around $13AUD. So, all that for this, Borders rewards don’t mean much to me anymore – even with their discounts I can still get the book I want more cheaply elsewhere.
I buy a lot of books and very rarely use a coupon. I have gotten away from buying new books lately, unless it is a absolute must have and I want it on the day of release. I’ve just recently signed up for paperback swap and I think they may work out well for me. Also, I’ve been reading a lot of ebooks lately instead of paper books. I’ve starting consolidating my paper books only keeping my favorites that I know I will re-read. So to answer you question, I very rarely if ever use coupons.
Oh, I forgot to add that I buy mainly used books, when I don’t buy ebooks.
BTW you don’t have to join Borders Rewards to get the coupons. Just type in “borders coupons” and usually within three links you’ll find a place that hosts a variety of coupons. You might as well join because the Rewards program is free and you’re supposed to get Borders bucks (which I don’t seem to always get), but it’s unnecessary for the coupons, which yes, I do love. (All coupons should just be straight percentages off the top. I wish it could also work for more than one book at a time, but the cashiers are usually nice about doing more than one purchase.)
And yes Sarah, they work online, though unless you’re a Border Plus it costs shipping if your under $25.
All of that said, I have a strange loyalty to Borders. I don’t really care who I buy my print books from (as long as it’s not Amazon, who I don’t support/spend money on for a number of reasons), it just tends to be Borders because they’re the closest brick store to me, and online they are usually cheaper than B&N (who you do need to pay to be a member and get discounts on). So I usually buy from Borders, but I’m willing to buy print books from whoever.
E-books are different. Print books are conscious decisions when I go into a store to buy, so I can print off a coupon before heading out. And if I’m buying them online, they are still conscious, and I can still search out a coupon or wait to buy it. They are conscious in the sense that I am buying a specific book, because the majority of books I read I get from the library and I tend to only buy my favorite authors.
But e-books are more impulse buys, because I only buy a specific sub-genre in e-book form, and I only buy it in e-book because it either a. doesn’t come in paperback or b. paperback is like fifteen dollars instead of the usual seven/eight. Print books I’m usually buying a specific title/author; e-books I’m usually buying the sub-genre because buying is the only way I can get it. So because I’m craving the sub-genre I don’t put as much care into finding and using a coupon that I do for anything else.
To be fair though, my e-book purchases are a very small percentage of my book buying, and my book buying is a small percentage of the books I actually read. (Seriously, I love libraries.)
@MarieC:
You are very welcome and I very much wish we could get proper ebook discounts, too. :/ I already buy tons of them and B&N would get a lot more of my business if I could use my membership on them, too.
Okay, okay! So, I haven’t finished reading through all of the replies yet, but I wanted to butt in about Borders, in case someone hasn’t already mentioned it yet!
Borders has a new rewards program in addition to their normal free one, Borders Rewards PLUS, that gives you free shipping! And also an additional 10% off of all purchases that stacks on top of their regular coupons. AND, right now they’re running a deal—buy the upgrade for $20 and they’ll give you $10 back in Borders Bucks during the last week of December.
So that’s basically $10 for a year’s worth of free shipping and saving an additional 10% off of most everything (magazines, strangely, not included. o.o). The free shipping might be the best part for you though, Sarah, because you don’t live near a store. So if you got into this program, you could routinely get books for >30% off, with free shipping right to your door (they send a new coupon each week, sometimes multiple times a week).
And you mentioned that you don’t bring the coupons with you when you get to a store… do you have an iPhone, or another phone with internet access? If you show them the coupon from your email, they’ll give you the discount anyways! And also: They price match with other stores. So if you bring in Wal-Mart’s ad, then they’ll give you the same price.
Sorry if I sound over-excited, Borders is just my favorite place in the world to shop. I’m a major manga collector, and if I didn’t utilize coupons to the maximum effect then I’d not have nearly as many books as I have now—and I’m talking a difference of probably 500 or so volumes that I wouldn’t have had the money for if I didn’t use coupons. Buying full-price would make me cringe. xD
I bought a Kindle (and while I <3 it) I hate the prices for Kindle books. Usually they’re the same as the paperbacks, and I don’t think that’s fair. Yes, I understand they are “hidden” costs in Kindle books (magical place where copies of books are saved waiting for them to multiply themselves into your kindle) but I think that Kindle books definitely are cheaper than paperbacks.
I would like the Buy 3 get 1 Free Paperback Amazon deal. I think it would be nice for me to be able to purchase 3 ebooks and get a 4th one free. Maybe occasional discounts would be nice as well, like a Holiday 20% off coupon.
If I had space enough, I would get rid of my Kindle and read paperbacks (since they’re cheaper). However, I’m horrible with any type of books. I always rip the pages or bend the spines really badly. A Kindle has been my answer to longer lasting, readable books, lol 😀 (but then, there’s always that doubt. Is the Kindle here to stay?) I also hate that some (even new releases of) ebook versions have typos. God, how I hate that! D: I’m paying the SAME as a paperback only to get a POORLY FORMATTED version?
However, I carefully measure which books I can afford to pay (I refuse to purchase anything above $10 or more expensive than the paperback no matter how much I want it ). I have also been wanting to purchase Kindle versions of the books I already have in my small library, but that’s too expensive, so I hold out on that. Usually, I try to purchase the cheapest books or books on temporary discount (I bought Julie Garwood’s “The Clayborne Brides” for 99 cents).
If there were more discounts, I would totally purchase more books. Instead, I’m stick to free, public domain (even more horribly formatted) books unless there’s a book I really, really want, which trust me, I try to not have it happen often (else I’ll go broke in a month).
As to general discounts, I’m very like you. I’m always on the hunt for discounts, coupons or special offers. I have a special email account set up in which I sign up for lots of company’s newsletters/special offers mailing list. I sort through all the emails looking for the best discounts or free shippping. Last weekend I took advantage of a 20% off + Free shipping discount to purchase $400 in Christmas gifts and stuff for myself. Which in reality, was only 10% off since the tax rate in my area is close to 10% :
I must admit that I am a sucker for any type of discounts. If there is a 33% off coupon for Border’s (like a few days ago) I’ll find something I’ve always wanted to read, but didn’t find a good excuse to buy or something (an author) entirely new that just looks soooo good I have to get it! I’m definitely impulsive when it comes to books, so it helps to have that extra percent off.
I find myself switching between ebooks and paperback books, so if it’s a really good book I’ve been waiting forever for, I’ll spend the extra money to buy it without the coupon and in print. If there happens to be a coupon, though, then I’m gonna use it! I especially love the free shipping discounts.
That being said, I like the Barnes and noble membership. I just got it and the extra discounts and free shipping on practically every book purchase just makes me way too happy 🙂 I’m spending just as much as I would usually, but getting some more with the extra money I save on the shipping. Plus, I get the version that I can hold in my hands which I love.
So, what am I saying? Coupons and discounts have saved me some much needed mula. While I don’t have to have a coupon to buy a book, it definitely helps.
I use coupons every chance I can get. I also price match.
I used to spend hours and hundreds of dollars at Borders per month, but the local one moved from a huge warehouse with great parking near the mall into a small cramped store inside the mall. Of which I hate. So. Freaking. Much. Now I visit about 1-2 times a year.
I also used to be a member of B&N and bought often enough to justify the $25 but let that lapse just before they changed their program to offer free shipping for any amount for members. Now I’m tempted to go back. I can split the membership with family to make it more affordable too. But right now they’re having that free 2 month membership (for new members but you can use a spam address) which I’ve used often the last month and it has saved me quite a lot of money. Ex. A cd I want comes out tomorrow. Hastings wants $15.99+tax and I pre-ordered it on bn.com for $9.49+tax with free shipping. Totally worth it.
I also depend on Hastings when I have credit so I can save my cash for other things. And bookdepository.com is a money saver for me as well (I take advantage of the annoying friend emails with my family-it saved me almost $40 this last July/August and I pre-ordered books up til April of next year). That way we all get discounts.
And as much as I would like to support my local independent book stores like Rediscovered Bookshop, location for me is vital. I plan trips one day per month for places more than 5 miles away so I don’t waste gas and time.
I still have my Sony reader but I don’t use it. Ebooks are more expensive in most cases than the print version with coupons, so I do what makes financial sense for me. It was the most expensive gadget I’ve bought that I regret the most.
I don’t buy often from big stores; I only buy from B&N if I happen to find myself at the mall (about 4 times a year or thereabouts) or from Amazon for special stuff or a really good deal on a preorder. I do love me some coupon codes on ebooks from places like Torquere Books, though—I tend to put off my book-buying till I get one of those!
I love Borders coupons. I often use them to pre-order books from their website.
And I miss micropay from Fictionwise. That was the best program! Of course, I haven’t really shopped there much since the whole Agency 5 fiasco. I would if they carried Carina titles. Sadly, their coupon codes/sales don’t usually include Samhain titles.
@Paola—Kindle books used to be quite a bit cheaper including 9.99 hardcovers….until some of the major publishers duked it out with Amazon. Notice that when the paperback and eversion are the same price you’ll see This price was set by the publisher The PUBLISHER wants to kill ebooks or at least has the ridiculous idea that they could be comparable to print which you can sell again, loan to friends, donate to the library or even turn into a purse if you like. Not so for electronic books. Back when Amazon was able to offer discounts on ebooks, I spent a lot more on books. Now I’m on the hold list for the latest J.D. Robb when I have bought them in the past in eversion. K-ching! Lost money you fools in publishing, dollars flew away. Too bad you’re too stupid to learn.
Count me as another Borders Rewards member. While I’m buying books less and less these days (due to my budget and the fact that I have two different library systems located within minutes of my home), I do use them from time to time, especially on books I really, really want, but the library doesn’t carry (or won’t have until well after the book’s been out). And, yes, the Borders Bucks are a bonus once you’ve bought enough books to qualify for a free $5 certificate.
But, I have also started buying discounted ebooks from the only retailer that allows it—Canada’s Kobo. They send out periodic e-mails for coupons that allow you to save a $1 or $2 on certain titles, or sometimes any title. I simply download them onto my smart phone (my ereader for now) and read away. It’s convenient, allows me to test the ebook “waters” and is relatively cost-effective considering how little I have to spend on books these days.
I’ve been buying SO MANY BOOKS from Harlequin since I realized how much I could save buying from their website. And I think it’s not even about how much I save as it is about the fact that there’s a discount on mass market paperbacks. Given that standard industry practice is to just destroy mass markets, rather than discount them, and that they’re most of what I read, finding them ON SALE! makes me want to buy them like crazy.
I’m glad you mentioned HQ, Sarah. I have bought directly from them several times because the deal was so good. Plus, they are really awesome about Kindle deals/bundles/etc, so I often nom on some of those.
I’m a grad student, so the money I spend on books unrelated to my field of study is much less than it used to be when I lived in the real world and could blow $100 a month or more on books! I use whatever Kindle deals pop up, as well as Borders coupons for paper books. Some of the coupons are for online, some for in-store, some for both. I buy from my Borders whenever I can because I want them to stay open, unlike yours, Sarah.
Sadly, NONE of the HPBs in my town have a romance section. They are snobs, I’m afraid. But it means the library sales are packed full of used romance goodness.
I use coupons and used to be obsessive about them, but I too no longer subscribe to the newspaper which has limited me for groceries to the ones spit out at the store based on the tracking they do of what I buy since I use the same credit card each time. Yippee?
I also resist buying stuff at JoAnn’s without a coupon.
As for books, I totally take advantage of the free ebook offered weekly on my nook (still hate that name). I love Borders coupons as they tend to be generic – 25% off your purchase of 1 book. I’ve also used BN’s generic 10% off coupon. I rarely do the buy 1 get 1 % off though. Part of all this is I tend to purchase most of my books used. I have a good used book store nearby and will buy from library sales and off Amazon used. The exception is for certain favorite authors. They I buy new and hope it will be on sale since it is pre-ordered.
Enter this code in the coupon box on bookdepository to get 10% off – its valid until January 20th 2011
http://www.bookdepository.com/dealsAndOffers/?a_aid=fkw
CODE: FCBZ10
You may have to go with this link to enter the code, not certain:
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ebay/?a_aid=fkw