I had made a post asking for ways to obtain physical books for free or at a cheap price. Many helpful people contributed to that post. So I thought it would be a good idea to summarize it and make it available to all. Also I have personally tried most of them and they worked!
PHYSICAL BOOKS
1. Thrifting : The most efficient and environment friendly way is to obtain pre loved books through thrifting. You can avail them from local thrift stores as well as through online portals. However in case of online portals please be cautious about the reliability of it.
Let me assure you from my experience, thrift stores are literally a treasure hunt. You never know when you would stumble across a signed or rare copy. I try to explore more thrift stores instead of sticking to one. However check the books properly as there are chances of mould growth or foxing on it. As far as I know, foxing is common and not hazardous but you need to be careful about the molds.
Some online websites are craiglist, thriftbooks ,eBay, Bookchor ( NOTE:I have not used these websites and so use as per your discretion)
2. Libarary sales: Libraries either annually or occasionally weed out books for several reasons such as to accomodate new stocks, when the books are worn out and do not meet the criteria of the library or when they receive new print of the same books. During library sales books are sold at dirt cheap price and they are mostly in a very good condition. The only thing you need to do is ‘ask’ them.
3. Little free library: This a great initiative through which you can obtain books. There’s also a website of this through which you can locate little free libraries near you (https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/)
There’s no obligation that in order to take a book you must return one. But it would be helpful for the community and these little libraries to sustain if you do so.
4. Ask : Many people have books that they no longer need or want to get rid of. These may be your friends, family or even neighbors. Try asking them.
5. Facebook : There are many groups on fb related to exchanging books or buying preloved books. You can check that out. Please be careful when you deal with strangers though to be on the safe side.
6. Book fairs and exchange events: Book fairs provide books at a comparatively low price. There are also exchange events to obtain books for your already read ones. Some book fairs also sell books according to their weight or box sizes. Try to utilise those chances.
7. Giveaways: Though difficult, these are also a mean to obtain books. You can enter in giveaways through instagram, Goodreads, etc.
8. Instagram: There are many insta accounts where great collections of preloved books are sold. You can search for those. ( I am from India and have links of Indian accs that sell preloved books. DM to receive them)
9.Library: Lastly the best option if you don’t wish to retain books would be to join a library
ONLINE
Though there are many ways to obtain online pdfs of books, most of them are illegitimate. The legit ones are mentioned below
1. Google Play books
2. Borrow ebooks from library
3. Free section of ebook stores
Also there are websites which provide you early access to online books for reviewing them. I haven’t researched much on this so I lack complete information and thus haven’t mentioned them.
Hopefully this proves helpful to you all. I am grateful to those who provided these valuable insights on my post. Happy Reading! ❤️
by ancientphant