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How to find books you want to read for cheap....
16 years ago
I hear a lot of folks tell me that they are having trouble finding book stores in their areas. Or, I hear a lot of talk of how expensive some books are to come across.... well.... seeing as how my collection has hit the 100 book mark and it keeps growing, I figure whatever Im doing seems to work pretty well and I think ive spent on average, 2 bucks per book, sometimes a lot cheaper. Sometimes I get them for free. Granted, occasionally I have to fork over a decent wad of cash for a really good book in excellent condition, but thats kinda rare as those particular books are usually WORTH said amount of cash. Knowing all this, I think Its only right if I share my methods with the rest of you folks so you can enjoy all kinds of books for dirt cheap too.
First, the best way to come across random books to read is to hit up any local book sales. Basically, some library or local organization decides to take donated books to supply libraries and efforts to teach kids how to read... etc... etc... All kinds of reasons to open up book donation options to the public. People are constantly wanting a place to take their used books after reading em. Not all books can be traded in at used book stores and sometimes people just dont know where to take them other than donating them. So people take em to libraries and stuff, and eventually, they build up into a massive collection of several thousand books, which have to be gotten rid of sometime. These organizations will open up massive sales every so often and sell off books for as cheap as 25-50 cents per book, maybe a dollar if its hardbound or a really large paperback. Ive come across plenty of werewolf related books in these sales, so its an excellent way to get some books for cheap. Sometimes, on the last days of their sale, they will have a bag sale, where you can fill a paperbag full of books for like $3-$5. Make mental note of this particular fact because Ill tell you how to make good use of this option to get the books you want.
To find one in your area, sign up to this website, receive their newsletter and make sure your spam filter is set to allow messages from them or the automated newsletters on the local bookstores will end up in the spam folder.
http://www.booksalefinder.com/
On a side note, goodwill has some decent sales on books if you check their larger stores regularly.
Next, Keep an eye on that site, find some book stores and go hunting for whatever you can find, looking in particular for books you want to read. But also, keep an eye out for any books that are in good or perfect condition. If you see one, then get it too, regardless of if you plan to read it. Ill include a list of books that work well for trading at the bottom of this post along with another list of books to avoid. Pay attention to how cheap its going for because you dont want to spend too much on a book unless you intend to keep it. What you are going to do is take the books you dont want to a local used book shop, and trade books you bought for 25-50 cents a piece for $1-$3 in trade credit at that particular book store. ****NOTE**** Pay attention to the books you dont intend to keep. Sometimes they will have little notes at the beginning to their previous owners. If it has a name or a message, put the book back down and dont get it. These make for horrible trading material and many bookstores will either deduct huge amounts of money off of what they will give you, or not take them at all. If the note or name was written in pencil, sometimes you can erase it, and no harm done, but remember that if you cant, you might not be able to get rid of the book. Avoid buying hardbound books for trading material, but if you hit them at that bag sale I mentioned, its a perfect time to bag up some good quality hardbounds for trading material. just dont overdo it and id suggest researching the local used book stores before you go piling up on used books for trading.
Now, by the end of the day, you should have about 10 books in addition to whatever ones you intend to keep and read(give or take). The books you dont intend to keep should be put in a box and reviewed one last time for any marks, torn pages or anything you think might not get you a lot of money. Try to divide them into piles based on both what genre, and what quality the book is in. If its perfect or near perfect, then put it in one pile, if its a little rough around the edges, then put it in another pile. Also, separate books that are hardbound because as I mentioned, very few stores will take these.
third step. Go find some used book shops. bring a few of the books you hunted down with you. Mix the qualities(suggestion is bring one badly messed book, one middle of the road book, and one book thats in perfect condition) to get an idea of how the bookstores handle different quality of books. Some stores will give you crap in the way of trade, but take all kinds of quality books, but others will only take pristine books and yet give great trade credit. Pay attention to this as you want to get the most out of the books you have. Make sure to get a detailed explanation on how their trade system works because a lot of stores do it differently. ive seen two major variations on the trade system.
1.) full trade: credit is given on each book you bring in based on several issues regarding the book. It just varies, so pay attention to what they tell you. When you pay, whatever you've got in the store credit is applied to your total before you pay the rest in cash. Sometimes you have to pay tax yourself though.
2.) Half trade: same as above, only when you pay, you can only take half of your total amount due out of your store credit before paying the rest in cash. So if you owe $20, you can use up to $10 in store credit and pay the rest yourself. There are other smaller variations on this system, but they generally follow that method.
Once you understand all the stores in your area and know which ones take what quality of books, then refine your methods and go to the ones that favor the best books first. Take you best quality books and figure out how many books they have you want. Use your trade credit to get as much as you can without spending too much out of your pocket. Do the same with other book stores as you move down the quality level until you get to the bare minimum and trade off the ones youve got for whatever you can find that takes your fancy.
Refine this method as you see fit. There are a lot of different shops out there and a lot of book sales to hit, so keep an eye on things and go have some fun. As a final note, if you are nervous and think you might be cheating the book stores out of their money, stop it. Ive talked to some book store owners about this very issue and they admit they themselves hit up book sales sometimes for good used books, but they cant always go to them, so they dont mind when people bring in books they bought cheap just to use as trade material. I know people who work at the library who do this too, heck, they gave me a few pointers when I asked.
You might however want to remember that getting the books that the stores are looking for helps them as well as helping you. If you find romance novels for a bookstore that specializes in science fiction, you wont be doing them any good. You usually have to ask them what kinds of books they are trying to get the most of. In my experience it is usually either science fiction/fantasy OR mystery.
In full, the major genres to keep an eye out for are gothic romance(vampire, werewolf and other supernatural stuff), sci fi, fantasy, and SOME mystery novels. Remember to ask the store owners what mystery novels they get requested a lot, because sometimes you wont be able to get rid of certain mystery writers because the store either has too much of a surplus of them, or no demand at all.
And.... WARNING........ AVOID THESE BOOKS....: All Harlequinn romance novels unless the local book store owners say they are looking for particular series. And avoid any John Grisham novels. There are hundreds of these particular books floating around, and you will likely find yourself with copies of books you dont know what to do with if you pick any of those up.
I invite all of you to post your methods for acquiring books cheap. Amazon is a good method, but remember no matter what, you will always end up paying at least $3 for a book because of shipping charges. But using the methods I just detailed, you can get books from used bookshops for as cheap as 50 cents. Enjoy folks, and have some fun.
Here are a few sites to help you find some book stores. Id suggest calling the stores before going to any of them. Also, ask the book stores if they know of any others. They often stay in contact with each other and some of them support each other with advertisements and organized events.
http://maps.google.com/maps
http://bostonreview.net/bookstores.html
http://www.yellowpages.com/
In general if you are looking for furry fiction. You wont have much luck finding it used. Furry fiction that came straight out of the fandom is next to impossible to come across in a used book store or book sale. These books will very likely only be found on amazon.com if anywhere other than the publisher's website. Youd be hard pressed to find any used furry books for sale. Most furs sit on their books and only sell them when in absolutely dire straights, plus the ones that generally exist are fairly rare in contrast with books that sold several hundred thousand copies. Furry books in general will be doing good if they hit the 2k sales mark. Furry fiction is a niche market, and doesnt see as much demand as the rest of the science fiction market. You can however occasionally find furry related books used on furbid and such.
Remember, the less you spend on a book, the better chance you have of having more to buy another book for you to continue reading.
If you want a list of furry books to read, check out my submitted "story" which is actually a massive list of furry related published novels. The list is over 1500 books long, and is likely the largest and most up to date book list in existence consisting of furry related novels. I invite people to review and add to it if you happen to know of a book that isnt on it. I dont take comic books, but I will take graphic novels if the graphic novel is at least 50% text based.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2804583
First, the best way to come across random books to read is to hit up any local book sales. Basically, some library or local organization decides to take donated books to supply libraries and efforts to teach kids how to read... etc... etc... All kinds of reasons to open up book donation options to the public. People are constantly wanting a place to take their used books after reading em. Not all books can be traded in at used book stores and sometimes people just dont know where to take them other than donating them. So people take em to libraries and stuff, and eventually, they build up into a massive collection of several thousand books, which have to be gotten rid of sometime. These organizations will open up massive sales every so often and sell off books for as cheap as 25-50 cents per book, maybe a dollar if its hardbound or a really large paperback. Ive come across plenty of werewolf related books in these sales, so its an excellent way to get some books for cheap. Sometimes, on the last days of their sale, they will have a bag sale, where you can fill a paperbag full of books for like $3-$5. Make mental note of this particular fact because Ill tell you how to make good use of this option to get the books you want.
To find one in your area, sign up to this website, receive their newsletter and make sure your spam filter is set to allow messages from them or the automated newsletters on the local bookstores will end up in the spam folder.
http://www.booksalefinder.com/
On a side note, goodwill has some decent sales on books if you check their larger stores regularly.
Next, Keep an eye on that site, find some book stores and go hunting for whatever you can find, looking in particular for books you want to read. But also, keep an eye out for any books that are in good or perfect condition. If you see one, then get it too, regardless of if you plan to read it. Ill include a list of books that work well for trading at the bottom of this post along with another list of books to avoid. Pay attention to how cheap its going for because you dont want to spend too much on a book unless you intend to keep it. What you are going to do is take the books you dont want to a local used book shop, and trade books you bought for 25-50 cents a piece for $1-$3 in trade credit at that particular book store. ****NOTE**** Pay attention to the books you dont intend to keep. Sometimes they will have little notes at the beginning to their previous owners. If it has a name or a message, put the book back down and dont get it. These make for horrible trading material and many bookstores will either deduct huge amounts of money off of what they will give you, or not take them at all. If the note or name was written in pencil, sometimes you can erase it, and no harm done, but remember that if you cant, you might not be able to get rid of the book. Avoid buying hardbound books for trading material, but if you hit them at that bag sale I mentioned, its a perfect time to bag up some good quality hardbounds for trading material. just dont overdo it and id suggest researching the local used book stores before you go piling up on used books for trading.
Now, by the end of the day, you should have about 10 books in addition to whatever ones you intend to keep and read(give or take). The books you dont intend to keep should be put in a box and reviewed one last time for any marks, torn pages or anything you think might not get you a lot of money. Try to divide them into piles based on both what genre, and what quality the book is in. If its perfect or near perfect, then put it in one pile, if its a little rough around the edges, then put it in another pile. Also, separate books that are hardbound because as I mentioned, very few stores will take these.
third step. Go find some used book shops. bring a few of the books you hunted down with you. Mix the qualities(suggestion is bring one badly messed book, one middle of the road book, and one book thats in perfect condition) to get an idea of how the bookstores handle different quality of books. Some stores will give you crap in the way of trade, but take all kinds of quality books, but others will only take pristine books and yet give great trade credit. Pay attention to this as you want to get the most out of the books you have. Make sure to get a detailed explanation on how their trade system works because a lot of stores do it differently. ive seen two major variations on the trade system.
1.) full trade: credit is given on each book you bring in based on several issues regarding the book. It just varies, so pay attention to what they tell you. When you pay, whatever you've got in the store credit is applied to your total before you pay the rest in cash. Sometimes you have to pay tax yourself though.
2.) Half trade: same as above, only when you pay, you can only take half of your total amount due out of your store credit before paying the rest in cash. So if you owe $20, you can use up to $10 in store credit and pay the rest yourself. There are other smaller variations on this system, but they generally follow that method.
Once you understand all the stores in your area and know which ones take what quality of books, then refine your methods and go to the ones that favor the best books first. Take you best quality books and figure out how many books they have you want. Use your trade credit to get as much as you can without spending too much out of your pocket. Do the same with other book stores as you move down the quality level until you get to the bare minimum and trade off the ones youve got for whatever you can find that takes your fancy.
Refine this method as you see fit. There are a lot of different shops out there and a lot of book sales to hit, so keep an eye on things and go have some fun. As a final note, if you are nervous and think you might be cheating the book stores out of their money, stop it. Ive talked to some book store owners about this very issue and they admit they themselves hit up book sales sometimes for good used books, but they cant always go to them, so they dont mind when people bring in books they bought cheap just to use as trade material. I know people who work at the library who do this too, heck, they gave me a few pointers when I asked.
You might however want to remember that getting the books that the stores are looking for helps them as well as helping you. If you find romance novels for a bookstore that specializes in science fiction, you wont be doing them any good. You usually have to ask them what kinds of books they are trying to get the most of. In my experience it is usually either science fiction/fantasy OR mystery.
In full, the major genres to keep an eye out for are gothic romance(vampire, werewolf and other supernatural stuff), sci fi, fantasy, and SOME mystery novels. Remember to ask the store owners what mystery novels they get requested a lot, because sometimes you wont be able to get rid of certain mystery writers because the store either has too much of a surplus of them, or no demand at all.
And.... WARNING........ AVOID THESE BOOKS....: All Harlequinn romance novels unless the local book store owners say they are looking for particular series. And avoid any John Grisham novels. There are hundreds of these particular books floating around, and you will likely find yourself with copies of books you dont know what to do with if you pick any of those up.
I invite all of you to post your methods for acquiring books cheap. Amazon is a good method, but remember no matter what, you will always end up paying at least $3 for a book because of shipping charges. But using the methods I just detailed, you can get books from used bookshops for as cheap as 50 cents. Enjoy folks, and have some fun.
Here are a few sites to help you find some book stores. Id suggest calling the stores before going to any of them. Also, ask the book stores if they know of any others. They often stay in contact with each other and some of them support each other with advertisements and organized events.
http://maps.google.com/maps
http://bostonreview.net/bookstores.html
http://www.yellowpages.com/
In general if you are looking for furry fiction. You wont have much luck finding it used. Furry fiction that came straight out of the fandom is next to impossible to come across in a used book store or book sale. These books will very likely only be found on amazon.com if anywhere other than the publisher's website. Youd be hard pressed to find any used furry books for sale. Most furs sit on their books and only sell them when in absolutely dire straights, plus the ones that generally exist are fairly rare in contrast with books that sold several hundred thousand copies. Furry books in general will be doing good if they hit the 2k sales mark. Furry fiction is a niche market, and doesnt see as much demand as the rest of the science fiction market. You can however occasionally find furry related books used on furbid and such.
Remember, the less you spend on a book, the better chance you have of having more to buy another book for you to continue reading.
If you want a list of furry books to read, check out my submitted "story" which is actually a massive list of furry related published novels. The list is over 1500 books long, and is likely the largest and most up to date book list in existence consisting of furry related novels. I invite people to review and add to it if you happen to know of a book that isnt on it. I dont take comic books, but I will take graphic novels if the graphic novel is at least 50% text based.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2804583
Thank you for sharing ths information, some of it has been useful.
icorwind
~icorwind
OP
oh, and as an additional bit of info, Id also like to add that checking out local dollar stores, those stores that sell random stuff for only a dollar, works really well sometimes. They sometimes have gotten in really nice quality science fiction that is either werewolf related, or on rare occasions, is along the furry side of things. I once found a hardbound copy of "the rats, the bats, and the ugly" for a dollar in brand new condition. Seriously, look up the reviews on this book. Its an awesome book. Granted, its the sequel, so I have to find the first one before I go reading either one, but still..... a dollar!!!!
