Bookkeeping with books: the key to affordable book-buying

Book prices have recently become unachievable for many people, especially students. Waterstones, beloved for its aesthetic but infamous for its price tags, charges approximately £8-£10 for a paperback and around £20 for most hardbacks. These prices can add up quickly, especially for people who read multiple books a month, to an unsustainable expense. Thankfully, there are a few options to maintain your reading habits without spending your whole student loan at the bookshop.

“Waterstones often holds a half-price sale on all hardbacks in the days after Christmas, so keep an eye out for any announcements”

Book sales

The most obvious way to buy cheaper books is to wait for sales. Bookshops often have clearance sales or buy-one-get-one-half-price offers for select titles, which can be a good opportunity to pick up a few books that perhaps aren’t as fashionable at the moment. Waterstones often holds a half-price sale on all hardbacks in the days after Christmas, so keep an eye out for any announcements they may make in the coming weeks regarding this, and you might be able to snag some special editions for a low price.

Charity shops

Charity shops and second-hand bookstores also provide another option, with books often available for less than £5 at these locations. While the selection may be slightly older or in a worse condition, this is a far cheaper (and more sustainable) option than buying all of your books brand new. Oxfam has locations in Coventry and Kenilworth, as well as in Leamington, and there are regular second-hand book and record sales on campus outside the SU building. Second-hand online shops are also available, such as the Oxfam Online Shop or World of Books.

“Almost every book lining the shelves of bookshops can also be found for cheaper or even free on the Amazon Kindle store.”

E-books and Kindle

E-books have also become extremely popular over the last few years. The most popular method of reading these is with an e-reader like a Kindle or a Kobo, but a brand-new device usually costs upwards of £100; cheaper options include buying a second-hand e-reader (a used Kindle can be picked up on eBay for £30-£50), or using a device you already own. The Kindle app can be downloaded for free on any phone or tablet, and Apple devices come with the Books app already installed; text files like EPUBs can easily be downloaded to these apps.

Almost every book lining the shelves of bookshops can also be found for cheaper or even free on the Amazon Kindle store. Many new writers often self-publish their writing for free on Amazon as a way to obtain a following before beginning to charge for their books, which is a great way for readers to discover authors that they may have never come across otherwise. If you’re a quick reader, a cheap way to obtain many titles on Amazon is through their Kindle Unlimited service, where a monthly subscription of £9.49 (with a 30-day free trial) gives you access to a library of millions of e-books.

“The library also has books available in many languages, from English and Italian to Latin and Sanskrit, as well as a large collection of audiobooks in multiple languages.”

Free books

Other websites also provide free copies of books that can be legally downloaded and sent to an E-reader device or phone/computer. Project Gutenberg describes itself as a “library of over 70,000 free eBooks”, which can be downloaded either as EPUB or HTML files. Their collection of fiction and non-fiction titles are sorted into many categories, including crime, history, and sci-fi, which can be freely browsed on their website. The library also has books available in many languages, from English and Italian to Latin and Sanskrit, as well as a large collection of audiobooks in multiple languages. The only drawback of Project Gutenberg is that due to copyright laws, the only books available are from before 1964, so this website is more for people interested in classic literature.

“While a trip to a brand-new bookshop is fun, buying all your books at full price can add up very quickly and is often unsustainable for the average student”

Libraries

If you aren’t concerned with owning the books you read, libraries are the perfect solution. The University library, which every student automatically has access to with their student card, has a ‘Leisure Reading’ collection in the Breathing Space on Floor 1. There are also many libraries in Coventry, including in the City Centre, Canley, and Tile Hill, as well as one in Kenilworth and two in Leamington. These libraries can be joined for free online via the Coventry Libraries (for Coventry) or Warwickshire County Council (for Kenilworth and Leamington) websites. All of these libraries also offer free e-book borrowing, which can be accessed from their respective websites with a valid library card.

While a trip to a brand-new bookshop is fun, buying all your books at full price can add up very quickly and is often unsustainable for the average student. There are many ways to maintain your reading habits for cheap so you don’t find yourself in your overdraft after a book shopping trip, and you might even discover a book you love that you would have never picked up in Waterstones.