How Do You Buy So Many Books?

(Or, How Can You Afford To?)

Every so often I get asked this question, mostly because my collection grows at quite an insane rate. But about 90% of the time I am not buying these books full price. I price stalk all stores and wait for coupons until I can get the best deals. Honestly, most of my books that are new come from Book Boxes (Owlcrate previously, Fairyloot, Litjoy previously) and the occasional preorder for preorder goodies or a signed edition. That’s when I buy new books. I also tend to buy through either Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million (depending on which one I am a cardholder for currently).

So…where do I get my used books?

  1. The top place I get my used books is my “local” (see: hour away) used bookstore. They’ve recently started putting everything online. I create a wishlist with all the books I want, and watch until they come into stock then I nab them! Alternatively, since they don’t ship, sometimes some books don’t get put online and I happen to browse and score amazing books. (Star Touched Queen, signed copy of Blood Heir). This is my number one place to acquire used books.
  2. My Local Library is another place I have gotten used books. Sometimes they’re withdrawn library copies, and other times they’re donated. If they’re withdrawn library copies I dissemble them and make them pretty again. I remove the barcode and spine labels on them all. You never know what you’ll find!
  3. Amazon Marketplace is where I also locate used books. HPB and several other large services use Amazon as a way to sell used or gently used books. I have obtained quite a few this way.
  4. E-Bay may be surprising, but I’ve gotten one or two good books this way!
  5. Thriftbooks has been hit and miss for me, but I do like them. I got a good deal on some old mass market paperbacks that I was looking for.

Those are the five ways I’ve picked up most of my used books. What about books that are overstock?

  1. Formerly, Book Outlet. I’ve gotten quite a few good deals from them. There were some very insensitive incidents with them earlier this year and they did issue an apology as well, so be aware of that if you would like to purchase with them.
  2. Books-A-Million bargain bin. Yep. BAM has an amazing bargain bin. I have found many one off books I’ve been looking for both online and in store. Honestly, I love it.
  3. Local Used Bookstore has some as well. They’re more expensive than their used copies, but I’ve found some good bargain books there as well.

So when I’m averaging $3-$10 a book, it makes a huge difference. I can buy double the amount of books.

Hello my friends! Today I am going to take you on a journey over a years time…a long journey…a journey of discovery…mostly. You don’t have to go anywhere, you just have to put up with pictures. And some text. But this is a blog post talking about how quickly I got out of control in terms of book collecting in a little over a year! (And how I’m attempting to reign it in.)

July 2019…I was just beginning this journey. It was a small shelf then. I had a few books, but not many.

August 2019 wasn’t much different, still only a few books. It wouldn’t be until I got my first OwlCrate that I developed a collecting bug.

September 2019…I painted a new shelf. I loved it! It was bigger and better than my old one! I was also prepared for Spooky season! I could not wait!

October 2019 had A LOT of changes in it. Far too many, but part one looked thus! Two full shelves! Lots of great books! All rainbow ordered (when it was easy!)

Part 2 turned into this…more books, but just a few.

Then came a little later in October…and all the shelves were full! I was making use of my local used bookstore and of BAM’s bargain bin! Love them both!

Then this was the last change in October of 2019…I got myself a target shelf. And some more books. So my collection had drown! It was still looking lovely and had plenty of room to grow.

November came and I got myself a second shelf. YALLfest had been good to me, and I had more books than ever before. It was lovely to feel that my collection was growing. I was starting to feel like a part of the community.

January 2020. No pictures for December as I apparently didn’t take many? Also, apparently it didn’t change a lot. We then move onto having moreeee books. I was getting addicted to book buying. But it was fun!!!

February came, and again, very little changes other than some more books. It wasn’t anything hugely different to be honest.

March I started actually decorating the shelves more. The HP set (and funkos) gifted to me moved to make room for my sign. I added more shelf decorations. At this point they were still organized by color.

When Covid hit in March we were only working Mon-Thurs. So one weekend late March we repainted my room, and I moved my 2 shelves together and stacked all the books up. No longer by color. I loved the corner shelves!

April 2020 I went and got a third shelf. I was really enjoying the look of them together. It really appealed to me.

June 2020. No May pictures as nothing changed. In June I added a fourth shelf! It was starting to look really good and I was happy with it!

July 2020. In which I acquire a fifth shelf. They are slowly taking over my room — the only space I have for bookshelves.

August 2020 I added a sixth shelf. Lots more space! Lots of good books!

Right now, I have space for one more shelf and that’s it. But it is all good because I can stack books on the shelves I have, and take up unused space. I have started buying less books in general, and buying more used.

It’s really interesting to see how my shelves evolved over a year. In another year they probably won’t have changed much, except for maybe order. Recently, I started thinking about arranging them by rainbow again, which I may do.