How Not to Download Illegal Books – IDEAS for Cheap Books, Where to Buy Them and Other Methods

Downloading illegal books hurt not only the author, but the publisher, but all the other people who help make that book into a thing. So I’ve been thinking about making this post for a while, but since apparently people need ideas on how to read books without ILLEGALLY downloading them, I decided to just write my post now.

I will say this before I start my post I am very lucky to live close to a library, I am lucky to be able to afford books. But downloading illegal copies is not right, so I want to offer some alternative ideas.

Discounted books, Used Books and Coupons

• Bookoutlet – cheap and used books. VERY cheap. Like $4.00
• Abebooks – cheap and used books
• Books A Million – they have SO many sales
• Barnes and Nobles – they have a 15% coupon once a month, they have free Friday reads called B&N Readouts one week they even did Dorothy Must Die!
• Amazon – you can get legal free copies of books. Sometimes they have sales, sometimes they don’t. You can get used books here too. Also, their kindle app is free and works on phones and, from what I could tell, computers as well. There is also a list of the top 100 free ebooks, you can look at them right here, by category too.
• Book Depository – ships free to most countries. FREE!
• Manybooks– They have discounted and free books. There’s a young adult catagory I was looking at that has TONS of great looking books 🙂 you never know, you might find a hidden gem.
• Book sales

Buying used books is much better than illegal copies. If a book is used, that means the author has received money in some way or form because of that book. Illegal copies give the author no money at all. Used books are cheaper, and they can be in great condition too, but at least this way the author has already received money from the book.

All of the websites above are great options for getting used, discounted books, or they offer coupons.

These are not the only sites you can visit to buy books online, do a quick search and you’ll probably find hundreds.

Buy from book sales, they are all over the place. Used book stores, indie book stores, garage sales, flea markets are a few examples.

Audio books

• Audible– I tend to not listen to audio books BUT I know that when you sign up for this website you can try it free AND get a free audio book!

Borrowing Books

• Library
• elibrary – like Overdrive
• Borrow from a friend
• Little Free Library

Free options to read a book, and the author has at least received money, yet again, from someone initially buying the book. If there isn’t a library near you, there are apps like overdrive that allow you to borrow books from libraries! I’m not sure if this is used often, but my library partners with other libraries in the area to let readers borrow ebooks. Look up apps like overdrive, apps that will let you borrow LEGAL versions of books LEGALLY. I’m sure you’ll find some.

Little Free Library is a great way of finding books, and they are all over the place. You can drop off a book and take a book, it’s that simple. Plus, it’s legal :).

Other Methods – Trading, Giveaways, and More!

YOU CAN TRADE BOOKS! If you have a book you want, you can trade one of your books for a new one. Hashtags like #booksfortrade and #arcsfortrade aren’t the only options. There are goodreads groups, use them. You can find Facebook groups and PAGES that sell books, look there.

People do giveaways, enter them. Sometimes they do international giveaways, sometimes publishers do giveaways.

If you have a phone, check out book apps, you can read books using a kindle app, or the Kobo App, or from the app store. Ebooks tend to be much cheaper, but they are legal and they support the author. If you can’t afford a physical book, get an ebook. Amazon has free books, free legal books you can read. FOR FREE.

If you don’t have a smart phone, but you have a laptop, there are ways to read books on the laptop too! All it takes is one search.

Ways To Save On Books

• You can always search for coupons AND you can do surveys. These take more time but in the end you can get a TON of $5 Amazon/Starbucks/Wallmart/Target gift cards or a $25 Paypal giftcard from Swagbucks. All you have to do is try out offers, take surveys or watch some videos!
• Facebook groups- I mentioned this above but there are some Facebook pages I find that sell used books!

Ideas from the Other Book Lovers

• ereaderiq  – lets you track ebook sales!
• BookBub – free and bargin books!
• BetterWorldBooks – excellent book deals!
• BookPerk – ebook bargins, sneak peaks, and special offers!!!
• Smartbitches sale Newsletter – a newsletter!
• RomanceDeals – deals on romance ebooks

Which totally reminds me, newsletters! Sometimes publishers will send you newsletters (if you sign up) with ebook deals, and other good book deals!!  Bookperk and Bookbub will email you with deals, Barnes and Nobles offers a free/discounted ebook every Friday for the nook.