I strongly believe in paying full price for books. Authors work for months, sometimes years, to get their books finished and published. Most don’t make a living at writing unless they’re mega-best-sellers. The Bible says, “The laborer is worthy of his hire.” It’s good and right to reimburse them for the goods and services they provide.

Paying for a book is a good value. A specialty coffee drink only lasts an hour or so. A good book may cost twice as much but lasts ten-twenty hours.

Plus, selfishly, investing in authors we love enables them to write even more books. If I want them to keep books coming, I need to support them.

For many of us, however, our reading appetite outpaces our budget. We can read more books if we can find deals on them.

Here are some ways I’ve found to get more books for my reading dollar.

Free books. The library is a wonderful institution to make books available to the public. They may not always have what we want, or there may be a waiting list for the most popular books. But they are a good first resource. If they don’t have a book you want, many of them have a form you can submit to request it.

Project Gutenberg has the text of many older books online.

Librivox has audio versions of books in the public domain. Some are excellently done, but some are read by volunteers who don’t use inflections or character voices. But it’s easy to take a chance when the book is free.

Net Galley will send readers free books in return for an honest review. I haven’t tried them yet, but I am looking into them. I think there are similar sites that do the same thing. Sometimes authors will send out a few of their newest books for that purpose as well. The reviews don’t have to be all five-star–in fact, it looks a little suspicious if every review is the highest rating. Reviews also don’t have to be long and involved.

Sales. Yard sales, thrift stores, library sales, and used book stores will sometimes yield great books at good prices. They may have some damage or markings. Even Amazon will list some used book options. Most used books I’ve bought have been fine. There have only been one or two that were so damaged or icky that I regretted buying them.

Thriftbooks sells both used and new titles.

Some sites online will curate book sale listings. Gospelebooks.com and Inspiredreads.com list current Christian books sales for the Kindle app, but I mention them with caution. I would not agree with everything they recommend, so some discernment is needed. Tim Challies also curates a list of mostly Christian books but also a few general market ones. I’m much more willing to take a chance on a new author or a book I am not sure about when I can get it for a couple of dollars.

Of course, many booksellers have regular sales as well. Following them online or signing up for their catalogs or emails will keep you informed.

Also, if you follow your favorite authors on social media, they’ll often list when one of their books is on sale.

Pre-orders. There are a few authors (Amanda Cox and Amanda Dykes, to name a couple of my favorites) whose every book I buy. Since I have read all their books so far and loved them, there’s a good chance I’ll like their new books as well. I got both of their soon-to-be published paperbacks at 25% off plus free shipping for pre-orders. Publishers like pre-orders because it gives them some idea of how much interest there will be in the book, so they’ll often offer incentives like a discount price and/or free shipping or some little gifts if you order early.

Rewards. We have an Amazon credit card which gives me “points” every time I buy something with it–especially something from Amazon. Sometimes it will let me use my Amazon points for book purchases.

I’ve only ordered a few books at Thriftbooks, but apparently they have some kind of reward system, too.

Audiobooks. My Audible subscription is $14.95 a month, which nets me one credit, good for one book. However, they often have 2-book-for-one-credit sales on selected titles. They also rotate some titles for free in what they used to call their “Plus” catalog. Now, at the top of the Audible site, those books are listed under a tab titled “Included.” (I would suggest listening to the free audiobooks you choose right away, because when they are rotated back into the general circulation, they’ll no longer be available in your Audible app.) Plus, they’ll have many of their regular titles marked down if you want to buy them for cash rather than a credit. I save my credit for the more expensive books but occasionally buy audiobooks for a few dollars. I’ve found many classics there for just a dollar or two.

Audible also just started a rewards program. But even before that, they’d sometimes offer a $5 coupon for listening to three audiobooks within a certain time period.

I mentioned at the beginning the desire to support authors. Does it lessen their support to get books on sale or for free? As I said, I like to pay full price for books often. But I think many authors would rather their books be read on sale or from the library than not at all. Many offer sales on their own books at times. I’ve often started reading the rest of an author’s books after trying one that I found for free or on sale.

Plus, we can also support authors in other ways. Requesting and checking out their books at the library helps keep their books available there.

One of the best ways to support an author is to leave reviews of their books, especially on Amazon but also on sites like GoodReads or on our blogs. Even a mention on social media helps. Many book sales are generated by word of mouth these days. Not only do our reviews help promote books among other readers, but publishers look at them closely as well. I’ve read that Amazon doesn’t put a book in its promotional algorithm until that book has at least fifty reviews.

Have you found ways to read more books than you can afford? Please share with us in the comments.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)