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5 Easy Ways to Read for Free or Inexpensively

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Definitely not a secret to those who know me or follow me here that I love to read with all the books and reading posts that I share here.

I get questioned quite often how I can read so much.

Well, I do love to read and escape into another world by reading a new book.

But how do afford to read so many books is another question that is posed to me.

Hard copies of books, whether hard or soft cover or even ebooks can be costly.

But I have found ways around that and thought I would pay it forward and share how I read for free or next to nothing.

Take a look below at 5 different ways I read for free or inexpensively: 

5 Easy Ways to Read Free or Inexpensively

1. NetGalley 

Is a completely free site to join.  Once you have joined, you can request free advanced reviewer copies of upcoming, new ebooks to be released.  All you have to do once you have been granted a copy, is read the book and review it. You don’t need a blog and can easily review on Goodreads or on your social media networks. The one drawback is you might not get permission to read and get rejected once in awhile, but the more you do review and prove that you are a reliable reviewer you should get be allowed to read and not get rejected from requests.

2. Overdrive

This is also a free site that you sign up for through your public library.  All you need is a library card and access to either the Overdrive’s website or app (yes you can access Overdrive on your mobile devices). Since this is through your local library, the ebooks you take out are completely free. They have access to new releases, but beware that you may wait on a pretty long wait list if the book is fairly new and popular.

Read bestseller books for FREE or cheap #goodreads #reading

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3. BookBub

Is also a free site to signup for.  But unlike the first two, the books aren’t always completely free to read all the time. Once you sign up for BookBub, you will receive a daily email of daily free or deeply discounted book offers from publishers and authors that work with all the major ebook retailers and devices, such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple and more.

4. Barnes and Noble Membership

Unlike the first three, this isn’t free to sign up for, but still having a Barnes and Noble membership entitles you to many special book offers and deals.  For $25, a year you will receive discounted coupons and more for all sorts of book offers including free online shipping, in-store savings with 40% off hardcover bestsellers and 10% almost everything else.

5. Book of The Month

Also not a free service, but if you sign up for a monthly subscription you get 1 new hardcover book of your choice each month, plus extra hardcover books are only $9.99 with free shipping included. Each month, BOTM gives a choice of five new selections, which are from new and upcoming books. Then you have until the 6th of the month to decide for it to be shipped out on the 7th or skip easily if you don’t find a book you would like to read.  Right now, BOTM is offering 30% off for a 3 month subscription.

Book of the Month

There you have it 5 ways to either be able to read for free or very inexpensively all for the taking.

 

Happy Reading now!

 

Do you have any free or cheap reading sites to add to my list?

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About Janine

Janine is a published author of the books, The Mother of All Meltdowns and Only Trollops Shave Above the Knee. She has been featured on The Huffington Post, Mamapedia, Today Parenting Team and SheKnows. She also runs her own graphic design company at J9 Designs.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Jen says

    I am so pinning, posting and sharing this post!! I am like a frrebie-a-holic, at least where books are concerned. I read so fast I hate paying full price. I know that is bad, but it’s just who I am 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this!

    • Janine says

      Aw, so happy you are going to refer back to this and I am really just so with you on hating to pay full price to read books. Thanks my friend for sharing, too!!! 🙂

  3. Dana says

    All great suggestions, Janine! I haven’t joined the Book of the Month club yet but I’m considering it. As I mentioned in a recent post, the Kindle First program is another great way to get free or very discounted new releases.

    • Janine says

      Dana, thank for that reminder and I know I am not really an Amazon Prime member and haven’t tried out Kindle First yet, myself, but on my list to do now. Thanks for the reminder 🙂

  4. William Holland says

    I’ve never heard of the first three, so thanks for those recommendations. We go to the library at least once a week. It’s still the best value in the city….by far!

    Happy Wednesday my friend.

    • Janine says

      Happy to share the first three with you and I am also a big library person here, too. Happy Wednesday once again to you, too Bill!! 🙂

  5. Amanda Love says

    Another way if you have a Kindle is by getting all those free books that are always available on Amazon. You can even get the Amazon Kindle Unlimited membership. While it’s not totally free, you get to read so much books that you would have had to pay for, so it makes up for it. 🙂

    • Janine says

      I tried Amazon Kindle Unlimited in the past, but honestly didn’t any books that were on the best seller or even remotely interesting to me. But, maybe that has changed now, but still thanks for sharing with me 🙂

  8. Aunt Gloria says

    So many good resources for free or inexpensive books! I’m not into reading at this time but will forward the info to my friends who are. We have a book club here and they get the books from our local library. Thanks for this good info. Happy Reading! xxoo

  10. Cynthia says

    Sweet! I didn’t know about all these awesome sites! I will have to check them out. Man, I wish we could fit 48 hours into 24 so that I could do all the reading I want! Haha.
    Hope you have a great Thursday!

  11. Kendall says

    These are great suggestions. I’ve used NetGalley and Overdrive before. Lately though, I really haven’t had much time (or energy) to read. I am hoping for a little more reading before the year ends though! 🙂

  12. Kristen Hewitt says

    I’ve been reading more, thanks for the tips! I like overdrive, but may try your book of the month club idea!

  13. Christine Carter says

    Ooooh!! I LOVE these ideas Janine!! I’m pinning for future reference. Barnes and Noble membership sounds really good and I am going to look into the others too. I LOVE getting books to read, and it really does add up!

    • Janine says

      Thanks Chris and I agree it does add up, but I still just love to read for fun and had to become creative in finding ways to read on the cheap 😉

  14. Bev says

    I’m a huge fan of using our library. We are part of a consortium of about 40 towns so I can get almost any book I want to read. I can never read enough books!

  15. Kenya G. Johnson says

    I’m still using Overdrive. You can tell lots of people have jumped on the bandwagon because waiting lists are forever long now. 🙁 But that’s the time to step out of my box and read something or someone I’ve never heard of.

    I made a very annoying discovery with Barnes & Noble. Their book are cheaper online which makes no sense. So I rarely buy book out of there. I’ll use my member discount on other things I find.

    • Janine says

      I know exactly what you mean and have waited longer lately, as well at Overdrive. Oh and I also do use my discount at B&N for other things in store, too!!

  17. Rea says

    Thanks for the nifty list! I’ve signed up for Bookbub before but saw that it’s not completely free. Although it’s understandable, their FB ad says “free books” when I first saw it. Hehe. Other than that, it’s good they have these services. I’m gonna check the rest out. 😉

  18. Nellie says

    I am old school in this one way–I still need a physical book! So the library is the BEST place for me to go, especially because you can request books ahead of time. it’s glorious as long as you dont want a super popular title 🙂

  19. catherine gacad says

    i keep a running list of all the books i want on my amazon wish list, then i check them out at the library. if they’re not at the library, i’ll do a google search for the title of the book and add “PDF” and i can usually read that online or print it out.

    • Janine says

      I am with you on the library, but also love that I have other ways, as well to read if there is a long wait list at the library still.

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