How I buy lots of books
I read. A lot. I’m very intentional about reading a lot. But it caused me buy a lot of books (99% ebooks, but that’s another subject).
The Old Process
If a friend recommended a book, I would immediately buy it. If I was interested in a topic, I would immediately buy the #1 book on Amazon for that subject. I was spending about $120+/mo on books, many of which I didn’t fully read. I really don’t want to spend that much money on books, especially ones I don’t read.
Kindle Samples
Then I learned Amazon lets you sample first 1.5 chapters of almost every Kindle book. This decreased my expenditures by about half, but I was curious to see if I could find a way to obtain the knowledge in the books for less money.
The Library
Many (most?) libraries, including Indianapolis’s, offer ebook rentals. The rentals can be easily downloaded to a Kindle. The library also offers audiobook rentals, but those must be consumed their special app (which has recently been dramatically improved on Android and is now functionally equivalent to Audible). The downsides to using the library are:
- No WhisperSync (Amazon, amazingly, syncs your reading progress between your ebook and your audiobook)
- Selection is slightly more limited than Amazon
- I may have to place a book on hold or return the book before I’m done with it
So it’s not perfect, but it’s a 90% cost reduction and allows me to read all I want without affecting my budget.
The New Process
- Hear about a book
- Download the sample chapters from Amazon
- Get the book from the library, if I want to continue reading it
- Once a month or so, I log into Goodreads and write short reviews of what I’ve read
