I'm not sure that this is the right sub-forum, so please correct me if it isnt. Is there any site where I can get books cheaper then Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc. I have a list as long as a novel of books I want to get and read, but not the $$$ to buy them or rent them all. Where do I go, btw my local library isnt the tiny and of little to no help. Please help
The only option for you off the top of my head would be to focus on digital books. Google books offers a whole universe of downloadable books for free (can't beat that price) but of course the downside is that 99% of them are going to be old. Like 80 years old or more. The upside is that you can get most of the literary classics. I got a collection of Sherlock Holmes books from there, as well as other out of print masterpieces like "Theory of the Leisure Class", by Thorstein Veblen. Good stuff, if you are into that kind of thing. Oh, and Bram Stoker, Jules Verne, and all the rest are yours to download for free. Just type "google books" into your search engine, and then do a search. To the left of your screen there is the option of "free google books" or some option like that which you can click on and all those works that pop up can be yours to download, or to just read straight from your computer screen. Now, if you are looking for paper books, then really the local swap meet and perhaps the salvation army might have some books that you might be interested in.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ Seems to sell books cheaper than most places. Also has no delivery payment for most countries, plus they have small discounts. Have ordered 8 books myself, seems like a good site.
Check out your local used book stores as well. They sometimes give you good deals, especially if you buy a set of books. Project Gutenberg has a lot of free books available online, though they're all books that are in the public domain.
Google Books and Project Gutenberg are your best bets for the classics, but beyond that I think you're looking at either second-hand bookshops, the internet (Amazon Marketplace, eBay, etc), or your library. You say that your local library is small, but are all of them in your library service small? Most libraries will order in books from other libraries for you, either for free or for a small charge.
Book Depository! Oh my god, book depository! That site is amazing, and the books are dirt cheap, and the shipping is free. But as a result I drop like $50 a week on books there, but I figure it's better to be well-read than well-fed.
Your best bets, off the top of my head are; Hamilton Books Betterworld Books (Company has the morals of an alley cat in heat but they sell books dirt cheap. As a longtime Bookseller, I feel they've decimated the market value of books.) Ebay. If you buy in lots or search misspelled keywords, you can find deals. Also, you can establish a buyer relationship with larger sellers on there and buy direct from them in bulk. Paperback swap. Site dedicated to trading books among members. Those are usually the cheapest. Depending on what kind of books you buy, each of those sites are good sources. I'm assuming you're in the U.S. Alternately, you could buy a Kindle and have an ever growing number of titles...Most in demand titles anyway. The downloads are a small fraction of the physical book and you can download it nearly instantly. The Kindle is where the book market is headed, so we may as well get used to it.At any rate, those are all good bets.
I'm surprside no one has mentioned these. . . Garage sales and Good Will. Seriously, depending on the store or owner of the garage sale, you can get used books for a couple dollars or less. Of course, they're old, but books don't spoil with age like milk.
http://www.awesomebooks.com/ has a lot of cheap books and amazing discounts. Once, I found a book with an entire 0.01% discount. You can't beat that. (then again the book cost two cents or so.)
You can get a free e-book for Strunk and White by asking google. Any one wanting a link PM me if you cant find it. I haven't read it yet of course being an e-book sigh. I tried to post the link but the site wont let me.
