How I Get Free Books
Of course, there are a lot of good ways to get inexpensive used books (yard sales, thrift stores, ebay, Amazon, etc.), but what options do you have when you want a new book and you can't find it used?
I have two different approaches that I use to get free books, or access to books. The first one is very popular, but the second approach may not be something that you've considered.
Let's take a look.
Option 1: Amazon Prime
I have an Amazon Prime membership, so I get access to a lot of quality ebooks. Nothing shocking there, since millions of people are already Prime members.
When I started my Prime membership 3-4 years ago, I was really only interested in the free 2-day shipping. I hadn't considered all of the perks, but those perks add up.
Option 2: Get Free Gift Cards and Use Them for Books
What are your favorite places to buy books? My favorites are Walmart and Amazon. And one of the reasons I buy most of my books at one of those two retailers is because I can get or earn gift cards to those places very easily.
The specifics are a little bit different, but there are a number of survey websites that will pay you with gift cards. Some of those sites also allow you to earn points by doing things like watching videos, trying apps, and even by playing games. Some also have cashback components that allow you to earn credit from online purchases at thousands of stores.
There are also a lot of websites and apps that will offer a signup bonus, or allow you to earn credit or points that can be redeemed for gift cards.
Once you know which websites and apps to use, earning free gift cards is pretty easy. And once you have the gift cards, you can use them to purchase whatever books you want.
If you want specific instructions for how to do this, see How to Get Free Walmart Gift Cards and How to Get Free Amazon Gift Cards.
(Bonus) Option 3: Referral Bonuses
Ok, I said there were two methods I use, but I'm actually going to include a third one. I haven't been using this method very long, but I've been trying it recently and it has worked fairly well. The downside is, I think there is a limit to what you can earn with this approach.
The idea is to earn a referral bonus from websites and apps that will pay you to refer your friends. There are a lot of them out there and it can be some easy money. Here's a little trick to make it really effective. Find a friend who also loves freebies and take turns referring each other to different programs.
Some of these referral programs will pay you in cash, which you can use to buy books. Others will pay you with credit for an upcoming purchase at that store or website. If it's a store or website that you would need to use anyway, you can make note of what you saved and then justify spending that amount on a book.
