With the advent of the Internet, many visionaries predicted imminent and imminent death for printed books. However, people continue to love books and take special pleasure in the opportunity to hold a book in their hands and turn the pages. Many people are switching to reading e-books not so much because of convenience, but because printed books are very expensive. However, this is not always true, printed books can be bought at very low prices or even received for free.
In order to save on buying books, try to buy them for future use - this product does not deteriorate, does not require special storage conditions, does not take up much space, and the benefits are substantial. The best and most massive book sales usually happen in online stores as part of the "Library Night" campaign. Discounts these days reach up to 50%.
In most online bookstores, some promotions for 10-30% discounts are held constantly. You can find out about many in their "news" and "promotions" sections. However, there are various promotions that can only be found out from special groups on social networks, such as this one - they post information about all valid promotional codes and secret words. It is also useful to subscribe to the mailing list of online stores - they periodically send individual offers and promotions.
Try to approach buying books without impulsive actions. Before buying a book, carefully check the prices in different stores and compare the terms of delivery - often the apparent cheapness of the book is more than covered by paid delivery and the requirement to place an order from a certain amount. Prices in online stores usually do not differ much, however, for some publications, the difference in cost is significant.
Understanding the principles of the publishing business is also important to save money. When a book is just released, it is quite expensive. Many stores offer discounts on pre-orders for upcoming new products, but these promotions are completely unprofitable. In a year, the same books will cost several times cheaper. It happens that a certain book is difficult to buy, since its circulation has already been sold out, and second-hand books are more expensive than the cost of a new one. In order to understand whether to buy an old book or to wait for the release of a new edition or circulation, it is useful to follow the news of the publishers. You can even ask about the plans of the publishing house itself - most of them answer quite quickly and kindly.
So, how to buy books profitably.
Decide on a store
In online stores, books are usually cheaper and for some editions the difference is more than 100%. For example, in the offline store "Chitai-Gorod" the cost of the book "Dear Friend" is 228 rubles, while in the online store of the same network the cost of a book without any discounts and promotional codes is 65 rubles. The difference is 163 rubles, i.e. 250%.
The most profitable option is not to pay for book delivery. Therefore, it is better to buy books from online stores that offer free shipping.
However, it is not worth neglecting the old classic bookstores, which have survived to this day. Their prices are quite affordable.
In addition, trips to offline stores are needed in order to fully familiarize themselves with books. Despite all the convenience of online stores, they give a rather vague idea of what a book actually looks like. This is especially true for illustrated editions - before buying them it is worth looking through and touching them.
Another reason to go to offline stores is to look for stale books. Prices in online stores are constantly moderated, while the cost of a book that ends up on the shelf does not change. It is quite possible to find books that have been in the store for 2-3 years and, accordingly, have kept the old price.
In addition to highly specialized bookstores, it is worth checking the assortment and prices in stores such as Fix Price, Auchan. There is not much choice there, but prices are very attractive.
A special expense item for English learners is books in the original language. Books in foreign online stores are sometimes much cheaper than in Russia. But buying there still turns out to be more expensive because of the delivery. It is better to familiarize yourself with the assortment of Russian stores and pick up books there. But children's books in English can be found on Aliexpress - the choice is not very large, but the cost is quite low.
As for online stores that work directly with the products of their own publishing house, they are usually unprofitable. They all have paid shipping, and prices are often even higher than in chain stores.
Select books and check their cost
In order to buy books as profitable as possible, it is worth making a list of books or writers that you want to read. In online stores, you can collect the books you are interested in in the basket. This will allow you to constantly track and compare their value at different sites. Moreover, some stores, when they see that you have filled the basket and have not made an order, send you personal discounts for the purchase.
Having assembled a basket, do not strive to buy them immediately, you need to compare prices and wait for a profitable promotion.
The cost of books is usually about the same at different sites, and it might seem like wasting time comparing prices is a triviality. But actually it is not.
Different bookstores have different markups for different categories of books. For example, children's educational books are often cheaper in one store, and expensive books costing more than 1,000 rubles. are often cheaper elsewhere. Understanding the pricing policy of the store allows you to significantly save.
Another reason for price comparisons is the ability to buy inventory balances. When a bookstore sorts a book as a stale commodity that needs to be disposed of, such a book is sold for 50-100 rubles. At the same time, in other stores this book will cost 300-400 rubles.
If the book is expensive, then it should be kept in the basket for at least a year - there is a possibility that the price of the book will fall, or another publisher will publish it in paperback.
For example, for 2 years I have been following the book "Kinglet Songbird". Initially, it was not on sale anywhere, only second-hand books for 400 rubles. At the end of 2017, one of the publishing houses published a book and it appeared in stores for 500-700 rubles. Half a year later, the book began to cost 300-500 rubles. I bought it in the summer of 2018 in Auchan for 145 rubles. Since I was tracking this book, I knew its cost in other stores and understood that it was more profitable to buy it in this store without any discounts.
The same book is published by different publishers and in different formats. If you are comfortable with small-format paperback books, it is often more profitable to buy just such books. However, paperback books are not always cheaper than hardcover books. Publishers have entire hardcover publishing series that cost significantly less than their soft counterparts. For example, I bought a paperback book "The Little Prince" with black and white illustrations "The Little Prince" by Antoine De Saint-Exupery in the Pocket Book series, thinking that this is the most optimal edition. But then I discovered that the same book in the series "Intellectual Bestseller" with hardcover and colorful illustrations costs only 60 rubles. more expensive.
Estimate the benefits of promotions and bonus programs
The main book action is the Library Night. All more or less large stores participate in it. But discounts vary greatly, and given that the base price is also significantly different, a comparative analysis has to be carried out.
The most convenient and intuitive way is to type a basket and compare the resulting prices. But it rarely happens that the same editions are available in all stores of interest.
It is better to make a basket in advance so as not to succumb to the excitement, besides, these days the sites can be buggy.
Even during promotions, it is useful to carefully study the special offers and secret words - along with the main promotion, you can get additional bonuses, interest or gifts: books, notebooks, key chains, bags, etc.
For example, during promotions, you can count on the following maximum discounts:
25% at Chitay Gorod (2-3 times a year, applies to all books): 20% discount + 5% you can get a cashback for the "Book Watch" promotion (you need to fill out an electronic questionnaire with a review of the store). On ordinary days, the maximum cashback on the bonus program is 7.5% and promotions with a 10% discount.
55% at the Labyrinth (up to 6 times a year, but does not apply to all books) - 40% discount + 15% maximum accumulated discount under the bonus program + books / notebooks / bags as a gift. There are also promotions for cashbacks up to 10% per purchase, and reviews for books are constantly paid - 20 rubles per review.
50% at Buk 24 (up to 6 times a year, applies to all books, except for gift editions) - 50% discount cannot be combined with other promotions and bonuses. Outside of this promotion, you can earn 50 rubles. on the action "Bring a friend", 20 rubles. for a review of the book and receive a maximum cashback of 10% for orders.
When you often buy books, you face a dilemma - which is more profitable, saving up a discount in one store, or looking for discounts in different stores?
You can be very pleased with the big accumulated discount on your personal card. But if you switch to buying books during promotions and start using promotional codes, the value of your personal discount will be zero. Since discounts are almost never summed up during profitable promotions, there is little or no benefit from them.
In addition, almost all stores have welcome discounts for the first order - it is better to use them together with a big discount and not get stuck on accumulating points in one store.
Buy used books
Another way to buy cheap printed books is to purchase second-hand books. But this is a rather laborious and time-consuming process, it is not suitable for everyone. Books tend to be republished - therefore, it is worth setting up a hunt for second-hand books only in those cases when the book is really rare and most likely new editions will not be on sale. If you are looking for just such a book, then you can use second-hand bookstores. A huge number of books are sold in special groups on social networks, on the websites of Avito, Yula and the like. But there is a great chance of being deceived - it turns out that a lot of people are engaged in fraud on books. Moreover, it is difficult to navigate the state of the book - for someone "like new" means 10 read, stained book with yellow pages. In addition, sending by post to Russia is a little expensive.
To assess the adequacy of the cost of the book, you need to constantly analyze this market. In Ozone, for example, you can see the following picture - a new book is sold for 67 rubles, and a second-hand edition for 699.
But some sell second-hand books very cheaply, for example, through a group in social networks I bought the book “Autobiography. Moab is my washing bowl”by Stephen Fry for 100 rubles, together with delivery by mail it turned out to be 250 rubles.
Free books
There is also an opportunity to receive printed books completely free of charge.
Firstly, on social networks (in special groups with book raffles, in groups of publishing houses and bookstores) and on Livelib, book raffles are constantly held. You can participate in them. In these drawings, in addition to being lucky, it is also important to have a full-fledged profile with personal photos on the page and other information.
Secondly, in social networks, in groups for the sale of books, sometimes you come across advertisements that books are handed over for free or sold at the cost of postage.
Third, you can participate in book exchanges. On social media, people negotiate exchanges in book groups. And the Bookcrossing shelves, where you can take someone else's and leave your books, are also widespread. They work successfully in some cities. Various companies and festivals also organize book exchange promotions.
Fourth, do not forget about the existence of libraries.
So, to save on buying books you need:
- make a wishlist in advance
- track and remember prices
- to buy as much as possible during the "Library Night" promotions and similar
- refuse to buy new books
- do not refuse to buy expensive books, but postpone the purchase: the price may change dramatically or a cheap version of the publication will appear
- with caution, but buy second-hand books
- buy books in different stores
