For heavy book readers

[jbcohen]

I am a rather voracious book reader in the past and as such I have faced a few challenges.  How to feed my vast appetite for books without: 1) breaking the bank; 2) breaking the book shelves in my basement with weight.  How have other voracious readers managed these two twin challenges?  Here is how I have done it 1) Buying the majority of my books in electronic format, limits the weight on the shelves and; 2) Subscribing to Harlequin's Golden Eagle Subscriber service (typically $3 for each book, which are published at a rate of three per month) and 2) My newest buying books in bundles from BAEN (typically around $2.50 to $3 each at a rate of seven a month).

[Sean Patrick Fox]

I too have switched almost entire to eBooks. I still have about 40 physical books that I've held onto, but that's from a collection of 150+. The others I sold or donated. I limit my spending by using the library, borrowing books from friends, and buying cheap used copies from Amazon. It seems to be working out for me.

Although my books are currently sitting in cardboard boxes. I really need to build or buy a bookcase.

[BTackitt]

ebooks, indies, gutenberg.org, amazon freebies, feedbooks.net, manybooks.com, the Baen free library..

[Atunah]

My solution? Don't have any other expensive hobbies. 

Almost all books I buy are now in ebook format. I only have one large bookshelf in my place and that is it. I am a heavy reader. But I still want to read what I want to read.
First I supplement with library lending. Once we could do that with the Kindle, I made a wishlist on the libraries of books I wanted to read and I am going through them one by one.

Then all year round I watch out for publisher sales. I have been able to get a lot of books that are usually 7.99 for 1.99, 2.99 and sometimes even .99. I basically stock up on those sales whenever they come up. For books I am interested in of course.

I also have been getting a lot of backlist stuff. Out of print books being re released by either author or small publishers. Most of the time these are 2.99-5.99.

[jbcohen]

Troubble with the library is this, there slogan should be: what ever you want we don't have it - what ever you don't want we got.  Will checkout feedbooks and manybooks.

[Todd Trumpet]

I feel like I'm becoming the evangelist of cheap paper books, but at the risk of repeating myself, here are a few tips:

1.  Library sales:  My local library not only has an in-house used book store, but holds a big sale every other month to reduce the volume of donations they receive - a huge and (in the short term, at least) growing amount as the advent of eReaders is encouraging many people to donate all or a portion of their personal libraries.  Prices?  Hardcover = $1.  Trade paperback = $0.75.  Mass market paperback = $0.50.  I regularly find recent releases and, of course, the low prices invite broadening one's sampling of new authors and/or genres.

2.  Thrift Stores:  Goodwill, Salvation Army, Out Of The Closet - books here are a little more pricey, almost (OMG!) twice what you'd pay at a library sale, but the shelves are always stacked.  People are always donating books, especially when they move.  Which brings me to:

3.  Garage/Yard Sales:  These can be the cheapest of all, especially if the sellers are moving.  Books for $0.25 or even $0.10 are not uncommon and, later in the day, I've found folks selling by the bag and box and sometimes, as the saying goes, they literally can't give them away.

There are also swap meets, estate sales, and charity events - but you get the idea.

That addresses the "break the bank" part of your question.

As for "breaking the shelves", notice that many of the benefactors ultimately supplying these cheap books (through intermediaries) are doing so via "donations".  Like me, you might want to consider being at both ends of this "circle of life".

I donated most of my paper book library a couple years ago, more than 800 books.  It boils down to this:  How many of these books will you ever actually reread?  If you're keeping them around for decoration (and many people do), that's one thing and I understand.  But if you really have a weight/space problem, you need to consider why you're holding on to so many books.  I'd be willing to bet that there are only a tiny fraction that you think you're ever going to revisit - let alone actually revisit.

Get rid of the rest.  It's freeing.  Both physically and psychologically.

And if you ever really, really begin to miss one of your books, don't worry.  The book itself is not going to go out of existence.  You can always find another copy.  In fact, if you're like me...

...you might even rediscover a few of your own donations being sold to the public for a $1!

Todd

[Lursa (aka 9MMare)]

"Heavy?"

I thought you meant weight, not amount.

I do find the light weight of my K3 as it's finest feature.

[Eliza Baum]

I have a priority list in my head that changes by the minute sometimes.

For books I MUST read and must read NOW--

1) Check the library's ebooks at Overdrive.
2) If I happen to be at work (i.e. not in a reading place yet), then I'll check to see if any of the library branches that are convenient (3 of them) have it.
3) Buy ebook

For books I definitely want to read sometime--

1) Grab used paperback at local used bookstore, library sale, garage sale, etc.
2) Watch for sales/freebies on ebooks
3) Borrow from friends (only last because I have to remember to give them back when I'm eventually done)

And then, of course, there are the books that randomly grab my attention, and those could be from anywhere. If I see a full-priced book at B&N or BAM, I'll usually just add it to my amazon wish list if I don't intend to read it right away. I will go ahead and buy sale books that are cheaper than ebooks (check that on my phone). Used bookstores are pretty much free rein.

I always have a large reserve of books on hand, so I can't help you with breaking the shelves. 4 large bookcases, most shelves double stacked. It helps with not breaking the bank, though, because I buy books cheap, and having a large reserve means I always have used bookstore trade!

[acellis]

The ebook revolution has certainly helped in this respect!

[mistyd107]

1. I Solely read Kindle format now
2. I limit myself to a set amount of amazon gift card each month and once that is gone I force myself to wait until the next month unless I have giftcards that I have earned from reward programs I belong to.

[Brad Murgen]

As for "breaking the shelves", notice that many of the benefactors ultimately supplying these cheap books (through intermediaries) are doing so via "donations".  Like me, you might want to consider being at both ends of this "circle of life".

I donated most of my paper book library a couple years ago, more than 800 books.  It boils down to this:  How many of these books will you ever actually reread?  If you're keeping them around for decoration (and many people do), that's one thing and I understand.  But if you really have a weight/space problem, you need to consider why you're holding on to so many books.  I'd be willing to bet that there are only a tiny fraction that you think you're ever going to revisit - let alone actually revisit.

Get rid of the rest.  It's freeing.  Both physically and psychologically.

I donated around 600 books last year when I was preparing to move across the country.  In the end my choice came down to what you said... virtually all of those books I would never re-read.  They were just taking up space.  It was actually quite liberating to drop off boxes and boxes of books.

Recently I've been borrowing some books from the library.  There's a good library system where I live and I've been able to find some good stuff there.  I'd buy more eBooks, but many I'm interested in are being sold for more than a paperback copy... so I've just been watching them for sales/price drops.  Plenty of other things to read in the meantime.

[BTackitt]

I have donated/sold more than 2,000 books in the last 2 years... not that you can tell by looking at our bookshelves & boxes of books. Four in our home are heavy readers, reading 100+ books a year, 2 of us are closer to 300/year, with sometimes converging tastes between us, so our shelves are ALWAYS overloaded, stacked 3 rows deep, 2 rows high per shelf, in paperbacks. Hardbacks get shelved as they fit.

[ciscokid]

Freebies. I have gotten a lot of good books this way. Yeah, some of them are terrible, but if you check the reviews before you click you can eliminate a lot of those.  I also pick up used library books from our local bookstore which does a big business in used library books. Most are bestsellers from the last year or two and being sold 2/5.99. Sometimes less than that. Our local museum has a huge book sale every fall and I have gotten some good ones there. 

[GerrieFerrisFinger]

"Heavy?"

I thought you meant weight, not amount.

I do find the light weight of my K3 as it's finest feature.

I'm a recent convert to reading ebooks, although I write them. I love, love, love my Kindle Fire. Took it on a trip. 100 books to choose from.
A happy reader without the book bag.
 

[Steverino]

First, I have mastered my local library's website's "interlibrary loan" page.  That will get me access to almost anything in print... eventually.

Second, while I'm waiting, I read the stuff I heard about here on KB and downloaded.

[jbcohen]

I wish the selection at my local library was as good as some of you all.

[Adonna]

Once I purchased my kindle, I sold most of my books (not my favorites) at a yard sale and donated the rest. 
Yard sales are the best for purchasing but there are usually less sales then the weather gets colder.  I've found great books in the clearance/bargain section of Barnes & Nobles.

I love my kindle so most of my purchases are e-books under $5.

[Harry Shannon]

Hundreds of books on my Kindle. I still buy hardcover books but only my favorite authors and special editions now. No more room!

[Kenton Crowther]

The Kindle is a godsend for Dickens and other authors whose books often appear as heavy editions with small print.  Dumas too--The Count of Monte Cristo in particular.  You can add Gibbon as well, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and lots of history books such as Herodotus, Livy, Plutarch.  Now you can have them all in large print in small compass. For those of retiring age who have to peer pretty close at many forms of type, the Kindle is a real blast. Not incidentally, a lot of these classics can as we know be had for free.

[jbcohen]

Hundreds of books on your kindle harry wow and I thought I have a lot on my kindle.  I guess I am somewhat of an amateur when it comes to putting together large to be read loads. 

[BTackitt]

Hundreds of books on your kindle harry wow and I thought I have a lot on my kindle.  I guess I am somewhat of an amateur when it comes to putting together large to be read loads. 

If you haven't added some of Harry Shannon's books to your TBR, there are plenty to chose from. He's a great writer.

[TLH]

For me, it's definitely the ebook that's help me to read more. Before I would look for sales in bookstore but then i got used to buying books on Amazon. I did that until I bought my kindle. ebooks are just cheaper than paperbacks and hardcovers. Before I bought a Kindle, I read about fifteen books a year. I bought my Kindle last year and read fifty books. That was a first for me. I don't miss the added weight of a book in my backpack.

[jbcohen]

Most electronic books cost less then the dead wood counterparts but some will cost more then their printed brethren.  I have encountered a few where the electronic book costs the same as the dead wood book does.  So you really can't make any sort of generalization here.  The only thing that you can say about electronic books is that having an electronic reader as we do on this forum conveys access to a world of low cost and free books that would not be otherwise available to you if you stuck to the printed books.  Although most of us here at kindle books tend to read a combination of printed and electronic books, I know I do.  I deal with one company called Golden Eagle which publishes the Mack Bolan books - for more information see their web site at readgoldeagel.blogspot.com - trouble with the company is that they have not yet climbed aboard the electronic book revolution as yet, they publish exclusively in printed format only.  Funny thing is that they are owned by Harlequin books which publishes extensively in electronic form.  So in closing you need to be careful with electronic books that you don't get over charged for them.

[pahiker]

• Kindle free books from amazon.
  Library e-books.

[Ms T]

I read a lot of books. My favorites are stored in an off-site facility, and I use micro-SD cards to organize my e-book collection. My Nook color makes this very easy to do since I separate by genre and have a master list.

I still buy physical books at yard sales, thrift stores, clearance bins and Half-Price books. I have a lot of nieces and nephews who I encourage to read so we make visiting the bookstore for a purchase a priority whenever they come to visit.