Here are 5 ways to get hold of pricey books without spending much

All bookworms pleas raise your hands. If you are bouncing up and down in your seat yelling "me! Me!" then you are at the right place.

We have all encountered that situation where you absolutely need to buy that perfect book, but find yourself wincing at the prices at the bookstore. Fret not, here are some solid tips on how to maintain your book-reading habit with less damage to your pockets.

1.Switch to second-hand books: Buying second-hand books rather than brand-new ones can be a good way of staying within your budget. Secondhand bookstores often sell books at almost half the retail price and can help readers get novels at a cheaper price. If there is no secondhand book store close to where you live, try online secondhand book stores. Some of them function as listing websites that connect buyers and sellers (like versions of OLX and Quikr made for books), while others work as online bookstores where you can directly buy books from them (like an Amazon or a Flipkart made for secondhand books). Some of these sites are given below:

studentdesk.in: mostly has a collection of college-related textbooks and reference books. It is a listing website.

bookchor.com: an online bookstore styled similar to Amazon and Flipcart. It sells everything from best sellers to academic books.

bx-zone: This is again a listing website, so the kind of books they have depends on what other people are selling at the moment.

sapnaonline.com: A bookstore-style site.

Amazon used books: Amazon has a section for used books as well. Not all books have a used version available, however.

Tip: If you are a little wary of using lesser-known sites, place a cash on delivery order.

2. Buy books online rather than from bookstores: Online stores such as Amazon and Flipcart offer books at a considerably lower rate than bookstores. E-commerce merchants also have large sales, and books and book-related paraphernalia are available at considerably discounted rates.

Tip: Watch out for books of the month in Amazon, where a certain list of books are available at as much as 80% discounts.

3. Switch to ebooks and audiobooks: E-books and audiobooks are usually available at considerably lower rates than their hardcopy counterparts. Nowadays, even Indian authors and publishers have begun to publish their books in Kindle format. Kindle is the format in which e-books bought and sold on Amazon appear. You don’t necessarily need an e-reader in order to read ebooks. If you have a smartphone or laptop, you can download the Kindle app for free onto your devices and read novels from there. Thus, you can read your favorite books on your laptops, tablets, and even your phones. If you are an avid reader, the basic version of the Kindle e-reader is a good investment indeed, since all subsequent e-book purchases cost considerably lower.

Tip: Amazon Prime users can now avail of Prime Reading to get access to hundreds of books at no additional cost.

4. Enter giveaways: Many book-related blogs frequently post giveaways and challenges you can take part in to win a copy of a particular book. While entering giveaways, however, a strong social media presence is advisable.

Tip: If you yourself are a book blogger or bookstagrammer (book-related Instagram accounts are called bookstagrams), and have a strong following, you can request copies of books and other merchandise for review. Make sure that you post reviews promptly.

5. Take a library membership: If you live in a country or area with a library, they are a great way to read new or backlist novels without spending a dime. This is a great utility for bookworms to use if they want to try out novels that they aren’t sure about because it’s all free. In my experience, libraries also offer a better collection of local language books than most bookstores.

Tip: reading popular books from the library and buying rare books by some other method mentioned above can be a great way to stay within your book budget.