Find Cheap Ebooks You Actually Want – Here’s How!

4
 Minute Read
Updated: 
June 21, 2023
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I remember trying to justify to myself that buying a Kindle over time would “pay for itself”, as I would save a fortune on buying ebooks as they will be much cheaper than an actual physical book.

However, when it came to buying them, I was in for a surprise.

In most cases the digital ebook format was only slightly less or at the same price of the paperback book (and in few cases were more expensive!).

So, today I will show you how to find cheap ebooks you will actually want to read and enjoy. I also have tips for Kindle readers to purchase books outside from the Kindle store (don’t worry it’s completely legit!)

Why are ebooks so expensive?

There are a few reasons why some ebooks are more expensive than physical books:

  1. New title releases from popular authors are generally in high demand and may be priced on par or higher than regular books.
  2. Ebooks may be subject to additional digital production costs.
  3. Publishers may set the price of an ebook based on market demand and value of the author work.
  4. Digital content is subject to other taxes and fees, which may increase the overall price.

Seeking opportunity

There will be times where publishers will want to promote specific authors work. This may be to attract an audience to a series of books from the same author.

The best way to do this is to reduce the price of one of the books, which provided the story is engaging enough, it may convince the reader to purchase the rest of the series.

Of course, some authors may want to increase their sales for a short period, so they may agree with their publisher to reduce the price.

A Thrift-Seekers Guide to finding Cheap eBooks

 

1. Cheap & Free Best Sellers

One effective way to find discounted ebooks is to navigate to Kindle’s Best Seller list.

First, we head over to Amazon and select Kindle Books on the menu-bar.

On the sidebar in Popular Feature we are going to select Kindle Best Sellers as I want to choose from the most popular books available.

From there, you can browse the Top 100 Paid list to find popular titles at a lower price. Be sure to select a category you’re interested in from the list from the left-hand sidebar, this will list the Top 100 Paid ebooks for that category.

Personally, I prefer to scroll down the list as you can tell if the price has been discounted or not just by how cheap it currently is.

Do you know? 💡
If you are a Prime Member, you may notice that some of the books are priced at $0.00. This means you can download and read the book for free, for as long as you have your Prime membership.

If you’re a bargain hunter looking for an even better deal, the site has a Top 100 Free ebooks which you can also filter to a subject you’re interested in.

2. Advance Search Method

This method is similar to the previous one but really niches into specific genres of books.

As before, we want to be on the Kindle Store homepage.

Using the search bar above we’re going to search for a specific author. Colleen Hoover is a very popular author with vast collection of work, so we’ll use this authors name.

This should now display results for all books written by Colleen Hoover.

Currently the search result is sorted by Featured, which generally refers to the authors most popular books. As you can see searching this way highlights the original price and new discounted price.

It is possible to sort by the lowest price. To do this we select the Sort By drop-down menu and select “Low to High”.

The problem with this is that you may end up with titles from authors other than Colleen Hoover that includes her name in the title.

I prefer to simply scroll though the featured list and pick out any within my price range.

3. Search though Recommendations.

Amazon aims to present users with book recommendations that they believe you will like.

However, I have found this to be hit and miss, but it is always worth taking a peek to see what is on offer.

Fortunately, this method can be done directly on your Kindle device. If you have a BOOX, Kobo or similar ereader, you can check out their recommendations on your device.

On the Kindle home screen, scroll down to Based on Your Reading where you will find a carousel of books that are similar to those you have read previously.

4. Try looking for ebook deals on other websites

There are of course other ebook stores to hunt around for bargains other than Amazon.

Even Kindle owners can now buy ebooks outside of the Amazon ecosystem!

For more details on this, see how Kindle finally supports epub format which is the standard format for most ebooks.

Some ebook stores that we recommend include:

  1. Kobo
  2. Ebooks.com
  3. Hive
  4. Apple Books

For a full list, check out our Top 10 online stores to buy ebooks.

5. Take Advantage of Amazon Offers

Amazon regularly has several money saving offers for customers to benefit from. This allows you to save on new and popular ebook titles that are not normally on offer.

Two of the most popular offers include:

Amazon Reload

Amazon will give you $10 credit when you purchase $50 gift cards for Amazon, Gap, Apple, Lowes and more.

So, if you are a frequent customer of any of these companies it may be prudent to pay up front to receive a free $10, which you can use towards an ebook.

Amazon credit can also be used multiple times. So if you purchase a $4.99 ebook, you will still have $5.01 credit available to you.  

Amazon App Offer

Customers that download and sign-in to the Amazon app for the first time can receive $15 off their first $25 order made via the app.

Be sure to read all of the T&C’s for all the offers discussed in this article to ensure you qualify for each promotion.

$10 off Amazon Hub Pickup

I know this offer will not apply to ebooks specifically. But if you have a title that is only available in paperback or hardback, thiss deal is for you!

If you’re willing to collect am item from your local hub locker, Amazon is offering customers $10 off an order of $20 or more for first-time Amazon Hub users.

Final Thoughts

As you can see there are several ways for you to search for ebook offers in any given subject.

I find using advance search terms on the top search bar to be the quickest and most effective way to find offers I actually want.

For those of you that have a specific book that is not on offer, there are a few discounts I mentioned that will give you a great saving.

If you have any more money saving tips, please leave them in the comments section.

audible offer trial
Dave is our resident tech expert with a 25-year track record as a hardware design consultant and specializes in E-ink and battery management design. He holds a bachelor’s degree BEng in Electronic Engineering and is a member of the IET,
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