The start of a new semester brings the need for new textbooks. The bad news is that you can expect to be hit with a hefty price tag. The good news is that you can sizably cut your textbook bill. It pays to be resourceful. I have been able to masterfully keep my textbook bill at $150 or less during the past few years. Now I’m feeling generous and will share my textbook penny-pinching secrets with you.
Textbooks for free:
• Useless books – Ask former students whether the professor actually makes use of the book. In many classes, the book is just a back-up resource and, as long as you come to lectures and/or have a good study buddy, the book is unnecessary. In that case, don’t get the book and save yourself some bucks.\n• IU Library or interlibrary loan – Does the professor only use the book sporadically? If so, you might want to search the book in IUCAT and borrow it for the time that the book is used in class. For example, when in English and literature classes you are assigned to read a novel, you will only need to read it during the specific period of time that it’s being discussed. You won’t need it for the rest of the semester; it will only be sitting on a shelf gathering dust. If the book is not available through IU libraries, you can always order it for free through the IU interlibrary loan service.\n• Netlibrary, Google Books, Project Gutenberg and other book databases – When copyrights expire, books become public domain. Thus, many classics are available for free online, where you can read them or print them using your complimentary print quota. Also, keep in mind that even current books might be available to you online for free. Check out the little-known netLibrary, offered to you through the IU library. It has thousands of full-version books online, such as The Harvard Business Review and the “For Dummies” series.\n• PinkMonkey and SparkNotes – Sometimes the professor doesn’t expect you to go in depth in a particular book. If the general idea of a book is all you need, these are the places to check out. They have nice online summaries on many popular and classical books.\n• Textbooks on reserve – Many times, professors place a copy of the textbook on reserve in the library. The book can’t be taken out of the library and you can only read it for a limited number of hours but this provides you with an incentive to get the reading done fast and makes you do so in a quiet and studious environment with fewer distractions.
Textbooks for cheap:
If realize you do need to buy a book, search the Internet for international editions. These are considerably cheaper than the used version of the U.S. editions. Also, ask the professor whether it is really important to have the latest edition. Getting an older edition can save you a bundle.\nDon’t overlook Onestart classified ads and Facebook Marketplace. Buying used books from fellow students is cheaper than buying from the bookstore. Finally, go to the Bigwords search engine and enter the ISBN codes of all the books that you still need. The clever Uberbot will calculate the best price for all of your books from everywhere on the Web, including shipping, to guarantee you the lowest price.
