Wanting to get back into reading?

Are you wanting to get back into reading again? Maybe you have been reading and are finding the cost of books to be adding up, or maybe you just want to know how I read.

Reading Can Be Expensive!

Let’s be honest, the price to create a book is not cheap. It takes a team – from the author to the editor to the cover designer, and don’t get me started on marketing. It is expensive to ship books too, hence why they are $15-$35 on average for one. My typical Barnes and Noble trip ended up around $80 and I never got all the books I wanted (I wanted the whole store’s inventory though, so I might have been being slightly unrealistic?).

How I read affordably:

Library loans (ebooks mainly)
- Initially this was my main reading method as I was a major Freida McFadden fan (still am) but I couldn’t find a lot of Kindle Unlimited books that I enjoyed outside of her. I did not know what genres or writing style I even liked (2021 ish).
Kindle ereader
- I know the initial cost is not cheap, and the Kindle Unlimited subscription is over $10 monthly, but compared to going to the bookstore daily, its a steal. I have the paperwhite and I like it. I have not heard good things about the more expensive or colorful ones. I am also a bare bones tech person always, I am a buttons lady. Turn all the automatic settings off and give me proper cords and buttons, I do not enjoy the high tech things. They tend to glitch on me and I get impatient and I do not enjoy devices with more features than I feel are needed.
- There is no other book subscription service that gives you access to as many books.
- I have tried Kobo plus, I have tried all of them, Kindle Unlimited is the most affordable.
eARCS (I request ARCs via Net Galley usually and I do this in exchange for an honest review)

If you look at my table right now, I have 4 books ready to go in my physical pile, all sci fi and fantasy. Then I have at least 10 ARCs (many are not due until later in the year) that are varying genres that I love.

Hint: if you go into a bookstore, buy a few books, then see what is on the shelf and request the book from your library! You can read it for free this way!

I still spend around $80-100 monthly on books, but this is my main hobby and the main thing I spend money on outside of basic needs. At the end of the day, books are expensive, but you get to keep them forever.