OpinionMom

Buying used books is a great way to save money. (Of course, using the library is even cheaper.) However, if you’re a bibliophile (like I am), then you probably can’t own too many books.

Of course, you can always go to your favorite bookstore and pay anywhere from $8 to $30 for a brand-new book. Or, you can do what we do and buy used books.

If you are fortunate enough to live near a good used bookstore (ours is Half-Price Books), you can pick up some pretty good deals. Last weekend we bought eight books for only $50. Brand-new, the books would have retailed over $160.

(They were titles we wanted, too. My picks were Stephen King On Writing, Author 101 Bestselling Book Proposals, and Marketing to the Social Web.)

What types of things are you like to find at a used bookstore? You can buy anything from classics, to children’s books, to last year’s bestsellers.

Here are five tips for getting the most for your money from a used bookstore:

1. Pay attention to the topic and date. A book about Shakespeare from the 1970s is probably still useful. On the other hand, a book about computers from the 1970s is probably of no value or of limited value.
2. Classic authors are usually timeless and you can find good values on the classics at most used bookstores. Charles Dickens is Charles Dickens, whether the book was published in 1967 or 2007.
3. If you are buying a nonfiction book, scan the table of contents to discover if the material inside will really be useful to you.
4. Scan children’s book to make sure the topic is appropriate and the pages are in correctly. Sometimes there’s a reason that the books were turned in. (We once bought a picture book with pages missing from the middle.)
5. Cookbooks can be a great buy at a used bookstore.

Enjoy your new books!

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.