Kindles are wonderful toys, and they allow you to take your whole library with you wherever you go. However, the Kindle can be a temptation for impulse buyers. Most Kindle models feature Wi-Fi or 3G that allows you to easily go online nearly anywhere to search for books and magazines. With simple ordering that allows you to quickly download e-books and start reading them, you might soon find yourself with a very expansive and expensive library.
While it is true that most e-books are cheaper than their printed counterparts, they can still be fairly expensive, especially if you find yourself buying more than one book a week, or you find yourself consistently purchasing new titles, which tend to be more expensive. If this sounds like you, there are a few things that you can do to help reduce your Kindle spending.
Free Books
A variety of books that are offered on the Kindle are actually free. For the most part these books are older, classics that have been in print for a very long time. Little Women, for example, can be downloaded for free. Classics are not the only type of free books available, and you can find hundreds of options, including romances, business related books, and more. In some cases, they might not be the highest quality read but searching through them and “purchasing” them can help stave off your impulsive buying habit.
Cheap Books
If you like downloading books for your Kindle, you should always sort by price. A wide variety of books are available online for $2.99 or less. Many new authors decide to go the e-book route, and you can spend your time weeding out the good authors from the bad. For only $0.99, you can have the latest romance, mystery, or fiction novel. Again, these books might not be works of art, but if you are looking for a light, entertaining read, you can generally find it for under $3.00.
Borrow Books from Friends
Amazon also offers a borrow feature where you can borrow books from other Kindle users. Not all e-books are available for lending, but all you have to do is check the product details to see whether or not lending is enabled. Once you lend a book, you cannot read it, but the borrower will have 14 days to read it before the book is “returned.” To lend a book, all you have to do is go online to the “Manage Your Kindle” page on Amazon, click the “Loan this Title” link on the Actions menu, and enter your recipient’s name and email address.
Instead of buying a bunch of titles and spending a lot of money, you can simply loan them out to your friends and family. This is a great option for a family that has multiple Kindles. For example, you can loan your child a certain book without giving them access to your Kindle, which contains books with adult themes.
While Kindles are very useful and fun tools, they can tempt you to spend more money than you should. Some people end up buying and downloading more books than they will read in the next couple of years. However, by following these three steps, you can enjoy your Kindle without breaking the bank.
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Do you have a Kindle? Do you find yourself making impulses purchases? Tell us how you use your Kindle.
I don’t have a kindle, but it looks like a great device for traveling. I like regular books and our library system is really good.
Joe.. most library lets you download e-books now.. so the Kindle would be perfect.
If you go with cheap books, make sure you join a site like GoodReads to scroll through a few reviews first. There are a TON of books that are being sold cheap because the authors weren’t good enough to get a real book contract.
Good call Joe. Good Reads is a great place for reviews and insight.
ha.. I just made this point too
I have a kindle fire and the kindle apparently for my andriod phone. I will have to look into the free books! So far the only ones I bought was the hunger games trilogy for myself and my girlfriend to share.
How do you like reading on the kindle?
I have a Kindle and I lofe it! I also have the Kindle application on my iPad, on my PC and…well, you name it. And you are right – it is very easy to buy books aspecially using the ‘one click’ facility. Sharing is messy – John, keep saying that Kindle is a ‘virus in your wallet’ just like iTunes.
That’s the problem with e-readers. it’s so easy to buy books now.. it actually took effort before.
Sometimes I feel behind on the times… i don’t have kindle (which is weird since I have my book published on kindle) and I still don’t have a tablet of any kind. But I do think with free books and inexpensive books you can download the Kindle is not bad thing to own. I enjoy reading. But sometimes I prefer to have a book in my hand. 😉
Drop everything and go get a ipad or kindle right now.. do not pass go :-).
My wife and I take ebooks out of the library. There really is no reason to buy ebooks for a Kindle.
The only reason I can think of is you want a new release.
I’m obsessed with the kindle app on my computer. I just got a netbook and have been reading books on it!!! My mom’s also on my account, so I read her downloads too 🙂
I find it harder to read books on the computer than I do my tablet.. hmm that’s odd since I’m on the computer a significant amount of hours per day..
nice post..
i love my kindle.. and the library is definitely the way to go.. our library’s kindle selection now has 20,000 books, which is no small amount. they only loan out a certain amount of copies of any given book at a time– so for some of the more popular titles, you may need to wait a week or two. but that doesn’t change its awesomeness.
i also subscribed to amazon’s “deal of the day” emails, where they offer one book for a super-cheap price (usually $2-$3) each day..
Great heads up on amazon deal.. wow!
The ability to Loan books is fantastic – funny how it is not something Amazon is quick to advertise 😉
True. You would think they would offer a sign out service.
I love my Kindle but usually restrict my spending to books that are less than $10. I can’t bring myself to spend more unless I really want to read the latest title (which is rare). I always peruse the free/under $3 books sections of the Amazon bookstore, but I didn’t realize lending titles was so easy. Thanks for the tip!