Back to School 2023 and How I Buy Books This Year

It’s back to school time for families everywhere. However your family does school, back to school probably means buying some books.

That idea got me thinking about an annual post about “How I Buy Books”.

Why talk about this topic once a year?

Well, if you’re like me, you probably have some regular sources you can count on to buy books for your kids.

For me in the past those sources have included:

• Borders and Barnes & Noble books stores (Borders eventually closed down)
• Amazon
• Scholastic

The theme with that list is every where I was buying my books was a big box store – whether brick-and-mortar, or online.

And … while I occasionally went into independent book stores, the truth is I always paid full price for my books.

So my past book buying experience was limited – to four sources + always paying full price.

I thought I was in good shape; accessing lots of good books and seeing everything that was available.

But it turns out I was wrong about that. Read on …

Expanding the Options for Where to Buy Books

My buying experiences have expanded significantly since that time.

I have really discovered some amazing stuff along the journey.

From book sales to libraries, fundraisers, sharing boxes, thrift stores, consignment stores, and lots more independent book stores or small businesses selling books.

I still pay full price sometimes. Much of the time I pay less.

I like paying less because I can acquire more books for my money, and more books leads to more discover of stories, authors, illustrators, and publishers.

But the biggest change has been that I now buy my books from very different sources than those I previously used.

Not just that I buy from all these new sources, but how by doing so my world of books has expanded VASTLY.

This practice of diversifying where I buy books has paid some big dividends. The financial savings I realize are nice, but the really important change has been the vast diversity of books I now access.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but by limiting my purchases to mostly new books, and by limiting myself to the big book sources – I was actually reducing the variety of books I was exposed to.

I would not have thought that at the time!

I really thought that Amazon was delivering me to ALL the new books I could purchase. That turned out to not be the case.

And so, I’ve changed my buying habits. It’s been for the better. I have discovered SO MANY WONDERFUL books with this new approach.

I don’t want to keep these sources a secret; I want to share them with you!

The How-I-Buy-Books-This-Year List!

Here’s my personal back-to-school list of places to buy books!

These are the places I’m buying books from for this school year and for all my reading interests.

My hope is that this list will open up a vast new universe of book adventures for you and your family!

1. Bookshop.org – When I really want a new book, I’ve turned to Bookshop.org for these purchases. Because my purchase directly benefits independent books stores! I can make a difference with each book I buy and help maintain all the benefits that independent book stores make possible for us.
2. Thriftbooks.com – My go-to place for used books. It’s funny how I used to turn my nose up at used books and now I know that the real gold in reading is in those used books. Go ahead and give it a try :). Thriftbooks.com!
3. Libraries! Over the last year we’ve visited more than 20 libraries and the for-sale shelf at each library is so different! Some libraries even have free books! Start with your local library. Expand to all the libraries in your county system. Visit libraries when you travel. Keep an eye out for private libraries. Libraries are everywhere!
4. The Good and the Beautiful – The Good and the Beautiful is a company that produces homeschool curriculum. They also publish new fiction and non-fiction books, as well as republished vintage titles. They have some tremendous gems; I highly recommend them for brick-and-mortar as well as homeschool families!
5. Tuttle Twins – At first I was not a fan, but my child has gobbled up their books and we his parents have learned a lot as well! TuttleTwins.com.
6. My local Goodwill, Salvation Army and other independent thrift stores and consignment stores.
7. Authors I meet – This is a thing for me. If I meet an author through the course of my daily life, I make a point to buy their book. These books are sometimes amazing, and sometimes not. But I am all in on supporting these writers. I admire how hard they work to get their book printed, and I admire their courage to put their book out there in the real world.

That’s my list! What do you think?

If this list helps you please let me know – that nice feedback is always good to hear. Likewise if you have ideas for places you like to buy books – I’d love to hear about them. Send me a message!

Tune in this time next year when I will update the list for Back to School 2024!

Happy Reading!

Cheers,

Sarah