Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer, where you answer a question and join a “hop”. The purpose is to help bloggers discover and get to know one another.
For this week’s Book Blogger Hop question, Angelica @ Paperback Princess asked:
Do you buy all your books? If yes, do you keep it all? If no, where do you source them?
Purchasing Books
For the past six months or so, I have been actively trying to decrease my book buying, especially for physical books. I just don’t have the budget or the space for them where we are currently living. Therefore, I try to save my budget and very limited shelf space for books that I have already read and absolutely loved. But of course, there are exceptions to that every now and then.
However, one exception to my general rule for myself is that I have a handful of authors that I consider my “auto-buy” authors. I love pre-ordering their work and getting the new releases in the mail! More often than not, these end up being five star reads for me.
I also purchase many ebooks that authors have given me ahead of time for free as an honest review exchange in order to support them, and be listed as a “Verified Purchase” on Amazon to help with their rankings.
Other Sources
So other than purchasing books, I source a number of my books from my local library. It seems like I almost always have a book in the queue that I am waiting for the library to let me know it’s available.
I also sign up for at least one book tour per month, which provides a free copy of a book in order for me to post a review.
I also get free books every now and again as part of my honest review exchange program, though new entries for that have been put on hold until I get through my backlog of requests sent to me over the past few years.
On that note, I also work with a few authors consistently and move my reading schedule around whenever they have a new ARC or a new release. Shout out to T.L. Branson, Tony Moyle, L.M. Schukraft, and Kevin J. Kennedy! 😀
I also get one book per month from Book Of The Month, the subscription my husband got for me. I love picking these books!
Do I keep all of my books?
I definitely don’t keep all of the books that I buy or acquire. In fact, I just recently went through my stacks and put together two bags of books to sell back to a second hand shop. I also donate books to my local library to local Goodwill every now and again.
When it all comes down to it, I just really like being able to say that my shelves are all 5 star books. So I’m constantly working on adjusting my collection.
Thanks for reading!
I can’t wait to see your answers!
When I read a new book I decide if I’d want to read it again and that determines whether I keep it or not. Those I don’t keep are traded or go to charity shops. The genres I read, and the fact that most are Indie authors, means that the library is no use for me. I try new authors using free or cheap ebooks then buy paperbacks of the best books, and paperbacks of series that I’m following, or maybe the odd treat I like the look of. But I keep all the books that I want to read again.
Yes!! The books I rate with five stars are the ones I would read again and again, and therefore keep on my shelves if it was a purchase! 🙂 I love being able to look at my book stacks all around the house and think “these are my all time favorites.” Of course, I have far too many I haven’t read yet… haha but I’m working on them!
If I bought every book I read, I’d be broke! Definitely use my library probably 95% of the time. When I do buy books, I don’t always keep them. Just ones I can see myself rereading. The rest get passed to my sister if she wants to read, or else they get donated!
ME TOO! haha <3
I’m such a book hoarder, but I get a lot of ebooks now that helps, and it’s actually why I got a kindle in the first place!
😀 I love ebooks! Especially when I snag a book I’ve been meaning to read on sale!
I also try to stop buying new books all the time. Although it’s definitely hard, I think I manage pretty good. I’ve been receiving a lot of eBooks, and ever since our baby girl is born I read a lot of eBooks. Reading on my kindle has been much much easier to combine with a baby girl.
I never throw away any books.. So I have lots of books and not nearly enough space.
It sure is hard! I have such a hard time passing up new releases that I have been super excited for. Aw, congratulations on the new addition!! I don’t think I’ve congratulated you yet! <3
I’m also a major book hoarder but I do try to get books that I plan on reading or are just good to have around for reference, etc. I buy a lot of kindle books, though. So many books so little time!
Right?! It’s so difficult, but so nice being surrounded by a nice book collection! 🙂
I don’t think I’ll be able to let go of books. Even the ones that were given to me and I don’t really like. They serve a purpose in becoming backgrounds for my Bookstagram pictures. LOL
Ha! I love that!! 🙂
I wish I had more space for books as well, but I just don’t, but it has made me think harder about the books I keep and the ones I give away. I actually get excited when I have to go through my books and take some off the shelves. There something really satisfying about letting go of books you didn’t like or that no longer interest you. Your post just made me think, “Wow, book blogging is hard.” We have to juggle so much!
I totally agree!! 🙂
P.S. I’m going to follow you using that WordPress widget, but if it looks like I unfollowed, it’s probably because instead, I had to manually put your blog in my WordPress reader again. I’ve had issues in the past with self-hosted WordPress sites not showing up on my reader.
No worries! That button is totally new to me… so I’m still not totally sure how it works. I wish I could have pulled over my Blogger Widget when I moved over 🙁
I like to keep books that I love too. My bookcase also has lots of books from college as I hate to give away those books. I have lots of books that I plan on reading but somehow it just doesn’t seem to get smaller.
I have lots of bookcases that are not full so it’s great to have the ability to add more! 🙂
I donated a lot of my literature books from college… and I’m totally kicking myself now! 🙁
I have so many books, but I’m always trying to go through and weed them. A big problem for me is that I have so many books I was gifted or bought myself that I never got around to (because of book reviews, etc.) so I don’t want to get rid of all of them before I have a chance to read them…though I have gotten rid of some that just don’t interest me anymore, etc. So yeah, I have lots of books but I try and get rid of what I can, when I can. And I definitely don’t buy all my books. I still get review books here and there and my library is fantastic!
-Lauren
Same here! That’s why my big goal for 2019 is to read through the books I own 🙂 It’s going really well so far!
I buy almost all of my books but have been limiting my buying so I can read the ones I already own first. And I don’t keep all of the books that I own either! I giveaway books I didn’t enjoy, usually 2 or 1 star ratings.
😀