I’ve always been a book hoarder. My bookshelves constantly overflow, despite several promises to myself to not buy any more until I’ve read at least half of the books I own. Over the past few months, I’ve somehow managed to hoard as many e-books as physical ones. Among those are books by authors I love, books recommended by friends, and then just books that were free or on sale that it seemed a waste to not pick them up. It’s the digital equivalent of visiting a second-hand bookshop and buying three massive hardbound volumes on Hegel’s philosophies just because they were priced at £5 all together despite hating what little you know of Hegel from that one philosophy class you took in college (yes, that really happened, and no, I will not be taking any questions). 

So yes, books you find for a bargain are seductive. E-books more so, because 200 books on a little tablet are so much easier to lug around. The question now is how to hunt down these books. The three main websites I use to track various deals around the internet are bookbub, kindofbook, and freebooksy.

Bookbub

The very best of the lot, in my opinion. Although Bookbub is a US-based website, it does work for the UK, Canada, and Australia as well. There are a lot of popular books floating around on the site. I find it best to follow your favourite authors (or authors whose books you do want to read) and sign up for instant alerts the moment their books go on sale. I did not know Mark Gatiss wrote books until I came across his author page here. Bookbub scours for discounts on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play, Nook, as well as Rakuten Kobo. 

KindofBook

KindofBook focuses on Kindle books, both free and discounted ones. The website currently caters to the US, UK, and Germany markets. There are some well-known titles that appear here, but there are several lesser-known authors featured as well. The mix can be helpful for readers to discover new authors similar to the ones they love. I love cosy mysteries, and Homicide in Hardcover sounds right up my alley.

Freebooksy

Freebooksy’s selection of books leans heavily towards lesser-known authors. Readers who are fans of specific genres and read everything in it indiscriminately will find this website perfect. Plus, every book available on this website is free. Freebooksy displays deals from Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play, Nook, and Rakuten Kobo, though they are primarily focused on Kindle promotions. There are so many books linked on this website that I’ve had to force myself to not just blindly download every single one I see. But I couldn’t say no to Bodies, Baddies and a Crabby Tabby. It’s on my TBR just for that title. And the cat on the cover.

The one thing to keep in mind though is a lot of the promotions are available for a limited time only (some even expiring within a day). All three websites do offer the option of receiving daily email updates of the best deals in your preferred genres so you don’t miss out. To be honest though, it’s almost a habit now to check what’s new on these sites every day along with my morning coffee. So there you have it. Three more websites on the internet you can shop at while procrastinating work. Except this time, it will all be within budget.