Amazon Kindle Lending Library: the cheapest way to read a book?

As Amazon gets ready to launch its new Kindle Lending Library service, we take a look at the other options available for getting books on a budget.

Amazon is launching a new lending library for its Kindle users which lets you take out one book a month for free, after you’ve paid the yearly membership fee.

The whole thing works a bit like a traditional library. Each month you pick from more than 200,000 books - including many best sellers - and you can download the book for free.

However, you need to factor in the price of the Kindle (from £69) and also the yearly membership to Amazon Prime (£49). 

Amazon Kindle Lending Library

A standard book costs around £7 to download, which comes to £84 a year. So there's the chance to save quite a bit of money. This only works out if you are a regular reader - if you’re not reading more than four or five books a year then it wouldn’t make sense financially.

The launch is cleverly planned for the same time the Amazon Paperwhite Kindle comes out. The six-inch model is the latest in the Kindle family to be produced.

eBooks

As soon as you’ve got your hands on an e-reader, be it anything from a Kindle to a Kobo reader, the next step is finding eBooks to read. Here you have quite a large selection of suppliers, so make sure you shop around for the best price before buying a book.

Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker Prize this year, and here is a list of the other shortlisted titles and how much it’ll cost you to get your hands on them at three of the leading eBook retailers.

Free ebooks

The internet is full of places to download free books, although the selection isn’t going to be as good as those you actually have to pay for.

The Book Depository, Amazon and Kobu all have access to free ebooks, including hundreds of much-loved classics.

The Jungle Book, Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities are just three of the 11,000 on offer from The Book Depository. Amazon offers free eBooks for the Kindle only including Dracula, Pride and Prejudice and Sherlock Holmes, while Kobo has The Scarlet Pimpernel, War and Peace and The Lost World among its free eBooks to choose from.

Project Gutenberg is also worth a look. It is a free website offering more than 40,000 free books which have been digitized by a team of volunteers. 

Traditional books

I think I am possibly one of the only people I know not to have succumbed to the eBook world and therefore I'm always on the look out for books at a bargain price. One website that's caught my eye is Read it Swap it. It's an online book-sharing forum for people who have bought a new book and are on the search for something else to read.

You find someone who wants a book that you have but don't want anymore, and if they have a title you want to read, you swap. Users are matched up and post out the books, and then can leave feedback in an eBay style after the swap is completed. 

Library lending

As the daughter of a librarian I’m all for these wonderful places where we can still borrow books whenever we choose. They’re rammed full of books to meet just about anyone’s needs and it’s totally free.

All you need to do is sign up at your local branch and you can start enjoying the services it provides. There’s also internet connection, newspapers and magazines, reference books, and DVDs and music to borrow.

Second-hand books

The internet is full of places to buy second-hand books with Amazon being the most obvious source. This is a good way to get books at a cheaper price and it’s also worth checking out Gumtree and Freecycle for collecting old books.

Your local charity shop should also be visited if you’re after a second-hand book as it’s likely to have a few although you can’t guarantee what will be on offer.

Where do you buy your books? Do you know of any great places to get a bargain? Please share your tips in the comment box below. 

More from lovemoney: 

Sky customers: make too many calls and you may be cut off

Would youo give up work if you won the lottery? 

NatWest launches market-leading easy access savings account

Ten weird and wonderful jobs that really do exist