How to get books for free?
Hey y'all!
I am back with another bookish post!
This one is probably every reader's favourite question, especially people who love to read a lot and can't afford to buy books as often. But don't you worry, I am here to help you out with it!
The very first step in getting free books is making a Bookstagram account to make it easier for you to get books. Don't know what it is? Check out my 'What is a Bookstagram?' post to know all about it. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Anyway, I read a lot, sometimes I even end up finishing up a book in a day and my broke ass cannot afford to buy so many books all the time. Everyone needs free books every now and then, and the ways to get them that I am going to be mentioning to you are not only going to benefit you but they will also benefit the authors! I mean we all know nothing is free in the world so you gotta do a lil work to get free books!
11 ways to get free books:
1. Join NetGalley
If you don't know what NetGalley is, it's a website that provides ARC's for you to read and review them before the books are released to the public. You can request ARC's depending on your choice. Yes, you also have to review them in return and they accept or decline your request depending on some of their rules. You need to maintain a score so make sure you post the reviews before the deadline! It's a great place for author's, publishers and readers.
To join NetGalley or for more information, check out their website netgalley.com
2. Join ARC teams for authors
Almost every author nowadays has their own ARC team to promote their books. You can find a post about it on either their page or find a link in their bio if they are accepting more people into their team. You can also DM an author to ask for an ARC or to join the team and if their team is full, they might add you to a waitlist! Their only requirement is that you do not share the advanced copy with anyone and post a review for them on any platform. Though most of the author's prefer sending digital copies, some also like sending a physical one, specially if you live closer to them. This help you get free books and also helps the authors in promoting their books!
3. Participate in giveaways
There are so many giveaways happening all the time in the Bookstagram community and you can enter them to win not only a book but also some cute goodies along with it!
Also, though it's not a requirement to enter them using Bookstagram accounts, I would recommend that you do so because from entering hundred's of different giveaways I have realized people only like to make a member of their community win. I used to enter so many Harry Styles Merch, makeup, books and baking giveaways from my main account before but never won anything. I noticed these people make the people with similar content the winners. Maybe not everyone does it but majority of them do.
As soon as I made a Bookstagram account, I won like 6-8 giveaways out of which I didn't receive the gifts from two but it's whatever lol. So I think a Bookstagram is a better option to enter giveaways with.
If you want, let me know and I will send you all the giveaways I see so you can enter them without having to search for them. If there are more than one people wanting to know about the giveaway happening, I might make a group where all of us can send the giveaways we come across.
Comment below or DM me on Instagram and I'll get to work asap.
4. Request ARC'S from authors or publishers
Like I mentioned above, request ARC's from authors or publishers. Send them a DM on Instagram or email them if you can find their email (usually found on their social media profile or website). They're always looking for ARC readers.
Don't be afraid to reach out to them, the worst that can happen is them saying no, even then they might keep you in mind for their future ARC's!
5. Join Libby
Libby is like an online library and the only con of it is that you don't get to keep the book. You request it and get it whenever it's available and have to return it by the return date. You make a library card for free and start reading! If I'm not wrong, you can keep 10 ebooks and audiobooks in total in your library at a time and they don't charge you for anything. The book simply gets removed from your library by the due date so this app is good for people with time management, otherwise people like me will end up either being pressurized to finish it quickly or forget about the return date and my book will be left halfway lol.
Libby might not be available for some of the countries so you need to check it on their website.
The Libby app is also available to download on your phone!
6. Follow PR Agencies
Follow PR Agency accounts on Instagram. They are one of the best resources to get books. Since they are connected with a lot of author's, they are mostly looking for ARC readers to help promote the books and they also often post giveaways. You also get a lot of new book recommendations and release date information from their page so you should definitely follow some PR agency's on social media.
Some of the ones that I follow are @valentine_pr_, @greyspromo and @sunnybabepr. You can check them out if you want to.
7. Add the details in your bio & spread the word
Another important thing is that if you are willing to become an ARC reader, add it in your bio, something like 'Accepting ARC's'. Author's might directly contact you to provide them.
Similarly, after every few days add it on your story or make a post about it to spread the word. Author's will keep you in their mind or simply contact you. I have had a lot of author's send me a DM asking me if I could read their book and write a review on it.
Again, depends on your luck. One of my first DM's was for a self help book and the author sent me a signed hard copy of her book with a few postcards with quotes on them and a bookmark and it made me even more excited to read and review her book. It was the first ever signed copy I had received from an author. So you might get some author's willing to send you a signed physical copies or maybe just ebooks or audiobooks. Completely depends on them.
8. Offer Beta Reading Services
If you are someone who likes beta reading or are willing to beta read for free, post about it on your Bookstagram so author's can reach out to you. But please make sure you provide your honest views about the book to the author so they can fix their mistakes and make the book even better for their readers.
You can ask other Bookstagrammers to spread the word about your services too!
9. Follow authors and join their Facebook groups
Following author's not only helps to keep you up to date with their book releases, but also lets you see if there are any ARC openings. Author's often make posts looking for ARC readers. They also host a lot of giveaways, not only for their own books, but a bunch of authors join together and do huge giveaways.
One more thing that I recently found out and absolutely love is joining the author's groups on Facebook. They provide all the news and updates to the Facebook groups before it all goes public so you have all the exclusive information about it. They also host a shit ton of giveaways and sometimes let other author's host giveaways in their group. A few author's even let other people host giveaways for merch and just end up doing a random giveaway because they feel like it.
The first ever Facebook group I joined was of Colleen Hoover's and she has a thing called 'fan Friday giveaways' where on the first Friday of each month, people, and not only the author's host giveaways. Some are small business owners, some do a giveaway in case they get a double book by mistake, or there might be other reasons they do it. So it's not always books that you can win. I have won some super cool bookish merch and other random stuff like candles, fairy lights and handmade Christmas ornament(never received the last two because the host thought I was pretty far away and shipping during Christmas was expensive☹️)
10. Subscribe to your favourite author's newsletter
I know subscribing to newsletters can be a pain in the ass (I hope mine isn't:P) because some author's spam tf outta your inbox. I have unsubscribed to so many of them but some author's are considerate and send limited emails hehe.
But yes, they do run giveaways through their newsletters so you can enter them and some also sometimes send links to any one of their book because they make it free exclusively for their newsletter subscribers. I've received so many newsletters with author's providing link to freebees and I always download the ebooks to my library because who can resist a free book?🤪
11. Add your Wish List to your bio
If you have a Bookstagram account, add your wish list to your bio and make sure it has your delivery address. Sometimes people like sending books to random strangers through it and your Bookstagram friends might even want to surprise you with a book, you never know! But if you do have your wish list in your bio and get books sent to you, try to do it for someone else too if you can afford it.
Anyway, I hope you found this post helpful! I will be uploading some book reviews soon, so make sure you subscribe to my blog to keep up with my posts!
Until next time x
See y'all soon with a new post!❤️