I am an actress, millennial, and graduated college with a double major in English and Theatre. That being said, I am broke. Oh, I am also a bibliophile. To the extreme.

I went to London for a semester, and I threw away clothes to bring back my loot from visiting all the used book stores on Charring Cross Road. And about 50% of my free time was spent at the British Library for fun (I look back on my library card from there and sigh in happiness). 

I break into a sweat whenever I walk into Barnes and Noble.

I cried when I found out Borders were being closed.

All the librarians at the Newark Public Library know my face, if they do not know my name.

I have a book on me at all times. And I mean ALL THE TIME.

So being obsessed with words, and having no money, I looked for other means to buy books, if I did not borrow them from whatever library I could get my hands on. And a librarian actually recommended one of the best sites I have ever been to: Betterworldbooks.com

It was founded in 2002 by university friends. Like most college students, they sold their books online to get rid of the excess books they will never need (like when will I ever need to use this statistics textbook again), and make some money. And the journey took off from there.

Let me start off with what y’all want to hear:

Is it expensive?: NO! First of all, free shipping. Free Shipping. Live in Dallas? Free. Live in Oakland? Free. Live in Sydney? FREE! And a lot of books sell from $3.99. Let me repeat, $3.99. Coffees are more expensive than that.

What do they have?: A LOT! I would say everything but that isn’t quite true. Most of the books on Betterworldbooks.com are used. So if you are like me and like a good deal, and used book shopping, this is your Nirvana. There are books that are brand new, but those tend to be a bit more expensive…like $10.99 which I still think is a good deal for certain books. Their stock is based on the books that were donated. Which means that they have a lot of the classics (I’m talking about all those high school and college mandatory reading.) They also have textbooks. Meaning instead of me renting my $150 chemistry textbook for $75 for the semester, I was able to go buy it for $25. 

But why not just use Amazon?: I am not going to lie and say that Amazon isn’t great. It is amaz-zing! But Betterworldbooks.com fund and support book programs and libraries all over the world. Last I checked they have donated over 22,000,000 books, reused or recycled over 253,000,000 books, and have raised over $24,000,000 for libraries and literacy projects.

And if nothing else, it is a good alternative to Amazon or Chegg if you just want to make sure you are getting the best deal you can.

So please please please! Check this website out. I know some of you still have half semester courses coming up that you may need to find a few extra books for. Or if you are like me and have a whole list of books that you would like to buy, but not necessarily the funds, it is a good place to start saving a buck.

This is a business that is dedicated to bringing literacy at an affordable rate to everyone. This is a business that is making reading, and therefore learning, accessible. Knowledge is the first step towards doing anything, and Betterworldbooks.com is keen on giving people a leg up.

Happy Reading Everyone!