a lifestyle blog for book lovers

The 7 practices I rely on to find great ebook deals every day

My mission here at Modern Mrs Darcy is to help you get more out of your (reading) life, and one of the ways I try to do that is to keep you stocked with good books. For many readers, a well-stocked e-reader helps them create more time to read, which is why from the earliest days of Modern Mrs. Darcy, I’ve tried to share great ebook deals on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram. (Lately I’ve been experimenting with my new Amazon influencer page. I receive an affiliate commission from purchases made through these links.)

Eventually it made sense to give these deals a permanent page: View that here.

I don’t necessarily look for the cheapest books (although sometimes the books I share are FREE), or the bestselling books (although sometimes I share bestsellers). I’m looking for the magical combination of excellent books at an excellent value. That’s why if a book I can’t stop recommending goes on sale for $.99, I share it—and if that brand-new book with the forever-long library queue goes on sale for $9.18, I share that, too.

If you’re an ebook reader, you can bookmark the page, or simplest of all, add your email below to get the list delivered to your inbox each morning.

I update this list almost-daily. (Sometimes there are great deals to be found, sometimes not. If I can’t find anything worth sharing, I don’t clutter up your inbox.) But if I find something great, I’ll always share it there.

I share based on U.S. prices, and based on titles I love and think you will, too. I’m happy to do the work for you each day. But if you’re not in the U.S., or are interested in different genres, today I’m sharing my best tips for finding ebook deals so you can find them yourself.

The top seven ways I find great ebook deals:

1. I get lucky. I blog about books, and spending time on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble is part of my daily workflow. When I pop over to link to a book, check a publication date, or verify a subtitle, sometimes I make a happy discovery. When I happen to find a great sale, I share it with you.

2. The publisher or authors tell me. This is another form of getting lucky. Publishers and authors often plan—or at least know about—promotions. Some sales last for just a day; some last for weeks. Either way, I’m always happy to get a heads-up so I can pass the information along to you.

3. MMD readers tip me off. You guys are great about sharing the book love. Many of you have been kind enough to share the great deals you’ve found with me, so I can share them with you.

4. I use lists. I keep a wish list of titles I’m interested in (for my sake and yours) on Amazon. For years, Amazon had a feature that let users sort their lists by price, and I would sort from lowest to highest to check for great deals. Recently, that feature has been either disabled entirely or malfunctioning, so I don’t rely on this process like I used to, but I’m ever hopeful Amazon will bring back this feature.

5. I check the ebook deal sites. There are tons of these, as well as daily email services, but the only site I regularly use is eReaderIQ. I’ve found choosing the right filters is important: I typically search for books that are on sale for between $0.99 and $6, and are discounted by at least 10%. I check this site a few times per week.

6. I look for featured deals. Amazon and Barnes & Noble both feature daily and monthly ebook deals. Barnes & Noble has recently expanded their options; I’m including links for your convenience: Nook Daily Find | Nook Books Under $2.99 | Nook Books Under $5 | Top Free Nook Books | Nook Deals for Kids and Teens.

7. I use the “customers who bought this item also bought…” feature. I can’t explain why this works, but it does. I start by searching for a book I love and recommend and can quickly page through other books I’m likely to enjoy, with their current prices. There will be a lot of duds in the mix, but I find winners often enough to make the search worthwhile.

If you have any tips or tricks for finding great ebook deals, please share them in comments!

P.S. The budget summer reading guide, how to listen to Audible audiobooks for free (without a membership!), and how I make time to read.

7 ways to find great ebook deals for Kindle and Nook

22 comments

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  1. I’m surprised you aren’t advocating the use of your public library online resources which are free to library card holders and paid for by the community. Hoopla, a streaming and downloading service subscribed to by many libraries, allows more than one user at a time to access an ebook, audiobook, music, video , and graphic novel. When you “check out” a title from Hoopla, you aren’t taking it away from anyone else so there are no “holds” needed on a book. Overdrive/Libby is the more traditional downloading service that most public libraries have available as well which does have a single-use/holds allowed policy.

  2. Anne, this might be a useful alternative to that Amazon feature that’s gone MIA… With Goodreads, you can choose to have books from your “Want To Read” list, favorite authors, and genres emailed to you. To add this feature, you log in, then go to Account Settings. On the top right is a label called Deals, and that’s where you can opt in to different email notifications. I set a private Goodreads account just for this feature—I add books to my Want To Read list and wait for them to go on sale.

  3. Thank you so much for your posts and book recommendations! I know that when my book The Last Cherry Blossom,celebrated its one year anniversary, my publisher(Sky Pony) had it on sale at BOOKBUB. This site also promotes free ebooks as well.

  4. Pam Pomar says:

    When I took your reading personality quiz, I classified as an Insider. Very true. I like to choose my books one at a time after I’ve just finished what I’m reading. I look at the NYT Book Review, all the big prize long and short lists, what you’re recommending, what’s coming up for my book club. I often see a review that really gets me interested in a new book but find that the ebook is $14.99! I hate that. And due to an optic nerve tumor my vision is such that I have to read ebooks for the ability to enlarge the text (I truly thank God for kindle). Soooo when the new book by the author I want to read is too pricey, I’ve learned to go back 6-8 years to the NBA long lists or to something the now-hot author wrote 5 years ago. These books are usually in the 9.99 or less range, which I don’t mind at all. It’s fun and I feel like I’m beating the system. I also often go down that rabbit hole on Amazon where I just look up a book that I loved and then follow the “other readers also bought” line until I find something that I want to read and is less than $10. Big confession: plenty of times I pay the 14.99 for the latest hot title.

  5. Kimberly Rotondo says:

    I use Bookbub.com They send a daily email based on my preferences and the e-books are either free to 2.99 each. Great deals. The service is free to sign up. I have gotten hundreds of free books for my kindle this way.

  6. Carol says:

    I mentioned this on Facebook the other day and I think it’s worth sharing here too: I don’t live in the US so I can’t buy ebooks from Amazon US – they’ll redirect me to my local Amazon. So I check Anne’s list everyday and then I look for the titles I like on my local Amazon – sometimes they are on sale, sometimes they’re not. 🙁 If they’re not, I put them on my ‘wish list’ and wait. That’s how I got “Four seasons in Rome”. The original in English was still pricey but I got the Portuguese translation for less than 2 dollars.

  7. Jamie Sanchez says:

    I haven’t seen the Amazon World Book Day deal listed here. For 1 more day, you get 9, that’s right 9, books for free for your kindle! I downloaded 8 books (I already owned one) for the low cost of free so I know it is a legit deal. https://www.amazon.com/article/read-the-world?ref=kc_cwbd&pf_rd_p=f1827e1a-bcc4-443a-b98a-3cb7c79f6a87&pf_rd_s=detail-ilm&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B01MAVRCW8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=Q6DD6TT1WRPSBFKRBK84&pf_rd_r=Q6DD6TT1WRPSBFKRBK84&pf_rd_p=f1827e1a-bcc4-443a-b98a-3cb7c79f6a87

  8. Heather says:

    For my Amazon “Books to Read” List, I use the find function (“Ctrl” + “F”) and enter “price” into the search box. It takes me to each item on the list that had a price drop. You need to make sure your entire list has loaded onto the screen before using find or they won’t all show up. It’s not perfect, but it’s a fairly simple way to see what items have had price drops quickly. 🙂

  9. Shakila says:

    Good news! The sort by price feature is back on Amazon! Not sure if it depends on your device, but on my laptop via Google Chrome, I’ve been using the feature again for the last month or so.

  10. Jan says:

    Other sources for free/discount books daily (similar to BookBub):
    BookSends, BookPerk, EarlyBirdBooks, BookGorilla, BookRiot, Pixel of Ink, GoodreadsDeals

  11. Bettyf says:

    I cannot thank you enough for your daily email for bargain ebooks. My List of books I have waiting to be read is huge thanks to your work searching for great prices.

  12. Ellen Cole says:

    At times in past years, I’ve subscribed to e-book/audiobook deals and have received recommendations in my Inbox each day. This included the MMD list…which is always excellent. My problem is that I now have HUNDREDS of books in my Kindle app, Nook app, Audible app…which I haven’t read! I had to unsubscribe for awhile and cut myself off!

  13. Gabrielle says:

    I use Honey Droplist through Amazon. It allows you to put things on a watch list and it will email you if the price drops. I use it for all kinds of items but if there is a particular book you’re wanting you can watch list it and get a notice if it goes on sale. (joinhoney.com)
    Thank you for all your recommendations! My TBR pile is ever expanding and I’m constantly picking up books and going ‘MMD recommended this, I have to try it’.

  14. Wyndi says:

    I use command key + “F” to do a search the page. I search for “dropped”. That way it takes me to the books on my list that have had price drops. You do have to make sure that you give it time to load your list.

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