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There are many ways to read best-selling novels for next-to-nothing, but there are even better ways to read them for nothing at all!

BOOKCROSSING.COM

BookCrossi ng.com is one of the best ways to read best selling novels for absolutely nothing. Members of BookCrossing.com read a book and then pass it on by leaving it somewhere for other people to find and read at no cost to them. Some books are released in the wild' (such as at a bus stop) for anyone to find, while others are left in locations only other book crossers can read about.

BookCrossing is a fun way to read novels free, but it is also a great way to pass books on to others and track where they go. Each released book has a number and the finder can enter details of where they found the book. Some books travel the world, and all but one of the readers reads the book for nothing.

At last count over five million books have been successfully left and found by other readers. To find your best-selling novels and read them for no cost whatsoever, join up at http://www.bookcrossing.com , then click on the Go Hunting' tab and select your country, then state, and then location or city. A list of locations is then displayed, along with the number of books. Those in red have been released within the last three days. Click on the city or location name to view the specific location (such as a particular cafe or coffee shop) where the book has been released and the time of its release. Then toddle off to the location and find your best-selling novel (or other type of book) and pay nothing! When you find the book, enter the details in the book crossing site, and of course, when you've read the book, BookCross it yourself to the next person.

LIBRARIES

Libraries are wonderful places full of great (and not-so-great) books available for loan at no cost. Not only do libraries have extensive collections of books, including the latest best-sellers, but they are also a meeting place for other people interested in books, and for book clubs of all kinds.

One of the best ways of reading novels at no cost at all is to build a circle of book-reading friends who will share their finds with you (and of course you will share your finds with them). Where do you find people who love books? Why, at the library, of course.

BECOME A BOOK REVIEWER

If you can write a decent book review you can actually be paid to read best-selling novels. The best place to start is usually your local newspapers. If they do not already have a book reviewer, then grab a best-selling novel, write your best review (check out the paper's movie reviews and more-or-less match that review's word length) and submit it to the editor of the paper. If you're lucky, they will ask you to review more books, and if you get the job, they should pay you for the books that you review, but if not, you can claim the cost as a tax deduction.

There are also a number of magazines that will pay for book reviews (and hence more than subsidize the cost of the novel). See http://www.writersweekly.com/t his_weeks_article/001002_12172 003.html for a list of some of these markets. Many libraries also use book reviews. These do not (usually) pay, but they can help you build a portfolio of reviews you can use to get a paying job as a reviewer.

FREE (AND CHEAP) BOOKS ONLINE

There are a number of websites that offer you free access to novels and other books, such as: http://www.free-online-novels. com/, http://starry.com/novel/author s.htm, and http://www.baen.com/library/ . You may not get the latest best-sellers at these sites, but you will get novels at no cost to you. Other sites such as http://www.lulu.com have thousands of novels (and other types of books) available at low cost, especially if you purchase a download version. Another resource, but especially for academic works is http://www.questia.com. This site is not free, but the subscription gives you access to literally millions of books at no further cost.

You can also often read excerpts of best-selling novels by visiting the author's website. You will not get the entire novel free, of course, but you will usually get enough of it to help you decide whether or not the book is worth buying.

BROWSE IN THE BOOKSTORES

Some bookshops, such as Borders, allow you to browse extensively before you buy any books. You may have to visit the store many times to get the book read, and if you're buying coffee each time you might be better off financially just buying the book, but you can at least read enough of the novel to determine if it's really worth buying.

THRIFT STORES

You will not get the latest best sellers in any thrift store, but you may well get best selling novels of several years ago for just a fraction of their original cost.

PAY, THEN GET YOUR MONEY BACK

Another way of reading the best-selling novels for next to nothing is to buy the book when it first comes out, and then sell it on eBay or similar sites after you have read it. You will pay the full price for the book, but when you deduct the proceeds of the sale, you will have read your novel for next to nothing, especially if you sell the book while it is still in the best-sellers list.

SUMMARY

Reading is one of life's greatest pleasures, and limited finances should never limit that pleasure. With the resources on and offline that are currently available, there are few reasons today why anyone would be unable to read good novels at no cost, or at very limited cost.

Learn more about this author, Lin Edwards.
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