How Much Do You Spend On Books?

By Rachel

As book bloggers, we’re obsessed with many bookish things, the most obvious being books.

2015-Discussion-ChallengeSome of us loan from libraries, some of us receive ARCs, and some of us just like to buy and own them. This results in all sorts of justifications for our hobby, and some interesting side-effects – book buying bans when we feel we’re over-spending (or just running out of shelf space!), and (in my case) scouring high and low for the best deals to make sure we don’t go homeless thanks to our literary loves.

I’m a great believer in hunting down deals and bargains (see my previous posts called Book Buying Bans and Me and Buying Books As Cheap As Possible), and I’ve always believed that while I do spend money on books, I spend a reasonable amount, and make sure I get a lot for my money. However, I’ve never set myself a strict budget, or been brave enough to put my bargain skills to the test and actually add-up what I’ve spent over the course of a year…

Money to burn gif

Octavia and Valeria made some interesting posts recently doing just that, and I thought I’d take the leap and join them. I’ve spent more than the following if you include purchases in physical bookstores, but being able to view my online orders was the only way to put this together as I don’t keep receipts (I plan to track my physical purchases in 2015 to compare next year!). Also, I’ve used the RRPs to calculate savings – while most stores will sell for slightly under this, again, this was the only logical way to put together this post. And finally, the amount I spent includes me using discount codes and the cash-back website Quidco to make savings.

The Book People

  • Total Books Bought: 70
  • Total Amount Spent: £117.25
  • Average Price Per Book: £2.67
  • Total RRP: £578.39
  • Total Saving: £461.14

The Works

  • Total Books Bought: 31
  • Total Amount Spent: £59.85
  • Average Price Per Book: £1.93
  • Total RRP: £244.26
  • Total Saving: £184.41

Amazon

  • Total Books Bought: 9
  • Total Amount Spent: £28.81 
  • Average Price Per Book: £3.20
  • Total RRP: £85.30
  • Total Saving: £56.49

2014 Totals

  • Total Books Bought: 110
  • Total Amount Spent: £205.91
  • Average Price Per Book: £3.74
  • Total RRP: £907.95
  • Total Saving: £702.04

I know this doesn’t include purchases I made in a physical bookstore for 2014, but I’m actually pretty impressed with myself after breaking these figures down! My spend for 2014 works out at around £17 per month, and I think for someone who buys and reads books as much as I do, that’s pretty good! My love for deals and discounts appears to be working!!

Out of curiosity I’ve also included eBook purchases below, for the eBook RRPs, I just went with the current price on Amazon.

  • Total eBooks Bought: 35
  • Amount Spent on eBooks: £27.88
  • Average Price Per eBook: £0.79
  • Total RRP: £71.38
  • Total Saving: £43.50
  • Free eBooks “Bought”: 39

Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever added up your annual spend! Has this post made you think about calculating it? Or has it made you want to hunt out the best prices for your books??

About Rachel

Avid reader & #bookblogger. Lover of all things business. A fan of drinks & dancing. Ever optimistic. Feminist.

37 Responses

  1. Rachana

    Surprisingly, I don’t actually spend that much on books..Mostly because I’m not allowed to. So I mostly depend on netgalley (since I’ve started book blogging) and the HS library for books.. 😀 And mostly they don’t let be down and when they do, I’ve usually gone long enough without spending on books that my parents are lenient about me buying a couple.

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    1. Rachel

      It’s great that you have access to other sources now since starting to blog! I have to say, the perk of being able to spend your own money as a “grown up” makes up for the stinking responsibilities sometimes!! Lol R x

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  2. HOLLY

    I can’t believe you bought that many books for such a small amount of money! That’s awesome! You really know how to get those deals! haha 🙂 This is a really interesting statistic… I’ve never thought of tracking how much I spend on books before.

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    1. Rachel

      I thought it was pretty good too, Holly! And definitely made me feel much better about my addiction!! Lol Oh, I think I’m a verified bargain queen now! Lol To be honest I was petrified of the outcome in case I shocked myself with a really high figure, but I think it’s worth doing, just to see if what you actually spend at all matches what you think you spend! R x

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  3. Brandie

    I am impressed!! For that many books, that is a great deal. I don’t think spending that much a month on your hobby is bad at all. Not when you’re so good at finding deals like you are. If you’d have asked me how much I have spent on books a few years ago, the dollar amount would have embarrassed me. I’m thankful to be able to use Netgalley and Edelweiss because it has cut down my spending immensely over the past few years. When I do buy hard copies of books, it’s to add those favorites to my shelves. Although I am a sucker for cheap eBooks on Amazon. I try not to go crazy with the one-clicking every month. Books that are only $1.99 or $.99 are so easy for me to cave to. In fact, I caved to one over the weekend. Lol. 🙂

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    1. Rachel

      Why thank you! I have to admit I was scared when I was working all the sums out, but by the end I was a little impressed with my performance too! I really do think an average of around £17 per month is very reasonable for a hobby, as most hobbies involve financial investment, and I’d say it’s usually a lot more than that! One-click has definitely become a bit of a curse for me – I’ve decided when I’m interested in a book but I’m not sure if I’m going to like it (not a favourite author etc.) I’m going to try NetGalley and OverDrive first, just in case it’s available that way. Was GUTTED to discover my local library don’t have Colleen Hoover eBooks to loan!! R x

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  4. lipsyy

    This is really interesting!

    I think I spend a lot less on books since I started blogging, thanks to netgalley and review requests and such. Plus, I’ve always been a fan of buying second hand books from charity shops and car boot sales.

    As far as new books go, I’d like to buy more but I have limited funds and shelf space – lol. I only buy ones I know I neeeed to read and keep. Maybe one or two a month max.

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    1. Rachel

      I’ve definitely found the opposite – while I do use NetGalley, I found I was being approved for books I’d lose interest in, and as I wasn’t overly aware of the hot new releases when I started blogging, I wasn’t finding them or requesting them. I also LOVE physical books! Lol And I also fall into the category of a book lover who likes to own books, so my spending was always going to increase compared to previous years. I definitely should up my charity shop spend, there are a couple of decent ones near me and they often have great books – think I’ll have a nosy at the weekend! I want to stop hoarding as much and only keep the books that mean something to me – so I’ll be culling the shelves at some point this year too! R x

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  5. Quinn @ Quinn's Book Nook

    I’ve never kept track of the money I spend on books. Truthfully, I don’t buy many books. I mean, I do BUY books of course, but I I primarily use the library and get a few books from Edelweiss or Netgalley.

    But I do buy books when I go to author events and the books are always full price then. And I will buy ebooks when they are good deals.

    I think I should definitely keep track of what I spend in 2015.

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    1. Rachel

      I’ve never done this before, but then I’ve never bought as many books as I have in the past year before! I always justify my spending by claiming that because I get really good deals, I must not be spending that much, but I thought it would be interesting (and scary) to put my money where my mouth is and actually total up the year to see if my assumptions were right or not. I am pleased with the result – the first year blogging really highlighted some amazing reads I’ve missed out on over the years, so a lot of my purchases were catching up on series and authors I’ve heard so much about, so I’m hoping in 2015 my spending will slow down a little more. I also used to only keep physical copies, or buy physical copies, of books I LOVED whereas now I’m finding that I’m hoarding more too, so I’d like to make more use of the library. I borrowed All The Light We Cannot See recently because I couldn’t find it anywhere for a reasonable price, and even though I’d LOVE to own that cover, I gave it 3/5 and it didn’t blow my socks off, so I’m really pleased I went down the library route. It was an eBook loan though, and that’s mostly how I use the library these days, but it’s tricky because I can only read so many eBooks before I NEED paper books again. It’ll be a balancing act that’s for sure! I’m definitely tracking my purchases again this year, physical ones too, because I know there must be at least £30 or more of physical purchases I could have added to this list! R x

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  6. Girl in the Pages

    I’ve never added up my total (but I think I will for 2015!) but I can safely say I probably spend less than $200 on books per year. I usually buy from Amazon and B&N for the convenience and because I have memberships with them that include free shipping. I recently discovered Book Depository and Book Outlet and will probably start using them as well. If I really love a book enough (or think I will) and I’m going to the trouble and expense of buying it, I prefer to buy new.

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    1. Rachel

      I wish Book Outlet’s shipping prices weren’t so extortionate, their deals look amazing sometimes! The Book Depository is a life saver for doing INT giveaways though! I prefer to buy new as well, but I’m definitely checking out thrift stores this weekend to see if I can find any hidden gems! That’s a great spend you have per year! I’m paying more attention to my library this year too for those books I want to read, but I’ve not read the author before etc. even if it is mostly loaned eBooks R x

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  7. Turn the Page Reviews

    I really try my best to limit the amount I spend by using the library an obscene amount, and getting ARCs through Net Galley. I really have to try not to just buy whatever i want on the Kindle, and that is so hard.

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  9. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    I hate thinking about how much I spend on books because I know it’s a lot. I’ve gotten myself a spreadsheet to keep track of my reading this year, and one of the tabs on there is your bought books tab and you’re expenditure. I’ve already spent £70.00 this year, this does include a couple of pre-orders I put in last year and I do have a couple of book vouchers as well, so my actual money expenditure is not quite that high, but it still makes me cringe. I am terrible about searching out the best deal, I normally want the book as quickly as possible, and since I’m such a dedicated e-book reader I spend far more on e-books than is probably sensible.

    I keep thinking I should have a spending ban implemented, but I love reading so much I often think, who cares how much I spend on books, I’m still managing to save. But then I think my poor library card should probably get more use because a lot of books I read I should probably just buy from the library, but oh well. Eventually I may become a sensible book buyer, but I should enjoy being young and having a disposable income whilst I can.

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    1. Rachel

      I’m going to track physical purchases too this year. I think no matter what you spend, and no matter if you’re happy with it or not, it’s a great idea to track spending anyway just for awareness purposes. I was going to say £70 is so little but for some reason my brain thought it was the end of 2014 and not the start of 2015 – that is some spending for three weeks! The vouchers totally don’t count as spending though as you can’t use them for anything else and someone else gave it to you (can you hear my justification tone?? lol). I’ve managed to hold back a teeny bit so far this year, only ordering/preordering books I’ve been waiting for and not doing any book binges… yet. I think my first one will be around my birthday next month when I pick up a couple of CoHo books. If a Book Geek can’t treat herself on her Bday, when can she?! I begrudge paying too much for eBooks because you never truly own them. That and while I can and do read them, I can only read so many before my body screams for the feel of paper. I read mostly ARCs as eBooks and then flit back and forth. If you’re still managing to save then you’re doing well! I always look for deals because I hate the feeling of being “had”. You know when you buy something full price, and then it’s half price in the sale two weeks later? That feeling KILLS me. If you ever want a bargain hunting 101 seminar, you just let me know! Lol R x

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    1. Rachel

      Yea – preorders can be a big bill now I’m majorly back into reading. Depends how flush I feel too and how many books I’m getting through! R x

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  16. Jackie G.

    A lot of blogger are revealing their spending habits when it comes to books this year, and I think it’s been really insightful. I receive a lot of gift cards to book stores throughout the year, for birthdays and holidays, so I don’t have to spend a lot of my own earned money. That doesn’t mean I don’t ever. I’ve been known to buy a book on impulse. But, I would be surprised if I spent more than $70 of my own cash on books each year.

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    1. Rachel

      Same! It has been very interesting! That’s a fantastic amount! Because I’ve only been getting back into reading in a big way this year, I’ve only started getting books and gift cards as gifts again, which makes me happy! Lol but like this post shows, I love hunting out a good bargain, so I don’t think I’ll be stopping that any time soon R x

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    1. Rachel

      I think it’s interesting to! I don’t use the library as much as I should/could. When I first started blogging I used NetGalley but because I was out of touch with upcoming authors and popular series I picked a few duds and it put me off. So, then I started buying cheap and built up quite a TBR pile, so I didn’t request as much so I could make a dent in it. But I’ve started requesting again lately as I’m spotting the talked about books. Guess it comes in peaks and troughs for me lol but I can’t resist a buy every now and then 😀 R x

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    1. Rachel

      I’m not on a ban as such, but I’m trying to be a little more conscious of what I buy as opposed to how much it’s costing me this year. So if I want the Colleen Hoover book at £8 I’m going to get it over the 10 book collection at £8 when I only recognise the author of one of the books. Going for “quality” over “quantity” this year but trying to spend about the same if not less. It’s a challenge! R x

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  22. Is Bigger Better? |

    […] as a means of justification, but it’s now something I want to keep doing out of curiosity (2014  spend / 2015 spend). Realistically, every hobby or interest has a cost associated with it, and judging […]

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