Or pm me or dm me or whatever if you know or willing to donate yourself. Much appreciated. Much love.
Our local libraries have two book sales a month, and give away any you want that don’t sell.
Where I live, the libraries have regular sales, but then also the whole library system together will have semiannual book sales at the civic center. Everything is cheap to begin with but then on the last day, you can fill a box for $10 or $20—and the box can be as big as you like, as long as you can get it out of the building. They really need to get rid of the books. You should check with your library and see how they get rid of their culled books.
Goodwill outlets or “the bins” (assuming you are in the U.S.). They sell stuff by the pound and often charge less for books. It’s like the last stop for stuff before it goes to a landfill. My husband constantly finds great books there.
Be sure to check the jail’s donation policy. Many won’t let you just drop off books there. You may have to order the books through specific vendors and they may restrict what types of books are allowed.
Only thing is no hardback books.
I’ve read hardbacks in prison.
Are… are we still talking about books, though? ;-)
First of all, good on you
Would your local independent/radical bookshop be willing to help with some donations or discounts?
Or are ebooks an option? I think verso or other might have options but the may be blocked by fascist prison state
Find a small used book store. Odds are very good that they discard quite a few books in any given week, not necessarily because they are garbage, but because they just haven’t sold, or they have too many copies, or they might have comparatively minor condition issues that preclude them from selling in the store. They may give them to you, or sell them to you at a steep discount.
Have you tried your local thrift store? Maybe librarians might know where to get books cheaply/donations?
Thrift stores are definitely a good and cheap option. They may even work with you to provide a steep discount with a higher quantity purchase.
I would check libraries. They have to get rid of books all the time as they get old or run out of room for things that are more wanted currently. When book from a popular series comes out or if it becomes popular they get a bunch of copies. Like sometimes as many as a dozen (back in the day at least when physical books were the main thing) but then once most of their patrons have read it and its not as big in demand they drop down to half a dozen. Later still when new crazes have surpassed it maybe 3 and when everyones forgotten about it 1 or worse 0. Of course they will always retain the ones in best condition.
Contact larger libraries.
I live in NYC and the public libraries here literally throw away tons of books every year. The big city libraries and colleges in your area probably do the same.
Dont forget to tell Red to get busy living.
Honestly? Go on Facebook marketplace or the buy-nothing groups. Tell them you want free books. People have piles of books in their houses they just don’t care about. I’ve got a ton of kids books I want to give away. And I could part with a bunch of my adult ones too.
But shipping is expensive. So you’ll want to look local.
Talk to other libraries
I used to collect books and the cheapest option at the time was ebay. I would search things like “science fiction bulk” and select the lot with the best titles. Generally I could find some around 1€ per book, don’t know if that’s still plausible.
Thrift shops, yard sales… also local libraries often release their old books when new copies come in, so that’s an angle to investigate…
I bet if you put up an ad, on Facebook marketplace or whatever your equivalent is, stating that you are willing to pick up boxes of books (I’d recommend a 3 or 4 box minimum but whatever) people will contact you.
