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Books are one of the primary expenses a student faces. But unlike something like tuition, the price you pay for books is not set in stone. This applies less to fields like math or science, where the textbooks are specialized and harder to find (though you might be surprised!), but for any class that uses less specialized texts, there are a lot of other options. You'll find most campus bookstores sell books at the manufacturer's suggested retail prices (Université de Montréal offers a discount). We prefer to think of those as just suggestions.
Online shopping
Probably the easiest way to save money on books is to shop online. Use our comparison engine to automatically look up your Concordia booklist and compare prices at online stores in one step. Nifty, huh? Don't forget to use any coupons that may be available.
If you're willing to accept other editions, perhaps the best way to save is to find a version of the book you need at Bookcloseouts, which sells remaindered books at huge discounts. Expect shipping of in-stock books from the three Canadian sources listed here to take about a week. Think ahead, and even if you have to buy what you need immediately locally, consider these sources for the rest.
The Concordia Bookstore (or other school bookstores)
Though we were quick to point out that you have other options, sometimes for things like specialized textbooks and coursepacks, the Concordia bookstore actually is the best or only one. Gargantuan lines notwithstanding, it's convenient. Sometimes, you'll even be able to find a used copy of a book, generally at about 25% off. Anything you need right away will likely come from here. But you already know all this...
Direct from the manufacturer
Who published the book you need, Do they have a website? If you can get your books straight from the source, you can cut out the middlemen.
- Pearson has a Canadian webstore, with free online shipping. Become a member of the site and save an additional 10%.
Digital versions
The "latest thing" is the availability of digital versions of textbooks for your computer or iPad-type device. These versions are not only cheaper than the paper versions, but are much easier to carry! The availability of digital editions is presently limited, and the technology is new, but it's very promising!
Used bookstores
The biggest downside to used bookstores is their lack of selection. There's no guarantee they'll have what you're looking for. Still, if you think that they might, and if you have the time and the inclination, it doesn't hurt to check them out.
Other students
Instead of selling their books back to the bookstore for half of what they cost, some students choose to sell their books privately. Keep your eyes open for notices posted on bulletin boards, newsgroups (concordia.forsale), or messageboards.
How does free work for you?
Project Gutenberg has 16,000 books available for free download or online reading. Even if you want to get an actual book to bring to class, and hold, and keep on your bookshelves, Project Gutenberg can be an immense help when it comes to writing papers. Want to find that quote you remember from class two months ago? Use the find command in your web browser to find words in the text. They won't have much recent or specialized stuff, but there's a good chance that anything that's out of copyright will be there.
Tools: Come on, give me the right answer!
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