It’s That Time Again!

It only happens three times each year. What am I talking about? COUPON WEEK at your local Half Price Books!

Different districts and regions have different weeks for their coupon sales, but I imagine most will be in July at some point because annual sales are annual sales, and there are more to plan and execute.

Anyway, down here in Houston coupon week is THIS week. Which means if you’re on the HPB mailing list, then you’ve already gotten your coupons for the week. If you’re not, then visit your local store and sign up!

For those of you eyeing that latest bestseller, the coupons work on those too! Think about this. Let’s say you want the newest John Sanford book. The retail price is probably $28. Which means the regular 20% off price drops you down nearly $6. Which means Amazon is still cheaper. But you’ve lucked out and someone has sold back their copy to HPB. Now the price is only $14. But you walk in with your 50% off coupon on Sunday and that NYT bestseller suddenly dropped down to $7! You see!? Magic! Go, go!

Sales for Book Lovers

I know there are plenty of people who say they’d rather pay more for a book if it isn’t from Amazon or something similar. And that’s fine, but I know there are even more people who look for deals on their favorite form of entertainment all the time. I’ve got something for those in that second group.

Right now Amazon is offering customers 30% off one book on its site. Maybe you’ve been eyeing one of those highly prized adult coloring books or maybe even the illustrated edition of the first Harry Potter book. Well now you might take the plunge and buy. Use promo code “Holiday30” at checkout for the discount to be applied. It can only be used once per Amazon account, so choose wisely.

But there’s one other sale that you may like even better. Tomorrow only, Black Friday, every item in every Half Price Books store will be 20% off. AND the first 100 people in line will receive a reusable bag, $5 gift card, and $5 for the rest of the holiday weekend. But one of those first 100 people will receive a $100 gift card. You may have to get to your local store a bit early, but I think the promotion is much better than what Amazon is offering.

It looks like Barnes and Noble is also doing 30% off one item, and a buy 2, get one free promotion on paperbacks. And their Nook devices are pretty heavily discounted. Book-a-Million is offering $10 off $50, $20 off $100, and $50 off $250.

What I’m saying is that if you’re looking for a book sale, then you likely don’t have to look far.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

I’ve Never Seen a Bookstore so Busy

Today was the final day of coupon week at Half Price Books, and wow. I broke it down for y’all last week, but I’ll tell you about it again.

For the last seven days there’s been a coupon for each day. Starting with 20% off the highest priced item and ending with a 50% off coupon. It was pretty busy during the week. But today was what some might call bonkers. People everywhere. Books in random places. And a never ending stream of people waiting to checkout. It was great.

And I’m told we may have a few more days like this before the holiday season is up.

The next time someone tells you that no one reads books anymore tell them, “Have you BEEN to Half Price Books during coupon week!?” Because I have. And it’s wonderful.

Why you Need to be on the Half Price Books Mailing List

It’s your basic newsletter. It tells you about events and promotions and new releases you’ll find in stores. But that doesn’t matter now. This week is coupon week in stores!

What’s that mean? It means for the next seven days starting tomorrow you’ll be able to use coupons that are only emailed to people who receive the newsletter. Here’s the breakdown.

Monday and Tuesday: 20% off your highest priced item.
Wednesday and Thursday: 30% off your highest priced item.
Friday and Saturday: 40% off your highest priced item.
Sunday: 50% off your highest priced item.

Think about that. Pretty much all of the store is already 50% off the list price, and you can now save even more money than that. What are you doing!?

I’ve already received my coupons, so I’m not sure if it’s too late if you’re not already receiving the newsletter. But it definitely wouldn’t hurt to try! You can sign up for the mailing list here.

PS: The first time I ever went inside my Half Price Books was the last time we had a coupon sale in July. Also, there are four coupon weeks throughout the year and four storewide 20% off sales. So even if you’re late to this one there’s always something else coming up. What do ya think!?

I’m Scared to do This

What is it that’s got me shaking in my boots, you might be wondering. Books. That’s right. But I bet you have no idea what I even mean by that.

Half Price Books is having a big Labor Day sale this weekend, and I obviously get an additional discount. So now I’m going to do something I may or may not regret. I’m going to ask y’all for some book recommendations. *insert hiding monkey emoji*

Because there really is no better time for me to buy books. I’ll be getting a ridiculous discount if I’m able to buy during the sale, which runs through Monday. And this will be a nice opportunity for me to buy more books from the Amazon list for future videos. So I’ll likely make a list of maybe five titles from the list that I’ll surely be getting and then take a few suggestions from you all.

I mostly read crime fiction, which means I’m in the know when it comes to authors writing in the genre. Past and present. I really don’t read YA unless one person recommends it. And you’re not that one person. So if you’d like me to go the distance with your recommendation, then I suggest you not go that route. And don’t go off and give me some in depth summary of the book, either. That’s not what I’m looking for. A title and author will suffice.

I don’t have a set number of books that I intend to buy. It could be five, ten, or who knows how many?

Keep in mind that I likely won’t be doing this again. Better use your chance wisely.

Now tell me what to buy!