Posted on 27 May 2014 Tags: resources, and discounts
Tips on buying programming books at a discount.
Every programmer from novice to master can use good tech/programming books, either as a how-to guide or as general reference. I have started to compile a decent library, but have found that being on a student-looking-for-a-first-programming-job budget, I can’t afford as many books as I would like.
Generally I prefer to buy both the e-book and print version if they can be had for a reasonable price. Here are a couple of tips for making the most of your book buying dollars.
I like buying books from O’Reilly when possible. Great selection across a wide variety of topics and I even like receiving their e-mail newsletters. They already offer a number of discounts ranging from their $4.99 ebook upgrade (where you can purchase an electronic version of any O’Reilly print book you own), to the ebook deal of the day, to their buy one ebook get one free offer. However, buying a print and ebook copy of a publication can be a bit pricey, so here’s what I do.
1. Add the print book to your cart.
2. Google O’Reilly Book Coupon. There are usually a number of different options, but I have found RetailMeNot usually works. You can usually find coupons with 20-40% discounts on the print books.
3. Grab a coupon code and apply it to your O’Reilly purchase. If the first one doesn’t work, try another.
4. After you have completed your purchase, go to Your Account page, and click on the Your Products link (upper left).
5. Find the print book you just purchased, and you can now purchase the ebook for only $4.99
I am not at all happy with Amazon’s decision to punish customers, authors and publishers with its current war with Hachette Publishing. Nonetheless, sometimes Amazon is the only choice when you want to buy a book that arrives quickly and is not overpriced.
Before purchasing a book you want in both print and Kindle versions, look at the pages for the different formats before you buy. For many print tech books, you can also receive a free Kindle download after your purchase. The opposite is never true – no free print book if you purchase the Kindle version first. Checking out both pages can help you make the smarter purchase.