Free Books!

I love books, books books books, I love to buy them and read them and look at them and feel them and put them on shelves and rearrange them. And now I have discovered that I like scouring the internet and old used book store for free books!  Yep you heard me right, FREE BOOKS.  How does one score such a wondrous gift...well I will tell you.  You have to put some effort in, but it can be done.

Online- This is probably the easiest, fastest way to obtain new and even better, classic books.  If a book has gone out of copyright in the US then it is considered public domain and can be shared with any US citizen for free.  There is an awesome site called Project Gutenberg that has everything from Jane Austen to old school manuals on how to raise a barn.  This site is just fun to explore and it is completely free! Feel free to donate if you have some spare cash.  You can also sometimes find free books on sites like Amazon or Barnes and Nobles that are from newer authors trying to hook you, or sometimes even established authors.  This is a great way to discover some new favorites.
ARC's-Sometimes if you are very lucky, or if you run a successful blog you can get ARC's or Advanced Reading Copies from either the publisher or from one of the distribution sites like NetGalley.  Different companies handle ARC's in different ways so it may take a little effort, but it might be worth it to read a book before the general public.  I don't do this very often as my backlog of TBR's is so huge if I started adding yet to be published books...well I would probably implode.  The other thing to be careful of is that these are may still be edited before they are actually published using advanced reader feedback, so the final book may be a wee bit different from the one you read.
Giveaway's-There is always a give away going on, either on various blogs, author sites, publishing sites, so many people want to give you books.  Again this takes a bit of effort, but usually it is as easy as logging in, or giving them your e-mail address and commenting to qualify.  I have even seen groups of blogs get together for a progressive give away.  If you are willing to look and take some time, the possibilities are endless.  This is also a good way to get some interesting versions of books, or signed copies, or bundles, it all depends on the giveaway. This is a great way to visit other blogs and sites and find some new favorites (note to self, should probably do a giveaway at some point soon).
Book Swapping-This is where you essentially take a book you have already read and swap with somebody who has a book you want to read.  This is not totally free as you need to have books of your own, but it is a "free" way to expand your reading repertoire.  You can do this with people you know, or you can use a site like BookMooch which works on an international point system.  The plus side to this is that you can get books you have been wanting, or looking for that are hard to find for free.  Especially on the websites the variety is mind boggling.  The down side is you usually have to give up one of your own books.  If it is with a friend or family member, you may get it back, but if it is a true swap...bye bye book.  Also super popular books are a little harder to come by.
Free Bin-This is where your second hand book shop once again proves to be your best friend.  Not only does it provide you with a plethora of books (some of which are impossible to find otherwise) for a usually decent price, but a lot of them also have the free bin.  This is where you can bring books you no longer want, or that the shop decides are probably not going to sell, or are not in the best condition and are put out for first come first serve free for all. These bins are usually outside, and you can usually tell why they are in the free bins, but if you take some time to go through them all you can occasionally find a gem.  This is also a great place to get books to tear apart for some of the projects using books and pages without feeling guilty about tearing up a good book.
Library-of course I cannot leave out the oldest and still most wonderful way to get free books.  Your local library!  Here is a place you can pick up any book at no risk, you can delve into new authors, try a new genre, see if that hyped up book is really worth it.  Several libraries are even offering e-books to rent!  Of course the down side is that you do have to return it at some point, or they make you pay for it and it is no longer free, but still better then no book at all. Libraries also tend to have periodic book sales with there own free bins, so keep an eye out.

So there you have it folks, six ways to obtain books at no cost to yourself.  I wish some of these had been available (or more accessible at least) when I was a broke college student.  The library was my best friend and I would hunt down and swap books with a vengeance.  This is a case where technology has enabled more people to have access to more books which is always a good thing.
What is your favorite method for obtaining free reading material?  Do you mind giving up or returning books once they have been read so you can get new ones, or do you become unnaturally attached to the vast majority of your books?  How has e-books changed your reading/buying/swapping habits?