Prime Big Deal Days, Amazon's version of Prime Day in October, is upon us. While the sales event may be a precursor to Black Friday, Prime Day deals are often the best you see all year on Amazon’s own line of products as well as everyday essentials. A particularly standout deal Amazon has brought back is its “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” promotion, which is one of the best Prime Day deals in part because you don't need to be a Prime member to shop it.
In my opinion, this sale is one of the best chances for physical media collectors to stock up on all of their interests, particularly newer releases that haven't gotten discounts yet. Like previous iterations, the sale lets you incorporate a mix of 4K movies, albums, and, a big highlight for me personally, some good ol’ books.
Amazon’s Buy 2 Get 1 Free Sale Includes Best-Selling Books and Box Sets
To apply the “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” promo, you just have to add three eligible products to your cart and the discount will be automatically applied to the cheapest product. You can pick and choose between categories, even grabbing a book, a vinyl, and a Blu-ray if you so desire (you can see everything included in the sale here). The promo also stacks, so you’ll get one item for free for every three items you add to your cart.
Off the rip, a big standout to me in this sale is just how many new releases are eligible for the promo. And when I say new, I mean new. Two of our top picks to look forward to in September are included in the list.
Dan Brown’s The Secret of Secrets is the latest release in the Robert Langdon thriller series (think Da Vinci Code), while Alchemised is the published edition of SenLinYu's Harry Potter fanfic, “Manacled." Both releases have quickly climbed Amazon's best-selling books chart, and the fanfic-turned-novel has already been licensed to Legendary Studios for a movie adaptation in a seven-figure deal.
The sale is definitely worthwhile for any fans of YA lit or the "romantasy" genre. We’re talking Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest prequel in The Hunger Games series which is already getting a movie adaptation next year. We’re talking Fourth Wing, the first book in Rebecca Yarros’ Emyprean series, which is also getting adapted into a TV series. And, of course, we’re talking the entirety of A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Another big score here is the inclusion of box sets and deluxe editions. Besides the Sarah J. Maas wave, you can find tons of different collections of The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit novels, including the illustrated editions.
Should You Wait for Black Friday to Stock Up on Books?
Next month is what is generally considered to be one of the best times to buy just about anything, including books: Black Friday. As opposed to Prime Day, pretty much every retailer will have some sort of sale. This means more “book-specific” retailers like Barnes & Noble will also have discounts. That said, it’s rare even on Black Friday to see deals like Amazon's current discounts on new releases and best-sellers.
My approach is to pick up some new releases in Amazon's sale while planning to check out my local bookstores for more niche discounts and recommendations next month. Also, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think there’s ever a bad time to stock up books. At worst they sit on your shelf haunting you until you finally get the motivation to read them.
Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.
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