What to Buy on Black Friday

Black Friday is the biggest retail sale of the year. Even the January sales often seem to have subpar offers in comparison. There are always going to be items that are not really any cheaper than other times of the year despite the ‘sale’ tag appearing next to them but there are definitely bargains to be had! Over the last week I have been trawling through the internet trying to spot the best offers and sales to share with you. It is the perfect time to buy Christmas presents or treat yourself without feeling guilty! I have lots of different bookish items for you including books, book box subscriptions, bookish themed candles and more. I hope that you will find this guide helpful.

Amazon – UK

Starting with one of the most well known retailers for Black Friday offers. Amazon  starts their special offers a week beforehand and they continue through to the following Monday, best known as Cyber Monday. Lightning deals (limited time offers) run throughout this period alongside their other deals. There are SO many items to be found on Amazon that I will only share a small bookish selection:

Technology

Amazon notoriously slashes prices on their own brand devices for Black Friday. If you fancied a cross between a tablet and an e-reader then the Kindle Fire HD8 is reduced from £79.99 to £49.99. It comes in four different colours and I can say from personal experience that they are particularly handy for entertainment if you are ever travelling. I have the older version, the Kindle Fire 7, which is now £29.99 instead of £49.99 and it is great for keeping all my e-books and audio books together. I used to love reading on my old Kindle Keyboard on holiday. It had no backlighting but also didn’t have the intense glare that you get when trying to read of a phone or tablet in the sunshine. I would love to get my hands on the new Kindle Paperwhite, which has adjustable lighting to make reading easy on your eyes no matter the weather or time of day and it is now waterproof. Bath time reading is the dream (without the nasty, accidental thumb prints…) There is £30 off making the new Kindle Paperwhite £89.99 for the 8GB version.

A piece of technology that you might not consider to be particularly bookish is the Amazon Alexa Dot or it’s big brother the Echo. I am a big geek so have two Dots, one in my study and one in the kitchen, that I use to control a lot of the lighting in the house. The thing I use it for the most however are listening to my audio books. Audible is an Amazon company so I can access any of my audio library with voice command and it will pick up right where I left off. If I’m cleaning or cooking it makes it really easy to listen to a couple of chapters of anything I fancy. Obviously you could listen to music too and connect the Dot to Amazon music or Spotify if you have a premium account. The sound is very good on the 2nd gen Dots and they are now only £19.99 instead of £49.99. This is partly due to the new 3rd generation being released, which for the sale is £24.99 instead of £49.99. I don’t expect the older dots to go back up to full price.

Books

There are a lot of book offers that are changing on a daily basis. Here are a few that you may want to consider:

Kindle Books

The Corset by Laura Purcell – £0.99

The Millennium Trilogy (Starting with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) by Stieg Larsson – £0.99 for all three books

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley – £0.99

King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard – £0.99

Deliciously Ella Every Day – £0.99

Skellig by David Almond – £1.99

Paperbacks

Scythe by Neal Shusterman – £4.52

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman – £4.70

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James – £3.90

Upcoming Deals for Black Friday (23rd November)

To All the Boy’s  I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han – offer begins 1:14am

Deliciously Ella – Awesome ingredients, incredible food that you and your body will love – offer begins 5:24am

Harry Potter Colouring Books at various times throughout the day

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas- offer begins 1:09pm

The Book People

A website that was recently recommended to me with a few fantastic offers! Check it out here.

The Grishaverse Collection by Leigh Bardugo – All three books with the newly released covers only £5

The Mortal Instruments (Shadowhunters) Collection by Cassandra Clare – All 6 books for £9

The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness – All 3 books for £6

The Frances Hardinge Collection – 3 books for £6

The Roald Dahl Classic Children’s Collection – 15 books for £24

Book Box Subscriptions

Owlcrate

There are a lot of book boxes out there but Owlcrate is one of the best. I received my first ever box from them last month and loved it! I will do an unboxing soon but in the meantime they have a few special offers for Black Friday that are definitely worth using if you are considering a subscription or are planning to renew:

Codes for Owlcrate:

1FRIDAY = $5 off a 1 month plan

3FRIDAY = $14 off a 3 month plan

6FRIDAY = $27 off a 6 month plan

If you are new to Owlcrate then simply use the code at checkout for the discount. If you are already a subscriber e-mail Owlcrate (support@owlcrate.com) by November 26th and let them know which code you would like to apply to your next renewal!

Other offers:

Between the 23rd and 30th November the Owlcrate shop (shop.owlcrate.com) will have a range of discounts on past boxes, books and other goodies ranging from 25-50% off. They have some lovely exclusive edition books up for grabs so enjoy the discounts.

Shelflove Crate

Shelflove have also decided to offer codes both to new and existing subscribers. I have never had a box from them but they definitely have a lot of fans.

Codes for Shelflove new subscribers:

1MONTH = $5 off first month

3MONTH = $14 off first three months

6MONTH = $27 off first six months

Codes for existing subscribers:

Month to Month = $5 off one month

3 Month = $14 off next three month renewal

6 Month = $27 off next six month renewal

If you are an existing subscriber, e-mail sale@shelflovecrate.com with your subscription number. Specify Crate or Reads in your e-mail and let them know which code you wish to use.

Candles

Bookish candles are the best! Created to remind you of some of your favourite magical places and people. Some of my favourite shops have wonderful offers on:

Ash and Quill Candles

You can go to their Etsy store here or they have their own website at www.ashandquillcandles.co.uk. The Etsy store has 20% off bringing their 7oz candles down to only £6.80 each. All of the candles in the shop sound fantastic and they have a lot of different themes including the Grishaverse, Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Lacuna Candle Co.

A very popular candle company in the book blogger community and can be found on Etsy. Lacuna has some lovely themes and a lot of Christmas candles. I personally love the sound of the “S’more in Love” candle, which is blended to smell like one of their classics but with added bonfire and marshmallow scents. There is definitely a candle for everyone and with 15% off most items, it works out at approximately £6.80 for a large 7oz jar or £4.67 for a smaller 40z tin.

Amelia’s Kitchen Candles

In summer I participated in a gift exchange (summer secret santa) with some of my fellow book bloggers and was THRILLED to be gifted a candle from Amelia’s. The candle I received “By the stars” is based on the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers. The scent is wonderful and the colour gradient against the colours on the label is gorgeous. There are two different offers running at the moment including a buy one get one half price and a general 15% discount across the store. A single 7oz jar candle comes out at £8.92. With the BOGOHP offer you can choose two candles for £15.75. A big bonus is the shipping in the UK is free! Most shops charge around £3 so that is a lovely bonus. As with the other stores there are numerous book themes! I like that Amelia stocks some more unusual themes including The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy candles as well as from Jane Austen Classics. If you are a big candle lover you can even sign up for a candle subscription, where you receive a fairy tale themed candle to your door every month. Have a look at Amelia’s Etsy store here.

Society 6

There are some amazing bookish designers on Society 6 including Evie Seo (Instagram @eviebookish) and Stella Bookish Art (Instagram @stellabookishart). You can buy a lot of different items including t-shirts, wall art, cushions, rugs, mugs and even large furniture! There is currently 30% off everything and free worldwide shipping. On Stella’s store there will be another offer running from 25th-26th with up to 50% off certain items and free shipping on ‘almost everything’. It is worth checking what offers your favourite bookish designers are running on their social media pages.

Waterstones

Waterstones.com have their own Black Friday deals with books up to half price. I wouldn’t say that anything stood out to me but if you have had your eye on something then it is worth checking to see what is included. If you do buy from Waterstones remember to sign of for their new ‘plus’ loyalty card. For every £10 you spend you earn a stamp and for every 10 stamps you receive £10 on your plus balace, which you can redeem in store or online. Student Plus rewards include an extra 5% discount so remember to show that student card when you sign up!

Bloomsbury Publishing

Saving the best Black Friday sale for last! Bloomsbury are not having a ‘Black Friday’ sale technically but instead are having an early Christmas sale. The website is here. They have up to 45% off fiction titles, which is HUGE! Here are some of the best offers:

Throne of Glass Complete Box Set by Sarah J Maas – £66!!!! That is a £54 saving!!!

Throne of Glass Collector’s Edition by Sarah J Maas (Hardback) – £9.34

A Court of Thorns and Roses Box Set by Sarah J Maas – £ 13.74

The Corset (Hardback) by Laura Purcell – £7.14

Harry Potter: Adult or Children’s Paperback Collection – £44.09

Harry Potter: Adult or Children’s Hardback Collection – £80.50

That is all for now! If I spot any great offers tomorrow I will post new finds in the comments and also update you all on my Twitter @dellybird. Please feel free to add your own exciting finds in the comments too! This post contains no affiliate links, all links are only there to help you find your way to the pages. If you do purchase through Amazon, they have their ‘smile’ page www.smile.amazon.co.uk where you can pick a charity for a percentage of all your shopping to be donated to. If you are shopping on other popular websites please consider checking out www.easyfundraising.org.uk, which works in the same way. You can choose a charity and see what percentage of your shopping total will be donated to them. It costs you nothing and all you have to do is click through their website. I have raised over £250 for charities this way so as you can see it adds up! Please spread the word as it can make a big difference, especially at this time of year.