I admit I'm a readaholic. I have over 3,000 books. Most are non-fiction and are informational. I buy most of these books at thrift shops, yard sales and annual book sales. Its amazing what you can find out there if you look. Yesterday I found books on raising ferrets, cockatiels, numerous diets new and old, raising kids, treating cholesterol, diabetes, how to write., marketing, fixing cars, fixing plumbing and a lot of other subjects.

You can find professional books like medicine, law, accounting etc that you won't find in bookstores. There is also a plethora of magazines to peruse in just about all subjects.

The best part is they are cheap, cheap, cheap. You can buy books that originally cost over a hundred dollars for 50 cents or less. Yesterday I got a brown paper bag full of books for 5 dollars.

Google likes content, fresh content. I found a 3 book series on nothing but controlling cholesterol. No, I'm not going to plagiarize, but I can get lots of subject ideas and information.

I know a lot of people are going to say,  "why bother when you can do research on the internet ?" The short answer is, I find, that the information in books is more complete.  The internet gives the short quick answers. Books give long complete answers. So I use books and magazines  for information to use in blog posts, articles and anywhere else I need content. OH, and nobody gripes when I use highlighters and tear out articles from magazines.

So go to your local thrift shop and check out the neighbors yard sales and look for books that might be the beginning or inspiration of your next website. Don't forget your local library, rumor has it they have lots of information and books too!

By the way books written before 1923 with U.S. copyright are considered public domain. The writing and any pictures or illustrations are free to use without copyright infringements. If the copyrights weren't renewed there are lots of books between 1923 and 1963 that are in the public domain. Check before you copy anything verbatim or use illustrations, pictures, or graphics.

As a side note: There are books out there that are valuable. If you have a cell phone with web access  look some of them up at amazon. You might be amazed. I've found books for 25 cents that I've sold for over 200 dollars. Watch for college text books that are less than 2 years old. They can be worth  from 40 dollars up to 100+.  I usually sell these either on Amazon or eBay.  Nice little chunk of change when you find them.

When I find large print editions of books I usually buy them and donate them to the old folks home.  They are very much appreciated and will get passed around.