General / Off-Topic How To Find Free eBooks

Alien

Alien
Allen Stroud's book "The Sword Of Wisimir" is currently available from Amazon for free.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Sword-W...14NW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355553358&sr=8-1
(Allen, how long will it be free for?)

This has prompted me to look into how you find other eBooks for free.

So, first let's look at Amazon.
They do lots of books for free, so how do you find them? Are they all really old titles that no-one wants?
Well, no, they are not all really old titles no-one wants, but there are older titles for free and some newer ones too.

How To Find Them
Look at the section I outlined in red on the left of this screenshot:

Amazon%201.jpg


If you select Books, and then Kindle Books (because Amazon only does Kindle books, not ePub), and then further select categories down to which ever genre you are interested in, you'll soon see a list of titles displayed.

In the top right area, you'll see a drop down box to select how the list should be sorted, select "Price: Low to High" and the list will show the eBooks that are free:

Amazon%202.jpg


Here you can see I've selected Fantasy books (I'm a sword & sorcery fan) and I've highlighted the sort by box

You can also use the search box to search for specific words, then sort the order by price, but you'll be more likely to find free books if you sort by genre.

So, Where Else Has Free eBooks?
I don't know all the sites, but a quick search on Google will throw up some sites for you. Here are some I've found:

Project Gutenberg - Out of print books for free

Open Library

Many Books.net

Feed Books

Hundred Zeros They are also on twitter: https://twitter.com/HundredZeros

I know I've concentrated on Kindle and not mentioned ePub, that is because I have a Kindle. Some of the non-Amazon sites cater for many formats, not just Kindle or ePub. If you really need to, you can convert books with Calibre but it might have trouble converting Kindle format to non-Kindle format ... that's Amazon for you!

So I hope this helps you find more free eBooks, and feel free to post sites you've found that have free eBooks or tips you know to find free eBooks or just general feedback & comments.
 
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Darren Grey

Darren Grey
Gutenberg is great! And there's loads of classics available for free. Anyone with an ereader that doesn't have the full collection of Sherlock Holmes is doing themselves a disservice :p Also if you see classic books on Amazon for 50p it's usually a free book that someone is charging for the whole packaging up / formatting service. Sometimes this can be worth it if you can't find a good copy for free, but definitely look around!

There's lots of audiobooks of classics available for free too, though they tend to be in American accents (kinda ruins English classics for me): http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
 

psykokow

psykokow
Of course you guys are meaning LEGALLY free books, without ripping anyone off...
:D

I love Calibre for my book collection, IDEAL for my kindle.. and thanks for these links... VERY useful
 

Alien

Alien
psykokow said:
Of course you guys are meaning LEGALLY free books, without ripping anyone off...
:D

I love Calibre for my book collection, IDEAL for my kindle.. and thanks for these links... VERY useful
Click to expand...
Yes I do mean 100% legal books
and you're welcome :)
 

Selezen

Selezen
Alien said:
They do lots of books for free, so how do you find them? Are they all really old titles that no-one wants?
Well, no, they are not all really old titles no-one wants, but there are older titles for free and some newer ones too.
Click to expand...
I'm sure Alien did not intend to imply that no-one would want Allen's books. ;)
 

Alien

Alien
Selezen said:
I'm sure Alien did not intend to imply that no-one would want Allen's books. ;)
Click to expand...

How could anyone not want Allen's books? They are really great books*

* = I have yet to read any of Allen's books, but I have to say they are really great or he'll beat me up at #LaveCon :p
 

psykokow

psykokow
I like Free... its my favourite price point... the best things in life are free?? I don't understand that... coz like dog poo is free but it aint the best thing...

and infact the Ps4 is expensive... and Elite 4 has cost us 1.7m thats hardly blooming FREE!!

I hereby re-nounce the saying that "the best things in life are free"... and hereby give notice to change it to "some of the free things in life are good, others are worth paying for."


[/RANT]
 

Selezen

Selezen
Alien said:
* = I have yet to read any of Allen's books, but I have to say they are really great or he'll beat me up at #LaveCon :p
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say they're really great. They're darned good, but not as original or as engaging as, say, the works of David Eddings*.


* Note to all Lavecon attendees. The above sentence has guaranteed that Allen will perform physical violence upon my person. The entertainment factor of watching a fat Scottish guy being chased around Cheltenham by a berserk author/lecturer wielding a latex sword is worth the trip, I think.

Cabaret provided free of charge.
 

Alien

Alien
Selezen said:
I wouldn't say they're really great. They're darned good, but not as original or as engaging as, say, the works of David Eddings*.


* Note to all Lavecon attendees. The above sentence has guaranteed that Allen will perform physical violence upon my person. The entertainment factor of watching a fat Scottish guy being chased around Cheltenham by a berserk author/lecturer wielding a latex sword is worth the trip, I think.

Cabaret provided free of charge.
Click to expand...

pick your latex sword!

And YAY!!! another Eddings fan ... which book(s) ? (I like the Belgariad)
 

Susimetsa

Susimetsa
Selezen said:
* Note to all Lavecon attendees. The above sentence has guaranteed that Allen will perform physical violence upon my person. The entertainment factor of watching a fat Scottish guy being chased around Cheltenham by a berserk author/lecturer wielding a latex sword is worth the trip, I think.

Cabaret provided free of charge.
Click to expand...
You are confident that Allen is aware of the highly esteemed works of David Eddings and will not take your statement the wrong way (i.e. be flattered)? Such misunderstanding might easily rob us of the promised entertainment.
 

Selezen

Selezen
Susimetsa said:
You are confident that Allen is aware of the highly esteemed works of David Eddings and will not take your statement the wrong way (i.e. be flattered)? Such misunderstanding might easily rob us of the promised entertainment.
Click to expand...

I am indeed aware of Mr Stroud's opinion of Mr Eddings (talentless hack was, I believe, one of the less colourful descriptions) and am confident that the comment will be taken in the spirit it was delivered. If Allen arrives with a REAL sword rather than a latex one then I know I pushed too hard.
 

Allen Stroud

Allen Stroud
Selezen said:
I am indeed aware of Mr Stroud's opinion of Mr Eddings (talentless hack was, I believe, one of the less colourful descriptions) and am confident that the comment will be taken in the spirit it was delivered. If Allen arrives with a REAL sword rather than a latex one then I know I pushed too hard.
Click to expand...

... (retaliatory remark deleted... trust me it was a good one!)

For the record, I professionally loathe David Eddings' books, as my learned colleague well knows...;)

However, personally, I read them at a difficult moment in my life and they helped me escape it for a while, so I totally recognise why they are treasured by some and take up a whole shelf in my house. :D

I have a similar opinion of Christoper Paolini, although without the "low moment in my life" bit.
 

Alien

Alien
Selezen said:
Lemme guess - she stole your ideas. Yeah, a few people have said that.

History, Tolkien, Grimm, Disney, <insert fantasy author here>...
Click to expand...
On second thoughts, you don't want to get me started on why I don't like JKR
I've read Harry Potter and I think it's a pile of crap. So there.
 
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Susimetsa

Susimetsa
Allen Stroud said:
I have a similar opinion of Christoper Paolini, although without the "low moment in my life" bit.
Click to expand...
Did you ever try Stephen Donaldson. His early books were rather talentless rewrites of J.R.R. Tolkien and might be a nice addition to your collection of "authors to hate". :)
 

Selezen

Selezen
Alien said:
Well, Eddings freely admitted he wrote the Belgariad because he didn't like Tolkien, but he didn't go and copy things and pretend it was all his own ideas ... unlike J K Rowling.

I also don't like how she sued anyone trying to do anything fan created. One guy did an encyclopedia about the world of Harry Potter, it was quite good, apparently, but because J K Rowling didn't think of it, she had it stopped. Rule #1 for any author, film maker, artist (art or music), or any business ... do not ever upset the fans.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he did well at that. He did say that the Belgariad was an attempt to prove to critics that a fantasy novel could contain every fantasy cliche in existence and still be a bestseller if the story and characters were engaging. Which he did. Then ruined it all with the Malloreon. Blech.

Rowling didn't sue "anyone doing a fan site" -. She (with license holders Warner Bros) sued the creator of one fan site when he tried to publish the content of his site as a physical book (an encyclopedia), which is a breach of copyright.
 

Selezen

Selezen
Susimetsa said:
Did you ever try Stephen Donaldson. His early books were rather talentless rewrites of J.R.R. Tolkien and might be a nice addition to your collection of "authors to hate". :)
Click to expand...

Ech. Donaldson. The first book of Covenant was OK and had a good story, but the rest. Blech. Rehashed workings of the first book. And having the protagonist force himself upon a 16 year old girl AT THE START OF THE FIRST BOOK just destroys any sympathy for him that the audience might have had for a man who wallows in self-pity through six books. I mean, if he had developed in ANY way, there might have been hope.

<shudder>
 
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