There are a lot of free books available for Kindle and Apple. And by a lot we mean 70,000+ and 10,000+ respectively. However, both platforms make it a bit tricky to search and browse the free books. For this reason a handful of sites have sprung up to make the free book discovery process more simple. All of the free book on Amazon and Apple can all be downloaded directly and legally from Kindle and iBooks. We are going to show the top places online to find, discover and browse free books. Here they are:
1) Booksliced.com. Booksliced keeps track of all free books on Amazon and Apple. The site let’s you easily find the newest and most popular free books. When you find the right book for you, simply press the orange “Buy” button and you are taken to Amazon or Apple to download the book.
2) JustKindleBooks.com. This site uses a simple list links to different genre of free books on Amazon. Amazon always has 50,000 to 80,000 free books on Kindle on any given day. Old school links make it so simple to find free books.
3) Your Library. You know that you can walk into your local library and check out a book. It’s free until you keep it for too long and get hit with late fees. But did you know that there’s an app called Overdrive which lets you borrow ebooks from your local library? The app delivers the book right to your Kindle, and automatically returns it two weeks later. It’s really that easy. Setting up the app and connecting it to your library card and your Kindle takes about 15 mins, but it’s worth the time.
The downside to using Overdrive to borrow ebooks are several: a) The selection may be limited, b) you often need to get on a waitlist to get the book you want, c) you only get the book for two weeks before it gets returned. To get started with Overdrive you need your library card, a pin for the card, and a Kindle reading device or the Kindle app. Overdrive is worth the pain of setting it up if you read on Kindle, Apple or even Kobo.
4) The Classics. Project Gutenberg is the internet’s home for free public domain classic literature. With more than 57,500 free ebooks, there’s plenty to educate yourself with. These staples of literature are past their copyright date, and so they are free. Have at it!
So Why Are Some Books Free?
It may be confusing to some why anything that takes so long to produce, like a book, could be free? If you want to know why some great books are free please continue reading below. Free ebooks from Kindle, Kobo, B&N and iBooks come in two forms:
- Public Domain– Books that are no longer covered by copyright are considered Public Domain. These books may have always been considered “Free”, but some may not be available yet on Amazon. A ton of these books can be found on sites like ManyBooks, FeedBooks, or Project Gutenberg, but everyone knows that if it is not Amazon, it is going to be a pain to download on your Kindle. That’s where we come in! We make it easy for you to find that perfect FREE or discount book without going through any hassles.
- Limited Time Offers– Often, publishing companies or self-published authors will offer books for free for a limited time. They are usually working one of three free book strategies. 1) Make the first book in a series free. If you like it they hope you will pay for the rest. 2) Expand the fans of an established author. If you like the author they hope you will buy more of her books. 3) Give a new author some exposure.
What’s the Downside to Free Books?
There are a couple of downsides to free books that you might get from Amazon or Apple. Here they are:
- Quality. Quality varies greatly in the “free book” market. Some free books are first rate other you might want to delete from your device.
- Cliffhangers. With some romance, mystery and sci-fi books, you may find that haven’t downloaded a full length novel, but rather a novella that ends with a cliff hanger. If you want to know the ending you’ll need to buy part 2 of the series.
- Limited Time. Free books tend to be free for only 1 to 5 days and there no timestamp that tells you when the book goes back to normal price. The free sign next to the book may be there one minute and gone the next…so get it while you can!
Now’s a great time browse some free books and load up your reading device.
