5 Places to Find Free E-Books
I always love to support my favorite authors by purchasing their books. Sometimes, though, I’m in a reading mood and want to try something new. Maybe I’m not sure of a book, or it’s one that I think I’ll only read once. Rather than take the chance and waste money, I’ve often turned to free resources as a way to see what I think of a book before buying it. Luckily, there are plenty of places to find books that won’t squeeze your budget at all. Here are the ones I like best:
Project Gutenberg: the first ever provider of electronic books, Project Gutenberg takes works that are no longer in copyright and offers them free to the public in a multitude of digital formats. This is a great place to find the classics, or other older works in the public domain, which includes books written prior to 1926 in the United States.
This is where I acquired my copies of old favorites like Anne of Green Gables, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Pride and Prejudice, along with lesser-known yet wonderful works like Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley. (If you liked Jane Eyre, you need to read this!) I’ve also found many fairytale collections from around the world here, including all of Andrew Lang’s Rainbow Fairy Books.
Open Library: a digital library resource with book information from Amazon, the Library of Congress, and more, Open Library is part of the Internet Archive. They provide digital copies from public domain, out-of-print, and in-print books, many of which have yet to be digitized in any other format. In order to access books in full you’ll have to create a free account, and some books can only be taken out by one user at a time. This is a great resource if you like to read digitally but a book is long out-of-print and perhaps hard to find on the secondary market.
*A Note: as of March 2023, the fate of Open Library is up in the air. A judge recently found the Internet Archive in violation of the law in their loan of books still under copyright protection. In order to protect the rights of authors and publishers, please check if the book you want to read is still under copyright. If it is, try to take it out via Overdrive or your local library, or purchase a copy, as otherwise your borrowing the book could be construed as piracy and more importantly, will not support the authors whose hard work went into the creation of that book.
If the book has yet to be digitized but was scanned for Open Library, consider writing a note to the publisher indicating your interest in a digital copy. If enough people write, publishers may be persuaded to digitize more of their work. There is a great deal of intellectual property that has fallen through the cracks for decades - only we readers can rescue them from obscurity.
Overdrive: Go to the webpage for your local library. Chances are pretty good you’ll find a link or button for Overdrive, either on the main page or in a section like “Downloads” or “Research.” Overdrive is the premier e-book distribution partner for libraries in the United States. They offer e-books and audiobooks, as well as a video streaming service, Kanopy, that is also offered by many libraries. With your library card, you can easily borrow books and make recommendations for works you’d like your library system to purchase. You can even download the Libby app for your phone to make borrowing books a breeze!
Amazon: Amazon sells a lot of e-books. More than any other retailer in the world, in fact. But did you know that they also offer free books? You could hunt around on their site under the Kindle heading to find these, but often the easiest way to do it is to simply type “kindle free books” into a search engine and click on the Amazon link you find. Often, indie authors will make the first book in a series free as a way to hook new readers. Some books are also free for a limited time as part of a Kindle deal. This is a great way to discover new authors that you might never have come across otherwise!
Bookbub: A deal aggregator site that offers daily newsletters with deals on hundreds of books for free or heavily discounted in different categories, including bestsellers. Sign up for free and set up alerts for your favorite authors and genres. They also publish articles recommending new books based on your preferences, and more than once I’ve discovered an author I absolutely love through Bookbub. Recently, I even came across a deal on a personal favorite, Caraval, by Stephanie Garber. Of course I snapped it up right away – and then couldn’t resist buying the sequels too! Now to settle in and reread it while I wait for the next book in the series…
Hopefully this will help you bulk up your digital library and find new favorite authors. Are there any other resources you like for finding free e-books that I haven’t mentioned here? Let me know!
