Free Kindle Books

One of the advantages of the Kindle (or any eReader device) is that there are literally millions of free eBooks out there. I myself have had my Kindle for about 4 months now. I have 100+ books on it and I only paid for about 5 of them.

Most of the public domain books are free or have a very low price. Some publishers offer current books for free just to get readers interested in an author or a series. So while the Kindle itself is not a cheap device by any means, it can still save you money in the long run - it just depends on your reading habits.

In this post I'm going to help you how to find the free books. If you use sites other than Amazon make sure you pick the right format to download. Mobipocket format will work on the Kindle. If you can only find the book you want in PDF, it will work natively on the Kindle DX but not on Kindle 1 or 2. Still, you have a few options to convert those to something that will work on Kindle 2.

As I keep finding new free sites I will update this list so make sure you check back often. If you find some sites that no longer exist please drop me a note so I can remove those links.

On Amazon

• The first obvious place to look is on Amazon.com itself. While browsing Kindle books choose the sorting option "Price: Low to High" on the right hand side. To make it easy for you here is an example link: All Kindle Books in Fiction
• Now let's suppose, you are only interested in non public domain books. New books that publishers or authors offers at $0 to entice you and lure you in. In the search box select Kindle Books and type in -domain. Even if you do not choose the "Price: Low to High" sorting option you'll see that the bestselling books are free. Here are your free non-public domain kindle books.
• OK, so you have hundreds of free books loaded on your Kindle but you want to read something new but don't want to spend any money. Look at the bestseller list. Chances are that amongst the first 10 or so there will be free books. That's one of the tricks of the publishers to get a book on the bestseller list is to offer them free for a limited time.

Other Sources for Fiction

• Baen Free Library - science fiction books
• Feedbooks - public domain and self-published books
• Free Cellphone eBooks
• New Free Books - books still under copyright (perfectly legal!)
• Project Gutenberg
• Many Books
• Mobipocket - also in multiple languages
• Kindle eBook Library - for $8.95/year you get unlimited access to 750,000+ titles
• World eBook Fair - free out of one month of the year (7/4/2010-8/4/2010) - membership applies the rest of the year
• Jasmine Jade - a handful of free romance books
• Planet eBook - classic literature
• Oprah's Book Club - occasionally for a limited time the featured book is available for a free download
• Smashwords - self-published books, most category has free offerings
• Jeffrey A. Carver has a few free science fiction e-books on his site.
  

Free Tech Books

• Free Tech Books - Computer Science book

Free books are great but what if you really really want to read something that you just can't find anywhere for free. Obviously you'll have to pay. Check out the Money for Kindle Books post on how to find ways to buy Kindle books.

Happy reading!

Kindle Me!

Have you heard of the Kindle? If not, what do you think it is? The definition in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary indicates that the verb kindle means 3 things:

1) to start (a fire) burning (light)
2) to stir up, to bring into being
3) to cause to glow (illuminate)

If I hadn't known what the Kindle was just from the meaning of the word I would have though it was some kind of a fire starting device.

So what IS a Kindle?

Kindle is an eBook reader sold by Amazon.

The first time I have heard about this device was when Amazon wildly advertised this product on virtually every page in February. That's when the second generation came out. Yes, it has already had multiple generations. We are on #2 but I have heard the 3rd is being developed right now.

I am an avid reader and I was very surprised I missed our on the first generation completely!

For months after drooling about it, I finally decided to purchase one. I saved up all my credit card rewards for a few months and that covered most of the purchase price.

I did not regret this purchase at all. I love love my Kindle!

How does the Kindle work?

It can hold up to about 1500 books in a digital format. You turn the pages by clicking on a button. It has a wireless connection (much like your cellphone) so Kindle books purchased via Amazon can be automatically downloaded. Unfortunately the wireless only works in the US. Books can also be loaded onto the Kindle via a USP cable as well.

Why do I like my Kindle?

• I love it that I don't have to haul around bulky books. It's about as big as a paperback book but much thinner.
• I can adjust the size of the font so, for example, in the gym I can still read on the bike without straining my eyes.
  
• It can "read" books to me. The text-to-speech feature is not enabled on all books and the voice is a somewhat of a monotone, computerized voice but it is still a nice option.
• I can have multiple books with me at the same time which is great if you are going on vacation.
• There are millions of free books available. In my next blog post I'll post a few links where they are available.
• Kindle books are usually cheaper than hardcover or softcover editions.
  

Why don't I like my Kindle?

This list is going to be much shorter.

• It's not cheap. Currently it's selling for $299.
• Books with DRM (Digital Rights Management) can only be purchased via Amazon.com and will only work on my Kindle. This means I cannot borrow, lend, or sell Kindle books.
• The clicking noise of the buttons irritates me.
  

So there you go. These are the basics of the Kindle. If you noticed the links you can guess I really want you to check it out. If you do buy one, you can be my Kindle friend. :)