E-Book Freebies
If you do a little legwork, it's possible to never pay Amazon for an e-book. This is important because Kindle books on Amazon can be up to $14.99 (sometimes even more). The biggest bookseller in the world also offers free books! There are several ways to find them.
World Book Day
What It Is: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has marked 23 April as World Book and Copyright Day, also known as World Book Day. The day is celebrated in over a hundred countries around the world.
The Offer: Each year, in honor of World Book Day, Amazon offers ten free books from non-US authors. The selection includes several different genres.
The Fine Print: "This free Kindle book giveaway started at 12 a.m. (PDT) April 13, 2022 and ends at 11:59 p.m. (PDT) on April 27, 2022. Customers who are eligible to purchase Kindle books on Amazon.com can download one or more of the ten featured Kindle books subject to the terms and conditions of Amazon.com Services LLC. Offer does not apply to physical goods, digital magazines, audiobooks (including Audible companions for your Kindle book purchase), print books, or digital subscriptions such as Kindle Unlimited. Amazon reserves the right to modify or cancel the offer at any time. Offer is non-transferable and may not be resold."
To Get There: Starting the middle of April, go to the Amazon Kindle Books page. World Book Day will usually be a large splash at the top of the page. Click on that and you'll get to the selection of free books.
Prime Reading
The Offer: For Amazon Prime members only, Prime Reading gives access to a rotating catalog of ebooks and audiobooks. There is also one free pre-release ebook every month from editors' picks. Magazines and audiobooks are also included.
The Fine Print: Prime Reading books are loans, not purchases. You can keep a borrowed book as long as you want, but the maximum you can borrow at one time is ten books. If you try to borrow your 11th book, the site will take you to the "Return a title to continue" page. There you can select one to return so you can borrow a new one.
To Get There: Go to the Amazon Kindle Books page. Select Prime Reading from the menu at the left.
Free Books
The Offer: Every day, hundreds of Kindle books are offered for free on Amazon to any Amazon user, and no Prime membership or Kindle Unlimited is required. These are usually the first book in a series, and the later books aren't free.
The Fine Print: Be careful before you click to "buy"! Make sure that the listing says "Kindle Edition $0.00" as shown at left. If you're not a Kindle Unlimited member, carefully look at the price for books with the Kindle Unlimited sticker, as shown at right. Those have a big $0.00 but smaller print says "Free with Kindle Unlimited membership. Or $xx to buy."
To Get There: Don't use the Amazon search box to search for "Free Kindle Books." That will give you Kindle Unlimited books, which aren't necessarily free if you don't have Kindle Unlimited. Sneaky! Instead, go to this link free Kindle books.
The Offer: "Unlimited Reading. Unlimited listening. Any device." Usually $9.99 per month, but occasionally there are special offers. Usually at least one month free is offered with the purchase of a new Kindle.
The Fine Print: Go to the Kindle Unlimited Terms of Use page to see all of the terms and conditions.
The Catch: Not everything is available on KU! The selection is large - over two million titles - but your favorite authors and/or current sellers may or may not be included. I recommend going to the Kindle Unlimited eligible list and searching for your favorite authors.
- Search for "Stephen King," and you'll get a bunch of books by some poseur named "Stephen R. King," not books by the best selling author from Maine.
- Search for "Blake Crouch" (who is a very hot sci-fi author), you'll find a lot of his older books but none of his current best sellers.
- Search for "Colleen Hoover" and you'll find a ton of her books on Kindle Unlimited. If you like cheesy romance books, you're in business! (To be fair, millions of people LOVE Colleen Hoover, and that's great. She's just not for me.)
To Get There: If you're not already a member, go to the Kindle Unlimited sign-up page. If you just want to see what books are available, go to the Amazon Kindle Books page. Then click on the "Kindle Unlimited eligible" box in the left-hand menu.
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