Books are expensive.
There, I've said it.
I love buying books, I love bookshops, and I'm very much in favour of authors being paid for their work. Unfortunately, my bank account doesn't share my enthusiasm for acquiring books at the speed I would ideally like.
But before anyone goes sailing off across the internet with an eyepatch looking for questionable downloads, there are actually loads of ways to get books completely free and completely legally.
Free as in £0.00.
Free as in nobody has nicked it.
Free as in the author isn't going to hunt you down and demand their royalties.
So, where are all these mythical free books hiding?
1. Your Local Library
Let's start with the obvious one.
Join your library.
I know I keep banging on about libraries, but honestly, if you love books and aren't a member of your local library, you're missing out.
Membership is free, and you can borrow physical books without paying a penny. Most libraries also allow you to search their catalogue online, reserve books and then collect them when they're ready.
You don't even necessarily have to wander hopefully around the shelves looking for what you want.
Although I recommend doing that occasionally because you nearly always come home with something you weren't looking for.
And there's another very good reason to get that little library card...
2. BorrowBox
I've already written about how much I like BorrowBox, but it absolutely belongs on this list.
If your local library uses BorrowBox, your library card can give you access to ebooks and audiobooks from home.
Download the BorrowBox app, find your library service and sign in using your library membership details. You can then browse the books available through your particular library, borrow what's available and reserve books that somebody else has got their digital hands on first.
Different libraries have different catalogues and borrowing limits, so what you can access will depend on where you live.
The important bit?
It doesn't cost you anything.
This is particularly brilliant for audiobooks because they can be expensive to buy individually. If you listen regularly, it's well worth seeing what your library offers through BorrowBox.
The only slight problem is discovering a book you desperately want and finding yourself number 47 in the queue.
Still.
Free is free.
I'll wait.
3. BookBub
Now we're entering dangerous territory.
BookBub is one of those websites you join thinking:
I'll just have a little look.
Three weeks later, you're wondering why there are another 47 books on your Kindle.
BookBub is free to join and alerts readers to ebook deals. You choose the genres you're interested in and the retailers you use, and it shows you books that have been discounted.
A lot of them aren't completely free. You'll find plenty at 99p, £1.99 and other reduced prices.
But there are also genuinely free books.
When you find one you fancy, BookBub sends you to the retailer offering it, such as Amazon, where you can download it.
There is one very important thing to remember:
Check the price before you click Buy.
A free promotion might only last for a day or two. If you've opened an old BookBub email, the book may have returned to its normal price.
If it says £0.00, wonderful.
If it says £4.99, back away from the button unless you actually want to buy it.
BookBub is particularly good if you don't want to spend your life searching Amazon for offers because the offers come looking for you instead.
Which is convenient.
And terrible for the TBR.
4. Amazon's Free #Kindle Books
This is one that quite a few people don't seem to realise exists.
You do not need #KindleUnlimited to get free #Kindle books from Amazon.
Some #Kindle ebooks are simply priced at:
£0.00
Authors and publishers sometimes make books free temporarily as a promotion. It's particularly common with the first book in a series.
They give you Book One for nothing.
You read it.
You love it.
You discover there are another eleven books.
The author cackles somewhere in the distance.
It is a surprisingly effective strategy.
How Do You Find Them?
Go to Amazon and search for:
Free #Kindle books
Or be more specific:
Free #Kindle romance
Free #Kindle crime books
Free #Kindle fantasy
Free #Kindle historical fiction
Free #Kindle thrillers
You can also browse around the #Kindle Store and keep an eye on the bestseller charts and categories.
But there is an important distinction to watch for.
You want the actual #Kindle price to say:
£0.00
Don't confuse that with a book that says something along the lines of Read for £0.00 with #KindleUnlimited.
That's not actually a free book. You need a paid #KindleUnlimited subscription to read it.
If the #Kindle purchase price itself is £0.00, that's different.
You've effectively bought the book for nothing.
It's yours.
5. Project Gutenberg
If you like classics, you could probably stop buying books altogether and spend the rest of your natural life working your way through Project Gutenberg.
It offers thousands of older books that are in the public domain and can therefore legally be downloaded for free.
No subscription.
No monthly payment.
No dodgy download website.
And no handing over your credit card details.
You'll find authors including Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Brontës, Mary Shelley, Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde and H. G. Wells.
You can download books in different formats or simply read them online.
Granted, you're probably not going to find last Tuesday's bestseller on there.
But if you've been telling yourself for seventeen years that you're finally going to read Pride and Prejudice, there really is no excuse left.
6. Authors' Newsletters
This one is very easy to overlook.
If there's an author you enjoy, join their mailing list.
Authors frequently offer readers a free story for subscribing to their newsletter.
It might be a short story.
A novella.
A prequel.
A bonus story featuring characters from one of their series.
Sometimes they'll even give away an entire novel.
It's also worth staying subscribed because authors often tell their newsletter readers when one of their books is going to be temporarily free.
Which means you don't have to keep checking.
They'll tell you.
Very considerate of them.
7. Follow Authors on Social Media
This works in much the same way.
Authors frequently announce promotions on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and other social platforms.
You might suddenly see:
FREE THIS WEEKEND!
And that is your cue.
Click.
Check that it really is £0.00.
Download.
Feel smug.
I've discovered authors this way that I probably wouldn't have risked buying when I'd never read anything by them before.
Which is exactly why authors offer books for free in the first place.
You try one.
You enjoy it.
Then you go looking for their other books.
Everybody wins.
8. Don't Assume Free Means Rubbish
I think this is worth saying.
There's sometimes an assumption that if a book is being given away, it can't be very good.
That's nonsense.
Yes, there are some questionable free books out there.
There are also some questionable books I've paid £9.99 for.
A free promotion is often simply marketing.
An author might be launching the next book in a series. They might want to introduce new readers to their work. A publisher might temporarily discount an older title. An indie author might make the first book in a series permanently free because they know readers who enjoy it are likely to continue with the series.
I've downloaded free books and abandoned them after twenty pages.
I've also downloaded free books and subsequently bought everything else the author had written.
Which, presumably, was their cunning plan all along.
So, Where Would I Start?
If you want to read as much as possible without spending a fortune, I'd start with:
Your local library.
Then check whether it gives you access to BorrowBox.
Sign up for BookBub so the free offers come to you.
Keep an occasional eye on Amazon's £0.00 Kindle books.
And if you enjoy classics, bookmark Project Gutenberg.
Between those, you can acquire a frankly ridiculous number of books without pirating a single one.
And that last bit matters.
Authors deserve to be paid for their work. Downloading a pirated copy because somebody has uploaded it illegally isn't the same thing as downloading a book an author or publisher has deliberately made free.
There are already more legal free books available than most of us could possibly read.
So there's really no need to put on the eyepatch.
Besides, I've seen my TBR.
I don't need to steal any more books.
I need to stop downloading the free ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment