Free Kindle Book Resources

E-Book Reading Doesn't Have to Be Expensive

Dec 24, 2008 Alex Sharp

Kindle owners have vast options for reading material, and many of the books available to read on the Amazon Kindle are free.

The joys of reading are increased on an Amazon Kindle. The e-book reader has automatic bookmarking, an easy-access dictionary, and a clever method to highlight and take notes while reading.

The first few hours of owning a Kindle are spend learning the tricks, but soon it is time to get real books. Finding sources of free books takes the sting out of the several hundreds of dollars spent on acquiring the Kindle.

Free Classic Books for the Kindle

Without question, the vast collection of Project Gutenberg's Online Book Catalog makes it the best resource for free books. The number of books in the public domain is staggering, and no Kindle user should pay for books by Jane Austen, Shakespeare, or any other book published before 1923 (the Public Domain cut-off year). There are over 100,000 books available through Project Gutenberg and the site's partners, and the number grows daily.

In order to get a book from Project Gutenberg to a Kindle, users should follow the following steps.

1. Download the book in .txt format.
2. Save the file name as "Title - Author". The Kindle will show the file name as the title, and the user's email address as the Author. If a user wants to sort books by authors, the file should be saved as "Author - Title".
3. Email the file from an approved email address to the user's kindle email account.

Amazon can convert books for the Kindle from the following formats:

• .txt
• .doc
• .html
• .pdf

After checking for new items, the book should appear within moments.

Free Books that are Already in Kindle Format

If a book is downloaded from the computer to the Kindle (as opposed to being sent via the magical Amazon Whispernet), .txt format should work without document conversion. There are websites that have books available in Kindle format (.azw).

One of the best sites for books already formatted for the Kindle is Manybooks, which has over 20,000 books (many of which are also available on Project Gutenberg). The advantage of using Manybooks is that the books are already properly formatted, so there will not be any of the rare but unpleasant side effects that can happen with Kindle document conversions.

Amazon's Free Book Offers

Occasionally, Amazon offers free books available as downloads for limited times. On Earth Day, Amazon made Go Green, Live Rich available for free for Kindle users. A number of books have been made available for free to Kindle users in anticipation of new releases from the authors. For example, Private, by Kate Brian, was issued for free in December, 2008, presumably to help generate interest in Brian's new series, Privilege.

Amazon's Document Conversion Fee

Although the documentation for the Kindle indicates Amazon will charge a ten cent fee for converting documents, there has not been any discussion of being charged on any of the popular Kindle forums. One could argue that ten cents for wireless delivery of a converted file, especially one that can be enjoyed Kindle-style, is not a hardship.

The experience of reading books on a Kindle is unlike reading on PDAs or other e-book readers; reading on a Kindle seems more natural to an experienced user than reading a traditional paper book.

The copyright of the article Free Kindle Book Resources in Mobile Technology is owned by Alex Sharp. Permission to republish Free Kindle Book Resources in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Kindle Users Have Many Free Book Sources Available

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