4 Answers2025-05-19
I found this on Reddit (unexpected source of books for me). r/FreeEBOOKS is a constantly updating list of free Amazon books and others. I follow that subreddit and every now and then I download a book that catches my eye when it shows up at the top of my feed. It’s a firehose of content, but there are a lot of great books in there, too. I now have hundreds of books on my Kindle that I never would have found on my own.
6 Answers2025-07-29
Wikipedia can surprise you as a gateway. Researching a classic author or classic novel often in the sidebar or at the bottom of a Wikipedia article about them you can find a link to a free ebook version on websites such as Project Gutenberg or Internet Archive. These sources are not primary sources, but very useful to confirm whether a work is in the public domain or not and to get directly linked to the free online version. A while ago I randomly remembered a very obscure novel and wanted to read it from time to time. Using Wikipedia I found the free online version within minutes.
10 Answers2025-08-11
For me, the most sustainable model to read is a mix of models: reading new releases borrowed from the local library, reading for free the classics available on Project Gutenberg, occasionally buying a book from your favorite author to support him/her directly, and using the author’s freebies to discover new series to follow by that author.
Each method for gaining access to ebooks has its weaknesses, and most are fragile. The site for the pirated book could get shut down at any time. Links to sites with free ebooks can become dead at any time. Ebooks can become corrupted. On the other hand, library systems and public domain projects are to be relied upon. They are funded by taxes or non-profits whose mission is to preserve and make available large numbers of books.
Support community based, long term, sustainable models of reading instead. Have the free book be a bonus on top of your regular reading from sustainable sources. That way you are building your reading habit on something solid, something that will last decades to come, and not on the mercy of some ad laden site hosted in a country where copyright laws are lax.
6 Answers2025-07-02
If all you want to borrow are audiobooks, then for pure audiobook lending, Libby is your best choice. But you should also check to see if your library still subscribes to RBdigital, now often rebranded, which offers magazines and audiobooks through a separate app. Downloads from the app work just fine offline. Note that the catalog offered through RBdigital may be different from what’s on Libby, though. It’s another tool in your quiver to ask your local library to tell you what digital media services they subscribe to. They want you to use them!
13 Answers2026-07-27
For free Asian web novels, translation quality reads a million times better than garbage. High-quality translations of original works of fiction (even “free” ones like those found on Wuxiaworld or Volare, for instance) far outstrip heaps of locally-hosted “aggregated” copy—all “translated” via some half-baked program of semi-automated re-pulsing via interpolation of works from paying translation groups. Take the time to click on to the original translators and their providers—huge differences between extremely readable original translated chapters and mangled stuff “summarized” for your reading “convenience” by web novel “aggregators”.
7 Answers2025-07-26
I kind of miss the old web. Most personal websites used to have a 'Links' page with other websites containing lots of free novels and stories etc. That was very good for discovery. Today's SEO optimized search results don't really help in that regard. Maybe webrings again?
7 Answers2025-07-17
You can also use Bing Search.
4 Answers2025-08-07
I get free legal thrillers from BookBub – many free books are offered on a daily basis. Occasionally a publisher such as Tor will make an eBook free to download for a period of time. Open Library at Archive.org is also a good source of free eBooks – you create an account and then borrow books. This is all to be done within the bounds of the authorized distribution of the copyrighted work.
10 Answers2026-07-28
The academia lit lover may find academic and literary novels released as open access by the publisher, including works supported by public funds. These are often released as PDFs directly off a publisher or author’s website. Unlike typical fiction released as open access, these titles are not promoted in the same way and thus are hidden from the general public. Yet, dense, award-winning literary fiction of the highest academic status is released for free. Unlike the numerous free titles on Amazon, these are released slowly and of high prestige.
4 Answers2025-08-18
Need to read something for free offline? Borrow e-books and graphics from your local library using free app ‘Libby’ or read classics for free on ‘Project Gutenberg’. Also manga is cached for offline reading on ‘Manga Plus’ and e-book EPUB files are read offline with ‘FBReader’. Kindle and Google Play Books also can read books offline too. Simple.