When you’re an indie author like me, one thing you become very familiar with is all the places on the Internet where you can promote your book to find new readers.
In the process of researching these book promotion sites and lists, I’ve also found some great reads to support my own book habit along the way. Here are the 10 best places I know to find free ebooks.
1. Kindle “Top 100 Free” Page
What it is: Amazon has a list of each genre and sub-genre’s popular free books for Kindle. Because a multitude of both indie authors and traditional publishers run free promotions every single day, check in with the Top 100 Free pages in your favorite genres regularly.
Where to find it: Start at the Kindle Store bestsellers page. Once you’re there, find your genre or sub-genre and click it. At the top of the page, you’ll see “Top 100 Paid” and “Top 100 Free.” Click on “Top 100 Free” to see the most popular free books for that day. Here’s a link you might like: The Top 100 Free books in the Teen & Young Adult, Science Fiction & Fantasy category.
2. BookBub
What it is: BookBub is an email list. Get on the list, enter the genres you like, and each day they’ll send you the best ebook deals in your favorite genres. These deals include free ebooks and bargain ebooks.
Where to find it: BookBub.com.
3. BookGorilla
What it is: Maybe it’s because I discovered BookGorilla before BookBub, but this list is my personal favorite. Many of the books I’ve discovered in the past year have come from BookGorilla. BookGorilla works in the same way that BookBub does.
Where to find it: BookGorilla.com.
4. eReader News Today (ENT)
What it is: See #2 and #3. Same idea, but I’ve found that eReader News Today skews towards romance readers. It’s not always true; for example, my book has recently been accepted by ENT (yay!), and it’s definitely not a romance.
Where to find it: eReaderNewsToday.com.
5. Kindle Nation Daily (KND)
What it is: Although Kindle Nation Daily owns the list BookGorilla, KND itself is more of a site than an email list. They list similar sorts of deals on their site and their Facebook page as the email lists above, dividing them into different genres. Requires a little more effort but is still a very popular site.
Where to find it: KindleNationDaily.com.
6. Thrifty Thursdays on IndiesUnlimited
What it is: Every Thursday at IndiesUnlimited, indie authors like me list their free and 99 cent ebooks. Look for the post on the site, click the title, and go to the comments section. In the comments section you’ll find a gajillion free and 99 cent books posted by authors.
Where to find it: Thrifty Thursdays section on IndiesUnlimited.com.
7. eBooks Grow on Trees
What it is: This blog, email list, and social media site posts and tweets free ebooks every day. The thing is, though, these books aren’t divided by genre, so it’s not always easy to find what you’re looking for.
Where to find it: eBooksGrowOnTrees.com.
8. Pixel of Ink
What it is: This site is super choosy about who they feature — which is good. They are known for quality rather than quantity. The site owners, Sharon and Dave, also recently started a weekly video blog about what books they are personally reading. I saw one of these videos and thought it was cute.
Where to find it: PixelofInk.com.
9. Free Booksy
What it is: Pretty much the same thing as everything mentioned above.
Where to find it: FreeBooksy.com.
10. The Fussy Librarian
What it is: Again, it’s pretty much the same as the other sites listed above, but with the Fussy Librarian newsletter, you can also make your ebook reading requirements more specific. For example, if you’re like me and you don’t want to even see something that hints at 50 Shades of Grey-style erotica (unless, of course, it’s someone like Ellen Degeneres reading it for the purpose of poking fun at it), then the Fussy Librarian will remember your preferences and avoid sending you anything like that.
Where to find it: TheFussyLibrarian.com.
Got your own favorites?
Share your favorite sites, lists, and Twitter handles in the comments section below.
photo credit: State Library Victoria Collections via photopin cc
I post a free read everyday on our blog and on FB. http://bittenbybooks.com/category/free-books/
That’s actually how I found your fantastic books!
Thanks for the great shares. 🙂
Aw thanks, Rachel, that’s kind! 🙂
I also visit DigitalBook.com regularly (big list daily!), ManyBooks.com (over 30,000 free on site), Amazon.com (most of the others come thru Amazon anyway – 100 pages of freebies), the Gutenburg Project (list of over 47,000 downloadable -many languages, from flyers to documents to books, to sets…), and OHFB (One Hundred Free Bookd) which recently cut down its daily offering quite a bit. I can easily get 100 free books daily from all of these together. Most also have a sublist (those who bought this book also bought… of up to 17 pages of 7-10 per page). Not all of these on most sites are free, but if you are patient, the rest of the books in the series will most likely be free at some time. Love these!
In addition, Faithful Reads is a Christian site, mostly bargain books but a few free. Choosy Bookworm has free, bargain and R&R (read & review – free copy in exchange for an honest review within about 2-3 weeks). On the R&R, you communicate directly with the authors and occasionally get a free sequel as a thanks!
Once you click on R&R to get one, a Looooooonnnnngggg list of R&R books comes up! I suggest you only get 1 at a time and give it your complete attention. The authors really appreciate your feedback. And children are also needed for feedback!