I was given a Kindle Paperwhite last fall for b day so I have been looking for deals and tips.
First I suppose it is best to take advantage of free lending from your local Library. I have yet to seriously check this out, not sure my cards are current. One Library uses some pay service called Overdrive. Anyway that is on my list to elevate my selections from freebies and cheapos.
ereaderiq.com has been fantastic. You can get a notification when books you are interested in reach a specified price or drop a specified percent. You just put your email. No other notices come and I have picked up some on my wish list this way for cheap. It will import your wish list from Amazon and other features.
Bookbub daily email for freebies and discounted books that they may be promoting, usually .99 to 2.99. You can select the genre you want notification for. You can find some good stuff if you pick carefully.
Amazon First - prime users get 1 free book a month from a selection of 4. Sometimes you get 2 free. Amazon published stuff I guess, sometimes there is something decent, but mostly skipable.
Kindle Owner’s Lending Library - You may borrow one book a month. Thousands of selections of mostly junk, and occasional airplane reads to pass the time. I have read a few from there that were good, but mostly frustrating trying to find anything decent. Very hard to search because they put a lot of things into multiple categories, such as literature which also seems to contain romance and other genre stuff to wade through. Plus the First selections pop up all the time. I am not interested in the Kindle Unlimited because it is probably more of the same for $10 a month.
So my deal of the day is (finishing today it seems):
The Kind Worth Killing: A Novel by Peter Swanson, pub HarperCollins
$1.99 Amazon
A fun noirish tale inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train. Excellent writing with spare descriptive prose and delightfully devious murderous people. He also wrote The Girl With a Clock for a Heart which is going to be a movie.
When I checked last fall when I first got the Kindle I was eager to borrow and it was $25 annually through my library. So I went with looking to see what was free elsewhere. The log in is different now and no mention of a charge but I don’t know my pin. So I will check it out later.
I just bought something new, tipped by Bookbub
The Blue: A novel by Lucy Clarke, pub Simon and Schuster
.99 Amazon
A sailing and travel tale with psychological twists and also compared to The Beach which I loved.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, pub HarperCollins
.99 Amazon
NYT bestseller, gets rave reviews.
I wholeheartedly support your goal of free or low-cost eBooks. Keep us posted with what else you find. DH and haven’t bought any books in years, as our local library system is excellent and will basically buy any book that we want to read. So IMO spending money to read something on my Kindle, just for the sake of having it electronically, is dumb.
I only use my Kindle when I travel, because I don’t want to finish all the freebies when I’m home and can read hardcover library books.
Our library also has Overdrive, which I use to load my Kindle whenever I travel. I’ve also gotten a freebie from BookBub and have also used the Kindle Lending Library. I guess it’s going to be a few more years, however, before the free Kindle selection is as robust as the free hardcover selection.
I found [this article](Book - The Krazy Coupon Lady) gives a pretty good description of the major ebook subscription services.
The big issue with books is the new titles aren’t in subscription yet, unlike music or magazines. Good for readers of actual books and users of actual bookstores.
I’ve tried scribd but didn’t keep it. I’m currently subscribed to a magazine service called Next Issue. It has about 150 titles and you pay either $10 for monthlies or $15 for monthlies + weeklies. The list is impressive, though heavily weighted toward women’s magazines. It includes a number that I read regularly - including the New Yorker and Men’s Health, which I still get in paper. If you search around, you can probably find a 3 month for free deal. They regularly offer a month free like all of these services. I know this isn’t for Kindle but I think it’s a good product. It can be used on any tablet or phone and on some Windows PC’s. Sends notices when issues come out and can auto download then when you connect to wifi.
One of the first things I did when I got my kindle was to load it with free or very inexpensive classics: all of Henry James, for example, all of Marcel Proust - I got all of Balzac in French for hubby for a few dollars. If you’re looking for bargains, the classics are a great way to go.
My library system is excellent (I actually have cards from three surrounding jurisdictions, also). Overdrive also handles e-audio books, which is what I mostly use, but has lots of e-books too. Usually there’s a waiting list for best sellers but you can get on the waiting list, while searching only the available books. No worries about fines since they are automatically returned at the end of the 3-week (for us) lending period, so the only issue is realizing that’s coming or getting back on the waiting list, if any.
Our library has a great deal more available for streaming.
Which would be good if our internet was significantly faster than dial up.
We have the kindle app, and H had been reading books on his ipod, but Santa brought both of us Kndles for Christmas, which makes it much easier to read.
Im jealous smdur. I live in Seattle, which is in King County, and we haven’t been able to use county libraries for years, even though we are still in their tax jurisdiction.
I don’t know if Project Gutenberg has many more books than the library, but its worth checking out. https://www.gutenberg.org
We can borrow King County books through the Seattle library system( but we can’t place a hold), but we used to have a King County library card, and could check things out from the library without waiting.
I used to use the King County computers, for web access, because they let you use them for three hours, and Seattle was 90 minutes.
I dont know why the change. The upscale communities of Hunts point & Yarrow point( which I always thought were in Bellevue & Kirkland, not sure when they became " cities", dont have library service at all according to wikipedia.
The taxes that support KCLS are taxes on non-Seattle homeowners, so you’re not paying for it. Seattle doesn’t belong to the system due to some archaic state law. (I worked for KCLS years ago during HS and College & I think this was the most frequently asked question when I manned the checkout desk.) Shoreline, LFP, Issaquah, Sammamish, and a bunch of other cities are all annexed to the system. I’m guessing Hunts Point and Yarrow Point aren’t and so don’t pay the taxes. When my area incorporated some 20 years ago, we had to vote for annexation to the system. There was a big darn deal election a couple of years back to annex Renton libraries into KCLS - huge controversy. All I know is that whatever the library tax rate is, it’s worth every single penny.
I can remember the book mobile coming to the end of my street before the actual building opened when I was 5 or so. Almost 50 years later & I’m still using that same, but rebuilt, branch.
I read mostly physical books, but when I download books to my ipad, I use Overdrive through the library. I think I’ve bought 2 e-books, ever. The process for searching for books and viewing the catalog is awful, but getting the books for nothing appeals more than enough to live with the hassle.
The system also gets magazines through Zinio. Great for traveling.
I thought King county libraries were funded through property taxes, but I guess that while Seattle in the past had a c
contract for library services, they must have modified it, so now all lending has to go through them.
Sounds really complicated, Here in CT, we can use any library in CT and take books out. Can also return them to any library in CT, which is very convenient for those of us who use several different libraries.
EK, now that I’m at home I looked at the KCLS page and they now have a reciprocal agreement with SPL. Holds and borrowing and e-book downloads are in your future!
Which King County towns or cities outside of the KCLS service area have a reciprocal borrowing agreement with KCLS? -
Seattle. Starting June 1, 2015 Seattle residents will have the following reciprocal borrowing privileges:
10 holds and 100 checkouts for physical items.
10 holds and 20 checkouts for OverDrive eBooks and downloadable audiobooks.
In California, any state resident can get a library card at any public library. You just have to show up in person to appy for the card (basically present your Driver’s License and get a card). I use our local library, and two others with larger ebook collections. I can place a hold, get new bestsellers, etc. I use a Nook with a Kindle app. In most cases, I can choose which format use to download a book. I’ve joined the email lists for a few favorite authors, occasionally they offer backlist books at a discount in the ebook format.
From the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, I recommend
Wool - the Omnibus Edition Wool 1 - 5 (The Silo Series) by Hugh Howley self published
This is the self published book that make a huge breakout for the author who got to quit his job (will be a Ridley Scott movie) there are over 10,000 reviews on Amazon, most 5 stars (in general Amazon ratings are crap for books but there are 80k on goodreads and more for the individual short books.) This is a dystopian future, very clever concepts and at heart story about people and society, very human. The author took some risks with the narrator(s) not usually done in books but spoiler to mention more.