Hello everyone! As I’ve dived further into the book blogging world, I’ve found so many great resources for readers that I had no idea even existed. I’ve been a dedicated reader for as long as I can remember, but I had no idea most of these things resources were even available. Without further ado, I present to you a list of places to find free books.
Giveaways
This is a great way to get free books, but it’s not super reliable (because it’s just luck of the draw). However, if you enter enough giveaways, you’re bound to win one, right? RIGHT?
On a less aggressive note, the best places I’ve found for frequent giveaways have been on social media (follow authors, publishers, and book bloggers) and through newsletters (more details below). Really, I think a lot of publishers do giveaways so you can just pick your favorite publishers and subscribe to their newsletters or blogs.
As well, I’ve won a few books through Goodreads giveaways. You can find giveaways on Goodreads by going to ‘Browse’ and clicking on ‘Giveaways’.
Pro tip: Filter the giveaways by clicking ‘ending’. This shows you the books according to which giveaway is ending soonest. You can also filter for physical books only or for both physical and e-books.
Newsletters
I’ve found a few newsletters that have frequent giveaways or offer free books. They’re so easy to sign up for and you immediately begin receiving free books and entering giveaways. I’ll just make it easy and list them here.
Let me point out also, that the Simon & Schuster newsletter is a must! Part of their incentive to get you to sign up is that they’ll give you a free e-book (that you get to choose! (from a pre-selected collection, of course)). But wait. THERE’S MORE! They also gave me 3 more e-books over the course of 4 weeks for free! And these aren’t old, unwanted books either, but ones that came out only last year! I managed to get SKY WITHOUT STARS which I’ve been dying to read. Anyway, take my word, sign up for these.
Bookish First
Going through Bookish First is a bit like entering a giveaway, but a little different. The way this website works is that they have 2 books a week where you can read a small excerpt (using the first few chapters) and leave a “first impression” review. If you like what you read, you can then choose to enter the raffle to win that book. You have to leave a first impression though. At the end of the week, if you win the book, they’ll email you and let you know. A lot of these books are physical copies so they’ll ask for your mailing address, as well.
Another cool part of this website is that for each first impression, review, etc. that you leave, you earn points. After so many points, you can get a free book from there. In other words, once you have enough points, instead of entering the raffle for one of the books of the week, you can use your points and just get it. So cool, right?
The books they offer are from many different genres so there’s an opportunity for everyone, no matter what your genre preferences, to enter a raffle for a book.
Oh, and did I mention they’re all books that haven’t hit the shelves yet?
If you do decide to sign up, use my referral code (3838346bb29fc6457) and we’ll both receive extra points towards a free book!
For those in the UK, BookishFirst has a website for you that works the same, ReadersFirst.
ARC websites
I plan to cover this in more detail later so I’ll only give a brief overview here. There are a few websites (NetGalley, Book Sirens, Edelweiss +, LibraryThing) where you can request to receive advanced reader copies of books. This way is more for those who run blogs or who are dedicated review-givers, but it’s still possible for everyday readers to get their hands on books this way. Many of these websites give out books in the form of e-books. And you accept these books under the understanding that you will provide a rating and review.
Check out this post to learn more about ARCs and where to find them.
Riveted by Simon Teen
Perhaps the best way to read free books! The Simon Teen publishing house puts a few books a month on this website for anyone to read for free. They’re all YA/Teen books and only books published by this publisher, but it’s a great way to read free books! One thing that is slightly annoying is that you have to read the book on an internet browser, but it looks and acts just like reading a book from an e-reader app would so it’s not too bad. Plus, it’s free, so can you really complain?
Free Booksy
Now, this is a website that I only recently discovered. Free Booksy looks for all those free e-books that are floating around for Kindle and Nook and whatever else and compiles them onto one site for easy browsing. Even better, you can sign up for their newsletter so they’ll send you curated emails according to your interests, of free e-books up that day. There really is no downside to this website.
Libby & Overdrive
I only found out about these apps about a year ago and they have changed my life! Libby and Overdrive are two different apps that let you check out e-books from local libraries! Basically, anywhere where you have a library card (including University libraries), you can read books from. All you need is your library card number and a pin (you can get all of this information from your local library) and then the app will let you access any book that the library offers! Even better, if the book is checked out, you can get on a waitlist and it’ll alert you when the book is available for you to check out.
You can also download these books into your e-reader app and read them from there. Unlike books you buy, however, these books will only stay in your e-reader library for 2 weeks. After that, you may still see the cover, but you won’t have access to the book.
Pro Tip: After you digitally check out a book and download it to your library, you can then immediately return it to the library again for the next reader to enjoy. The book will stay in your e-reader library for 2 weeks regardless of if you still have the book “checked-out” or not.
Penguin Random House-First to Read Rewards
This way is sorta (not really) free but can save some money down the road. Penguin Random House has a program (First to Read Rewards) that allows you to build up points for each book you buy from there for free books in the future. If you’re already buying books from them, this is a great way to get rewarded for it.
Kindle Unlimited
Again, not exactly free, but it’s a great resource for getting a plethora of books at your disposal. Sometimes, Kindle does do promotions where they offer x amount of time of free usage of Kindle Unlimited.
Amazon Books
If you already have an Amazon account, there are a couple of things you want to be taking advantage of.
1. Amazon has a library of books that are free to anyone that has a Prime membership.
2. Amazon has a program called Amazon First Reads, that allows Prime members to choose an e-book (from a selection of around 7) to download for free each month. Amazon has its editors curate a list of a few books that are soon to be released and then lets Prime members have one of these books for free. You get to choose the book as well. If there is more than one book from the selection that you can’t wait to read, they also let you buy the book at a discounted rate.
E-book Deals
There are a few companies that include discounted e-books in their newsletters. Now, you might be saying, “Wait a minute…This doesn’t sound free!”, and you would be correct. This way isn’t free, but it’s deeply discounted. Typically the book prices are $5 and under and cover a wide range of genres. I briefly discussed the Book Riot newsletter above, but something else that is usually included in it is “daily deals”. As well, the Penguin Teen newsletter has weekly e-books deals.
As you can see, there are so many sources for free and super discounted books. If I ever hear someone say, “But I have nothing to read,” I’m going to hit them with this list.
If you like what you read, subscribe and follow along on this blog for more reading and blogging tips, and for book reviews.
If you know of other resources for free or discounted books, share the love and comment them down below!
Disclaimer: Availability outside of the United States may be limited or not available.
Thanks for these ideas! I use a couple already but have just been invited to Hodderscape’s Secret Readers (you don’t get physical copies though)
Oh, amazing! It sounds like a great option for readers in the UK!