How to Get Free Books
I love reading whenever I get the chance, but buying books all the time can get expensive. If you’ve been wondering how to get free books, the good news is there are plenty of easy ways to find free books, ebooks and audiobooks without stretching your budget!
(Note: The links in this post may be affiliate links. Read the disclosure policy here.)
Where to Get Free Books:
The Library: The library is the first place I check if there's a particular book I want to read. The only downfall is that there's usually a waiting list because the books I want to read are usually newer books. There's been only a couple of occasions when I'm not able to find the book I want.
Little Free Libraries: Little Free Library boxes are everywhere in many neighborhoods. People leave books for others to take and read for free. Here is a map to help you find the ones in your area.
Friends: Often times friends of mine already own books that I want to read so I tend to ask around first before I buy. Of course, I return the favour if I own a book someone wants to read.
Facebook Groups: Check your local Buy Nothing group for people giving away free books. Or, you could even put in an ask and I'm sure other would be happy to pass on their books!
ARC Reader Programs: Some authors and publishers give away free advance copies in exchange for reviews. NetGalley is free to join to become a reviewer. Booksirens is another one!
Swagbucks: While this is not an instant gratification method to getting free books because it takes time to earn Swag Bucks, it's still worth a mention! I like to collect Swag Bucks and then redeem them for Amazon gift cards (and Starbucks cards...) There are plenty of ways to earn Swag Bucks. Searching the web, shopping online, daily polls, surveys, watching videos and more! Check out this post for 6 Ways to Earn More Swagbucks.
Where to Get Free eBooks:
We know how to get free books, but what about eBooks? eBooks are books too! They are a great alternative to physical books. There are so many ways to expand your library this way. Here's how to get tons of Free eBooks:
Libby app: I have been loving the Libby app! With Libby, you can enjoy free ebooks, digital audiobooks, and magazines from your library. All you need is a library card.
eReaderGirl: Check daily for free ebooks, including Kobo, NOOK, and Kindle versions.
BookBub: BookBub alerts you to limited-time free and discounted ebooks matching your interests.
The Fussy Librarian - The Fussy Librarian offers two email newsletters catered to your particular interests: Bargain books or free ebooks! Pick one or both, delivered on the days you pick.
Amazon: Do a search for Free ebooks by either typing in "0.00" or "free kindle ebooks".
BookRunes: Find a great selection of free & bargain books on BookRunes. Search by genre too!
Story Cartel: This one is neat and practically anyone can use Story Cartel! All books on Story Cartel are completely free, but in return you support authors by leaving your honest review, whether good or bad, of the book you downloaded.
Blog email newsletters: Follow your favourite blogs and sign up for their email newsletter if they offer any ebooks they've written for free! This is a great way to support those bloggers you love!
Openlibrary.org: has over 1 million ebook titles available for you to read!
Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg offers over 75,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online.
Kobo eBookstore: Visit the Kobo store for a list of Free ebooks
While I'm still a fan of paperback books, my love for eBooks has been growing. I purchased a Kindle ereader a few years ago and I've been loving it ever since. It's not easy to carry around hundreds of books at the same time otherwise! 😉 Amazon also has a free app that will allow you to read Kindle books on your computer, smartphone or tablet.
Where to Get Free Audiobooks
Over the past year or so, I’ve really gotten into audiobooks. As a busy mom, they’ve made it possible for me to enjoy books while tackling everyday chores like washing dishes, folding laundry, and cleaning up around the house. I absolutely love it!
Libby app: Libby is where I listen to most of my audiobooks these days. It’s essentially a digital version of your local library, allowing you to borrow audiobooks and (ebooks) for free using your library card.
Libro.fm: I did get a few free audiobooks from Libro.fm during a fantasy promotion they had. Not sure how often they offer free audiobooks. However, Libro.fm is neat because when you sign up, you attach your favourite local indie bookstore to your account and any purchase you make benefits that bookstore!
Free Audiobook Trials: Many of the well known services offer free trials. This includes:
- Audible: Get 30 days free with an Audible membership.
- Kobo Plus: First 30 days are free with a new Kobo Plus membership.
- Spotify Premium: New premium members get the first 3 months free. Your Spotify premium membership includes 15 hours of audiobook listening time each month.
Just remember to cancel before the trial ends if you don’t want to continue! They send out email reminders before your trial ends.
LoyalBooks: This is another big directory of free audiobooks. It offers a wide variety of public domain audiobooks.
I’d really love to hear from you as well. How do you get free books? Feel free to share your tips, tricks, and go-to resources in the comments below. Whether it’s an ap or a hidden gem, your ideas might help someone else discover their next great read without spending a thing!
Can I get some Psychic /PARAPSYCHOLOGY books in this way?
I love to read this is truly awesome. Thank you
Red feather romance email for 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Bargain bookstore email
Apple Books you can also get free books and you can put them on Mac iPad or iPhone download or leave in the cloud until ready to read as well
Where can I download afrikaanse books please for free
Reading for life improvements
I use Libby, but it’s a digital library. You have usually 21 days to read a book and then return it. I’m a type that likes to reread a book cause I can usually get something else out of it.
Thank you, because I love to read!
You can use Zlibrary or pdf drive both are excellent options to download free e-books.
Thank you for the tips on how to get free books
Free books will be very nice to read, thanks.
I don’t have a Kindle E-book but a KOBO e-book.
Are there also free libraries to get those books in Dutch also?
Thanks for answerring
best regards
Hi! It looks like the Fussy Librarian email list offers free Kobo books! https://www.thefussylibrarian.com/
All the free book availablility will make benifit for book lovers of world their loovings fa attraction is all servways
For FREE Thank you
May I post your article on my website to promote reading to my students?
Commendable
In Ontario we have boxes set up all over the place that are called free libraries. You put books in that you are finished with and if there is one that interests you, then you take it. Where i take mine is by a church and they have a children’s box and an adult’s box.
I have been getting ebooks from Freebooksy.com for a few years. Tell them your genre, and they show free books, 7 days a week.
I live in Ontario, so I do not know if Free Library boxes are in every province. They are all, over the place here. The one I take bags of books to is by a church. The idea is you give a book and then you can take a book. Most of the time I just drop books off.
I prefer to have an actual book in my hand to read. Reading E books gives me a migraine. So there are too many suggestions for people like me. But these are great suggestions for other people
Still read many offers for free books just here but I don’t find any thing virtual!
Looks like we must do this
Lib.gen is another site where you can download many free ebooks
I need a book about investing money in share market and stocks , mutual funds etc. I want a free-e book and I like how to become a business man book 📚 I need those e book
I’m crazy in reading books but in my native it’s difficult to get books easily.So please suggest me how to do?
I’m in need of books to read
I like this books
Where will u get diana palmer, penny Jordan books free, uma
I have been a member of One Hundred Free Book (ohfb.com) for YEARS and it’s an amazing site!! They email you ONE daily email (no other spam or marketing crap) with the link to their site for the daily goodies!! There are several FREE e-books, and several bargains from a few different genres, including Women’s Fiction, Non-Fiction, Thrillers and Mysteries, Romance, Sci-Fi, even Children’s, just to name a few. It’s a GREAT site!! Check them out!
Oooh, thanks for sharing!
I am fond of free ebooks.
There’s an app called Libby it’s amazing all u need is a local library card and u cal get hundreds of ebooks
Iam reader and writer. I prefer to read Psychology, Parapsycology, Psychiatry, Councelling, Law of attraction Subjects.
Thanx for sharing this
I also like to borrow ebooks through my library by way of Overdrive and Hoopla. Not all libraries subscribe to both but most have at least one.
You should try general-ebooks.com. They offer books to read online but you can download them into your iBooks or computer to read. Not all of them are downloadable but they have a great selection. And if they don’t have it free download they bring you to places where you can buy the books
Thanks for the tip!
actually I’ve been offered free ebooks from authors after I’ve entered the sweeps on goodreads (which is owned by amazon) ..they’ send a note saying you didn’t win BUT here’s the link to a free ebook, can you please right a review somewhere (And we constantly win books from there too!!)
You can also get e-magazines, databases to help with home work, Consumer Reports, dvds and cds from the library. Some even have video games, puzzles, games and children’s books.
i really want books for reading
Hi, Taya:
Just wanted to let you know that I’m having great fun downloading ePub ebooks from openlibrary.org! That’s such a great website; thanks so much for the tip.
So good to hear you’ve been enjoying Openlibrary.org! Thanks for letting me know!
You can also read alot of free ebooks on anybook application. It is free of cost and once you have downloaded the book you can read it anytime. It woukd be save in the mobile application itself, you wont even need to manage anything any book will take good care of your collection.
Well, the anybooks app is great. But they’ve started to charge it ( in case you didn’t know)
Project Gutenberg ebooks can be directly uploaded to Google Drive. If you run out of space, you may buy extra space from Google Drive at 2 dollars per month for 100GB.
You can also borrow ebooks from the library.