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I bave an App on my IPad calked Free Books. Lots of classics in there. The only negative is that you need an internet connection to read. Still a great free app!
I have that app too on my ipad. The main problem is the formatting of many of those books. A lot of them are all over the place.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by netwit
Yes, because you're registered in the US. This is what happened to me recently: my sister bought me a Amazon gift certificate for my birthday. I am still not exactly sure how this happened but when I entered the gift code it kept coming up as invalid. Then *all of a sudden* it entered. So then I treated myself to a couple of books on my wishlist that I would probably have left for a later date without the gift certificate because it is not like I need more books to read, and one day when checking my account at Amazon, I see that the books I bought were charged to my credit card and I could find no trace of the gift certificate anywhere.
So, OF COURSE I send an angry email to Amazon (not really but it makes a better story) demanding to know where my gift certificate amount is, and aren't THEY the conniving little creeps, and I get an email back saying they have no idea what I am talking about, yadda, yadda. And then ALL OF A SUDDEN I start thinking about my Amazon.com account and sure enough, there is my gift certificate.
Now how on earth it happened that I suddenly switched? got switched? to Amazon.com as opposed to Amazon.ca I don't know. I don't know if the system searched after rejecting my gift certificate, or did I accidently click on an Amazon.com link after becoming frustrated by the rejection of Amazon.ca at the gift certificate code????
No idea. Anyway, I then emailed Amazon.ca and told them I had figured out where the problem was and that my sister had apparently not realised that there was an Amazon.ca and bought a gift certificate at Amazon.com, and could I somehow switch the amount to Amazon.ca and Amazon.com emailed me back and said that gift certificates bought at Amazon.com had to be used at Amazon.com and it isn't possible for me to buy US Kindle books when I am in Canada. So there.
The main reason I even have the Amazon.com account - well, it's been so long, I don't even remember the reason. I think I got that account before there was an Amazon.ca. I guess I'll order some real books but it feels like a waste due to the fact that with the exchange rate, I think it is more expensive for most books, even though it isn't my actual cash. For the moment I'm doing nothing about it. I haven't told my sister the mistake she made either because I don't want her to feel bad but I will have to warn her eventually that Amazon.com and Amazon.ca are two different entities so that she doesn't gift other people the wrong way.
So I don't actually know, Dawnie, how it works for you. Maybe you didn't change your mailing address at Amazon and therefore you can still download books from there?
That's fascinating! I mean, they *are* the same company, even though they're different entities, like you said. You'd think that there would be some cross-border reciprocity. Where is NAFTA when you need it? Huh?!? And Jeff Bezos? Hello! Fix this for my Netwit, please!
Just want to keep reminding people: The more that people expect and search for free books (and free movies, for that matter), the less money will be earned by the publishers, and the fewer books will ever created.
Anyone who thinks that there will always be great future books due to self-publishing is delusional.
Just want to keep reminding people: The more that people expect and search for free books (and free movies, for that matter), the less money will be earned by the publishers, and the fewer books will ever created.
Anyone who thinks that there will always be great future books due to self-publishing is delusional.
You also forgot "indie writers" - authors who publish their own books for a variety of reasons. There are some indies who sell thousands of books each month - without getting ripped off by publishers or agents.
What I have done with my Kindle is type 'free books' into Amazon and up came free books. Lots of classics, lots of which I downloaded and then I stopped from sensory overload. Of course that didn't help with the genre.
So what is different about the eReaderIQ and is it also applicable to the Canadian Amazon? Because we can't download Kindle books from Amazon.com - has to be from Amazon.ca.
Like I say, with ereaderIQ you can specific track books and gets alerts when they go on sale. You can search specific prices, you can narrow down by genre, you can browse recent price drops, etc.
Just want to keep reminding people: The more that people expect and search for free books (and free movies, for that matter), the less money will be earned by the publishers, and the fewer books will ever created.
Anyone who thinks that there will always be great future books due to self-publishing is delusional.
The vast majority of free books on Kindle now (which aren't public domain) are self published anyway.
Regardless, free books are usually only temporarily free, which means the author/publisher don't lose out all that much. It's a promotional tool, it gets the book out there, gets it reviewed, so when the promo is over, other people will be more likely to buy it. It's not a new concept and it's not a concept that applies only to ebooks. For decades, publishers have been giving out free review copies of their books in order to get it reviewed and promoted and therefore more likely to sell. What they lose in giving away free copies they plan to make up for with more sales thanks to the promotion. Kindle and ebooks has just made this available on a larger scale but it's not about to put anyone out of business - publishers are smart enough to have projections on these issues, they are not about to give away free books unless they feel the promotion will, in the long run, bring them more sales. Nearly all consumer industries, not just publishing, has worked this way for a long time.
Quote:
You also forgot "indie writers" - authors who publish their own books for a variety of reasons. There are some indies who sell thousands of books each month - without getting ripped off by publishers or agents.
The amount of self published authors who make any significant money off their books is very, very small. The vast majority of self published authors are not selling thousands of books each month.
Just want to keep reminding people: The more that people expect and search for free books (and free movies, for that matter), the less money will be earned by the publishers, and the fewer books will ever created.
Anyone who thinks that there will always be great future books due to self-publishing is delusional.
Totally agree. A free book is wonderful. The pleasure of finding a new favorite is awesome. Go find more free books by that author!
And when you've read them all...you find out the author had to find a day job because there is no monetary support for his books from his publisher. Fewer books by that author (or even no books by that author) is a direct result of our entitled-to-lowest-prices mentality. Even if it's only the paperback edition, support authors!
Totally agree. A free book is wonderful. The pleasure of finding a new favorite is awesome. Go find more free books by that author!
And when you've read them all...you find out the author had to find a day job because there is no monetary support for his books from his publisher. Fewer books by that author (or even no books by that author) is a direct result of our entitled-to-lowest-prices mentality. Even if it's only the paperback edition, support authors!
Well, I took 'great' books in Cida's post to mean great books and not the pop culture books that might be a fast read but are not great in any sense I'd define a book. And I think great books will always find a real publisher and they are not cheap on Kindle and the only great books I've seen for free are the classics that are in the public domain.
There are free and/or cheap books on Kindle, self-published, but I avoid them like the plague. Once in a blue moon there is a really good, maybe great book temporarily on sale but that's not the norm.
Even a writer who started out self-publishing like Hugh Howey, who is one of the few who can actually write, got a real publisher to put out print books. But writers like him are few and far between and I bought his print book.
I completely agree that people should support writers, but as PA2UK pointed out, most of the free books on Kindle are self-published and if they are free, they are probably not worth more than that.
A quick search on Amazon.ca for 'free books' turned up a bunch of cookbooks and porn books with the occasional classic that is in the public domain. Short of the classics, they all looked to be exactly worth the price. Nothing.
I also agree with most free books being poor, self-published works and not worth anything. However, I have come across a couple of authors I really enjoy because one of their books had been offered free for a day or 2. I have then gone on to purchase other books of theirs, but I think if a newer author has a book offered free, it is a good way for them to find new readers. It should, however, be a very limited time frame as free though.
Well, I took 'great' books in Cida's post to mean great books and not the pop culture books that might be a fast read but are not great in any sense I'd define a book. And I think great books will always find a real publisher and they are not cheap on Kindle and the only great books I've seen for free are the classics that are in the public domain.
A great book is in the hands of the individual reader.
To each their own.
A great book is in the hands of the individual reader.
To each their own.
Well, not really. People may have preferences as to what kind of books they like to read but if there wasn't an acknowledged standard for greatness, we wouldn't have what is known as classics, and we wouldn't have book prizes like the Nobel Prize or any of the other book awards. Most books are not great. That doesn't make them not good or unreadable but there is a standard for greatness in literature just as there is for artists in other genres like music and dance.
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