Where do I get my ebooks?

[Laura]

Hey there :)
I'm new here in this ebook universe and I don't quite know where to actually buy my ebooks. Can you help me? :)

[Randy]

I mostly get free Kindle books from Amazon. They have over 50,000 of them and the mix changes every day. I do post newly free books to two SF&F topics:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Or, you can just use Amazon searches directly. Jungle Search can create that search for you:

http://www.jungle-search.com/US/?Acti...

For example, there are about 4,000 free Kindle eBooks in the SF&F category right now:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?node=...

Another option is that your local library may have Overdrive available. That's an online portal that allows you to borrow eBooks from the library. I sometimes do that for the major publishers, where the eBook prices are outrageous.

[Steph]

Laura wrote: "Hey there :)
I'm new here in this ebook universe and I don't quite know where to actually buy my ebooks. Can you help me? :)"

Which ereader do you have? Or are you reading on a phone/tablet?

[Scott]

I get them either from...
Amazon (I have a Kindle and also the Kindle app on my iPhone)
Kobo (yes I have a Kobo ereader as well)
iTunes
Project Gutenberg (Gutenberg.org)
Library (using Overdrive)

Really the best place to start is Amazon - they make it so easy it's almost addictive.

[Brenda]

You need to scope out Book View Cafe: www.bookviewcafe.com
The oldest and best writers' co-op on line.

[Laura]

Steph wrote: "Laura wrote: "Hey there :)
I'm new here in this ebook universe and I don't quite know where to actually buy my ebooks. Can you help me? :)"

Which ereader do you have? Or are you reading on a phone..."

I have the Tolino Vision 2 it's a german product. It accepts EPUP, PDF, TXT and DRM.
My problem is, I don't have a credit card, so it's pretty difficult to buy something from Amazon.
I was hoping for some other adresses but I can ask a friend, who has a credit card, to buy the books for me. Might work.

Thanks for your help :)

[Laura]

Does a kindle ebook work on every other ereader?

[Thomas]

Check out bookbub.com. You create a profile and it tells you what books (based on profile) have changed price (free or reduced).

I have an older kindle that doesn't take a lot of formats, go figure. I use calibre to convert between types.

[Curtis]

Laura, try "Children of Zar" that's on Amazon. It's an ebook for Kindle

[Maggie]

Project Gutenberg is great because its filled with old classics, all for free!

[Micah]

Laura wrote: "Does a kindle ebook work on every other ereader?"

No. Kindle uses a proprietary format. However, as has been stated, you can use products like Calibre to convert Kindle formats into ePubs which are used by most other eReaders. If, that is, the book does not have Digital Rights Management turned on (which will be indicated in the book's product description on amazon).

[D.L.]

Smashwords is a good place to get ebooks. It has a lot of 'indie' stuff, and you can download in any format you need. https://www.smashwords.com/

[Chad]

Amazon
I used to get a lot from Baen, but once they started selling through Amazon at same prices as their website, I'd rather have all my books in the same easy to reach cloud

[Steph]

Laura wrote: "...I have the Tolino Vision 2 it's a german product. It accepts EPUP, PDF, TXT and DRM.
My problem is, I don't have a credit card, so it's pretty difficult to buy something from Amazon.
I was hoping for some other adresses but I can ask a friend, who has a credit card, to buy the books for me. Might work."

If you haven't got a credit card, Amazon is probably out, unless you buy giftcards and then use Calibre or something to convert the files to EPUB (for which you still need another device capable of downloading the files and running the conversion software).

As D.L. says, there's Smashwords, which allows payment via PayPal. A lot of indie authors offer free books on Smashwords; on the subject of free, there's also Baen's free sci-fi library (https://www.baenebooks.com/c-1-free-l...), plus Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/) for older works out of copyright.