Free Kindle Books | Photo via Pixabay | Abundant ContentFree Kindle books? Yup. And not just poorly-edited YA fantasy, either.

Updated for 2022

There are high-quality, free Kindle books available everywhere. Having previously made heavy use of my local library, used books on Amazon and thrift shops, mostly, for book acquisition, the idea of having this small, lightweight, space-saving device was exciting, and also kind of negated by the idea that suddenly, I’d have to pay more to read. Thankfully, that’s not true!

Oh and actually, you don’t even need a Kindle. The Kindle app is free and available for several different platforms. I actually use it on my Windows PC for academic reading – the ability to highlight and comment, and then search those highlights and comments, is a pretty handy feature for students.

What kinda stuff you lookin’ for?

What do I read on my Kindle? I love reading fiction on it, because, while it’s not exactly disposable, fiction winds up taking up a lot of space in our tiny home. Chances are, once I’m done with a fiction novel, unless it’s written and autographed by someone I know, it gets passed on when I’m through. Rare is the day I read a book a second time anymore. My actual, physical bookshelf is mainly reference guides and an extensive collection of quirky hippie books from the 70s (it’s a thing, yes, and I have a bit of a fetish for them, a lot of it having to do with the font selection and layout style). Fiction and my Kindle are perfect companions. I do love my chances to escape and reimagine.

Sure, there are a lot of well-known resources out there for getting free books to read, but mostly I found a lot of poorly-edited, self-published books that just didn’t make the cut when it came to enjoyable reading. Editors are a thing for a reason, and we still have massive purpose in this world. I read not only because I enjoy the escape of it, but also because I learn from a finely-written and finely-edited work. Because the quality was often lacking, my interest in things like Smashwords and Kindle Buffet came to a close fairly quickly and now, here’s how I get what I need:

Amazon Prime

Stating the obvious here, for sure, and I know Amazon is a monster for many — but I’m doing this because there are freebies within! I know, there are other options, like Kindle Unlimited, which gives you unlimited books for a low monthly fee. I don’t really have time for “unlimited books” for $9.99 a month since I can maybe read two a month, but my student-price Amazon Prime membership for $6.99/month gives me, among other things, “borrowing rights” via Prime Reading, which allows me to check out up to 10 books or magazines* at a time and return them once I’m done — for free. It doesn’t give me access to every book on the site, but there generally seems to be something of interest whenever I check.

NetGalley

I discovered this one reading reviews about fave author Alexander Chee’s The Queen of the Night on Goodreads. I signed up and was approved as an Amazon/Goodreads reviewer quickly. NetGalley gives you access to books that aren’t published yet, and in return you promise to read them and offer feedback and reviews.

As an blogger or consumer (Amazon/Goodreads) reviewer, you don’t get access to every book available on the site like you would if you were a traditional or book trade reviewer, but I was able to find 3–4 right away that looked promising and within minutes my first galley was sent right to my Kindle. I review everything I read anyway (find me here on Goodreads), so being a “Professional Reader” for NetGalley is a great fit for me.

Overdrive & Libby

Turns out, you can “rent” library books for Kindle, too! All you need is a library account at your local and then you can set yourself up on either Overdrive or Libby (both apps are produced by the same company and work in similar ways. Which one you use depends on which device you use – to decide which app works best for you, click here). Overdrive also makes another app called Sora for students to access their school libraries.

A lot of the selection depends on the choices your library directors make, and just like any popular book at a library, you might have to wait a while before a digital copy becomes available to you, but when it works, it *really* works (and if you’re going on vacation you don’t have to worry about the usual things: people seeing you reading absolute beach garbage, losing a library book, or spilling that poolside marguerita all over things – the newest Kindle Paperwhites are also waterproof).

The Libby app works on both iOS and Android phones, and you can add as many library cards as you have accounts for. After I moved to Massachusetts, I discovered that any state resident can get a digital library card from the Boston Public Library so not only do I have a local library account but I’ve now got the massive resources of the BPL at my disposal as well. Someone else has done the glorious work of finding resources like this in as many states as possible, so check out this link and see if you have something like this available to you, too.

Whenever I’m getting ready for a road trip, I spend some time in Libby lining up a couple of audiobooks, too. I’m not much of an audiobook listener otherwise but behind the wheel on a long journey, audiobooks get me there much faster.

Hoopla

Full disclosure, I’ve never used Hoopla for free Kindle books, but I know people who use it and love it. It apparently works a lot like Libby but is more of a “library media streaming platform” so you have access to any kind of media your library makes available, via streaming.

For more places you can find free ebooks, take a look at this post from Take Action for Libraries.

Free Kindle books: my favorite spots to find them
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