16 Ways to Get Cheap and Free eBooks & Books

This post about ways to get cheap and free ebooks and books contains references to products from one or more of my advertising partners. When you click on a link to any of these products, I may be compensated. Please visit my Earnings Disclosure & Disclaimer page for more information. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thanks for your support! Please also note that any prices, offers, and terms listed are subject to change at the discretion of the companies mentioned.

If you’re an avid reader, books can quickly become a big expense. Stocking up on cheap, and even free, books is possible, however, when you practice some basic techniques. These are some of my best tips, from one reader to another.

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Get Access to Millions of Free eBooks

Kindle Unlimited (paid Amazon link) is similar to borrowing books from the library, except that there are no return dates or hold lists. For $9.99 a month, you can borrow up to 20 Kindle Unlimited e-books at a time, including audiobooks that you can listen to with a free Audible app. Membership also includes subscriptions for up to three e-magazines.

Amazon carries more than two million Kindle Unlimited titles and thousands of audiobooks, making it a good investment if you’re an avid reader. It’s also a way to discover new authors without having to make purchases.

You can try Kindle Unlimited free for 30 days (paid Amazon link) and cancel your membership at any time.

Get Free E-Books With Your Amazon Prime Membership

Prime Reading is a free perk of having an Amazon Prime membership. Compared with Kindle Unlimited (paid Amazon link) however, the Prime program only carries a few thousand titles (some with Audible narration) and you can only borrow up to 10 titles at a time.

Prime is a good option if you do a minimal-to-moderate amount of reading and already have an Amazon Prime membership.

You can try Amazon Prime free for 30 days (paid Amazon link) and cancel at any time.

Get Cheap eBooks for $1.99 With Amazon First Reads

Amazon First Reads offers early access to newer books that have been hand-picked by editors. You can choose one Kindle e-book for $1.99 a month, or get it free if you have an Amazon Prime membership. (paid Amazon link)

The program makes about 10 or so new books available each month. They also offer some hardcover print editions during given months for $9.99 or less.

If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription (paid Amazon link) you can read the most previous First Reads titles for free.

Find Free & Cheap Books on Amazon

No membership or fees are required. All this technique requires is a bit of sleuthing.

One way to find these cheap and free books is to visit Amazon directly and type in terms like free ebooks, free novels, or free business books. The search results will likely display a mixture of titles that are free (available with and without a Kindle Unlimited membership) (paid Amazon link), as well as those that are priced cheaply.

Amazon also makes thousands of classics available in a variety of languages, via their Amazon’s Cheap Reads.

If you’re an occasional reader or are looking to read the classics, this is a good option.

Review Books Through Amazon Vine™ Voices Program to Read Free Books

If you’ve ever browsed customer reviews of books on Amazon, you might have seen labels like Amazon Vine™ Review and Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program. This means that the reviewer is part of the Amazon Vine Voices Program and received a free book in exchange for an honest write-up. The program is a way for publishers to generate reviews for new titles.

The Amazon Vine Voices Program is available by invitation-only. Amazon looks for established contributors who consistently write thoughtful reviews.

Though you can score free books with this method, it’s not a reliable way to get a steady stream of cheap and free books.

Get Scrib’d to Gain Access to Millions of Cheap e-Books

Scrib’d is somewhat like Amazon, though there are some differences. For a monthly subscription price of $11.99, you gain access to an unlimited number of e-books (though some titles may be temporarily unavailable), audiobooks, magazines, and podcasts. They have more than two million e-books and audiobooks.

Free access to perks like the documentary portal CuriosityStream, and ad-free music service, TuneIn, are also included with the subscription.

You can try Scrib’d free for 30 days and cancel your subscription at any time.

Find Cheap Books in the Barnes & Noble Discount Section

Don’t discount the clearance section at Barnes & Noble. If you have the time to browse, you can find some gems. Interestingly, I’ve found hardcover versions of the same book available in paperback version, for a fraction of the cost.

Most of the books in this section are older titles, overstocks, or those that didn’t sell well.

If you have a Barnes & Noble membership, you also get 10% off clearance section books.

Get Free Children’s Books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Imagination Library is a book club that sends children whose families are registered, a free book each month. The program has received a number of awards, including the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and the Best Practices award from the Library of Congress.

It’s a nice way to introduce children to reading; and it allows them to experience the joy of opening up a surprise package every month. Though the service is free to families, it’s not available in all areas.

Get a Free e-Book from Simon & Schuster

The publishing house, Simon & Schuster will give you a free e-book when you subscribe to their emailing list, and that of their fulfillment partner. The last time I checked, they had 10 free e-books being offered through this program.

The program, they say, can be ended at any time and the titles removed or replaced.

Earn Free Religious Books With My Reader Rewards Club

Hendrickson Publishing Group offers a way for readers to earn free Bibles and Christian books through its My Reader Rewards Club.

They give you an opportunity to earn points through activities like answering surveys, social media sharing, or buying books through their network. You can then redeem your points for books.

Read Free E-Books at Your Public Library

All you need is a public library card. If you don’t have a Kindle e-reader, you can download the free Libby by Overdrive app and read books on your computer or phone.

While this method is completely free (aside from city taxes you pay), the number of titles that libraries carry is typically limited. My branch, for example, currently has about 54 thousand e-book titles available and 12 thousand via audiobooks. The number of copies of each book is also limited. I just did some quick searches for a few titles and each had between 10 to 25 copies available, all of which had holds.

Another caveat is that depending on your library branch, you can usually only borrow an e-book for a week, or two weeks for audiobooks. If you don’t mind waiting to read books and can devour them within a given period of time, the public library is a good option.

Enter Sweepstakes to Win Free Books

Sweepstakes are not by any means a guaranteed way to get free books, but they do give you an opportunity to win prizes, including gift cards to Amazon.

Finding legitimate contests and sweepstakes can be a huge time suck if you don’t know where to search or what to look for. There are a number of solid places to find legit sweepstakes, from subscribing to free or paid sweepstakes newsletters (my favorite option!) and checking the Sweepstakes sections of your favorite magazines.

Enter Surveys to Earn Free Books

Survey sites like MyPoints carries gift cards from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

It can take some time to earn a gift card, but if you have some time to spare between projects, it’s a good way to earn.

To earn a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card with MyPoints, for example, you’d typically need to earn 1,590 points. Say you spend 15 minutes completing a survey worth 200 points; it would take about two hours of completing similar surveys to earn the gift card. Points awarded vary, however; for example, a 25 minute survey might reward 595 points and a 40 minute survey might give 209 points. Also consider that you’ll be spending time on some surveys only to be disqualified.

Other survey sites to consider are Branded Surveys and Survey Junkie.

Find a Branded Credit Card to Read Free Books

While you’ll have to do some digging to figure out which credit cards yield the best rewards for your situation, here are two to consider if you’re an avid reader.

Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card offers 3% back on purchases at Amazon.com and Whole Foods; 2% back at restaurants, gas stations, and drug stores; and 1% back on all other purchases; plus a $50 Amazon welcome gift card upon approval.
With a Barnes & Noble Mastercard, you earn 5% back on purchases made at Barnes & Noble, as well as points on eligible purchases that you can then exchange for their gift cards. Another plus is that they automatically send the gift cards once you’ve reached a spending minimum.

Whichever credit card you decide on, don’t carry a balance or spend money just to earn a gift card. And before signing up for any credit card, be sure to read the terms and study the interest rates, as they can fluctuate.

Read Free Romance e-Books at Harlequin Online Reads

If you enjoy Harlequin romance novels, you can read them for free by installing their app, Book Breaks, to your phone. Depending on the title, the books take about 30 to 90 minutes to read. Harlequin posts new content each week.

Find Cheap Books With Bookbub

BookBub is a free service that lets you discover books offered at special prices on Amazon, Barnes & Noble’s Nook store, and other retailers.

Once you choose which types of books you’d like to receive notifications about, they’ll send you emails about deals in those genres. They also provide convenient links to the vendors offering the deals, so you can download the e-book from there.

As a frequent reader, I find a subscription service like Kindle Unlimited to be a good investment. For a low monthly cost, I can read an unlimited number of books and discover new authors without the added expense. If you’re an occasional reader, you might find that one of these other methods works well for you. Whichever option you choose, I wish you happy reading.

This post contains references to products from one or more of my advertising partners. When you click on a link to any of these products, I may be compensated. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please visit my Earnings Disclosure & Disclaimer page for more information. Thanks for your support!