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eBooks & Audiobooks
Free Online Ebooks & Audiobooks
Don't forget you can always check out eBooks from our own eBook Library!
Project Gutenberg
Visit the Project Gutenberg website.
Project Gutenberg offers more than 42,000 free eBooks, mostly from those that are in the public domain. Books can be read online in HTML or downloaded onto different devices (the EPUB downloads into Adobe Digital Editions; the Kindle will download into your Kindle app, which you will need to have downloaded into your computer).
Internet Archive
Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Internet Archive provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities.
Browse and read over 5 million books and items from over 1,500-curated collections. You will find a wide range of literature, historical texts and research materials; and wonderful thematic collections like children's classics, cookbooks and genealogy.
You will have a few choices in the "View the Book" section on the item's page. You can read it online on the main page, from the original site, or download it to a device. Just like Project Gutenberg, you can click on EPUB, and the item will open up in Adobe Digital Editions, where you can add it to your device or just read it there. The Kindle choice will do the same in a Kindle app.
Hathi Trust Digital Network
Access the Hathi Trust Digital Network.
HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. It provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in-copyright content from a variety of sources." (from their website)
You can view the works, but downloading is not available unless you are a member of one of the partner institutions. You can, however, create a "friend" account that will allow you to create your own collection of information, articles and text.
Baen Free Library
Browse the Baen Free Library platform.
Baen Books is now making available, for free, a number of its titles in electronic format. We're calling it the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online, no conditions, no strings attached. You can download the books in one of several formats. Again, with no conditions or strings attached.
Free eBooks With a Registration Required
Open Library
Visit the Open Library catalog.
OpenLibrary is a free, digital lending library of over 2 million eBooks that can be read in a browser or downloaded for reading off-line. Originally developed to support the Print Disabled community, OpenLibrary now contains public domain and contemporary eBooks. Get a free OpenLibrary card and borrow an eBook today!
You can borrow up to five books at a time for two weeks each. If the book is checked out, you can be put on the waiting list to check it out later.
Smashwords
Access the Smashwords website.
Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of indie eBooks. We make it fast, free and easy for any author or publisher, anywhere in the world, to publish and distribute eBooks to the major retailers. Smashwords provides an opportunity to discover new voices in all categories and genres of the written word. Once you register, the site offers useful tools for search, discovery and personal library-building.
Most of our books are affordably priced, and many are free. Over 70,000 serious writers and small independent publishers publish and distribute with Smashwords. Many Smashwords authors have been previously published in print through mainstream publishers, or have had their works published in well-respected literary journals. Starting March, 2009, Smashwords introduced new publishing options for publishers who want to publish and centrally manage two or more authors.
Smashwords is a virtual playground for those who love the written word. Readers can sample most works for free (and in many cases, read up to half of the book before they commit to a purchase decision), read in multiple DRM-free formats, create digital libraries of purchased and sampled works, publish reviews (including YouTube video book reviews), and favorite their favorite authors, publishers and works.
Obooko
The complementary objective of obooko is to offer fiction and non-fiction free of charge to anyone, anywhere, regardless of means. By offering free copies of work, under Standard Copyright or Creative Commons licenses, authors can benefit from valuable feedback from obooko members. This can be used to improve work before it is listed for sale on retail sites or sent to publishers for consideration. In many cases this negates the need for extensive professional editing.
Think of obooko as a showcase or shop window for new and established independent writers. Our primary eBook file type is PDF because this is the most versatile format and one of the most efficient ways of distributing books. However, PDFs don't work well with handheld eReading devices; with this in mind we are gradually introducing ePub and mobi (Kindle) formats.
Google Books / Google eBookstore
Book Search works just like web search. When we find a book with content that contains a match for your search terms, we'll link to it in your search results. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given us permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy. If you find a book you like, click on the Buy this book
and Borrow this book
links to see where you can buy or borrow the print book. You can now also buy the eBook from the Google Play Store.
Google Books is where you can look at a preview of a book or read the whole thing (if it is in the public domain). In order to download the free books, you have to set up a Google account, and it will be moved into a My Books account in the Google Play Store. You can also purchase eBooks, the price will be in red on the left side above the book's information, and then you will need to put in your payment information, such as a credit card.
Free eBooks That Require You to Set up an Account with a Credit Card
You will have to do a search for the free eBooks available at these sites.
Amazon Kindle eBooks
Amazon has a lot of free eBooks to choose from, but you will need to set up an account with Amazon, even if you never intend to buy anything from them, with a credit card or bank account. You will also need to own a Kindle or have the Kindle app downloaded into your computer to read Kindle books. You can find the free eBooks by typing free eBooks
into the search bar at the top of the page.
Barnes & Noble NOOK Book Store
Access the Barnes and Noble NOOK Book Store.
Just as you can on Amazon, you can find thousands of free eBooks on Barnes and Noble's website. However, just like Amazon, you have to set up an account with a credit card, even if you never intend to purchase anything. The books are automatically downloaded onto a NOOK if you own one (you have your Barnes and Noble account connected to your NOOK), or you can download the NOOK app to read them on your computer. You will not be able to read these books on a Kindle, though, unless you have them converted into the Kindle format. To find the free eBooks, type free
into the search bar.
Free Downloadable Audiobooks
LibriVox
LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain, and then release the audio files back onto the net for free. All our audio is in the public domain, so you may use it for whatever purpose you wish.
Volunteering for LibriVox is easy and does not require any experience with recording or audio engineering or acting or public speaking. All you need is a computer, a microphone, some free recording software, and your own voice. We accept all volunteers in all languages, with all kinds of accents. You're welcome to volunteer to read any language you speak, as long as you can make yourself understood in it. You don't need to audition, but we do suggest a 1 minute test recording just to check your setup. We'll accept you no matter what you sound like.
Loyal Books (Formerly Books Should Be Free)
Access the Loyal Books website.
Books Should Be Free has changed its name to Loyal Books to show how important books are to our lives. You'll always find the best collection of completely free public domain audiobooks and eBooks at Loyal Books. Loyal Books provides a primarily visual browsing experience so you don't have to read tedious amounts to find listening material. The Loyal Books website is also screen reader friendly making its resources accessible to people with vision disabilities.
All audio books on LoyalBooks.com are in the public domain. This means that no one holds a copyright on these books, and therefore anyone, including LoyalBooks.com is free to distribute them. Enjoy these free audio books and use the share button on Loyal Books to tell your friends about all these great public domain audio books.
You can play the books in the little player that is on the books' information page, or you can download the books in MP3 format, iTunes Podcast, iPod/iPhone M4b Audiobook, and RSS Feed with no need to create an account.