Answers.Body: <p>I am not sure what you consider an interesting book.  That depends much on the reader. Anyway, I edited your question to remove the reference to "interesting books", since it is a matter of opinion and as such is generally a proscribed issue on StackExchange.</p>
  
  <p>Asking for, or giving a list of places where you can find free ebooks is also proscribed, as it can give rise to endless lists and answers. Furthermore, it would make little sense since the question would become far too broad (another proscribed situation), because you did not specify (fortunately, I think) the kind of books you are interested in.  I am saying fortunately, because it does leave open the one proper option, which is to describe in general terms some current disseminations and pricing practices, which structure the ebook market.
  These should be hints as to how to search on your own the current market for sources of free book. Ad searching is good, because its is always an open door for serendipity.</p>
  
  <p>Answers to your question may also depend on how legal you expect the download
  to be. For several reasons I would discourage downloading from illegal
  sites and I will thus ignore this possibility.</p>
  
  <p>Parameters that may play an important role include :</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>the kind of book you are looking for : romance, scifi, thriller,
  philosophy,   mystery, comics, etc.;    </li>
  <li>the book format:  epub, mobi,
  pdf, scanned pdf, ... knowing that  readers do not always accept all
  formats;</li>
  <li>your tolerance to DRM  (Digital Right Management systems).
  Though rarer for free books, they manage to be a pervasive annoyance
  in any context;</li>
  <li>whether you might be willing to pay a very small
  price rather than nothing.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Note also that some books (whether free or not) may not be
  downloadable from some countries.</p>
  
  <p>Without attempting to list sources, 2 sites are major entry points for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain" rel="nofollow noreferrer">public domain</a> books, that cannot be ignored:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>The primary source of well formatted free ebooks is certainly
  <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Project Gutenberg">Project Gutenberg</a>. I would say they have a very large
  collection of interesting books, well digitalized.</p></li>
  <li><p>If you are not fussy about format, there is also the <a href="http://archive.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Internet
  Archive</a>, which has pointers to lots of library resources, some
  of which do offer public domain books for free. And there is the
  <a href="https://archive.org/details/internetarchivebooks" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Internet Archive own repository</a>. But these books may be in
  awkward formats, or poorly digitalized ... the technical quality is
  very variable.</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>But since the above sources are making available public domain books, they are   unlikely to contain recent books.</p>
  
  <p>Many independent authors give some of their ebooks for free, though
  you seldom get complete series (but it does happen). They will often
  ask you to subscribe to their mailing list in exchange for the free
  book(s). And some of these mails will contain information about other
  free resources. See <a href="https://bookfunnel.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BookFunnel</a> and <a href="http://www.instafreebie.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Instafreebie</a>. Many author will give you books for free, in exchange for honest independent reviews on various sites. You may also get pre-release versions (ARCs, i.e., advance review copy) in exchange for reviewing or proof-reading the book.</p>
  
  <p>Most retailers (including <a href="https://www.kobo.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kobo</a>, <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Smashwords</a> or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Amazon</a>) have a lot of
  books available for free, sometimes permanently, sometimes only for 2
  or 3 days. Grab what you want, as it may be gone tomorrow.</p>
  
  <p>You can subscribe to various daily mails that will keep you informed
  of such opportunities. Examples include <a href="https://www.bookbub.com/launch" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BookBub</a>, <a href="http://www.thefussylibrarian.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Fussy Librarian</a>,
  <a href="https://mybookcave.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Book Cave</a> , <a href="http://robinreads.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Robin Reads</a>, <a href="http://bookbarbarian.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BookBarbarian</a> and many others.  Some mailing
  lists may specialise on topic, publisher or retailer. Just subscribe
  to some.</p>
  
  <p>Some publishers give away free books to people who are subscribed to
  their mailing list. Some of them are quite good, though they are often
  the first volume of a series. For example, the publisher <a href="http://www.phoenixpick.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Arc Manor (aka Phoenix Pick)</a> specialises in science
  fiction, and has one book for free every month.</p>
  
  <p>Many books can be bought for very low prices, such as $1 or $2,
  including award winners and classics.</p>
  
  <p>A good source can also be to buy book bundles. <a href="http://humblebundle.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Humble Bundles</a> has some
  great opportunities in all kinds of books (including comics). You can
  typically get a bundle of 25 books of good average quality (including
  some top ones) for $15. You may also want to look at <a href="https://storybundle.com/sorcery" rel="nofollow noreferrer">StoryBundle</a>
  bundles, though they are less varied, and a bit more expensive. Besides these two bundling retailers, you can sometimes get bundles from publishers or retailers.</p>
  
  <p>There is a lot more to be said and found, but this ought to get you
  started. My information is probably biased by the kind of books I am
  interested in.</p>
  
  <p>But it is also important to help by paying when you can. Most of these books
  have to be produced and edited by people who try to make a living.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T01:28:55.080Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-03-10T12:47:31.297Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2018-03-10T12:47:31.297Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: babou
Body: <p>I have been searching for ebooks but I don't have money to buy them. Can I get them for free? </p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T05:31:49.413Z
Comments.Text: Welcome to the site! This is a site for questions about ebooks themselves, such as how to publish, sell, and read them. Questions asking us to find or recommend a particular book are off-topic here. Please read about [ask] questions here.
Comments.UserDisplayName: elixenide
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T13:29:48.940Z
Comments.Text: @Ed I understood the question as fitting the site topic, and
  specifically its definition given in your comment. The OP asks
  not so much for interesting books (off-topic) as for free books, which
  is something that is very specific of ebooks and economical nonsense
  for material paper books. Typically my answer is about how the market,
  including publishers and readers, has been organized so that free
  ebooks are common practice for authors, publishers and retailers, for
  public domain and for recent books. Sociology and economics matter as
  much as technology. I edited question accordingly.
Comments.UserDisplayName: babou
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T13:30:53.470Z
Comments.Text: @user70668 I suggest that you edit your question to remove the
  "**interesting** ebooks" aspect, which is off-topic all over
  stack-exchange because it is subjective. You should only ask about
  objective issues. I actually did the editing for you, but you can undo
  it if you disagree, since the system keep all successive versions of a
  question.
Comments.UserDisplayName: babou
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T13:47:42.820Z
Comments.Text: @EdCottrell Indeed, legal and pricing issues are objective aspects that matter to all actors of the ebooks ecology (see existing tags). Free ebooks are simply a special case of pricing.
Comments.UserDisplayName: babou
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T13:52:42.233Z
Comments.Text: @babou I think you may have misunderstood my point. The “interesting” part of the question makes it opinion-based, yes, but the bigger problem is that the entire question is off-topic. Questions about where to find lots of free ebooks are off-topic for a lot of reasons. Among others, they’re going to attract opinionated answers, spam, links to illegal sources, and links that break over time. This site (like other SO) sites is for questions with discrete answers; it doesn’t work well as a way to collect links to off-site resources.
Comments.UserDisplayName: elixenide
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T14:14:06.850Z
Comments.Text: @EdC I think you are throwing the baby with the bath water. Any
  question can receive off-topic or otherwise unacceptable answer. I
  think the question is interesting and underscore important properties
  of the ebook ecology. My answer excludes illegal sources, and attempts
  in no way to provide lists of sources. It rather describes the various
  economic set-ups that involve (nearly) free ebooks, giving a few links
  only as examples of such mechanisms. Indeed, since the question is not
  specific as to the kind of books desired, it makes little sense to
  attempt to provide long list of sources.
Comments.UserDisplayName: babou
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T15:41:00.680Z
Comments.Text: @EdCottrell To put it differently, bad answers do not mean that the question was
  bad. Since there are means to remove or downvote answers that are off-topic, there
  is no real reason to put on hold interesting questions that can have good
  answers, on the basis that they might attract bad answers. My own
  answer tried to stay within objective bounds, suggesting types of
  sources, without trying at all to be exhaustive (I have lots more). Suggesting Gutenberg as
  primary source may be viewed as objective. I based the recommendation
  on memories of an analysis of sources I made some years ago,
Comments.UserDisplayName: babou
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T16:07:35.253Z
Comments.Text: @babou Most of your answer (the parts of it that are on-topic for this site) is not actually an answer to the question. Questions like "where can I find ebooks" are routinely closed here. For a couple of examples, see [Many sites propose free or cheap ebooks? Which are legitimate?](https://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/6461/many-sites-propose-free-or-cheap-ebooks-which-are-legitimate) and [Some classic literature is available for free - but where?](https://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/188/some-classic-literature-is-available-for-free-but-where).
Comments.UserDisplayName: elixenide
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-03-05T16:10:34.400Z
Comments.Text: @babou Also, you said, "[S]ince the question is not specific as to the kind of books desired, it makes little sense to attempt to provide [a] long list of sources." If the question is not specific enough to answer it directly, that makes it a bad question for another reason: it's too broad. There's no way to answer this question without providing a list of resources (which is basically what your answer did), and that makes it off-topic. **If you want to discuss this further,** the comments are not the place; you should post a question on [Meta](https://ebooks.meta.stackexchange.com/).
Comments.UserDisplayName: elixenide
Tags: <ebook-readers><publishing><sales><public-domain><pricing>
Title: Where can I download free ebooks?
UserDisplayName: user70668
ThreadText: # Where can I download free ebooks?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-04)
  
  I have been searching for ebooks but I don't have money to buy them. Can I get them for free?
  
  **Tags:** ebook-readers, publishing, sales, public-domain, pricing
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Welcome to the site! This is a site for questions about ebooks themselves, such as how to publish, sell, and read them. Questions asking us to find or recommend a particular book are off-topic here. Please read about [ask] questions here.  
  > **username_2**: @Ed I understood the question as fitting the site topic, and specifically its definition given in your comment. The OP asks not so much for interesting books (off-topic) as for free books, which is something that is very specific of ebooks and economical nonsense for material paper books. Typically my answer is about how the market, including publishers and readers, has been organized so that free ebooks are common practice for authors, publishers and retailers, for public domain and for recent books. Sociology and economics matter as much as technology. I edited question accordingly.  
  > **username_2**: @username_0 I suggest that you edit your question to remove the "**interesting** ebooks" aspect, which is off-topic all over stack-exchange because it is subjective. You should only ask about objective issues. I actually did the editing for you, but you can undo it if you disagree, since the system keep all successive versions of a question.  
  > **username_2**: @EdCottrell Indeed, legal and pricing issues are objective aspects that matter to all actors of the ebooks ecology (see existing tags). Free ebooks are simply a special case of pricing.  
  > **username_1**: @username_2 I think you may have misunderstood my point. The “interesting” part of the question makes it opinion-based, yes, but the bigger problem is that the entire question is off-topic. Questions about where to find lots of free ebooks are off-topic for a lot of reasons. Among others, they’re going to attract opinionated answers, spam, links to illegal sources, and links that break over time. This site (like other SO) sites is for questions with discrete answers; it doesn’t work well as a way to collect links to off-site resources.  
  > **username_2**: @EdC I think you are throwing the baby with the bath water. Any question can receive off-topic or otherwise unacceptable answer. I think the question is interesting and underscore important properties of the ebook ecology. My answer excludes illegal sources, and attempts in no way to provide lists of sources. It rather describes the various economic set-ups that involve (nearly) free ebooks, giving a few links only as examples of such mechanisms. Indeed, since the question is not specific as to the kind of books desired, it makes little sense to attempt to provide long list of sources.  
  > **username_2**: @EdCottrell To put it differently, bad answers do not mean that the question was bad. Since there are means to remove or downvote answers that are off-topic, there is no real reason to put on hold interesting questions that can have good answers, on the basis that they might attract bad answers. My own answer tried to stay within objective bounds, suggesting types of sources, without trying at all to be exhaustive (I have lots more). Suggesting Gutenberg as primary source may be viewed as objective. I based the recommendation on memories of an analysis of sources I made some years ago,  
  > **username_1**: @username_2 Most of your answer (the parts of it that are on-topic for this site) is not actually an answer to the question. Questions like "where can I find ebooks" are routinely closed here. For a couple of examples, see [Many sites propose free or cheap ebooks? Which are legitimate?](https://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/6461/many-sites-propose-free-or-cheap-ebooks-which-are-legitimate) and [Some classic literature is available for free - but where?](https://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/188/some-classic-literature-is-available-for-free-but-where).  
  > **username_1**: @username_2 Also, you said, "[S]ince the question is not specific as to the kind of books desired, it makes little sense to attempt to provide [a] long list of sources." If the question is not specific enough to answer it directly, that makes it a bad question for another reason: it's too broad. There's no way to answer this question without providing a list of resources (which is basically what your answer did), and that makes it off-topic. **If you want to discuss this further,** the comments are not the place; you should post a question on [Meta](https://ebooks.meta.stackexchange.com/).  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2018-03-05. Score: 1
  
  I am not sure what you consider an interesting book. That depends much on the reader. Anyway, I edited your question to remove the reference to "interesting books", since it is a matter of opinion and as such is generally a proscribed issue on StackExchange.
  
  Asking for, or giving a list of places where you can find free ebooks is also proscribed, as it can give rise to endless lists and answers. Furthermore, it would make little sense since the question would become far too broad (another proscribed situation), because you did not specify (fortunately, I think) the kind of books you are interested in. I am saying fortunately, because it does leave open the one proper option, which is to describe in general terms some current disseminations and pricing practices, which structure the ebook market.
  These should be hints as to how to search on your own the current market for sources of free book. Ad searching is good, because its is always an open door for serendipity.
  
  Answers to your question may also depend on how legal you expect the download
  to be. For several reasons I would discourage downloading from illegal
  sites and I will thus ignore this possibility.
  
  Parameters that may play an important role include :
  
  * the kind of book you are looking for : romance, scifi, thriller,
    philosophy, mystery, comics, etc.;
  * the book format: epub, mobi,
    pdf, scanned pdf, ... knowing that readers do not always accept all
    formats;
  * your tolerance to DRM (Digital Right Management systems).
    Though rarer for free books, they manage to be a pervasive annoyance
    in any context;
  * whether you might be willing to pay a very small
    price rather than nothing.
  
  Note also that some books (whether free or not) may not be
  downloadable from some countries.
  
  Without attempting to list sources, 2 sites are major entry points for [public domain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain) books, that cannot be ignored:
  
  1. The primary source of well formatted free ebooks is certainly
     [Project Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/ "Project Gutenberg"). I would say they have a very large
     collection of interesting books, well digitalized.
  2. If you are not fussy about format, there is also the [Internet
     Archive](http://archive.org/), which has pointers to lots of library resources, some
     of which do offer public domain books for free. And there is the
     [Internet Archive own repository](https://archive.org/details/internetarchivebooks). But these books may be in
     awkward formats, or poorly digitalized ... the technical quality is
     very variable.
  
  But since the above sources are making available public domain books, they are unlikely to contain recent books.
  
  Many independent authors give some of their ebooks for free, though
  you seldom get complete series (but it does happen). They will often
  ask you to subscribe to their mailing list in exchange for the free
  book(s). And some of these mails will contain information about other
  free resources. See [BookFunnel](https://bookfunnel.com/) and [Instafreebie](http://www.instafreebie.com/). Many author will give you books for free, in exchange for honest independent reviews on various sites. You may also get pre-release versions (ARCs, i.e., advance review copy) in exchange for reviewing or proof-reading the book.
  
  Most retailers (including [Kobo](https://www.kobo.com/), [Smashwords](https://www.smashwords.com/) or [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks/)) have a lot of
  books available for free, sometimes permanently, sometimes only for 2
  or 3 days. Grab what you want, as it may be gone tomorrow.
  
  You can subscribe to various daily mails that will keep you informed
  of such opportunities. Examples include [BookBub](https://www.bookbub.com/launch), [The Fussy Librarian](http://www.thefussylibrarian.com/),
  [Book Cave](https://mybookcave.com/) , [Robin Reads](http://robinreads.com/), [BookBarbarian](http://bookbarbarian.com/) and many others. Some mailing
  lists may specialise on topic, publisher or retailer. Just subscribe
  to some.
  
  Some publishers give away free books to people who are subscribed to
  their mailing list. Some of them are quite good, though they are often
  the first volume of a series. For example, the publisher [Arc Manor (aka Phoenix Pick)](http://www.phoenixpick.com) specialises in science
  fiction, and has one book for free every month.
  
  Many books can be bought for very low prices, such as $1 or $2,
  including award winners and classics.
  
  A good source can also be to buy book bundles. [Humble Bundles](http://humblebundle.com/) has some
  great opportunities in all kinds of books (including comics). You can
  typically get a bundle of 25 books of good average quality (including
  some top ones) for $15. You may also want to look at [StoryBundle](https://storybundle.com/sorcery)
  bundles, though they are less varied, and a bit more expensive. Besides these two bundling retailers, you can sometimes get bundles from publishers or retailers.
  
  There is a lot more to be said and found, but this ought to get you
  started. My information is probably biased by the kind of books I am
  interested in.
  
  But it is also important to help by paying when you can. Most of these books
  have to be produced and edited by people who try to make a living.
  
  
  ---
  
  