Many folks think that the only place you can easily get a Kindle eBook is from the Amazon Kindle store, however that is far from the case. I was browsing through the Amazon Kindle customer discussion forums today and came across a great list which shows you where you can get content for your Kindle. There are many great websites out which offer eBooks you can use on the Kindle and using them is as easy as falling off a log!
So lets see what’s out there;
Amazon.com
100,000+ eBooks ready to be instantly downloaded. Amazon.com is the daddy site when it comes to the Amazon Kindle.
Gutenberg.org
Gutenberg offers 20,000 of mostly classic titles. It also boasts a collection of titles which no longer contain copywrite. ***, ****
Worldlibrary.net
An impressive 400,000 titles and growing daily, they also aim to have over 600,000 ebooks by the end of 2008. You can find classics, modern, government ebooks in .pdf format in multiple languages. There is also a healthy collection of audio eBooks. Requires $8.95 yearly subscription fee, after which everything is free to download. *, ***, ****
Fictionwise.com
Offers both unencrypted and encrypted .mobi files. Full range of reading and many free books as well. *, **, ****
Mobipocket.com
Lots of titles, most you can find on Amazon.com in the Kindle section for less.
Webscriptions.net
This is Baen books and mostly SiFi. None are encrypted, many are free, and can be transferred directly to your Kindle. Choose Kindle compatible for the download. ****
Wowio.com
uses .pdf format. You will need to register and can download up to three books a day, free. Only available to people in the US, due to copyright and licensing restrictions. **
Fictionpress.com
FictionPress is a growing network of close to 1 million writers/readers, and home to over 1,000,000 original works. As a writer, this is a place to showcase your creativity and for a reader, FictionPress is an opportunity to feast to your heart’s content. with 900,000 original works,normally unknown or unpublished authors. Some good, some not, take your chances, you may discover the next JK Rowling. Displays in text. Cut, paste and email to yourself, or save in .txt file and upload.
Manybooks.net
20,000 titles or so. Has a Kindle format. ***, ****
Mnybks.net
An extension of Manybooks above, but if you access it through the basic WebBrowser in Kindle, you can download directly to your Kindle, the way you would an Amazon book. Choose the Mobipocket format.
Feedbooks.com
Share books, self published books and a make it yourself newspaper. With a little manipulation of the tools below, you can get your own newspaper, you could probably even directly email it to your Kindle in the morning if you allow that site to send you stuff. You will need to register, but there is no cost. There is now a “Kindle Download Guide” from www.feedbooks.com includes links to many classics, including many in foreign languages.
Ccel.org
Christian centered works. Available in pdf, word, and text, all readily transferable to your Kindle.
* They save as .pdf files that you can email to your Kindle. It sees the .pdf as a file of words, not pictures of words, so it can be resized and adjusted just as any other ebook. Download the book to your PC, and email that file to your Kendle, or freekendle@kendle and load through the USB cable if you want to save the 10 cent conversion charge.
** For the encrypted ones in .mobi, a tool can be used to allow the kindle to see it. This tool does not make a copy of the book, merely adds a flag so that the Kendle can display it (it would be hard to call this a violation of copywrite or use conditions since both formats are amazon’s). The tool and directions on how to use it are at: http://igorsk.blogspot.com/2007/12/mobipocket-books-on-kindle.html
*** Site runs on donations
**** Can be downloaded directly to your Kindle when it is plugged in as an external storeage device, simply specify the Kindle folder when selecting where to put your book.
If you know of any other sites which are missing from this list, then feel free to leave a comment with a link to the site.
Source: Amazon
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I just purchased a kindle and wanted to try down loading ebooks from sites other than Amazon. I downloaded a Mobipocket demo and it worked awesome. I then purchased 2 ebooks and my kindle says that it was not purchased from Amazon! I also tried down loading the mobi reader program thinking that was the problem but it still didn’t work. What am ai doing wrong?
what about ebooks.com? i bought books from there for an old e-reader, can i still use those ones?
@michaela,
probably, but how easily depends on what format the books that you purchased are in. do you know what format you have?
@david,
uhm, “adobe pdf” i think.
so will it work?
with a kindle DX you can read .pdf files directly, but with the kindle 1 and kindle 2 you would have to convert them (for free by e-mailing them to [email protected] or e-mail them directly to your kindle for $0.15/MB at [email protected])
there may be some loss in the conversion (mostly for tables and things like that)
there are also several free tools that will do the conversion for you (in some cases the free tools work better, in other cases they don’t)
note that with the latest kindle update the kindle 2 can also read pdf files