Zlibrary has caused quite the stir in the book community recently. Some folks for it. Some against it. Authors hurt. Readers hurt. It’s a mess all-around. But I’m not here to judge you if you were someone who used it. My opinion doesn’t matter, and this topic is immensely nuanced.
However, I did want to provide some great newsletters and websites you may not have known about where you can score some free-to-cheap eBooks. I hope this will help both authors by keeping things legal and also readers by giving you more options.
(Please note: This is specifically about fiction, though some options may offer nonfiction reads.)
Bookbub: You can view all their deals or sort it directly for free eBooks.
Binge Books: They have a “Trending Deals” section.
Hello Books: You can view deals on their website or sign up for emails.
Free Booksy: Free ebooks posted daily, woo! Also offers an email.
LGBT Romance Deals: New releases and deals from queer romance authors.
Bargain Booksy: Ran by the same folks behind Freebooksy, except this newsletter has cheap books versus completely free. Deals can be viewed on their website as well.
Booksweeps: They have an entire section devoted to free books. You can even filter by tropes! This site also runs giveaways all the time. Join some!
Red Feather Romance: Another newsletter ran by the company behind Free Booksy, except this one is devoted solely to romance (and I think erotica as well). Deals can be viewed online, too. No need to subscribe.
Bookspry: Daily updates of free to super cheap ebooks. Focuses mostly on Romance, Erotica, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy.
I Heart SapphFic: Great website for sapphic releases. They even have a free books section.
MyQueerSapphFic: Discounts and new release of WLW fiction. You can join their newsletter or view the deals on their website.
LitRing: They host giveaways, deals, and more. Check out their For Readers section at the top.
Book Rebel: Newsletter of daily deals. Posts trad and indies. Free and cheap books.
Digital Book Today: Another newsletter of daily freebies, but you can also view things on their website.
WOC In Romance: I’m not entirely sure this site posts deals specifically, but they do post new releases and sometimes authors release at lower prices, so I wanted to include it. You can browse books by tropes/themes here.
Eden Books: They send out free reads weekly. Look for the “SIGNUP TO OUR NEWSLETTER” ticker on their website.
TheBookQueen: She has been posting daily deals on romance books for years now. You can find her on Tumblr and Twitter too.
Amazon: On each genre page, you will find the Top 100 Paid bestselling Kindle eBooks and the Top 100 FREE bestselling eBooks. This changes constantly!
Smashwords: Their front page can be sorted based on price, including free.
Kobo: They have a section for eBook Savings and also Free eBooks. They also have free audiobooks.
Barnes and Noble: Also have a section for Deals and Free eBooks.
Google Play: You can find deals under $5 or sort books by Top Free. They also have free audiobooks.
Prolific Works: Genre-specific promotions run every month with tons of free eBooks. Scroll down to the bottom to see some of the featured current promotions. These will normally require you to subscribe to an author’s newsletter in exchange for the free copy, but you can always unsub.
Bookfunnel: Same as Prolific Works above, subscribing is normally required but not always. And you can unsub if you’d like. However, unlike PW, they don’t list their promotions on their page (which boggles my mind). But if you search for “Bookfunnel promotion” on Twitter, you can usually find some that are open, like this one and this one.
Goodreads: They have a giveaways section.
Want to read a specific book? Subscribe to that author’s mailing list. You’ll be the first to know when they have a sale on it or are giving it out for free. Lots of authors also give perks to their subscribers! I’ve given my subscribers books for free that I didn’t offer as such to the general public. Or use your local library, if you have the ability to.
•••
I totally understand that some level of privilege probably still applies here and a simple list can’t solve systemic access issues and such, but I hope I’ve helped some folks out with this list.
If you know of any other legal means of finding free-to-cheap eBooks that I’ve left out, please leave a comment below and I’ll amend my post 😊