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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: cosine on October 12, 2012, 08:57:21 PM

Title: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: cosine on October 12, 2012, 08:57:21 PM: What free e-book recommendations do you have?
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: RoadKingLarry on October 12, 2012, 09:10:01 PM: All of them.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: Regolith on October 12, 2012, 09:30:08 PM: http://www.baen.com/library/intro.asp
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: seeker_two on October 12, 2012, 09:32:21 PM: https://facebook.com/EreaderNewsToday
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas on October 12, 2012, 11:34:08 PM: Fity Shades of Grey
Twilight
Dreams of My Father
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: mtnbkr on October 13, 2012, 07:38:39 AM: Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart
Woodcraft and Camping by George Washington Sears

Not free, but worth reading:
The Remaining series by D.J. Molles (two books out now, with a third in November)
The Raggedy Edge by Michael Turnlund
Wool series by Hugh Howey (can find all 5 books in a compendium for $5ish)
The Custom Revolver by Hamilton Bowen

By the way, Backwoods Home Magazine is available on Kindle now. Previous months' issues are free.

Chris
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: roo_ster on October 13, 2012, 09:36:33 AM: Quote from: Regolith on October 12, 2012, 09:30:08 PM
http://www.baen.com/library/intro.asp

Plus eleventy.

I have downloaded likely more than 10-15 free (as in free beer, not five-finger-discount)titles of old works offered by Baen and then bought that many more at their reasonable $5-$6/book rate for most of their stuff.

Baen understands eBook marketing and selling. "Oh, we have a series from a popular author that goes back a ways. How's about we give away the first book in the series, now that nobody is buying it anyways, in the hopes that some will like it and then buy the subsequent books at a reasonable price to them, which is almost pure profit to us, save the bandwidth..."

Funny thing is, we have the far-lefty former union organizer Eric Flint to thank for the Baen e-library, as he talked Baen into it. FTR, his book/series 1632 with David Weber is a fun read that includes, "The Battle of the Crapper."
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: Phantom Warrior on October 13, 2012, 05:17:12 PM: Quote from: Regolith on October 12, 2012, 09:30:08 PM
http://www.baen.com/library/intro.asp

Certain Baen books, particularly by David Weber and Lois McMaster Bujold, include DVDs with most of their books on them. Some of them have been mirrored online. Here (http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/) is one such page.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: Regolith on October 13, 2012, 05:24:05 PM: Quote from: Phantom Warrior on October 13, 2012, 05:17:12 PM
Certain Baen books, particularly by David Weber and Lois McMaster Bujold, include DVDs with most of their books on them. Some of them have been mirrored online. Here (http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/) is one such page.

Yeah, I considered linking to that site, but I'm not entirely sure how legal it is.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: makattak on October 13, 2012, 11:40:41 PM: I recommend Teddy Roosevelt's works. All are available for free on Amazon.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: erictank on October 14, 2012, 01:41:14 AM: Quote from: Regolith on October 13, 2012, 05:24:05 PM
Yeah, I considered linking to that site, but I'm not entirely sure how legal it is.

The Fifth Imperium site is run by someone who has Baen's explicit permission to post the contents of those CDs, according to a long-ago post on Baen's Bar (when I used to visit there). Can't remember the guy's name offhand. The CDs themselves state (IIRC - it's been a while since I looked at the appropriate section) that copying and transmitting the contents for personal use is permitted, so long as as money doesn't change hands for it - but if you want a copy to flesh out your ebook library, have a ball.

I've got (I think) 23 of 'em myself, giving me the complete contents of most of their series as of a couple of years ago when they stopped binding CDs into the hardcovers. And the "first hit's free" thing DOES work - I've bought hardcovers because of the ebooks I've read, and more ebooks from authors I would not have otherwise tried.

From the linked page: "The Baen CDs hosted here are freely-distributable disks provided to promote the sale of the books contained within. Baen allows these CDs to be distributed not simply to provide free electronic copies of their books, but to generate sales for those same books. They are a medium of advertising.
Please remember that just because these books are being provided at no cost does not mean that they are in the Public Domain. Just because Baen isn't asking for any money for these copies doesn't mean that they are giving up any of their copyrights. Copyright doesn't mean that you have to pay for something, it means that someone legally owns the right to distribute something (or not) in any fashion they desire - including doing so at no charge. So all the rules that apply to an ebook you bought and paid for also apply to these titles.
If you download any of the disks, please take the time to go to the Baen Webscription site and buy a copy of at least the CD's primary ebook. For a modest investment of about $6, you can buy the book, which gives you access to a downloadable copy of the CD, anyway. Or you can buy the entire Webscription month that the CD accompanies for $18 and/or buy the book in paper form. "

So, go ahead and download them, either as complete disc images or just pick out the books you want to try. Then buy stuff you like, either ebook or dead-tree, and help keep them in business.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: cosine on October 15, 2012, 01:09:51 AM: Thanks for all the leads.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: Perd Hapley on October 15, 2012, 01:17:46 AM: Quote from: mtnbkr on October 13, 2012, 07:38:39 AM
By the way, Backwoods Home Magazine is available on Kindle now. Previous months' issues are free.

You're kidding! Awesome!

OK, so you were kidding. I went and looked, and they are not free. =( Are you getting a knock-off version from some guy on the street?
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: mtnbkr on October 15, 2012, 08:04:46 AM: I missed the fact that it was for Prime members AND it was for issues from 2011. The current issue is $3.95, I assumed the "free" ones were previous months of this year.

However, a subscription is only $1.99 per issue, that's quite a savings. By using Calibre, you can download them and store them on your PC in Kindle format.

Chris
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: Pb on October 15, 2012, 03:03:33 PM: Here are my sources:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/b/?node=2245146011

http://www.feedbooks.com/

http://www.pixelofink.com/ you can sign up for their daily e-mail list, which does have some good books sometimes (mixed in with romance novels and vampire books)

http://manybooks.net/

http://www.gutenberg.org/
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: brimic on October 15, 2012, 06:26:17 PM: One of my favorites is the klip.me google chrome app. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/kindle?hl=en

Once you set it up, you can send web articles to your kindle by hitting control + K.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: Perd Hapley on October 15, 2012, 06:32:17 PM: Quote from: mtnbkr on October 15, 2012, 08:04:46 AM
I missed the fact that it was for Prime members AND it was for issues from 2011. The current issue is $3.95, I assumed the "free" ones were previous months of this year.

However, a subscription is only $1.99 per issue, that's quite a savings. By using Calibre, you can download them and store them on your PC in Kindle format.

Chris

Tease.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: AZRedhawk44 on October 15, 2012, 06:36:30 PM: Quote from: Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas on October 12, 2012, 11:34:08 PM
Fity Shades of Grey
Twilight
Dreams of My Father

Win.
Title: Re: I bought a Kindle.
Post by: SteveS on October 16, 2012, 08:30:16 AM: Most libraries have e-books to check out.