So I recently got an e-reader and have started collecting e-books for it, but a lot of books seem to only be available through Amazon/Kindle. I don’t want anything to do with that company. Where do I even start looking? I have my local library apps and have scoured Project Gutenberg and some similar sites. While this is great for classics and older stuff, I want newer books too, specifically science fiction and fantasy. Have looked at author’s websites but they typically link to Amazon or physical copies.
Ebooks.com often sells drm-free ebooks, depending on if the publisher allows it
Thanks for the tip.
Also a friendly reminder to support your local library. Many libraries offer digital and audio books now that you can download! All for free!
Honorable mention must be made of Anna’s Archive. It’s a little slow, but you can probably download the books faster than you can read them.
When you get tired of trying to pay for it and realise if they don’t want to make it easy for you to purchase then you should pirate it then check out myanonamouse :)
Thanks! I’m interested for sure. I can use this and then donate directly to the authors if that’s possible :)
No worries. Whilst it is a private tracker they have open registration most of the time and you just need to log in at a specific time to speak to someone and have a small interview thing to join. Really nice, friendly community. Hope you can find what you are after!
As many users mentioned all shadow libraries, but also Google just search for the title with
type:pdfor epub and have direct links to that book. Ex: harry Potter type:pdfhttps://standardebooks.org/ for public domain works.
and other ebooks i own are most likely from https://www.humblebundle.com/
Ah, yes, HumbleBundle! I forgot about them. Thanks!
As an FYI, Some of the bundles lately have been fulfilled through Kobo, they’re still epubs and kobo’s drm is pretty easy to strip though.
Anna’s archive https://annas-archive.org
Library genesis https://libgenesis.net
Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org
I’d like to add zlibrary to the list https://zlibrary.st/new-z-library-official-website-links
Bookshop.org is a great spot. Directs money to small independent book stores from your purchase and you can even choose which book store gets the money.
I love the idea behind that site! Unfortunately they don’t seem to sell ebooks.
It is from rakuden the concurrent of amazon for ebook
I typically buy from Barnes and Noble for ebooks. They sell DRM laden ePub files, but the DRM is easy to strip with some readily available tools. Without the DRM I have a nice universally supported industry standard format.
Barnes & Noble used to be pretty inconvenient to strip the DRM, that was one of many reasons I switched to Kobo. That’s nice that it’s easy again.
Calibre and a plugin.
Depends on region… depends on what you want to read… depends on you e-reader.
For example a kobo or a kindle will only read from kobo and amazon respectively.
Kobo and Google Play Books is my first stop to shop, since it supports Adobe Digital Editions, along with their own apps.
Amazon is my second stop. Not because I like them, I’m I. The same boat as you. But believe it or not their encryption is based off of your devices serial number. And you can DeDRM your Kindle books very easily.
Then it’s from publishers directly if they let you, like J-Novel Club is pricy but they offer drm free books.
My last option is obscure, but cool if you are looking for a deal. Humble Bundle is where I go for textbooks and older series. Only issue is they sell only in Bundles, and you’d get a lot of stuff you may not necessarily want. But the deals are crazy if you don’t want to pirate.
Finally depending on value and how much I feel the book is worth, I may sail the high seas.
I buy my ebooks from Bookapy. No DRM shit, you just download .epub or .pdf files.
https://www.baen.com/allbooks/ has been letting people download ebooks for a loooong time. Great little site.
They also have a collection of free books: https://www.baen.com/categories/free-library.html
One of the more ethical choices. You get the books in multiple formats and you own it.
I’ve always been impressed with Baen. They took a hard stance against DRM from the beginning.
Baen Ebooks, like its predecessor, does not use DRM (i.e., copy protection), in accordance with Jim Baen’s belief that DRM “just made it hard for people to read books, the worst mistake a publisher could make.” Eric Flint, writing soon after Baen’s death in 2006, noted that “in his fight against DRM, Jim stood alone as a publisher” and argued that Baen Book’s success “demonstrated in practice that all the propaganda [in favor of] DRM is, in addition to everything else, so much hogwash even on the practical level of a publishing house’s profits and losses.”
While you’re mainly looking for sources of new books, since you’re a fan of Fantasy and Sci-fi, I’d like to mention Luminist.org, which has the most complete archive of classic fantasy & sf fiction magazines and pulps available for free!
Its so complete that it is entirely overwhelming where to start. Personally I would suggest Galaxy, Fantasy & Science Fiction, IF, Destinies, Analog, and Asimov’s
Thanks! It’s about time I read Asimov for sure.
Here in Hertfordshire UK, I use BorrowBox on my phone S23 or an older Samsung tablet I use an an e-reader.
It’s linked to my local library (Ware) but not the best selection. My biggest gripe is that they’ll only have a couple of books from most of the series out there.
You’ll get book 1 or book 3, but hey, I’m not (directly) paying for them so it’s not the worst thing.
BorrowBox is pretty great in what you can borrow for free. My other half gets audio books from it from time to time!
