While the global pandemic has hit many businesses, publishing - especially, ebooks - has seen a marked rise in sales. Even as hardcover and paperback sales picked up, the lockdown also saw audiobooks and ebooks make significant gains every single month.
And bookworms sure aren’t complaining. Also, which true-blue book lover would not want a free book or two, or even 20 for that matter? We take a look at some of the top ebook sites you can visit that would not make any dent in your budget.
Kindle Owners' Lending Library
You’ll need to be an Amazon Prime member to enter this magic land of hundreds of thousands of free Kindle books. Operating on the lines of a library, it only lets you borrow the book, not keep it. But there’s good news—there is no expiration on borrowed books.
BookGoodies
Updated weekly, it’s a haven for fiction and non-fiction lovers. Each page of a particular book, be it paranormal, humour, or travel, gives a full description along with information such as for how long is the book available for a free download. Sometimes a link to the author’s website is also provided.
Project Gutenberg
With more than 57,000 free ebooks and no fee, it’s a book lover’s paradise. While the latest bestsellers may not feature here, there are more than enough classics to keep you company. The best part is that it supports almost all forms—ePu, HTML, Kindle and other simple text formats. And, did we say, we love that name?
Overdrive
This is undoubtedly the fastest way to access millions of ebooks. It has tied up with 30,000 public libraries in over 40 different countries. They also have a healthy collection of free audiobooks. Our grouse with this site? One needs a valid and active public library card or has to be a student to access the treasures.
Library Genesis
If you want ebooks, articles, magazines, and more, then this should be your stop. It indexes close to three million ebooks and 60 million articles. So you can actually spend a lifetime here and still you will probably not be done half with it. Word of advice: Know what you want before you venture into this ocean.
Open Library
It is an open-source project where the library catalogue is editable. It can thus help create a web page for any book published. With over one million free ebooks, the platform tries to keep up to its motto of ‘one web page for every book ever published’. To say that it is Alice’s Wonderland, would be an understatement.
Google eBookstore
If you have an Android device, you are in luck. On the Google eBookstore, all you need to do is go to the ‘Books’ section and select the ‘Free’ option. The huge collection features hundreds of classics, contemporary bestsellers and more. They are accompanied with reader reviews and ratings.
ManyBooks
Established in 2004, the books here are mostly classic literature. Self-publishing authors also find a place. In case you don’t want to download a book, just read it online. Books are available in PDF, ePUB, Mobi and similar other formats. They also have an article section with book reviews.
BookBoon
Searching for a particular educational textbook or business book? Look no further. Easy to navigate, the site claims to have over 75 million downloads every year. With low-cost education as their calling card, they work with industry experts to create high-quality reading material.