Amazon's Kindle Store Tips: How to Save Money and Shop Smart

So, you've got your Kindle, and you're eager to populate your lonely gray screen with electronic publications. Before you go on a shopping spree at Amazon's Kindle Store, however, you should keep these five tips in mind.

1. Get free books at the Amazon Kindle Store

Amazon's Kindle Store will often offer a dozen or so books for free. You can also find books that cost under a dollar. To find these book bargains, click on the "Sort by" option (located at the top right of your screen) and choose "Price: Low to High."

2. Don't spend money on classics

Oftentimes, you'll spot classic titles with cheap prices on Amazon. But don't buy anything that's out of copyright on Amazon. Why? Because plenty of websites offer these books for free.

Websites like freekindlebooks.org, feedbooks.com, manybooks.net, and munseys.com are great resources for free books. Just be sure to download the right format. Freekindlebooks.org (an extension of gutenberg.org) already has everything in a Kindle-friendly format. Other websites will outright give the option of "Kindle" format. If not, look for the Mobipocket format (which is what the Kindle uses).

3. Read the reviews

Since the Kindle is relatively new, some publishers are better at formatting electronic books than others. Always read input from reviewers to know if there are any particular problems or bugs. Keep in mind the date of the review. If it's an older review, look up new reviews to see if they fixed the problem.

I also often recommend looking at reviews that give the publication one star and to disregard how many five-star reviews it has. Sure, some reviewers may have a particular grudge against an author, but it's handy to know what people didn't like about a certain publication, and if you think you'd share those sentiments.

4. Take advantage of the free samples

How many times have you started to read a book only to realize by page ten that you were going to hate it? Or that it wasn't going to be useful to you? The Kindle Store offers free samples of its titles. Samples can range from a few pages to nearly a chapter. The free sample button is located underneath the "Buy now" section on the right-hand side of the screen.

5. Take advantage of the free subscription trial

Another perk for Kindle users is a free two-week trial for periodicals such as the New York Times, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and much more. Take your two weeks to really assess the Kindle version. Are any of your favorite columns missing from the Kindle version? Are you comfortable navigating from article to article? Do you like the largely words-only format, or do you love lots of photos and graphics?

Remember to leave a note somewhere reminding you when your free subscription is over. Otherwise you'll start to incur charges on your credit card.