Top Ways to Find Free Kindle Books, Downloads

I've owned and loved my Kindle book reader for some time. My edition is the earlier, first edition version and was reviewed here . In the review, I noted the features that made this particular book reader so attractive to me, including access to well over 90,000 books, magazines and newspapers. That was then. Now, there are over 390,000 books, magazines, newspapers and other content available on the Kindle.

Tons of Free Kindle Books Exist but You Need to Know How to Stay Current with the Latest Kindle Freebies.

Before writing this article, I tested out a couple of free Kindle downloads, just to make sure they came through quickly and were indeed absolutely free. I decided to go for the classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin as my first free download. Within seconds of clicking the instant "purchase" button, the book's contents were delivered to my Kindle at absolutely no cost. The book was free. More about specific links and how to find those free books is listed below.

One of the secrets to stay on top of the latest free books for the Kindle book reader? Use the right search terms. By going to Amazon's main page and putting the words "Kindle books" into the search box, I could see a list of books. Sorting them by price, low to high, showed the latest free books. Alternately, using the search term "Kindle freebies" brought up other lists as well as potential discussion groups to explore later.

After that, I checked out some of the Kindle bestsellers here and decided to opt for a book that was on the Kindle bestseller list, currently offered for free. It was Hide in Plain Sight by Marta Perry. I decided to take a chance on this one, since it was among the bestsellers and I wanted to know what made it popular. Again, easy download, showed up in less than two minutes on my Kindle.

What all Kindle Owners Need To Know About Free ebooks, Magazines, Other Content

Staying on top of free downloads for the Kindle can be tricky. Why? Because some are offered for a limited time and others may be free one week and be offered for full price the next. It helps to learn a few tricks to stay on top of the latest free downloads.

Participating in Kindle discussion groups certainly helps. You can also find a list of free books by going to this link, here or simply copy the URL http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle freebie into your browser window. This will take you to a page on Amazon where you can scroll down and see the latest list of products, books, lists and guides which are tagged as Kindle freebies (you may have to sign in first).

As of today, at least 2,386 products are listed as freebies or free Kindle books or content. That could be just the tip of the iceberg, though.

Free Kindle Books: Learn Where to Find Updated Lists of Kindle Bestsellers on Amazon. A Pleasant Surprise? Most are Free

At Amazon, you can easily search and find the Kindle Community and discussions about the Kindle. The community can be found by going to Amazon, doing a search for the Kindle freebies which are bestsellers. As noted above, bestsellers can be found here and can change by the hour.

Keep in mind that bestsellers which are free one week may not be free the next so you'll want to take advantage of savings while you can. One of this week's top sellers? Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Entertaining (Kindle Edition), which normally costs $19.95, affording Kindle owners a real savings. Deals like this come and go, with some books being free for only a day or week. But the savings can really add up!

To Prevent Headaches with Free Kindle Books, Search the Kindle Community on Amazon for Discussions of Freebies and Tips on Bugs and Glitches

Amazon Discussion groups come and go and some are older than others but there are active groups there which try to keep up with the latest ways to download free content for the Kindle. Some tips work, others don't and some are very computer or browser specific. Some people have had issues with Vista and some Mac users haven't been able to download certain types of content.

Kindle forums and discussion groups can share problems and ways to work around them. Search them out on Amazon. Using the search term "Kindle Freebies" should get you to the right communities.

While There are Plenty of Free Kindle Book Downloads Which Work for Mac Users, Owners of PCs May Have More Options

I downloaded every single free Kindle book listed in this article with a Mac computer. Every one of the books came through just fine. However, there seem to be some books made just for PC owners so make sure you're downloading a Mac compatible Kindle book if you own a Mac. Most free books will work for PC users.

Free Kindle Books Info: International Owners (Those Outside the United States) May have to Pay a Fee for Books

Although the charge may be modest, owners of the International Kindle version may indeed have to pay for downloads, even so-called free downloads. This seems to be a recent change and some owners of international versions of the Kindle are grumbling about it.

Since I haven't tried to download a book internationally, I don't have personal experience with this but users are noting the charges in Amazon Kindle user groups so be aware of this possibility. Of course, the charge also applies to books which aren't free as well, so that may be an additional cost for international users. A book which costs a total of two dollars still seems like a bargain to me but....perhaps not compared to free.

Sources:
Personal experience
Christmas Hit: Amazon's New Book, Blog and Magazine Reader by Jan Corn, Associated Content, Nov 28, 2007
Amazon Kindle Freebie
Favorite e-Book Price:Free , Dec. 28, 2009, Los Angeles Times, Books