Top 7 Free eBook Websites

There are many sites where eBooks can be obtained, downloaded and enjoyed, all from the relative comfort of your nearest eReader. For contemporary, popular and “new release” reading materials, an online eStore like Amazon or Barnes & Noble is essential.

But did you know there are also hundreds of websites where eBooks can be downloaded for free? Some of these sites provide eReader formats, Adobe PDF downloads and text versions of many classic and contemporary books.

To get you started, below is a list of the seven best free eBook websites. These sites provide access in various formats, and some simply allow you to search for the best location for a particular title or topic; but each are bound to provide you with a rich assortment of entertaining reading.

1. Project Gutenberg is probably the most well recognized website for free eBooks and provides books for the Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, iPhone, iPod Touch and other cell phone formats as well. These titles are free because their copyrights have expired, which means many of the titles will be fairly old. But a good classic is often hard to beat, so don’t skip this selection in your search for the best read of the year. With over 20,000 works it might be difficult to decide where to begin, but you can view the list of the top 100 to get started.
2. Internet Archive (at www.archive.org) is another extensive list of great eBook offerings. Browse to the Texts category for a list of over 2.5 million titles. Search by key word, author, title, or within a specific category. These titles are free to read, download and print, with a few restrictions on commercial or bulk usage.
3. BooksInMyPhone is a particularly useful site for those who like to read eBooks on their cell phone or mobile device. Choose a title that interests you and download from various mobile formats to fit your needs. Categories include ancient and classical selections, history and historic fiction, philosophy, romance, mystery and horror titles. For something random, try the list of all-time top 10 selections to get started.
4. Free-eBooks.net is a great collection of fun, entertaining selections. Categories include a few non-fiction topics such as career and business, but the selection of fiction and easy reading is what is most impressive about this website. Formats include HTML, PDF, ePub and Mobipocket, offering a range of variability for most digital reading devices.
5. ManyBooks.net provides popular titles, recommendations and reviews from visitors. Visitors can browse titles by name, genre, author and even language. New titles are prominantely available as well as a convenient visual search option that lets you browse book covers to see if something catches your eye. With over a dozen download format options, there’s bound to be an option that fits the particular needs of every mobile reading device.
6. GetFreeEbooks has many great titles. The disadvantage of this site compared to some of the others, however, is the highly ad-intensive pages, with only a narrow center column in which visitors can view up to four titles on a page. This inconvenient navigation makes browsing for something new quite a hassle. If you can manage the navigational difficulties, however, the titles are well worth wading through.
7. For science fiction fans, Baen Free Library provides a number of free download choices. These titles are available from Baen Books.

With so many free eBook selections, it is hard to believe that you would need to buy a book. But when you're looking for a new release, you'll probably need to look elsewhere. When that happens you can use Google Books to search by topic, interest area, or just key words to help you find that perfect book to buy from select online eStores. No matter where you download or purchase your eBook, the selections are endless, and there is something for everyone.

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