It’s no secret that Amazon Kindle is the best e-reader out there and a perfect companion to book lovers. If you’re new to e-readers or have just got yourself a Kindle, you might probably be using the Kindle book store to purchase books (or eBooks, to be exact) to read or searching the internet for free eBook stores online.

ebooks on kindle
IMAGE: Kwame Anim (Unsplash)

However, as it turns out, Kindle Store is one of the sources to find eBooks for Kindle, and you can get free books for Kindle across an array of categories if you know the right places.

In this guide, we’ll share a few different ways to download free eBooks on your Kindle.

How to Get Free Books on Kindle

Below are the top four ways in which you can find free eBooks on your Kindle. All of these methods will work with any Kindle model, so you can follow them on any Kindle you own—no matter if it’s one of the older models or the most recent one.

1. Explore Free Kindle Books at Amazon

explore kindle store

The Kindle Store is Amazon’s eBook store for the Kindle (eReader and app) and Fire devices. It’s home to a massive collection of free and paid eBooks that spans popular categories, such as classic literature, fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, and many more. Hence, it’s wise to first search for free eBooks on the Kindle Store itself before moving to alternative resources.

To find free eBooks on the Kindle Store, fire up your Kindle eReader and connect it to Wi-Fi. Make sure you’re signed in to your Kindle account and then follow the steps below:

  1. From the home screen, click on the store icon.
  2. Tap on the search bar and search for “free ebooks” and “free kindle books” one by one to find all the eBooks available for free on the store.
  3. Click on the book you’d like to download to open it.
  4. Tap on the Buy for Free button to purchase the book.

Once purchased, the book will show up in your Kindle eBook library. If it doesn’t, however, click on the settings icon and tap Sync Your Kindle to sync your library’s content to your Kindle.

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Alternatively, you can also lookup free Kindle books on the Amazon store. Here are the steps you need to follow:

  1. Go to the Amazon store: either visit the Amazon website using a web browser or open the Amazon app.
  2. Click the search bar and type in “free ebooks” and “free kindle books” alternatively to view all the free eBooks on the store.
  3. Tap on the book you want to download and select Kindle Edition from the available formats.
  4. Click on the dropdown box below Deliver to and select the Kindle device (or the device on which you have the Kindle app) on which you want to read the eBook and hit Download Sample.

Make sure your Kindle (or the device you’ve sent the book to) is connected to the internet. Although it doesn’t usually take long to deliver your eBook, at times when it does, you might want to wait for some time and try syncing or restarting your Kindle.

Visit Amazon

2. Get a Kindle Unlimited Subscription

kindle unlimited

Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service from Amazon for Kindle users that offers free access to selected content for a fixed subscription cost per month. All the eBooks and audiobooks available under the service are only accessible till you have the subscription.

Depending on which country you’re located in, the subscription cost for Kindle Unlimited varies, and so does the access to free eBooks and audiobooks.

Kindle Unlimited Prices

  • US: $9.99 per month
  • UK: £7.99 per month
  • India: Rs 199 per month

Amazon also offers 6-month and 12-month subscriptions for Kindle Unlimited. Plus, when you first join Kindle Unlimited, you get a 30-day free trial of the service to find out what it’s got in store for you.

To join Kindle Unlimited, head over to the Kindle Unlimited webpage on Amazon using the following links and hit the Sign in button. Once signed in, you’ll see all the available plans. Next, click on the Join Kindle Unlimited button and proceed with the payment.

Kindle Unlimited: US | UK | India

With your Kindle Unlimited subscription now active, you can unlock access to around a million eBooks and read them for absolutely free on your Kindle eReader or Kindle app.

3. Share Books With Friends or Family Using Amazon Household

amazon household

Amazon Household is a service that lets you share benefits from your Amazon account with other people. You can set it up on your Amazon account and add people (friends or family members) with whom you want to share the benefits and share access to books, apps, and games among them.

To use Household, you first need an Amazon Prime subscription. If you already have one, you can proceed with the following steps. If not, head over to this link and get a Prime subscription (they have a free trial as well).

Get Amazon Prime: (US | UK | India)

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Now, follow the steps below to set up Household sharing:

  1. Head over to Amazon and login to your account.
  2. Click on the dropdown button next to Account & Lists and select Your Account.
  3. Under Shopping Program and Rentals, locate Amazon Household.
  4. On the Household page, click on Add an adult.
  5. Add the account details of the person with whom you want to share Prime benefits. Hit Agree and send invite. [Their account need not be Prime, but it helps if they have one, as you can share content with each other.]
  6. Ask the invitee to accept the invitation.
  7. Again, go back to the Amazon Household page (as shown in step-3) and select Manage Your Family Library.
  8. Toggle the button next to Apps/Games, Audiobooks, eBooks to pick what items you’d like to share.
  9. Click on Manage your Content and Devices.
  10. Select the items you want to share and hit OK.

Once Amazon Household is set up, you can ask the person to share their eBooks with you. Shared items will appear in your account, and you can access them just like how you do with other eBooks and audiobooks. However, note that you can access the shared items as long as the other person shares them.

4. Find Free eBooks Online or Transfer Your Offline Reads to Kindle

open library

While Amazon has a pretty extensive collection of eBooks for the Kindle, it’s not the only online source of free eBooks on the internet; there are several other digital libraries, which also offer eBooks for free on the internet.

So if you’re unable to find a book on Amazon, you can look it up on any of these digital libraries, or just visit them to explore and find a new read:

Best Sites to download free Kindle eBooks

Once you find a book, download it to your device (preferably a computer or mobile phone). Kindle supports eBooks in the az3, azw3, and kfx file formats, which are the default eBook formats used by Kindle Store, but it also handles other file formats such as TXT, MOBI, and PDF very well.

So you can download your free Kindle book either in these formats, or if the website doesn’t offer options in those formats, you can download the eBook in whatever format is available and convert it into any of the supported formats to read it on your Kindle.

After you’ve got your eBook in a supported format, you can transfer it to your Kindle in two ways: Send to Kindle app or email.

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a) Transferring eBook to Kindle via Send to Kindle App

The Send to Kindle app is the easiest (read reliable) way of transferring eBooks to Kindle. However, it requires a computer and the Send to Kindle app.

To transfer an eBook with Send to Kindle, first, download the Send to Kindle app to your Mac or Windows computer from the link below.

Download: Send to Kindle (Mac | Windows)

Next, install the app and then follow the steps below to move an eBook from your computer to the Kindle e-reader:

  1. Connect your Kindle to your computer via a USB cable.
  2. Fire up the Send to Kindle app.
  3. Once your device shows up in the app, open Finder (Mac) or File Manager (Windows) and drag and drop the eBook you want to transfer to the app’s window.
  4. Wait for the transfer to complete and close the app.

b) Transferring eBook to Kindle via Send to Email

If you don’t want the hassle of using a computer, you can also use the email method to transfer your eBook from any device (computer, mobile, tablet) to your Kindle.

For this, head over to My Kindle and log in to your account. Next, use the following steps to identify your Kindle email address:

  1. Click on the dropdown button beside Account & Lists and select Your Account.
  2. Under Digital content and devices, select Content and devices.
  3. Enter your account password when prompted.
  4. Tap on the Devices tab on the top and click on your Kindle listed under Amazon devices.
  5. Note down the email address next to the Email field.

Now, open your email client and compose a mail. Choose the eBook you want to transfer as the attachment and in the receiver’s address, enter the Kindle email address you noted down in step 5. Finally, send the email and wait for the book to appear on your Kindle.

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Bonus: Rent eBooks for free from your local library

Amazon is not the only place to find free Kindle books in 2021. You can also check out and borrow eBooks from your public library, search for nearby locations on OverDrive’s website, or use the Library Search page to locate which libraries near you have this offer.

Free Kindle books from your local library is a fantastic way to save money on eBooks. In addition, you can check out an eBook for a limited time before it automatically gets removed from your Kindle, which makes the offer available only until that point. The Library Search page will also help you find libraries near you with this offer so that there’s no need to search through listings manually!

Reading Free eBooks on Kindle

By using the methods above, you can easily find the eBooks you’ve always wanted to read for free, or if they aren’t available, discover new books around your interests and enjoy them on your Kindle at no cost.

FAQs About Getting Free eBooks on Kindle

Kindle's free library can be accessed by simply searching for "free ebooks" or "free kindle books". Check out the second method earlier in the post to know the exact steps you need to follow.

Depending on the source from where you're getting your free eBook, you need to follow a few different steps accordingly to download (or transfer) your eBook to your Kindle. If you're getting an eBook from the Kindle store, open it and click the Buy button to get it on your Kindle eReader or app. On the other hand, if you're getting the eBook from some other source (like an online digital library), follow the steps listed under method 4.

Yes, with Book Lending, you can borrow and lend books for your Kindle without having to go to a library. Registering with Book Lending (it's free) will let you borrow books from those who are lending them, or you can lend a Kindle book. Aside from searching through the book titles, you can view the list of recently loaned books and find eBooks based on genre.

You can only borrow a book once, so if you see a title you want, take it before it's gone. It is possible to borrow free books from here for a period of 14 days, after which they are automatically returned to their owners.

The Amazon First Reads program (formerly Kindle First) gives Prime members FREE access to one Kindle book every month. As a Prime member, you can choose up to 10 titles at a time from more than 3,000 carefully curated books, magazines, comics, and Kindle Singles. 

To access this, your Amazon account must be logged in and you must be a current Prime member. Then, go to Prime Reading to begin browsing the current titles. The Kindle app allows you to read books, comics, and magazines via any device if you click "Read for Free." You can listen to audiobooks for free by selecting "Read and Listen for Free."

Yes, you can offer Kindle books for free. Amazon does not have a limit on the number of times that a book is offered for free or how many total hours it can be listed at no cost. You can choose the price of your book as "free" for one day only if you have a Prime membership. You can then use that one day to promote your book for free on social media, blogs, and other sites in hopes of generating downloads. If you're not satisfied with the results, you can always change the price back to "buy now."

One suggestion I have is that if you want to offer your Kindle book for free, then make it Prime exclusive.

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