Amazon: What's the Deal with FREE E-Books?

I love reading. Since I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to do is curl up with a good book for a couple hours (or more). And yes, it's true, if I start a book late at night "to start shutting down", I have been known to stay up reading into the wee hours of the morning to finish it. Guilty as charged!

That's why I love how many FREE e-books come up on Amazon for me to download. They are free for only a short period of time, so I make sure to "purchase" them before the price goes back up. These books are promoted as free for a period of time by the publisher as a marketing strategy to help you get to know an author/series. So often it will be a "Book 1" by someone, then you'll want to read of the rest of the series. Since I am frugal in my reading (like the rest of my lifestyle), I usually look up the author at our public library and request the rest of the books that way! :-) Once a book has been purchased, it's saved to your Amazon account and you permanently own it (so you can also delete it if you don't like it!). You can then read it any time you want from any device you want.

One thing I love about the e-books on Amazon is that you don't have to have a Kindle to read them. You can download a FREE Kindle App for your PC, Mac, Android phone, iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, etc... to read them. This last year I read over 60 free e-books on my iPad.

Yes, this is a more random post, but I wanted to explain a little more about free e-books for any readers who might not be familiar with what they are or how to use them. I also wanted to let y'all know that I also "screen" free e-books before posting them by taking the time to check the author & publisher, as well as the reviews, to make sure it would be a book worth my time. Knowing publishers I trust (like Bethany House, Tyndale, Waterbrook Multnomah, and several others) help me take risks on authors I haven't heard of before. For me personally, I try to choose books that are encouraging & edifying to my lifestyle, personal values, and faith. Yep, even fiction books. I won't post something that I wouldn't read myself. I don't get to fully read them before I post (and if I waited to post until after I read them, they probably wouldn't be free any more) because most days I'm consumed with changing diapers & feeding two small kids! :-)

So that's a little bit behind why I post so many free e-books. I love reading them when I have time, and I don't have to load kids into the car to go to the library!