8 Ways to Get Free E-Books and Audiobooks

Save money by downloading your next read or listen from Libby, BookBub, Amazon and more

Maria Speidel,

AARP

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Published July 11, 2024

Photo Collage: AARP; (Source: Getty Images (5))

E-reading has exploded in popularity since Amazon came out with its Kindle back in 2007, with e-book sales skyrocketing to $1 billion last year, according to the Association of American Publishers. .

The average newly released bestseller costs around $15 in e-book form. While that’s cheaper than the print version, the click-and-read habit still can get expensive — unless you take advantage of the thousands of e-books (print and audio!) that are free to borrow or download. Here’s where and how.

1. Public libraries

Libraries, as everyone knows, stack their shelves with physical books you can borrow for free, but many aren’t aware that they also fill their e-shelves with e-books (and audiobooks). Patrons can access them through digital databases, including the most popular one, Libby, which celebrated its 1 billionth publication checkout last year. (Others include CloudLibrary and Hoopla.)

How it works: To get started with Libby, you need a valid library card from a participating library. (Voracious readers feed their e-book habit by having multiple library cards.) Then download the Libby app and connect it to your library card, using the card’s PIN. Once connected, you can borrow e-books or audiobooks from your home library’s catalog. The e-books can be read within Libby or sent to a Kindle app or device. This direct-to-the-Kindle option is unique to Libby. Some newer models of Nook (Barnes and Noble’s e-reader) have Libby built in. For older models, users will have to transfer their Libby files from a desktop.

Hoopla is available through about 2,000 public library systems. Its app offers access to over 500,000 pieces of media, including e-books and movies, and works much like Libby, except files cannot be sent directly to a Kindle. Patrons love its deep bank of audiobooks.

CloudLibrary is a database similar to Libby and Hoopla that’s used in nearly 3,000 U.S. libraries worldwide. The CloudLibrary app is available for smartphones and tablets, either Apple or Android, and on computers. You can also download e-books on a computer to Nook and Kobo e-readers using a USB connection. It is not compatible with Kindle.

Pro tip

The Amazon-owned book community and recommendation site Goodreads.com includes a page with a wonderfully curated list of free e-books from various sources. The categories include silos like “Best FREE Science Fiction Audiobooks!” and “Best Permanently Free books.”

AARP Members Edition also offers free serialized versions of books by popular authors, including James Patterson, Mary Higgins Clark and Ann Cleeves.

2. Project Gutenberg

Gutenberg.org, a nonprofit, longtime keeper of online books, offers direct access to more than 70,000 e-books and a smaller number of audiobooks. They are all older works in the public domain, meaning they were published largely before 1929 and are no longer copyrighted. Gutenberg is a great place to access classics like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Moby Dick. It’s even better for big, fat books — think Don Quixote, available in Spanish or English — for which your reading time might exceed a library’s borrowing period.

How it works: No passwords or apps are required. The files can be read on a computer screen or downloaded and transferred to a device or phone with an e-reading app, like Kindle or Apple books. Alternatively, users can search Gutenberg’s listings directly from a phone or tablet, then download and open the book on the device itself.

Gutenberg has some general directions here.

3. Standard Ebooks

Started by software engineer Alex Cabal in 2014, Standard Ebooks has fewer titles (just over 1,000) than Gutenberg, but they are packaged in a prettier format and listed in a sleeker, more informative catalog that includes approximate reading time and difficulty level, for instance.

How it works: Standard Ebook’s downloading process is similar to Gutenberg’s and offers a format optimized for Kobo readers.

4. BookBub and other discount e-book sellers

BookBub is a book recommendation and sales hub for discounted e-books (think the Marshalls of e-books). Along with low-cost e-books, it offers “hundreds” of free e-books on its site, according to General Manager Katie Donelan. The free reads, most published within the last five years, lean heavily toward the romance, mystery, fantasy and thriller categories.

Two other sites with similar models, discounted prices and smaller lists of free books are The Fussy Librarian and Early Bird Books.

How it works: You need to become a member of or subscribe to one of these three platforms, but it’s free and easy to do so. They are set up for users to “purchase” the free books (for $0) through Amazon or Barnes & Noble, which sends the books directly to the customer’s Kindle, Nook or corresponding app.

5. LibriVox

The motto of LibriVox is “Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain.” This Gutenberg of audiobooks contains more than 19,000 public domain books, poems and songs recorded by volunteers from all over the world. Most are in English, with some in a smattering of other languages, such as Maori, Welsh and Russian.

How it works: From librivox.org, you can download MP3s onto your desktop, where they can be played or transferred onto music apps or media players on another device. There are also LibriVox options in app stores and on podcast providers, but founder Hugh McGuire, a software entrepreneur, says those have been created by third parties. LibriVox’s selections are searchable by author, title and reader.

6. Amazon

The company that popularized e-books and sells the Kindle, the most popular e-reader, also offers a rotating selection of free e-books. A recent search pulled up thousands of titles, including classics (Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables), romances (Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover), thrillers and children’s books.

How it works: Access titles on the Free Kindle Books page. They can be read on Kindles, obviously, but also through the Kindle app on tablets, phones and computers. Amazon Prime members can tap into their Prime Reading benefit, which unlocks additional free titles.

7. Barnes & Noble

For readers who use Barnes & Noble’s Nook device, bn.com has as many as 10,000 free books available every day. They are mostly books that have been available for at least a year, according to Jason Matos, manager of the Nook division. Popular choices include The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie and the memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup.

How it works: Bargain seekers go to bn.com and “buy” a book for $0. Nook readers will have the book synced to their device. For others, first create an account on bn.com and then download the Nook app on a smartphone or tablet. Purchased books will now populate in the app. You can also read the books within the Barnes & Noble website on the My Digital Library page of your account.

8. The Palace Project

Partnering with the nonprofit Digital Public Library of America, The Palace Project (its name highlights the idea that libraries are “palaces for the people”) has more than 15,000 titles available for free reading, including banned books.

How it works: The first step is downloading the Palace Project app, available for Apple or Android devices. Then you can connect with your local library or get an electronic library card for the Palace Project and Banned Book Club collections. Further instructions can be found here.

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