Moore Memorial Public Library

Free Online Ebooks and Audiobooks
[Printable PDF]

Don't forget you can always check out ebooks from our own eBook Library!

Free e-books with no registration required
Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg offers more than 42,000 free ebooks, mostly from those that are in the public domain. Books can be read online in HTML or downloaded onto different devices (the EPUB downloads into Adobe Digital Editions; the Kindle will download into your Kindle app, which you will need to have downloaded into your computer).

Internet Archive

"The Internet Archive was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. Now the Internet Archive includes: texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections, and provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities.

"Browse and read over 5 million books and items from over 1,500-curated collections. You will find a wide range of literature, historical texts and research materials; and wonderful thematic collections like children's classics, cookbooks and genealogy." (from their website)

You will have a few choice in the "View the Book" section on the item's page. You can read it online on the main page, from the original site, or download it to a device. Just like Project Gutenberg, you can click on EPUB, and the item will open up in Adobe Digital Editions, where you can add it to your device or just read it there. The Kindle choice will do the same in a Kindle app.

Hathi Trust Digital Network

https://www.hathitrust.org/https://www.hathitrust.org/

HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. It provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in-copyright content from a variety of sources." (from their website)

You can view the works, but downloading is not available unless you are a member of one of the partner institutions. You can, however, create a "friend" account that will allow you to create your own collection of information, articles and text.

Baen Free Library

http://www.baen.com/categories/free-library.html

"Baen Books is now making available — for free — a number of its titles in electronic format. We're calling it the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online — no conditions, no strings attached. You can download the books in one of several formats. Again, with no conditions or strings attached. (URLs to sites which offer the readers for these formats are also listed.)" (from their website).

You click on the Download button next to the title, then a page opens that will give you several options on how to read the book.

Free ebooks with a registration required

Open Library

"You can also borrow other fascinating and more contemporary materials at OpenLibrary.org. OpenLibrary is a free, digital lending library of over 2 million eBooks that can be read in a browser or downloaded for reading off-line. Originally developed to support the Print Disabled community, OpenLibrary now contains public domain and contemporary eBooks. Get a free OpenLibrary card and borrow an ebook today!" (from the Open Library website).

You can get an Open Library "card" by clicking on the Sign Up link at the top on the right. You will then be emailed for verification, and then you can start borrowing books (as you would do with the ebooks from our library). You can borrow up to five books at a time for two weeks each. If the book is checked out, you can be put on the waiting list to check it out later.

Smashwords

"Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of indie ebooks. We make it fast, free and easy for any author or publisher, anywhere in the world, to publish and distribute ebooks to the major retailers. Smashwords provides an opportunity to discover new voices in all categories and genres of the written word. Once you register, the site offers useful tools for search, discovery and personal library-building.

"Most of our books are affordably priced, and many are free. Over 70,000 serious writers and small independent publishers publish and distribute with Smashwords. Many Smashwords authors have been previously published in print through mainstream publishers, or have had their works published in well-respected literary journals. Starting March, 2009, Smashwords introduced new publishing options for publishers who want to publish and centrally manage two or more authors.

"Smashwords is a virtual playground for those who love the written word. Readers can sample most works for free (and in many cases, read up to half of the book before they commit to a purchase decision); read in multiple DRM-free formats; create digital libraries of purchased and sampled works; publish reviews (including YouTube video book reviews); and 'favorite' their favorite authors, publishers and works." (from their website)

You can sign up for a Smashwords account by clicking on "Join for Free!" at the top of the page, then you verify your account by clicking on the link in the email they send you. After signing in, you can click on "Free" next to "Any price" to look through the free books they offer.

Obooko

"The complementary objective of obooko is to offer fiction and non-fiction free of charge to anyone, anywhere, regardless of means. By offering free copies of work, under Standard Copyright or Creative Commons licenses, authors can benefit from valuable feedback from obooko members. This can be used to improve work before it is listed for sale on retail sites or sent to publishers for consideration. In many cases this negates the need for extensive professional editing.

"Think of obooko as a showcase or shop window for new and established independent writers. Our primary ebook file type is PDF because this is the most versatile format and one of the most efficient ways of distributing books. However, PDFs don't work too with handheld eReading devices; with this in mind we are gradually introducing ePub and mobi (Kindle) formats." (from their website)

You will need to login each time with a username and password, and you can create these by clicking on the "Join Free!" button on the main page.

Google Books / Google eBookstore

"Book Search works just like web search. Try a search on Google Books or on Google.com. When we find a book with content that contains a match for your search terms, we'll link to it in your search results. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given us permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy. If you find a book you like, click on the "Buy this book" and "Borrow this book" links to see where you can buy or borrow the print book. You can now also buy the ebook from the Google Play Store." (from their website)

Google Books is where you can look at a preview of a book or read the whole thing (if it is in the public domain). In order to download the free books, you have to set up a Google account, and it will be moved into a "My Books" account in the Google Play Store. You can also purchase ebooks (the price will be in red on the left side above the book's information, and then you will need to put in your payment information, such as a credit card).

Free e-books that require you to set up an account with a credit card
You will have to do a search for the free e-books available at these sites.

Amazon Kindle eBooks

Amazon.com has a lot of free e-books to choose from, but you will need to set up an account with Amazon, even if you never intend to buy anything from them, with a credit card or bank account. You will also need to own a Kindle or have the Kindle app downloaded into your computer to read Kindle books. You can find the free e-books by typing "free e-books" into the search bar at the top of the page.

Barnes and Noble NOOK Book Store

Just as you can on Amazon, you can find thousands of free e-books on Barnes and Noble's website. However, just like Amazon, you have to set up an account with a credit card, even if you never intend to purchase anything. The books are automatically downloaded onto a NOOK if you own one (you have your Barnes and Noble account connected to your NOOK), or you can download the NOOK app to read them on your computer. You will not be able to read these books on a Kindle, though, unless you have them converted into the Kindle format. To find the free e-books, type "free" into the search bar.

Free downloadable audiobooks

LibriVox

"LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain, and then release the audio files back onto the net for free. All our audio is in the public domain, so you may use it for whatever purpose you wish.

"Volunteering for LibriVox is easy and does not require any experience with recording or audio engineering or acting or public speaking. All you need is a computer, a microphone, some free recording software, and your own voice. We accept all volunteers in all languages, with all kinds of accents. You're welcome to volunteer to read any language you speak, as long as you can make yourself understood in it. You don't need to audition, but we do suggest a 1-minute test recording just to check your setup. We'll accept you no matter what you sound like." (from their website)"

You can download the audiobooks in MP3 format.

Books Should Be Free

"Books Should Be Free makes the world's public domain audio books available for browsing in a visual and entertaining way. Books Should Be Free provides a primarily visual browsing experience, so you don't have to read tedious amounts to find listening material. The BooksShouldBeFree.com website is also screen reader friendly, making its resources accessible to people with vision disabilities.

"All audio books on BooksShouldBeFree.com are in the public domain. This means that no one holds a copyright on these books, and therefore anyone, including BooksShouldBeFree.com, is free to distribute them. Enjoy these free audio books and use the share button on BooksShouldBeFree.com to tell your friends about all these great public domain audio books." (from their website)

You can play the books in the little player that is on the books' information page, or you can download the books in MP3 format, iTunes Podcast, iPod/iPhone M4b Audiobook, and RSS Feed with no need to create an account.