Free kindle ebooks

[xouper]

One of the interesting things about this hobby is finding some strange stuff.

In today's haul of free kindle books, I got this one:



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0713X13Y6/

It's The Worst Book Ever Written:
Don't Waste Your Money Buying This,
You're Not Going to Get a Refund
by Lucas Robak

1.0 out of 5 stars 19 customer reviews

Kindle $0.00
Paperback $21.77

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > True Crime > White Collar Crime
#3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Teaching > Teacher Resources > Education Theory

Maybe later I'll look through it to see if I should ask for my money back.

[xouper]

Another free one, and topical for this forum:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47859

[xouper]

Today I hit a milestone. As of a few moments ago, I now have more than 300,000 free kindle books, according to amazon. And I have an email invoice for each and every one of them.

It took me three years to get the first hundred thousand.
It took me another year to get the second hundred thousand.
And then six months to get the third hundred thousand.

That's about 550 books per day, every day for six months.

At that rate it will take me maybe another 3.5 years to get to a million. Assuming I can actually get that many. And assuming I can keep up that high rate, which at this point seems less than certain. I found out recently that Amazon only has about 5 million kindle books, so it may not be possible to get to a million freebies. We shall see.

[xouper]

The most expensive free book I got so far is this monster, which I got about a month ago shortly after it was published. Retails for $500.00.



Safety and Reliability – Safe Societies in a Changing World
Proceedings of ESREL 2018, June 17-21, 2018, Trondheim, Norway
Print Length: 3234 pages
Publisher: CRC Press; 1 edition (June 15, 2018)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DV5F71F/

It's also available for free (as a pdf) directly from the publisher, which is a reputable publisher of technical books.
https://www.crcpress.com/Safe-Societies ... 0815386827

I now have both, the kindle and the pdf. In fact, I suspect the kindle edition is merely the pdf in a kindle wrapper, since the kindle edition text does not reflow like a normal kindle book does.

Previous years proceedings are $494.99 for the pdf. I was not able to find any of those previous years for free, not even on amazon. Thus I am predicting that the 2018 edition will also be $500 by this time next year, when I hope to get the 2019 edition for free.

That's a lot of pages. Thumbing through the table of contents, there is a lot of interesting stuff in there — and I do mean a lot, since the average chapter is maybe ten pages — and I can now say I have actually read one of my free kindle books. Well, one chapter anyway, called, "Safety analysis of autonomous driving using semi-Markov processes". I was curious to know how they used Markov models and what their conclusion is. I was surprised to learn they recommend skipping level three autonomy mode and going straight to level four. Makes sense to me.

[Witness]

That's about 550 books per day, every day for six months.

You automated the downloading process?

At that rate it will take me maybe another 3.5 years to get to a million.

1 h / book, 8 h / day, it would take 300+ years to read that million. But I understand it's not for reading…

[xouper]

That's about 550 books per day, every day for six months.

You automated the downloading process?

The kindle app for windows automatically downloads my purchases to my hard drive. And it crashes regularly while trying to do that. I suspect the programmers did not anticipated this level of usage. I'm watching the memory usage and I predict that by 500,000 books, because it is a 32-bit app, it will hit the 2 gigabyte limit and crash permanently, even though I have 8 gb ram installed. I am hoping by then they will release an update that might (perhaps inadvertently) solve that problem.

[xouper]

Of the 627 free kindle books I got today, this one seemed (somewhat) noteworthy:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48483

[xouper]

Of the 663 free kindle books I got today, this one seemed especially noteworthy:
viewtopic.php?p=937801#p937801

[xouper]

I like when this happens (which isn't often), an author offers their entire catalog of kindle books for free on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entit ... B079M74VTF

They write cookbooks and all 44 of them are free today so I scarfed them up (the kindle versions, of course). I have no idea how long this promotional price will last.

At an average of 80 or 90 pages each (no I didn't look at them all), that's more than 3000 pages of recipes. The paperback versions list for seven dollars each.



I know nothing about these authors and having read none of the books, I cannot comment on their content, other than it appears they are self published.

I found them accidentally when doing a keyword search for "green". Go figure.

Anyway, I'm now that much closer to my goal of one million free kindle books.

[Pyrrho]

Harry Leslie Smith's two books are currently free.

[xouper]

Harry Leslie Smith's two books are currently free.

Thanks. I just now snagged these two for free:

[xouper]

In today's batch of free kindle books, was this one, which may (or not) be noteworthy:

viewtopic.php?p=938922#p938922

[xouper]

Of the 647 free kindle books I got today, this one caught my eye:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=48711

[xouper]

Three more free kindle books that were mockworthy:

viewtopic.php?p=941634#p941634

[Anaxagoras]

Here's something I think you'll be interested in:

https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments ... more_than/

[xouper]

Another free kindle book worthy of note:

Science with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
(c) 2019, hardcover list price $128.00



viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48756

[xouper]

Among today's haul of free kindle books is something I haven't seen before, two versions of the same science fiction book,

for young adults:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JGRNRJC/


for adults:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JDQ4Q8V/


The one I got free today is the adult version. The author is now on my watch list, and if the YA version becomes free some day, then perhaps I might be interested in merging the two books to see what the differences are. Or maybe not. I have a soft spot for science fiction, so I might actually read it, in addition to using it for my computer science research. Also, it's book one of a trilogy and the other two aren't yet on amazon, so who knows how long before I get all six. Which is fine, since I predict it will take another three years (or maybe more) to reach my ultimate goal of collecting a million free kindle books with an amazon email invoice for each and every one of them.

[Nyarlathotep]

I wonder what exactly is the difference between the two.

[Nyarlathotep]

I wonder what exactly is the difference between the two.

I'm guessing exactly the same, but pitched to different notional genres.

My guess is that they started as the same book but were edited differently to emphasize different things. But I am not willing to read the same book twice to find out.

[xouper]

I wonder what exactly is the difference between the two.

I'm guessing exactly the same, but pitched to different notional genres.

My guess is that they started as the same book but were edited differently to emphasize different things. But I am not willing to read the same book twice to find out.

If I get the YA version for free (it's on my watch list), perhaps I will be able to answer that question with some specific examples.

I too don't want to read the book twice, which is why I would merge them with annotations for the differences. Easy to do automatically with modern word processors.

[xouper]

Also new this week, a new genre of kindle book? Or a scam?

Perhaps this discussion deserves it own thread?

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=48826

[xouper]

In yesterady's haul of free kindles books was a "noteworthy" piece of garbage:

viewtopic.php?p=948534#p948534

Well, I assume it's garbage, since I haven't actually read it. I am, obviously, judging the book by its cover.

[xouper]

In yesterday's haul of free kindle books, I got an entire science fiction series of nine books:



The entire nine book series is still free as I write this, so get 'em while you can:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079C6GVP5

I haven't read any of them (yet), so I can't comment.

If they aren't any good, you can of course always ask for your money back.

You might be asking, why would an author offer this kind of promotional giveaway? One common answer is that it boosts the sales ranking on Amazon. Seriously. When you see the sales ranking for a kindle book on Amazon, you have no idea how many of those were free promotional "sales". I am tempted to infer that such a tactic works, else the authors would not keep doing it.

[Pyrrho]

Here's one:

https://www.amazon.com/Optimal-J-M-Berg ... op?ie=UTF8

[xouper]

What would be really cool is if Amazon would simply have a single button that says "buy all the kindle books that are free today". Or even better, a button that says "send me all the free ones from now until I say stop". Instead, I have to go find them myself, the old fashioned way.

Well, I get a little help from websites like this: https://ohfb.com/

[Hotarubi]

What would be really cool is if Amazon would simply have a single button that says "buy all the kindle books that are free today". Or even better, a button that says "send me all the free ones from now until I say stop".

Sod that. My kindle would be loaded with adolescent shite about vampires, shape shifters and insecure women fucking billionaires.

[xouper]

What would be really cool is if Amazon would simply have a single button that says "buy all the kindle books that are free today". Or even better, a button that says "send me all the free ones from now until I say stop".

Sod that. My kindle would be loaded with adolescent shite about vampires, shape shifters and insecure women fucking billionaires.

Then that button would not be useful to you, obviously. Even better, no one is making you click such a button, even if it existed.

Everyone gets to choose their own hobby.

To confirm your worst fears, yes, my collection includes shite from all manner of genres, including the ones you mentioned, and worse. I have plenty of room on my hard drive, so that's not an issue for me.

As always, Your Mileage May Vary™.

[Hotarubi]

You'd be a big hit at parties.

[xouper]

You'd be a big hit at parties.

At least those people make some effort to pretend to be interested in my hobby (of collecting free kindle books) instead of making smart ass remarks.

[Hotarubi]

You come across any free girl-on-girl grotters?

[xouper]

In yesterday's haul of free kindle books, was this one:



How to Make a Decision
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079L5MXRY/

I'm having trouble deciding if I should read it.

[xouper]

In yesterday's haul of free kindle books was this curious item:



Here's the full title as listed on Amazon:

Horton Hears a Who !: Read the full version of Horton's story, by the famous Dr. Seuss
author: DR. SUSS
publisher: N/A
#1 New Release in Children's Elephant Books

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R7WMYNR/

And no I'm not making that up.

Apart from the obvious, I didn't know Amazon had a category called "Children's Elephant Books".

I looked inside that ebook and it appears to be a poor quality scan of the original. Not surprisingly, the copyright page is missing.

I'm guessing that book won't be there long. But it's still free as I write this, so get it while you can.

More importantly, it still counts towards my goal of collecting a million. Over the years I have gotten many hundreds of free kindle books that are no longer available on amazon. Go figure.

[Hotarubi]

DR SUSS?




I would have grabbed it if it was legit.

[xouper]

In yesterday's haul of free kindle books from amazon was this "gem":



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08S26XVQW/

So of course I had to read it, right?

I mean, what's the point of reverse psychology if you don't fall for it?

I didn't actually read all 71 pages. Seemed like a waste of time.

If I am to be charitable, perhaps the book was intended to be some kind of humor. I assume the author had fun writing it, else why bother. And hey, who knows, maybe there is someone out there who might like this kind of avant garde literary "art".

Free yesterday. Today: 99 cents. Buyer beware.

One of the unexpected "joys" of my hobby is seeing goofy shit like this on occasion. Apparently I am easily amused.

[xouper]

In yesterday's haul of free kindle books was this curious item:



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R7WMYNR/

I'm guessing that book won't be there long. But it's still free as I write this, so get it while you can.

Still there on Amazon, but now it's $7.50 if you want to buy this rip-off of the original.

[xouper]

Here's another one I got for free:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F2NHGRH/

Granddaddy’s Secrets for Authorpreneurs Book Three:
How to Sell More Books in Just 30 Days

Apparently one of his "secrets" is to split a 300 page book into three separate 100 page books, offer #1 and #3 for free, and charge $1.99 for #2.




I guess I'll just have to wait and see if he offers #2 for free sometime in the future. I already have several of his other books (for free), but not yet all of them.


P.S. Learned a new word, though. Apparently "authorpreneur" is a nice euphemism for "couldn't find a publisher so I published it myself".

[Hotarubi]

Easy to publish yourself, all you need is a server.

[Witness]

P.S. Learned a new word, though. Apparently "authorpreneur" is a nice euphemism for "couldn't find a publisher so I published it myself".

Outside of vanity publishing (which is of course a scam) there are authors who publish themselves for perfectly honorable reasons. E. g. some like running the whole process from writing and typesetting to running old-school printing presses and bookbinding. More modern ones go through "print on demand" services like Lulu.

There is also a whole network of "micro publishers" in France (and, I presume, similarly in the US), often people in the printing business but not necessarily, who only accept books they like and then sell outside of commercial networks/bookshops. They have now their catalogs online and you buy directly from them.

The last refuge for poets, unfashionable/uncompromising authors or amateur experts on arcane subjects (ask ed, he knows all about these).

[xouper]

P.S. Learned a new word, though. Apparently "authorpreneur" is a nice euphemism for "couldn't find a publisher so I published it myself".

Outside of vanity publishing (which is of course a scam) there are authors who publish themselves for perfectly honorable reasons.

That's exactly correct. There are some. See for example:

https://selfpublishingwithdale.com/index.php/2020/04/09/famous-authors-who-self-published/

I suspect, though, that most who self-publish do so because they have no other option. That certainly seems to be the case with the plethora of self-published authors I've encountered on Amazon. Fortunately for them, an entire industry has sprung up to support them and it has become much easier to self-publish.

In any case, you have a good point, and I wanted to acknowledge that.

[xouper]

Here's another one I got for free:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F2NHGRH/

Granddaddy’s Secrets for Authorpreneurs Book Three:
How to Sell More Books in Just 30 Days

Apparently one of his "secrets" is to split a 300 page book into three separate 100 page books, offer #1 and #3 for free, and charge $1.99 for #2.

Update: No longer free. #1 is now $0.99, #2 is still $1.99, and #3 is now $2.99.

Window of opportunity does not always stay open long.

So, 6 bucks for a 300 page ebook. I haven't read any of it, so I can't comment on the contents. But I would be curious how many he sells. After all, he seems to be representing himself as an "expert" on selling more books. OK, yeah, I know, ten is more than eight.

I am often skeptical of books about how to become a bazillionaire, especially trading stocks or crytocurrency, or whatever. If you're so good at trading (or investing), then why aren't you busy doing that instead of wasting your time on the few pennies you will make selling such books. Do you really imagine you can make more money per hour writing a book instead of doing what you claim to be an expert at? And if you can make more money writing a book than trading stocks, then of what value is your advice on stock trading?

Maybe me overthinks these things. Some days it seems I'm really not much good at anything, which is why I post here instead.