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Borrowing eBooks is a great way to get your free on in Kindle-land, but if you want to actually own the books — and not be subject to time limits — then check out eReaderIQ. Sure, you probably won’t find the latest best sellers, but you will find a lot more than just public domain. The price drop notifications don’t hurt, either.
eReaderIQ is fairly easy to use, though the interface is a bit busy, and they have recently added a Kindle-friendly version of the site so you can browse right from your device. The database is updated hourly and is region-specific, which helps you to avoid any cross-border licensing disappointments. The 10 regions cover the planet, for the most part, though some are very generalized (like “Asia & Pacific” — does it include Russia? Who knows?) and there is a note at the bottom of the site that states prices and availability are accurate for US customers, regardless of the region you choose. It should also be noted that the book links take you directly to Amazon.com, not the Amazon site that is specific to your country.
You don’t have to register for anything, or provide any personal information at all to eReaderIQ for it to work, but if you do provide your email (upper-right corner of the site) you will be notified up to twice per day of any new free Kindle eBooks outside of the public domain. You can also watch specific books for price drops by adding the ASIN or Item URL, your price-drop Notification Threshold, and your email address.
Another cool feature of the Price Drop Tracker is that you can see a list of books that others are watching (again, with no identifiable information), and can sort by percent of the drop, recent price drops, and most watched. There is also an icon legend to quickly note things like Text-to-Speech, Lending Enabled, etc., which makes it easy for you to find what you are looking for.
eReaderIQ is a great service for Kindle readers looking for free and price-reduced eBooks. Hopefully, they will expand to cover other eBook stores as well, like Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iBooks. If you want more details on using the service, check out this review by Guiding Tech.
Where do you find your free eBooks?
Kosmo @ The Soap Boxers says:
OK, you guys are slowly wearing me down. I foresee a Kindle in my future. Considering that I have published two Kindle books, maybe the IRS would buy the story that I am forced to buy one, as a business expenses, to verify that the books render properly in a Kindle. :)
You did nudge me into knocking 50 cents off the price of the bigger book, so see if this helps sales.
May 15, 2011 — 1:55 pm
Bobby Travis says:
Glad to be of service to you (and your readers) Kosmo! :D
May 15, 2011 — 9:28 pm
Jeremy says:
Nice article Bobby. Beautiful website too… makes mine look like a middle-school HTML project.
After first reading this article I then stumbled upon http://www.ebookpricedrops.com It looks like it performs a similar service – price drops at least.
Just thought I’d report back and share my findings (makes me feel like a real gumshoe!)
Cheers,
March 7, 2012 — 2:51 am
Bobby Travis says:
Thanks for the heads up, man!
March 16, 2012 — 1:19 pm