Free Kindle Books FAQ:

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What is this web site?

This site is a Kindle-friendly site for the distribution of Free Project Gutenberg E-books that have been file-format-converted to MOBI or PRC file format in order to make available Kindle's better built-in support for these file formats. These file formats can also be used by many other E-book Readers. Kindle uses these file formats about as well as "for pay" E-books in Amazon's AMZ format. The site is also designed such that you can "easily" navigate it directly from your Kindle, including downloading most books directly to your Kindle. Files that are several megabytes in size you need to download to your computer first and then to Kindle -- but trust me, you would want to take this download path anyway if it's that big an E-book!

Why is this site different?

Try using this site from your Kindle directly. Try using other E-book sites from your Kindle directly. Now you tell me?

Why the strange file names?

The file names are the same file names as chosen by Project Gutenberg because we consider these to be the same E-books as Project Gutenberg only file-format-converted to run "natively" on your Kindle

Who owns this web site?

Jim Adcock owns this web site, which is a private, not-for-profit charitable activity by him. No tax benefit or other benefit other than the joy of "doing" is taken for this site.

How can I use your files?

Pretty much anyway you want, for better of for worse. Please read the TERMS. To get started, try this:

On your Kindle click [HOME]

[Menu]

[Experimental]

[Basic Web]

[Enter URL] http://freekindlebooks.org

Page Down to [Baum]

Page Down to [The Wizard of Oz]

Click on this, and Kindle will ask if you want to save the book.

Now on your Kindle click [HOME]

Look for *new to see your new book listed.

If a book is several Megs in size, you need to download it to your computer and from there to your Kindle either via USB or SD card. I strongly recommend getting an SD card for your Kindle, they only cost about $20 nowadays. If you have an SD card reader in your computer you can plug the SD card directly into your computer and copy a E-book directly into the SD card in the "documents" folder on the SD card and then when you reinstall the card in the Kindle the document will show up automagically. Obviously power-down your Kindle before insert or removing an SD card. Also you can use Content Manager to transfer books you already have on Kindle to the SD card in order to make yourself a "long term storage" library. Or load up the SD card for a little summer reading before you go to the beach.

Why'd you make this web site?

Why not? I think the combination of Project Gutenberg free e-books with a good e-book reader is a winning combination. Project Gutenberg e-books never made much sense to me if I have to print them out on paper, or if I had to remain tethered to my computer. Also, it has never made sense to me that people should pay for either paper or e-book "reprints" of old books which out of copyright. When a copyright expires, the benefits of that copyright are suppose to revert back to the public -- this is part of the "deal" authors get in exchange for society respecting their copyright for a large number of years!

Is this web site free from errors?

No work by human beings is free from errors. Use this site and its files at your own risk. Be aware of your other choices: 1) You can choose instead to download "Plain Vanilla ASCII" versions of any of these files directly from Project Gutenberg, if you prefer "Plain Vanilla ASCII" instead. The name of the file without the PRC suffix can be entered directly at Project Gutenberg to find the original Gutenberg file. You can also frequently download from Project Gutenberg very nice HTML file-fomatted books -- which I have not had much luck getting to work "directly" with Kindle.

I also recommend the site manybooks.net, which has many free E-books in the PRC, MOBI, and AMZ formats, although I think you will find you need to download these books from your computer to your desktop and then to Kindle via USB or SD card. I encourage you to compare and contrast the versions of the e-books you find there to the e-books you find here -- since we are taking somewhat different approaches even though Project Gutenberg texts are the starting point in either case.

Why are some E-books attractive and others less so?

Choice of formatting on the original Project Gutenberg E-books can have an effect on the success of "smaller than average" page width display on E-book Readers. Also, fix-format text such as poems, sonnets, block quotes, etc. often do not reformat themselves attractively on E-book Readers. Recent Gutenberg E-books, especially recent HTML formatted E-books, tend to be very attractive -- to my taste.

Why do you not make the E-books prettier?

I have made a choice NOT to get into the editing business. Rather these E-books are offered on a "file format conversion" basis only. Thus they are as close to the original Project Gutenberg E-books as possible while still being widely compatible with Kindle.

How can I help?

See: DONATE

How come the hit counter is stuck at 0?

Every time I edit the website, which is frequently, it breaks the hit counter. When things settle down I'll fix the hit counter again!