13 Best Ways to Get Free Books Online and Offline

What's better than a new book you can dive into but one that's totally free! Here you'll find a list of how you can get free books of all kinds.

There are titles you get to keep, borrow, hold in your hands, read online, listen to as an MP3, or put on your e-reader. Some you can get in the mail and others you'll have to go out and pick up.

Some of these tips you've more than likely heard of, but hopefully you'll find some new ideas on how you can get free books for yourself and everyone in your family.

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Check Out Books From Your Public Library

library of books — Trnava University / Unsplash

Probably the most obvious way to get free books is to check them out from your local public library. The downside is that they won't be yours to keep, but you will have the chance to read whatever they have for free.

So, we all know libraries have books. But here's a tip: visit the last day of a book sale. Many times they will hand out free or very low-cost books instead of hauling them back into storage.

Visit Libraries.org

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Hunt for Books Near You With BookCrossing

BookCrossing is certainly a unique way to get free books! Participants label and release books into the wild for others to hunt down, find, read, and then release back for someone else to read.

Select Books & People > Go Hunting to find the location of books near you that are just waiting to be picked up. Over one million users are on this site, and there are books waiting to be picked up in dozens of countries.

Visit BookCrossing

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Get Free Kindle Books

person reading an ebook from a Kindle — James Tarbotton / Unsplash

If you have a Kindle, you'll be thrilled to know that you can get hundreds of thousands of free ebooks that can be downloaded straight to your Kindle.

There are digital books in a large variety of subjects, including both fiction and non-fiction. There are also children's books you can get for free on your Kindle.

Something uniquely beneficial about digital books is that they're easy to trade. You can borrow and lend your Kindle books with friends and family.

21 Best Places to Get Free Kindle Books

You don't need to have a Kindle to get free Kindle books! Just download the free Kindle reading app on your phone, computer, or other device and enjoy all the free ebooks that are out there.

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Find a Free Book for Your Nook

Person laying on orange hammock while reading

We can't leave you Nook owners out! There are also tons of free books you can download and put on your Nook.

There's quite the handful of websites out there that offer these books, and you could spend years and years reading all of them.

8 Best Places to Get Free Nook Books

There's a free Nook reading app as well, so no Nook is necessary to enjoy these titles.

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Borrow or Trade Books With a Friend

Friends and family can be a great source for getting free books. You can borrow or trade books, or you might just get lucky enough to receive some books permanently that they're done with.

Be sure you return the favor with your read books, and you'll be more likely to get additional titles in the future.

4 Book Exchange Websites to Check Out

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Download a Free Audio Book

Man with headphones on listening to phone audio

Audio books are great to listen to in the car or on the go, but they can be really expensive to purchase.

The link below will lead you to free audio books that you can download and listen to from your phone, computer, or MP3 player, or alternatively burn to a CD.

16 Best Places to Download Free Audiobooks

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Sign Up Your Child for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library home page

Reasons Why You Should Buy an E-Reader for Your Kids

Kids can get free books mailed to them each month through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

Registration is free and is geared towards children from birth up to five years old. It works in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, and Australia.

Visit Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

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Claim Free Books Through Freecycle

Freecycle is a website that connects people who want to give stuff away with people who want that stuff.

You'll need to join your local group online and then watch for when people post free stuff like books or anything else. Then, you claim those free items and pick them up with no strings attached.

There's no cost to use this website. You'll join over 10 million members who are giving away and picking up free stuff in thousands of towns.

Visit Freecycle

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Read a Free Book Through Google Play

Google Play allows you to read a ton of free books right on your computer or on your Android phone.

Visit Google Play

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Find Free Books on Craigslist

Our Review of Craigslist

Craigslist can be a useful resource for just about anything, but it may not come to mind when you think of free stuff.

Similar to Freecycle listed above, Craigslist has a whole section dedicated just to free items. You might have luck running across books there, too.

If the free books don't show up right away, search for the book you want, or just enter book into the search box to find every book that users are selling in your area.

Visit Craigslist

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Ask for Free Books at Garage Sales

person looking through books — Clem Onojeghuo / Unsplash

Visit some local garage sales right as they are closing up for the day, and you'll be surprised at how many people would just give away their items, including free books, instead of hauling them back to the garage.

If you're not sure where to go, you might have luck finding a nearby sale at Garage Sale Finder.

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Read Online at Bibliomania

Bibliomania has hundreds of free classic literature and non-fiction texts that can be read in their entirety online.

These are over all different kinds of subjects and there are some great selections for people of all ages.

Visit Bibliomania

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Trade Books Online at PaperBack Swap

PaperBack Swap isn't quite free, but we had to include it in the list because the cost is very low to get a book that you can keep.

First, you'll need to mail out a book of your own to someone who requests it (you'll have to pay for shipping), and then you'll get a credit that can be redeemed for a book of your choice that someone else will ship to you.

There are hundreds of thousands of books to choose from, including not only paperbacks but also hardback books, textbooks, and audiobooks. You can keep the books you receive or offer them back up for other users to have.

Visit PaperBack Swap

BookMooch is a similar alternative.

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