Today’s guest post is authored by Elizabeth Trudgeon Brown, of The Frugal eReader. Since I just gave Mr. FG a Kindle for Christmas, I’m interested in learning about how to avoid spending tons of money on books for it, so I thought an interview with Elizabeth would be good. Hopefully it’ll be informative and helpful to those of you that are as new to e-reading as we are!
(note: Elizabeth recently purchased advertising space here on my blog, but this post was in no way sponsored. Any sponsored content always, always goes over on my review page. Also, Elizabeth’s blog is loading oddly in Firefox for me today, so you might want to use a different browser to view it.)
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Can you tell everyone where you came up with the idea to create your blog, The Frugal eReader?
While I was eagerly waiting for my Kindle to arrive this past summer, I spent a lot of time at the Kindle Store and Discussion Forums searching for books to read. I caught a few discussions about $9.99 being the price cap that eBooks are generally accepted at, or that some readers were frustrated about prices being over $9.99 since the Agency Model took affect. I started to search for books that were under that threshold, and was pleased to find that so many were available!
I decided to create a place that readers could come to so that they wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time and effort researching for themselves, and where they can discover books and authors at great values.
Your tagline is “Frugal Finds Under Nine for the Kindle.” Can you discuss what that means, and all that your blog includes?
The Frugal eReader is dedicated to featuring Frugal Finds Under Nine; this means that all eBooks featured are under $9.00. I feature many books that are as low as $0.99, as well as Frugal Freebies. They are available on the Kindle from traditionally published as well as self-published authors, and fall across nearly all genres.
I post every day, and feature special weekly posts three days a week. These weekly posts include “Monday’s Three: Under Nine, Under Five, and Under One,” “Frugal Freebie Wednesday,” and “Top Five Under Five Friday.” While the prices may be frugal, the posts are not in any way! The book’s entire description, as well as reviews and Amazon’s review rating are included. Links are in each post to easily take a reader straight to the Amazon purchase page. Also, each sponsored post includes up to a full chapter excerpt of the featured book.
I have expanded The Frugal eReader to include Frugal eGames for the Kindle (eGames are usually free, or available for $1.99-$2.99), as well as appropriate Amazon announcements, giveaways, and author interviews.
Each and every post can easily be found through the multiple labels or the search box on the blog.
Do you know of other frugal or free Kindle resources?
In addition to The Frugal eReader, there are a couple places I frequently visit for all things Kindle. I definitely recommend checking out the Kindle discussion forums on Amazon. Specials, deals, freebies, low priced books, as well as tips and tricks are discussed on the threads. They’re great communities to interact with many readers and authors.
Also, there are many helpful and knowledgeable people over on the Amazon Kindle facebook page.
Do Kindle books go on sale or get discounted?
Amazon does periodically announce special deals on Kindle books. I work hard to include these on The Frugal eReader as I come across them. Also, there are free eBooks available every day – basically all of the classics, as well as limited time offers on titles.
Also, the self-published author community offers sales and promotions on their titles ever so often; usually on their blogs/websites (check out the Author Websites & Blogs page on The Frugal eReader), or on Kindleboards.
Can you get library books downloaded to a Kindle?
Currently, you cannot get library books on the Kindle. They have however, just announced lending for the Kindle. You are now able to lend out a Kindle book to anyone – they don’t have to own a Kindle! There are great Kindle Reading Apps so that you can read Kindle books on your PC, Mac, iPad, or smartphones. Please visit the Kindle Quick Links page on The Frugal eReader for links to helpful and useful Kindle pages on Amazon.
Thank you again Kristen for inviting me here today. Happy eReading!
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Elizabeth Trudgeon Brown writes The Frugal eReader, a blog about frugal Kindle books. You can subscribe to her blog through an RSS feed or NetworkedBlogs, to ensure that a Frugal Find is never missed. She is also very active on The Frugal eReader facebook and Twitter where she encourages readers to join her for specials or giveaways found from other blogs or authors. She can also be reached through email at etrubrown at gmail dot com.
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Today’s 365 post: Zoe and me
Kristi
Monday 7th of February 2011
To all of the people bragging about not paying for what you read: Do you know what would happen if everyone did that? You'd have fewer choices in what you read. Most authors write because they love it, but they'd also like to get compensated for their hard work. They deserve it.
Vanessa
Tuesday 8th of February 2011
Kristi, just to clarify for myself (as I can't speak for anyone else), my spending $0 on books was a combination of library books, project gutenberg books, and gift certificates for the items that cost money. I have not, nor will ever, steal copyrighted material from the internet to read for free. I know others who do this, but as a writer myself, I agree with you 100%. I want to be compensated for my work, and think stealing books is immoral. Great point.
Mindy
Monday 24th of January 2011
Oh, I forgot to mention~ between gift cards that people have given me and the free offerings from Amazon, I have spent $0 on books also :) and have over 100 books- more than I can read anytime soon
Mindy
Monday 24th of January 2011
I have a Kindle and I love it! I've had it for over a year now and I am usually content with the books offered for free by Amazon- they offer a lot by Christian authors. (now I realize not everyone likes Christian Fiction so they may not be pleased with that) Unfortunatley they do offer a lot of trash with explicit content and no warning of it :( The thing that tipped me toward buying the Kindle is that you don't have to own a computer or innernet subscription to download books- which saves me money since we don't have either at our home (no way am I going to go buy a computer and sign up for innernet service to be able to get my e-books!). And going to the library is pretty much a special occassion as it's not really close to our home. Just because you can't get library books on a Kindle at this time does not mean that buying a Kindle is a bad decision for everyone...
Vanessa
Monday 24th of January 2011
Mindy, you're completely right about the computer/internet being necessary...or at least it is for my public library to check out books with my Nook. Can't do it on a shared or public computer. Thank you for your perspective, as I hadn't thought of that! :)
Vanessa
Monday 24th of January 2011
Please do research before buying any e-reader. I thought I wanted a Kindle until i found out that other brands, like the Nook and the Sony e-reader, could borrow books from my library. That was the tipping point. I own a Nook, and so far I've spent exactly $0 on e-books, between the $40 in gift cards I received for the holidays, the library's collection, and the free offerings on the Nook's website. I have far more than I can read for the next few months, and with around 1500 choices so far from my metro library, I don't foresee having to spend any money anytime soon. Make educated e-reader choices!
KT
Sunday 23rd of January 2011
The ability to check out eBooks from the library is why my family chose a Nook instead of a Kindle. I was disappointed to learn Kindles do not offer that capability and it was a deal-breaker for us.
Kristen
Monday 24th of January 2011
Gee, I had no idea about that. Whoops.
Oh well. We've got the Kindle already, so we'll just have to make the best of it!
Maybe Kindle will get their act together and allow library books in the future.