eBook Reader Guide

When looking for eBooks for your device, the first thing that you need to know is what format your device supports. There’s a description of the popular formats in the “Guide to eBook Formats” article, but the common choice will be between EPUB, supported by the majority of the more recent Readers, and MobiPocket, supported by SmartPhones, CyBooks and Iliad Readers.

One thing to bear in mind is that some shops have “Adobe Digital Edition” format, or “Secure Adobe Format” which are PDFs, not EPUB. Also, “eReader” format is unlikely to be what you want, no matter how much Fictionwise ‘recommend’ it to you.

Free Sources

There are a lot of free books available to download – many from copyright-expired editions, but a number of titles with titles available as ‘free samples’. These are just a few of the sites.

• Project Gutenberg – A huge collection of classic titles, growing all the time.
• ManyBooks.net – Books from Project Gutenberg and other free sources in a very wide range of formats
• The E-Books section at MobileRead – A large selection of hand-formatted classic titles in various formats. This is probably the place to look for the best looking eBooks around.
• Feedbooks – Public Domain and Original books available in a number of formats, including Custom PDF, allowing you to specify PDFs that match the size of your Reader, not just a piece of A4 paper
• Baen Free Library at WebScription.net – A large number of free books from the ‘Baen Books’ publishers (typically SciFi & Fantasy)
• The Book Depository has over 11,000 free eBooks available for download – At the moment, they’re all in PDF format, but there’s quite a range of titles there.

Commercial Sources

In addition to the high-street names such as Waterstones & WHSmith, a number of US-based eBook stores have recently opened UK sites. (The way that the book market currently works is still based around different rights being sold covering different geographical areas – as a result, sellers are having to maintain different ‘stores’ as they typically end up with eBooks that they’re only available to see to one regions, e.g. the USA, but not to another, e.g. the UK.

• Waterstones (EPUB) – Over 17,000 eBooks including bestsellers and a range of Friday Project titles at just £2.39.
• WHSmith eBooks – EPUB and MobiPocket formats available.
• WebScription.net – Multi-Format DRM-free titles available. Predominantly Science Fiction and Fantasy.
• BooksOnBoard – US-based bookstore with a UK store front.
• Fictionwise – US-based bookstore with a large range of books but be careful when selecting which format to purchase.

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