Being an avid reader and lover of books, I resisted getting an e-reader for a long time. I thought nothing could compare to physically holding a book and turning paper page after page as I flew through a story. But after many years of resisting, I recently gave in and decided that the benefits of having an e-reader (easy portability for when I travel, the ability to hold several books, magazines, etc.) were too many to ignore. (I just had to give myself a pep talk about how I didn’t have to break up with my beloved paper books – I was just giving myself another convenient option for reading). My only concern was that I might have to spend more money on books with an e-reader.

Luckily, I had no reason to be concerned! I’ve had my Kindle for a couple of weeks now and my library already contains over 10 books – and I have yet to spend a cent on books.

Being a Tip Hero, I of course researched many ways to score free Kindle books before I started searching, but I’ve also found some other gems along the way that I wanted to share with any other Kindle owners out there.

Free Kindle Books and Tips App

One of the best things that I did when I first starting using my Kindle was to download this free app. It’s basically a feed that tells you about the free Kindle Books, exclusive Kindle deals, and even free apps that are available to you on a day to day basis. I check this app every single day and browse through the free titles that have become newly available. For each freebie, this blog will tell you the genre of the book (so that you can easily say yay or nay), the star rating that Amazon users gave the book, and a short description of the plot. This is definitely one free app that you have to take advantage of if you have a Kindle.

Your Local Library

One of the reasons I was hesitant about getting an e-reader was because I didn’t want to give up going to the library to borrow books for free. But you can still get free books from the library, and you can get them downloaded directly to your Kindle! On my library network’s page, I can search for ebooks compatible with my Kindle and order them straight from the site. If the ebooks are all out, I can place a hold on them and I’ll get an email telling me when they are available to download.

Check out your local library to see what options they have for borrowing ebooks!

Kindle Lending Library

If you have Amazon Prime already, you have access to thousands of free books available to borrow from the Kindle Lending Library. If you’re a student or a primary caregiver, you can take advantage of Amazon Prime for free for anywhere from 3-12 months.

But even if you don’t have Prime yet or can’t get it for free, it’s still worth considering. For $99/year (less than $9/month), you’ll get access to the Kindle Lending Library – allowing you to borrow one book a month from their collection of thousands of titles, free two-day shipping on millions of eligible Amazon orders, unlimited free streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows, and more. You can not only gain access to free books, but you can also save on your cable and shopping bills with this awesome service.

If you have a Kindle, what are some of your favorite ways to score free books?