e-books

Find free Kindle e-books at Hundred Zeros

Think publishers charge too much for e-books? Maybe so, but there's one price you can't beat: free.

Amazon routinely offers Kindle e-books at no charge, either permanently or temporarily. The tricky part is finding them, especially if you want to browse the freebies by category.

There are, of course, ways to score free books for your Kindle (or Nook), as well as matchmaking sites for e-book borrowing and lending.

Now there's another resource: Hundred Zeros catalogs many of the free Kindle e-books currently available through Amazon, updating its listings every hour so you're always seeing the … Read more

How to self-publish an ebook

A while back I wrote a column titled " Self-publishing: 25 things you need to know," which was mostly about how to create and sell your own paper book. After folks asked me to do something similar for e-books, I created this article, which has now been updated a few times.

I begin with one caveat: The whole e-book market is rapidly evolving, and a lot of self-publishing companies are offering e-book deals bundled into their print book publishing packages, which makes them harder to break out and evaluate. It's all quite complicated, and in an effort to sort through the confusion, I've decided to offer a few basic tips and present what I think are some of the best options out there for creating an e-book quickly and easily. As things change -- and they will -- I'll do my best to keep this column up to date. … Read more

Kindle Fire deal: Get 47 children's classic e-books for 99 cents each

E-readers can be great for kids, especially a color model like the Kindle Fire.

In a device that weighs less than a pound, you can pack along hundreds of children's books -- a superb alternative to the overstuffed backpack that usually accompanies long car rides and plane trips.

Of course, e-books can be pricey, which is why it's hard to pass up this limited-time offer from Amazon: 47 children's e-books for Kindle for 99 cents each.

The books all come from Rabbit Ears Entertainment and normally cost $7.77 each.

These are illustrated versions of classic tales, … Read more

Apple reaffirms fight against e-book antitrust case

Apple this week once again took aim at the antitrust lawsuit filed against it by the Department of Justice, arguing that its entry into the e-book market improved competition.

That argument -- which the company included in a statement last month -- was outlined further in a court document filed yesterday.

In it, Apple claims its e-book business strategy, which employs the agency model, is "well-recognized as perfectly proper," and that it had not conspired with other companies to set prices or limit competition.

"The Government's Complaint against Apple is fundamentally flawed as a matter of … Read more

Why Apple needs to settle its e-book suits

commentary Amazon.com has outmaneuvered Apple in the e-books sector. Nowhere was this made more apparent than in court documents released last week.

In antitrust lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and others, Apple stands accused of conspiring with five of the six largest U.S. book publishers to raise the price consumers paid for e-books and stifle competition in an attempt to snatch control of the e-book market away from Amazon, the sector's dominant player.

Soon after the Justice Department filed its complaint last month, Apple and two of the five publishers filed motions with … Read more

Simon & Schuster settles e-book antitrust suit with state AGs

Simon & Schuster, one of the five major book publishers accused in multiple lawsuits of conspiring with Apple to fix e-book prices, has settled the complaint filed by numerous states' attorney generals, CNET has learned.

Denise Cote, the federal judge overseeing the three different antitrust complaints pending against Apple and the defendant publishers, granted a motion Tuesday to dismiss Simon & Schuster (owned by CNET's parent company, CBS) from the complaint. This suit was originally filed by the attorney generals from Texas as well as 15 other state AGs. More states have joined that suit as plaintiffs; 29 are … Read more

New details reveal Steve Jobs involved in e-book lawsuit

New details have surfaced in the class-action e-book price-fixing lawsuit against Apple, according to tech news site paidContent. The most notable revelation is an e-mail from Steve Jobs to one of the bookseller's executives that was previously redacted and is now public.

The gist of the case, which was filed in April and now has 29 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico involved, is an allegation that Apple and a group of book publishers illegally fixed e-book prices to "boost profits and force e-book rival Amazon to abandon its pro-consumer discount pricing."

The Department of Justice … Read more

'Harry Potter' series coming to Kindle Owners' Lending Library

All seven books in the "Harry Potter" franchise are coming to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

Starting June 19, Amazon Kindle owners who also subscribe to the company's Prime service will be able to check out the titles at no charge from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. According to Amazon, the titles can be borrowed as frequently as once a month, and unlike some other lending services that limit the number of e-books available, Amazon will have enough for anyone to access the books when they go live on the service.

"We're absolutely delighted to … Read more

How to give an e-book as a gift

There's something wonderful about gifting someone with a book you read and loved, knowing they'll dive in to the same world you explored through text on a page.

These days, you're likely to find that friends are instead reading their books on an e-reader like the Nook, Kindle, or iPad, a transition that seemingly makes book-gifting a challenge. After all, you can't put a bow on an intangible file.

Gifting someone with an e-book is a lot easier than it seems, but will vary depending on which e-reading device he or she owns. Once you find … Read more