Irishelf wrote:
Maybe the op is a picky reader like me. I have a hard time finding free books I like as well. Part of the reason is I'm visually impaired and B&N has horrible sorting if you are trying to browse. If there was a way to block books written in languages other than English, self published books (not at all interested in), and the soft porn (oops, I meant erotica), it would make things much easier for me. It also seems the types of books I'm interested in are rarely offered as free books. I tend to read horror books (like Ruby Jean Jensen and Stephen King), true crime, history, science and nature (especially natural disasters and animals), disasters (like air crashes and ship sinkings), and animal fantasy (like Warriors and Animal Farm. I have found very few freebies in these catagories.
I find most of the Free Friday offerings to generally have 3 ratings or less or have been free for awhile, so I'm generally not interested or already have it. With about 20 free ebooks offered a week in the forums, I can generally find at least one I want. I read the reviews, check the ratings, etc and generally choose those with the highest ratings in genres I'm interested in. I don't care for erotica either. I have found that some of the indie authors are quite good. Most aren't, but if there are 300 ratings on an ebook and it still has a 4+ star reading, what can it hurt? It's not like I paid for it and I can always delete it if I don't like it. Kind of like changing the channel on a tv show I don't want to watch. No one says I HAVE to read it if I don't like it.
Admittedly, when I first got my nook, I wasn't that choosy, I had to read free or not read at all... but now I can afford to be selective and I still find lots of excellant free books to read, including releases that are sometimes offered for free for one day only to revert back to it's 9.99 regular price and they tend to NOT be indie authors. THese make up a good half of my freebie collection. I go over my library ever so often and delete everything I haven't read yet that has 3 1/2 or less stars because I have enough selection rated better to get to that I don't plan to waste my time on the low rated books and sometimes the ratings drop as more people read them. Whether the ebook is an indie author or a regularly published author, there are still duds among those I've picked up and I have to wonder what the others were reading, because I didn't agree. But you do have to make an effort or you'll miss the gems. Check daily to nab those books. They are NOT always indie authors (publisher is listed so you can tell whether you even want to check it out or not) and they tend to be in a wide variety of genres. Some days it's a lot of books I'm not interested in, erotica and nonfiction tend to be regular on the freebie list, but there's quite a few authors whose books are on bookstore shelves and the bestsellers list (maybe last year, but was there) so sometimes I feel like I hit the jackpot and pick up several that week. But if I don't look...I won't see them.
Yes, I have purchased many books too. Hunger Games (free for a day or two)was so good, I had to buy the other two Books. Overlander by Diana Gabaldon (free for a day or two) was so good that I bought every remaining book in the series. Luckily several were on sale for $5.00 one week so I only had to pay full price for one or two of the books.
I picked up the Game of Thrones a couple years ago when it was free for a day (was a few months before the show). I've picked up Kim Harrison, Dean Koontz and James Patterson. Stephen King is NEVER free, not even at the library, so don't expect it, here or at Amazon.So PLEASe don't say good authors aren't available. I know that sometimes they are.
THere is no guarentee that a book by a popular author that you paid for is going to be a great read. I've read a couple of Stephen King books (who happens to be my favorite author and I own most of his DTB hardbacks 1 st edition) that I did not like at all.
I'm not trying to step on anyones toes, but I know there ARE people out there trying to find good free reads who should not be discouraged. It's unrealistic to expect the current bestsellers to be up free. It would be nice, but who would ever buy the book?
