Free book (nook/Sony) - The Brand Within [Business Self-Help] + Sony freebie round-up

[ATDrake]

For New Year's, a slew of freebies, some of which have even showed up in the Sony store. Also, B&N have added a couple of DRM-free Samhain romances you can use; follow the link for more B&N free books in the first post and go to the very last page of that for the latest.

1 historical murder mystery, 4 Christian fiction, all available to Canadians.

Links added to the round-up because MR ate my message because the posting token had expired, so I'm retyping all of this from scratch. Also, I've just started dumping the newest additions at the top of each category. I don't know if anyone notices, but I figure it's much more convenient for all of us if I don't even try to arrange stuff in any way beyond that.

Medicus, by UK author Ruth Downie, who has a fairly good reputation. 1st in a historical mystery series set in ancient Britian when Rome was an imperial Province under Hadrian, who was one of the less insane Caesars and the one who had the famous wall built.

The following four are under Christian fiction:

Light of Eidon, 1st in the Guardian-Kings of Eidon epic fantasy series by Karen Hancock. Review comments liken it to a Christian version of Tolkien, which seems a bit redundant, considering. In light of this revelation, I anticipate with glee a future Christian version of Narnia.

Against All Odds, 1st in Heroes of Quantico FBI romantic suspense thriller series by Irene Hannon

Daughter of Joy, 1st in Brides of Culdee Creek historical romance set in 19th century Colorado by Kathleen Morgan

Fools Rush In, 1st in Weddings By Bella contemporary romance series set in Texas with Italian immigrants by Janice Thompson

Hopefully some of the other books will show up free too, and this gives you a start on some happy reading for the happy New Year!

[ATDrake]

1 sci-fi, 1 behind-the-scenes author exclusive, 4 Christian fiction added to the round-up.

The Dangerous Dimension is a Golden Age sci-fi pulp novella by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

It's All About the Corset! is a Sony exclusive behind-the-scenes author thing by Mary Wine, whose books In the Warrior's Bed and something with Highlander in the title I can't otherwise remember and am too lazy to look up were previously offered free @ Sony, so if you liked those, maybe you'll want to read this.

The Christian fiction titles:

The Healer's Apprentice, by Melanie Dickerson is a historically set (14th century Germany) fairy-tale-based (Sleeping Beauty) romance, which may or may not be a YA (Sony's filed it under Children's Books, though the reviews didn't make it seem particularly YA-slanted).

This one apparently starts out very engaging, but kind of turns into that joke about the guy who kept praying for God to rescue him and ignored all the ships that God later claimed he sent in answer. I think I'll try it anyway, since I like historical fairy tale stuff and I can always stop and pretend they lived happily ever after when it starts to get too preachy. Not available to Canadians, by the way.

A Woman Called Sage, by DiAnn Mills. A historical Wild West revenge romance. Heroine depicted on the cover seems to be First Nations, which seems interesting enough that I think I'll skim a bit to see if this is actually the case.

Boyfriends, Burritos, and an Ocean of Trouble, 2nd in Real Life YA series by Nancy Rue. 1st in series was offered free awhile ago.

Catwalk, 2nd in On the Runway series by Melody Carlson. A repeat freebie not available to Canadians, 1st in series was also formerly offered free, so if you wanted to read what happened next, you're in luck! Unless you're Canadian.

[ATDrake]

130 free educational titles (study guides, some law perspective books from famous people like Clarence Darrow, etc.) as part of a multi-store promotion from publisher Kaplan, free for non-Canadians in the Sony store.

Details in this thread on MR; many more are free than in the Reader Store official promo page linked in the OP. Type Kaplan into the searchbox and sort by price to grab them all.

[ATDrake]

2 free Christian fiction historical romances, 3 shorts of various types which first popped up in other stores now added to the round-up.

Sukkwan Island: Free Novella with Bonus Material, some sort of father-son relationship drama by David Vann, who's got a new novel upcoming. Not available to Canadians at Sony, but free at Kobo.

Crossing the Line, thriller short story by Stephen Jay Schwartz, some sort of tie-in to his regular series. Not available to Canadians.

Craving God: A 21-Day Devotional Challenge to Accompany Made to Crave, a short tie-in inspirational self-help piece by Lysa Terkeust. Not available to Canadians.

The Centurion's Wife, an ancient Roman historical Christian romance, 1st in Acts of Faith series by Janette Oke and T. Davis Bunn.

The Apothecary's Daughter, a Regency historical Christian romance by Julie Klassen. Seems standalone.

[ATDrake]

2 children's/YA freebies which popped up in other stores first.

Looking for Love on Mongo Tongo seems to be a younger children's book by Margaret J. McMaster. This is not at Sony, but free at Borders and Kobo.

Starlighter, by Bryan Davis, is a YA Christian fantasy involving dragons.

And for people who enjoyed the freebie Roman historical sleuth Medicus by Ruth Downie, the sequel Terra Incognita is promotionally priced at only 99 cents in a number of stores, including Sony.

[ATDrake]

Added 8 Sony books which popped up free in other stores first, plus 5 titles that are general special offer in MultiFormat, and pruned all the obviously expired links from the round-up.

General Fiction

In the Lap of the Gods, by Li Miao Lovett. Some sort of self-discovery set in contemporary China.

Roseflower Creek, by Jackie Lee Mills. May be contemporary women's fiction; filed under Romance to put it with the other Sourcebooks freebie offering.

SF/Fantasy

Magyk: Free with Bonus Material, is Book One of the Septimus Heap YA fantasy series by Angie Sage and Mark Zug. Probably not available to Canadians, given that it's a HarperCollins title and they're stingy about offering their freebies at Sony outside the US.

The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith. Some sort of YA paranormal series which is apparently quite popular.

Spy Killer, another golden age pulp fiction piece by L. Ron Hubbard. May be a repeat freebie.

Act One, Nancy Kress' Hugo Award-nominated sf novella (excellent and recommended) is the Phoenix Press free book of the month, available directly from their site DRM-free in multiple formats. There's also some sort of bonus story by Alexei Panshin. Sign up for their newsletter to get the coupon code.

Romance

3 formerly Dorchester-published romance authors have now reclaimed their e-book rights (after not getting paid royalties in one of those publisher fiascos) and are offering three of their titles free (all 1st in series) with coupon code at Smashwords until the 21st; see this MR post for details.

Trouble in Mudbug, by Jana Deleon (I've read this and it's pretty funny); it was a former Borders freebie
Spying in High Heels, by Gemma Halliday, a former B&N freebie
'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy, by Leslie Langtry; Guns Will Keep Us Together, the 2nd book in this series, was a former Kindle freebie

These are all romantic comedy/thriller and the sequels are priced quite reasonably at $3.99 each on Smashwords, as far as I can tell, which is not bad for previously published backlist books though of course I hope the authors will participate in the upcoming Smashwords Read-An-Ebook-Week sale with % off coupons.

Catch of a Lifetime, a mermaid paranormal romance, 1st in a series by Judi Fennell.

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander: With Bonus Content is now listed as free again at Borders, though who knows how long that will last.

General Non-Fiction

Admit One: My Life in Film, sort sort of autobiographical thing by Hollywood-based British actor Emmett James. Sticker on the cover image says it won a Best Book award from somewhere.

Christian Non-Fiction

That is SO Me: 365 Days of Devotionals, an inspirational self-help title by YA author Nancy Rue. Not free to Canadians, also at Borders.

The Chosen Ones, 1st in the Aedyn Chronicles series by Alister McGrath is another former freebie showing free again at Borders.

Well, I think that's everything for now. Happy reading! Especially if you like romantic comedy.

[arcadata]

The Brand Within by Daymond John is free at the US Kindle store

(*The price is currently fluctuating between $0.99 and free, so please check before clicking download)

[ATDrake]

Well, now that this thread has been bumped up, I re-edited the previously defunct freebie round-up post to include at least some of the new stuff.

All the "easy" ones which were represented on one store or another's promotional free page are listed, and I'll see about tracking down the various unlisted "hidden" freebies which I know Sony and Kobo et al. still harbour lurking in their depths.

I've also put dividers into the Romance and Christian Fiction categories, since there's so many paranormal/historical/thriller variants offered in those genres that people may need help zooming in on their favourites.

Happy reading!

[ATDrake]

Round-up post now fully updated and pruned (though some of the new stuff has probably expired; however, some stores update the freebies a bit later than others, so you can always check to see which ones haven't reset the price yet).

Today added 2 travel guides, 1 business self-help guide, 1 YA teen travel self-discovery journey, 1 YA Christian fiction, 1 backlist romance, updated 1 YA paranormal romance, and put in a pointer to All Romance eBooks' freebie-a-day Earth Day countdown giveaway.

Non-fiction
Let's Go Europe 2011: The Student Travel Guide by Harvard Student Agencies looks like a condensation of their full-length dedicated country guides.
1936… On the Continent: The Entertaining Travel Annual by Eugene Fodor is a vintage travel guide, offered DRM-free to celebrate Fodor's 75th Anniversary.
The Velocity Manifesto: Harnessing Technology Vision and Culture to Future-Proof your Organization by Steve Klososky is managerial self-help.

YA & Romance
13 Little Blue Envelopes: Free with Bonus Material by Maureen Johnson is a HarperCollins promo freebie to boost sales on the sequel.
Shattered: A Daughter's Regret by Melody Carlson is Christian fiction, 2nd in a series of linked but not plot-dependent books.
Abandoned by Amanda Stevens is now free @ Kobo.

Almost Perfect by Julie Ortolon is a contemporary romance, 1st in her Perfect trilogy, previously published by Signet and now a backlist book from the author at Smashwords and thence to Sony and Kobo.

[ATDrake]

Added 1 Southern fiction self-discovery, 1 Christian fiction self-discovery, updated a couple of books that are now also free @ Borders to the roundup.

The Crossroads Café by Deborah Smith was a previous Kindle freebie by Southern fiction publisher Bell Bridge Books, now free @ Borders.

Divine by popular Christian fiction author Karen Kingsbury is now free @ Sony after having been available for Kindle and B&N several months ago. Sony's newsletter says this should be good until the 20th.

A couple of freebies seem to have maybe become non-free @ Kobo, but are still available via Borders. I'll leave the links up in case it's just a catalogue glitch while Kobo is working their Smashwords issue out.

[ATDrake]

Added 1 new paranormal, 1 each Christian fiction & non-fiction, and a couple of older releases which should be usable on any ePub reader to the round-up.

Deadworld by J.N. Duncan is a Kensington paranormal, which may be either on the romance or urban fantasy side; I can't tell which.

The Heart of Memory by Alison Strobel is a Christian contemporary crisis-of-faith novel

The Message is some sort of pocket version of the Christian New Testament

I've added 1 Carina Press pre-order and 2 Samhain romances from B&N because they're all DRM-free.

Photographs & Phantoms is a steampunk novella by Cindy Spenser Pape

Lessons in Love is a gay period murder mystery by Charlie Cochrane

Truth and Consequences is an FBI relationship thriller by Linda Winfree

Oh, and romance publisher Ellora's Cave has updated their Free Reads section with even more short stories and a few "short novels".

I advise you to grab the short novels (featured on the last 2 pages) if you're interested, because while the short stories seem to be permafreebie, it looks like they rotate and expire the longer works. These are the 6 newest.

The All Romance eBooks Earth Day promotion is nearing its end. You can still look up their daily freebies via the Deals forum or just by going to their website and clicking on the front-page banner (requires Flash) for the promo.

[ATDrake]

Only 2 truly new books this week, but several other-store repeat freebies now free in Sony/Kobo/ADE-compatible ePub format, and a few additional stores for some of the existing books. Plus some of those promo short things with bonus content.

Added new: 1 Christian non-fiction, 2 Christian fiction, 1 animal memoir, 1 YA paranormal/fantasy, 2 Southern fiction, 1 fantasy, 2 romance (probably both historical), some short promo stories, and an older surprisingly still free book that you might like to try to see if the links still work. Updated a bunch of stuff, which is grouped after the new freebies.

Some of the new Borders books are possibly glitch freebies, so while I'm leaving in the links just in case, don't be too disappointed if you can't get them. There are also some very low cost sale books below the list.

Secular

A Dog Named Slugger, pet memoir by Leigh Brill

Bridge to Happiness, general self-discovery fiction (may be a chick lit/romance) by Jill Barnett
Goddess of Fried Okra, general self-discovery fiction by Jean Brashear

Moonstone, paranormal/fantasy YA by Marilee Brothers; doesn't seem romance-y, so I'm filing it with SF/Fantasy/Horror
The Arm of the Stone fantasy novel by Victoria Strauss
Sweeter Than Wine serialized vampire paranormal by L. Neil Smith

A Proper Companion Regency backlist romance by Candice Hern
A Fool Again romance novella by Eloisa James

The Duchess's Tattoo historical drama tie-in short story by Daisy Goodwin
Chunk of Hell thriller tie-in short story by Steven Sidor
~
13 Little Blue Envelopes is now @ Kobo
The Abandoned by Amanda Stevens is now @ Kobo & Borders
Photographs & Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape is now @ Sony & Kobo

Surprisingly still free (links may be non-functional if you don't already have them):

When Darkness Falls by James Grippando. Thriller offered in 3-parts as a promotional gimmick.

Christian

The Whole Life Adoption Book, family planning self-help advice by Jayne E. Schooler and Thomas Atwood

Griselda Takes Flight general self-discovery literary fiction by Joyce Magnin
Medical Error, 2nd in a hospital-based thriller series by Richard L. Mabry
~
Love Me If You Must is now also free @ Kobo

And while I have your attention, I might as well draw it to several fairly good bargains this month:

Sourcebooks is having a sale on various kids' books, historical romances and Arthurian fantasy novels, and autism and Civil War non-fiction, all for $2.99 or less, across most of the stores. These drop even more when you shop @ Kobo and use the $1 off KoboSpring1 coupon code (good until April 30th, though sometimes Kobo expires stuff early).

See this MR thread for a list of the romances, tips on getting all the cheap stuff to show, and avoiding the ones for which Kobo has no ePub version.

The $2 off code mentioned there is dead, by the way. Apparently it was "discontinued because of distribution issues", which probably means that it got spread around too widely.

For science fiction and fantasy lovers, you can get two very good deals this month:

In the US, Iain M. Banks' Consider Phlebas, 1st in his highly acclaimed Culture series, is Orbit Books' monthly promotion at only 99 cents in most of the stores.

For worldwide users, Phoenix Pick is not only giving away their monthly free e-book, but is also having 50% off their already discounted-by-15% "Publisher Direct" prices when you buy from their website, good until the end of April.

They are DRM-free and reprint several midlist sf/fantasy authors' backlists, as well as a couple of award winners. See this MR thread for the coupon codes for both the monthly freebie and the 50% off sale.

I especially recommend L. Sprague de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall, which is a major time-travel classic and comes with three other related stories in this new edition, and Nancy Kress' Hugo Award-winning novella Act One, if you didn't get it when it was the featured free book a couple of months ago.

Also recommended, Michael Flynn's The Forest of Time and Other Stories which has the author's comments on each story, and Victoria Strauss' The Garden of the Stone, sequel to this month's free book which is shaping up to be a pretty good read so far, and only $2.12 after the coupon (and the first is a fairly long book, at 7000+ locations, so you're definitely getting your money's worth as far as word count goes).

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

For worldwide users, Phoenix Pick is not only giving away their monthly free e-book, but is also having 50% off their already discounted-by-15% "Publisher Direct" prices when you buy from their website, good until the end of April.

They are DRM-free and reprint several midlist sf/fantasy authors' backlists, as well as a couple of award winners. See this MR thread for the coupon codes for both the monthly freebie and the 50% off sale.

I especially recommend L. Sprague de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall, which is a major time-travel classic and comes with three other related stories in this new edition, and Nancy Kress' Hugo Award-winning novella Act One, if you didn't get it when it was the featured free book a couple of months ago.

Also recommended, Michael Flynn's The Forest of Time and Other Stories which has the author's comments on each story, and Victoria Strauss' The Garden of the Stone, sequel to this month's free book which is shaping up to be a pretty good read so far, and only $2.12 after the coupon (and the first is a fairly long book, at 7000+ locations, so you're definitely getting your money's worth as far as word count goes).

Thanks for mentioning this; I have The Arm of the Stone queued up to read (most likely won't finish before Apr 30 though) and wondered if it was good enough for me to want to get the sequel. I'll do so later today.

[ATDrake]

An amazing slew of freebies over the past few days, especially if you happen to enjoy romance or Christian books, or Christian romance books (then you've really lucked out).

From just the regular e-book stores, a total of 24 25 freebies offered recently new: 1 charity non-fiction, 2 kids/YA, 8 paranormal/sf & contemporary romance and erotica, 9 Christian fiction including 6 romances and a historical fic centered around a doomed love story, 5 Christian fiction.

Plus some additional special offer science fiction and science non-fiction freebies listed below. Also, a number of the Christian fiction books that were formerly only free @ Christian Book have now shown up at Kobo (and by extension, Borders) as well.

Some of the stuff available from Borders is only free if you get it from the "download" button via the app (be sure to remove all credit card info before you try). Don't click the "Buy for 0.00" button if you see it or a price within the app page; go back to the search listings and click the plain "Download" and you should be able to get the book for free, no matter how glitchy Borders' catalogue is being with the displayed prices.

Non-Fiction

2:46 Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake is offered as a special freebie exclusively from Sony, who have a special promo page for the book at the front of their store and ask you to only consider donating to the Japanese Red Cross, please.

General Fiction

Hailey Twitch is Not a Snitch by Lauren Barnholdt. Children's.
Songs for a Teenage Nomad by Kim Culbertson. YA

Romance

Dark Legacy by Anna DeStefano.
The Strange Case of Finley Jane by Kady Cross.
A Secret in Salem by Sherri Anderson.
Baby, I'm Yours by Stephanie Bond.
SEALed with a Kiss by Mary Margret Daughtridge.
One Lucky Cowboy by Carolyn Brown.
Long Hard Ride by Lorelei James.
A Little Harmless Sex by Melissa Schoeder.


Christian Fiction

Cool Beans by Erynn Mangum. General.
Wildflowers of Terezin by Robert Elmer. Has a romantic element but seems more litfic focused.

Making Waves by Lorna Seilstad. Romance, along with the others below.
A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer.
Too Close to Home by Lynette Eason.
Disaster Status by Candace Calvert.
It Happens Every Spring by Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer.
Too Close to Home by Lynette Eason.

Lie Down in Green Pastures by Debbie Viguie. Cozy mystery.


Christian Non-Fiction

Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts--Abroad and Within by Nate Self.
Mormonism Mama & Me by Thelma Geer.
Digital Disciple: Real Christianity in a Virtual World by Adam Thomas.
Today We Are Rich: Make Great Friends, Keep Your Faith, and Get Ready for the Real World! by Tim Sanders.
Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear by Max Lucado.

Time-Limited SF freebie:

Zendegi by Greg Egan if you send an email request to Night Shade Books' special promo address. Offer good until May 6th, details over at SF Signal.

Month-long freebies:

Code of the Lifemaker by James P. Hogan. Considered a minor sf classic, and Phoenix Pick's Free eBook of the Month. Two more of his books are offered at 40% off, but be warned that Hogan is one of the original trope namers for what TV Tropes used to call The Brain Eater. So be sure to sample heavily before you pick up maybe one of his weirder author-without-an-editor tracts.

Sweeter Than Wine by L. Neil Smith. Paranormal fantasy continues its serialization at Phoenix Pick website, with chapters 3-6 now released in ePub format (and 1-3 still available). See this MR thread for the coupon code for the 1st book and links to to the publisher website where you can get both.

Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea with Ocean Experts by Ellen Prager is the University of Chicago Press' freebie of the month (ADE PDF).

Also, Sourcebooks is giving away copies of their contemporary romance Romeo Romeo by Robin Kaye when you sign up for their free Casa VIP romance book club thingy. You also get sneak peeks at upcoming books and author interviews if you use the same email for the signup as you do for your Sourcebooks site/store login. Details in the round-up thread.

[ATDrake]

8 more officially free books today, some of them repeats. Plus a couple of direct-from-author offers.

And this is the last day to request a free ePub copy of Greg Egan's Zendegi via sf/fantasy publisher Night Shade Books' special offer, which is included in the round-up and also in the post immediately upthread.

Secular
~totally new in ePub~

Wonderful by Jill Barnett. Fantasy romance.
Bridge to Happiness by Jill Barnett. Women's self-discovery or contemporary romance; I personally can't tell which. Geo-restricted.
Seeking Love by Barbara Cartland. Old school romance pre-order.

~previously offered in ePub before~

Moonstone by Marilee Brothers. YA paranormal fantasy.
The Goddess of Fried Okra by Jean Brashear. General/women's fiction.
A Dog Named Slugger by Leigh Brill. Pet memoir.

+ 2 Harlequin prequel novellas by Kady Cross and Stephanie Bond are now also available in the Sony store. Their website is down, so I'll put in proper clickable links later.

Christian

Call of Zulina, 1st in the Grace in Africa series by Kay Marshall Strom
Doing Good: A Grace-Filled Approach to Holiness by Christopher P. Momany.

Move quickly if you want either of these, since Christian Book has been doing odd things with the availability of some of their freebies. Doing Good was free for about a day, then disappeared, and is back again. A couple of ones from the previous round-up vanished less than 18 hours after they were first free. I've left the links up in case they reappear (still free in other stores).

Direct from author:

In Her Name: Empire fantasy by Michael R. Hicks, free from his website in multiple formats until the 9th. This MR thread for details.

Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History by Chris Rodda, free in PDF direct from her website. No expiry date set, but move fast if you want it, just in case. This MR thread for details and opinions from posters who've read the print edition.