Hi, 45MPHK9.
"I'm not sure where to post this, but is there a simple thread regarding getting started with Fictionwise? I want to download a few books that have microrebates, but their site seems to be confusing me. I don't have a clue what format to get, what a microrebate is or pretty much anything."
I've been using Fictionwise a lot in the last couple of years. You can just buy ebooks as an ordinary customer, or you can join the site as a member for about $30 per year and take advantage of the loyalty program (they call the reward points Micropay rebates).
Go the homepage
http://www.fictionwise.com/home.html
and you will see various menu items across the top of the page and down the left-hand side. First you have to Register (for free) so click on the Register button and just fill in the basic details - if you are not sure of the format you want, you can change it later and anway, you select the actual format when you purchase the book.
When you are registered, click on the "Buywise Club" link on the left-hand side near the top - this will take you to the joining page - you can choose to join for just one year or several at a discount - just add the membership to your shoppping cart.
Then you can go ahead and start shopping. The amount of the Micropay rebate is shown on the details page for each book. After you have acquired some rebate $s you can use them to make subsequent purchases. Note that some books, especially new releases, are offered with a 100% Micropay rebate but you have to purchase them with a credit card or using paypal; then you get the full purchase price credited to your Micropay balance - not bad!
They have a Wishlist, and occasionally they will offer you personalised discounts/rebates based on what is in your Wishlist.
The main book formats they offer are Secure Mobipocket and Secure eReader - I don't know if these will work on the Kindle without conversion - someone more knowledgeable about formats should be able to help with that information. However, they have recently introduced a separate Kindle section
http://kindle.fictionwise.com/
which I haven't explored yet because I don't own a Kindle. The FW blurb says that this section operates the same way as the main FW site.
One frustrating limitation on Fictionwise is the geographical sales restrictions imposed by some publishers. If you are in the US you should find that you can purchase most of the books on FW. However, because I'm in Australia I find that I am restricted from purchasing quite a lot of stuff from their site.
The geographical restrictions are shown on the details page for each book, but if you do add a book to your shopping cart that is restricted from your location, you will get an error message when you finalise your shopping cart and you will then be able to remove it from the cart.
Fictionwise has a limited selection of free books.
Hope this will help you get started.
Cheers.