Latest news with #eBooks
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Get two Amazon First Reads e-books this month: just $1.99 each, or free with Prime
All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. GET TWO FREE E-BOOKS: As of July 8, Amazon is offering two Amazon First Reads books for $1.99 each, or completely free for Prime members. Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon / Danielle Prescod / Lee Child / Tamara L. Miller / Megan Chance / Angela Brown / Mallory Pearson Amazon First Reads Prime members get two free e-books. Non-Prime members pay $1.99 for the first two. Get Deal As if there wasn't enough to get excited about on Prime Day — seriously, check out the live blog, because this year's sale event is absolutely stacked — Amazon has thrown in something for First Reads fans too. As of July 8, Amazon First Reads is giving away two books for free to Prime members. But anyone without Prime can still take advantage by picking up two books for just $1.99 each. The deal actually runs for the entire month, meaning that it extends beyond the main Prime Day celebrations. SEE ALSO: The best Kindle for every type of reader — including those on your gift list If you're new to Amazon First Reads, this is how it works: First Read editors pick an exciting lineup of new novels every month, giving readers early access. Readers can read for free or at a reduced price, depending on whether they're Prime members. First Reads itself is actually free to join. Just sign up and you'll get a monthly Amazon email featuring all the latest First Reads picks. Whether you opt to join the First Reads program with Prime to take advantage of the free content, or you'd prefer to pay as you go, First Reads deals make fresh new literature accessible. Sign up now to get two free Amazon First Reads books with Prime, or two for $1.99 each without Prime. You can also stay on top of Prime Day and other deals with our handy guide on everything you need to know about Prime Day. Don't miss those bargains.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
4 Surprising Services Amazon Offers — but Will They Save You Money?
It's pretty well known that Amazon Prime gives members access to exclusive sales, free-two day shipping, movies and music. But the convenience and savings don't stop there. If you're a basic Amazon Prime member, a paid subscription that's $14.99 monthly, or $139 annually, you have access to other services too. Read Next: Check Out: While services can help rake in the savings, others may end up costing you more. Here are four surprising services Amazon offers and whether they're worth the hype. For those who love to read, Amazon has endless options. With a Prime membership, you can access a large selection of e-books, magazines and audiobooks from any device, and you don't need a Kindle. The perk is called Prime Reading, and it's free for members, which can mean big savings. Avid readers have taken to Reddit to lament about expensive e-book costs for their Kindles. 'I think the kindle ebook prices are absolutely ridiculous. At max I don't think they should exceed $9.99 though on average I prefer not paying more than around $7 for an ebook. I've been seeing the range around $11.99 to $14.99. They should not cost almost as much as me buying the physical copy,' one user wrote. With that in mind, you can save a significant amount, depending on how much you read. But it's important to note that you don't own the reading material with Prime Reading, though you have access as often as you'd like. In addition, Prime comes with First Reads, a service where members can choose from a selection of new books one month before they're published and download one pick for free. Explore More: Amazon is getting more involved in the healthcare game and purchased One Medical, a service that provides virtual consultations and more, in 2023, per CNBC. Prime members can pay $99 a year, or $9 per month, to tap into several services, including virtual and in-person doctor appointments, on-demand care for some common conditions, and prescription refills. In addition to the annual fee, the cost for virtual and in-person visits apply, and some customers aren't happy with the service. According to a Reddit thread, many believe the quality of care declined after Amazon acquired the company. 'I've been using one medical for about a decade and have noticed a sharp decline in its quality since being purchased by Amazon,' one user wrote. Additionally, PBS reported last year that there were concerns about the safety of patients due to inexperienced call center staff. There also has been a lot of confusion over pricing and whether insurance is taken, so this service may not always save money. Life is busy, and one thing that makes it easier is delivery. No matter what type of food you're in the mood for, it can be at your doorstep in minutes thanks to services like Grubhub. But it will cost you. Each time you order, there will be a delivery fee, which varies, but when you have Amazon Prime, you have all the perks of Grubhub+. The service would typically cost $9.99 a month, but it's free with Prime. It includes a $0 delivery fee, 5% back on pickup orders, exclusive deals and more. If you're a Prime member and not using this service when you order in, you're leaving money on the table since it's included in your membership. Anyone who shops at Whole Foods knows it can be pricey, but as an Amazon Prime member, you can get 10% off sales and special discounts that other shoppers don't receive. While 10% isn't much, any savings at Whole Foods is appreciated. And for loyal Whole Foods fans, Prime members can pay $9.99 a month for unlimited grocery delivery on orders of $35 or more. And let's be honest, it doesn't take much to rack up that amount. Ultimately, services that Amazon offers won't benefit everyone, and while there are some good deals and savings, not every service is worth your money. More From GOBankingRates 3 Luxury SUVs That Will Have Massive Price Drops in Summer 2025 4 Housing Markets That Have Plummeted in Value Over the Past 5 Years 7 Luxury SUVs That Will Become Affordable in 2025 This article originally appeared on 4 Surprising Services Amazon Offers — but Will They Save You Money?
Android Authority
15-06-2025
- Android Authority
I took my e-book library back from Amazon with this self-hosted app
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority If you've ever bought an e-book from Amazon, you already know you don't really own it. Sure, it's in your Kindle library and you can read it in the app. But try moving it to another device or archiving it somewhere else, and you'll quickly run into walls. In fact, Amazon has been doubling down on its attempts to curtail access to the books you've bought from the Kindle store. Between DRM, proprietary file formats, and a complete lack of export tools, you are stuck playing by Amazon's rules. And if they ever decide you have violated some clause buried in the terms of service, your entire library could disappear. It's a worrisome position to be in, especially for someone like me who has amassed a library of thousands of eBooks. Amazon sells you access, not ownership, and that access can vanish overnight. I didn't think much of this when I first got a Kindle. But as the years passed and my reading habits changed, the friction built up. Not only was I switching between my Kindle and Boox e-reader, I was also downloading more DRM-free EPUBs, PDFs, and research papers. I wanted a single, flexible way to manage all of it. Calibre was the obvious suggestion and my go-to for years. But let's be real. Calibre looks and feels like an app from the early 2000s. The interface is too clunky, the web UI feels like an afterthought, and even simple tasks take too many clicks. I just wanted something that looked modern and didn't skip out on features. And especially something that was built from the ground up for multiple users. That's when I stumbled onto BookLore. A self-hosted library that just works Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority BookLore is a self-hosted ebook library built with simplicity in mind. There's no bloated desktop client, no outdated UI, and here's my favorite part — it is entirely self-hosted. You own your data and the server it lives on. If you've been following my writing recently, you'll have realised this is a very important factor for me. Now, if you are used to self-hosting apps, you know that between permissions and dependencies, installation can become an ordeal. Not so with BookLore. I followed the instructions on the app's GitHub page and had it up and running on my Synology NAS within minutes using Docker. The onboarding process is straightforward and starts with creating a user, spinning a library, and you're good to go. Between the modern, customixable design and excellent metadata support, BookLore is a massive step up from Calibre. Once loaded up, the first thing that struck me was the stunning design. BookLore actually looks and feels like a modern web app. The dashboard is clean, fast, and immediately usable. You can browse your library by author or title, filter by tags, and search through metadata without waiting for anything to load. It picked up my EPUBs and PDFs with zero issues, displayed the correct covers, and gave me intuitive tools to rename, tag, or sort my collection. This alone made it feel better than the vast majority of ebook tools I have used before. Unlike Calibre and its outdated way of handling metadata that involves plugins and manually refreshing the files, BookLore comes ready to go out of the box. As soon as I dropped EPUBs into the books folder, the app auto-populated the files and started pulling in up-to-date metadata. That was incredible. BookLore also respects metadata in a way that makes sense. It pulls from Amazon, Goodreads, and Google Books, and if it cannot find something, it lets you fix it quickly without jumping through a maze of forms. I had a folder full of half-labeled EPUBs — stuff I had downloaded over the years and forgotten about, and BookLore organized them in minutes. Even books with messy filenames got matched to proper titles, authors, and cover art. When it could not find the right match, I didn't mind filling in the gaps because the UI made it painless. Powerful filtering and tagging Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority BookLore's real power is in its search and filter system. Not only can you maintain multiple libraries, but you can also create shelves with custom groupings that act like smart tags. You can set up shelves for genres, themes, authors, reading challenges, or any system that fits how you read. I made one for books I want to finish this year, another for work-related research, and one just for travel reads. What really impressed me was how you can combine filters using conditional logic. You can search for books tagged with 'science' and 'non-fiction' but not 'read,' and BookLore instantly gives you a precise list. Or, mix 'horror' and 'folk' or 'gothic' and dial down the recommendations. It sounds like a small thing, but this kind of flexibility makes it so much easier to stay organized, and find your next favorite book. You are not locked into rigid folders or clunky lists. You build your own system and change it whenever you want. BookLore's conditional logic makes it incredibly easy to discover your next favorite read. Most self-hosted tools are designed for solo users. BookLore is not. It includes a full user management system and OIDC-based authentication, so everyone in the household can have their own account and their own library if needed. You do not have to share a single login or worry about mixing up collections. Each user can manage their books, their shelves, and their tags without affecting anyone else. There's even a way to share books via email. This is an excellent value add for Kindle users. It's been a while since I've had to plug my Kindle in to the computer. I've got my Kindle email address added to Booklore and all it takes is one tap to shoot the book I want to read straight to my Kindle. Reading experience and file access Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority While management is at heart of BookLore, it allows you to read books too. But make no mistake, BookLore is not trying to reinvent how you read books. It does not come with a fancy web-based reader, and that's a good thing. It focuses on being the best possible library manager, not a reading app. That said, it does support tracking reading progress. I've not found much use for that yet. With BookLore and OPDS, it's like running your own private ebook store — minus the restrictions. But where BookLore really shines for readers is with OPDS support. OPDS, or Open Publication Distribution System, lets you browse your self-hosted collection from the best e-book reader apps like Moon+ Reader, and even KOReader. That means I can pull up my entire library on my phone or tablet, download what I want, and start reading without ever touching a file manager. It feels like having your own private ebook store. This is how an ebook library should feel Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority I did not expect to enjoy organizing my books this much. But here I am, cleaning up old EPUBs, setting up filters, and tagging everything like it is a collectible archive. BookLore turned a fragmented, frustrating mess into something fun and functional. It made me feel like I was actually in control of my reading life again. And best of all, it makes it easy for friends or family members to tap into my eBook library. If you are tired of clunky apps, locked-down systems, and the feeling that your ebooks live at the mercy of someone else's business model, give BookLore a try. It might just make you discover your next favorite read and fall in love with your library all over again.
The Verge
11-06-2025
- Business
- The Verge
Barnes & Noble's Nook app has joined
The Nook app has started linking to outside purchases on iOS, too. Kindle and Spotify in making it easier to buy e-books and audiobooks on the iPhone. A recent update has added a new 'buy on option to the iOS app, as spotted earlier by Good e-Reader. The change comes after a judge ordered Apple to lift restrictions on web links and outside payment options, a decision that a higher court upheld earlier this month.
Hamilton Spectator
11-06-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Milton public libraries see shift in use as e-book readership grows
More readers are choosing screens over paper as smartphones, tablets and e-readers continue to transform reading habits. Digital books have become a more accessible and convenient option, allowing people to read without visiting a library or bookstore. Despite the rise in e-book use, Milton Public Library (MPL) has not seen a significant decline in physical borrowing in recent years, says Fajar Paravez, manager of marketing and communications at MPL. 'While the rise of eBooks has certainly influenced reading habits, Milton Public Library has not seen a consistent decline in physical book borrowing,' Paravez said. 'In fact, the trend has been one of recovery and growth following the pandemic.' Paravez said circulation rose significantly in 2022 across all age groups, with especially strong gains among children, teens and adults. In 2023, borrowing increased again, and in 2024, the library saw more modest growth, led again by children's materials. According to MPL's usage snapshot from 2019 to 2023, in-person visits climbed from 252,000 in 2019 to 507,837 in 2023—a 40 per cent increase over the previous year. Total circulation in 2019, including both print and digital materials, was about 932,472 items. Digital engagement also spiked during the pandemic, with online activity increasing 296 per cent in 2021, largely due to demand for eBooks and online resources. The library also reported a 36 per cent increase in new cardholders that year, reaching 86,300 active members. In early 2025, the MPL joined OverDrive's reciprocal lending network, giving patrons access to multiple eBook and audiobook collections across partner libraries. Milton resident Iziharai, a frequent visitor to the library, said digital services make reading easier for many. 'eBooks are more helpful for convenient access to digital resources,' she said. 'It's comfortable to use the apps to place holds and borrow books online.' Paravez said the growing preference for digital reading is reshaping the role of public libraries. 'No longer limited to lending physical books, institutions like the Milton Public Library are evolving into vital digital access points,' he said. As digital use increases, MPL is reimagining its physical branches as community hubs with collaborative spaces, programs, and lending initiatives. The library also promotes eBooks through social media campaigns, virtual book displays, and seasonal promotions such as 'Summer Reads' on platforms like OverDrive and Hoopla. With a blend of traditional and digital services, MPL continues to adapt to changing user needs while keeping the community engaged across multiple formats. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
