Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Ebook freebies and deals 2012

For discussions of historical fiction. Threads that do not relate to historical fiction should be started in the Chat forum or elsewhere on the forum, depending on the topic.
User avatar
Mythica
Bibliophile
Posts: 1095
Joined: November 2010
Preferred HF: European and American (mostly pre-20th century)
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Post by Mythica » Fri June 1st, 2012, 9:28 am

Freebies:

Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen
Gods and Kings: Chronicles of the Kings #1 by Lynn Austin (Christian Fiction)

User avatar
Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Fri June 1st, 2012, 11:41 am

[quote=""rebecca""]I clicked the 'Forger Extraordinary Survival' only to find I can't buy it. I wonder why and how annoying! It sounds like a cracking good read.

Bec :) [/quote]

You have to buy from the Amazon site where you bought the Kindle. I.e. I can't go to the UK site and purchase kindle items there, same as my UK friends can't buy the kindle items (including freebies) on the US site. I can't loan a loanable kindle book to someone with a UK kindle. Most of my Australian friends at Goodreads got their kindle from the US site and do get the freebies.

I've been told that many of the freebie deals through the KDP (Kindle direct publishing) program are also free on the UK site.

I hope that makes sense. It's early, I haven't had coffee and kitteh is hogging the keyboard :o
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

User avatar
Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Fri June 1st, 2012, 2:13 pm

Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen is free this morning.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

User avatar
Mythica
Bibliophile
Posts: 1095
Joined: November 2010
Preferred HF: European and American (mostly pre-20th century)
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Post by Mythica » Fri June 1st, 2012, 2:14 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]You have to buy from the Amazon site where you bought the Kindle.[/quote]

That's not necessarily the case. I originally had a Kindle Keyboard bought in the UK but used with the US site. And I've heard plenty of reports of people who bought the Kindle Touch from the US before it was available in the UK and used it with the UK site. You should be able to register a Kindle bought anywhere to any store. It just depends on your country settings and your IP address. If you go into "Manage Your Kindle", on the left under "Your Kindle Account" there should be an option called "Country Settings". If you change this, you should be able to use other international Kindle stores. BUT your IP address will still indicate you're in a different country and after a few purchases, Amazon will confront you and ask for proof of residency.

I went through this process because I'm in the UK but using the US store (when I first got my Kindle, the UK store hardly had any titles). When Amazon contacted me, they suggested a US drivers license or US passport as examples of forms of ID I could use. I'm American so I could easily provide a scan of both/either and then they let me carry on. It's silly because having a US drivers license or passport doesn't necessarily mean one lives in the US. But I guess it's the best they can do (what else can they expect as proof of residency?) and it's not a big deal if a few people slip through the cracks. Maybe I've mentioned this before though because I was wondering why no one has yet questioned me on why I'm posting links to the US store when I'm living in the UK, lol.

But yes, pricing and availability vary depending on what country you're in. Not all countries have their own Kindle store or even their own Amazon store though. So people in these countries purchase through the US Kindle store but pricing and availability are determined by their country setting in their account settings. I don't think Australia has their own Amazon store - there is no amazon.au or amazon.com.au or anything like that so I assume Australians buy Kindle books through the US store but because their country setting is set to Australia, not the US, pricing and availability will be different than what it is for US members. If it makes anyone feel any better, there are also occasions when Kindle books are available in other countries, like the UK, but not to US members.

There have been reports of people who have successfully switched their country setting temporarily, just to buy one or two books from another country, and then switch it back. So rebecca, if you'd like to try it, you can change your country setting to US, grab this freebie, then switch back. You won't lose any books and Amazon probably won't contact you about only one book.
Last edited by Mythica on Fri June 1st, 2012, 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Fri June 1st, 2012, 2:58 pm

Thanks for that. You have to wonder why we can't just purchase international like we can the dead tree books :( :confused:

ETA: one of my friends in OZ has tried to pick up the Koen book as a freebie today, and she can't get it.
Last edited by Misfit on Fri June 1st, 2012, 3:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

User avatar
Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Fri June 1st, 2012, 5:18 pm

Seems a bit silly that you can buy a paperback from another country but not an ebook.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

User avatar
Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Fri June 1st, 2012, 6:12 pm

[quote=""Vanessa""]Seems a bit silly that you can buy a paperback from another country but not an ebook.[/quote]

I agree. And it appears that the Koen book isn't even available on Kindle on the UK site.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

User avatar
Amanda
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 910
Joined: August 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by Amanda » Fri June 1st, 2012, 10:31 pm

It is really quite annoying! Australians have to buy from AmazonUS, but we can buy everything. Usually it shows up as not available for your address. But it can also appear as though there isn't a Kindle edition available at all. My husband switched his address on his account, and a few things I had looked for on my account, turned out to have Kindle editions after all. And some of the price differences are annoying too. Someone says it is available for $x, so you go and look at it and it is more than that. Or something that is free to those in the US is 3.99. I know it is not much....but it is annoying to know there is a difference, and for electronic delivery I dont think it is fair.

User avatar
MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Sat June 2nd, 2012, 12:12 am

Making it free is savvy marketing, because it landed back on my TBR list in my kindle. No guaranteeing I'll get around to reading it this time -- it languished on my shelves for years, until in a fit of housecleaning I gave it to my bookseller friend. But at least this way, Karleen Koen has opened the possibility that I might try her wares.

User avatar
Susan
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3746
Joined: August 2008
Location: New Jersey, USA

Post by Susan » Sat June 2nd, 2012, 12:32 am

[quote=""Misfit""]Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen is free this morning.[/quote]

Another one I just got for free thanks to you!
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/

Post Reply

Return to “General Discussion”