Today, I've got a fun post for you: fifteen email lists to join to find free and discounted books! I did all the leg work for you, so all you have to do is look at the table below and click the links for any email lists you want to join. Easy as that!
Quick disclaimer: I have not tried all of these since there's nothing I hate more than a full inbox. The ones that I have tried (and haven't) are noted.
Without further ado, here are fifteen email lists to join if you want free and discounted books:
Note: This was originally posted on August 14th, 2017, but I've since updated it. See the original post here.
| Email list | Email frequency | Choose specific genres? | Price range? | Cost to publisher | Did I like it? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OTOH Books | Daily or Weekly (you choose) | No, but has a lot of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance | Any price (but recommends $0.99 to authors and publishers) | $20 - $149 | Liked it. I only subscribed to their Weekends Reads which had 10+ books in it in a variety of genres, but I didn't feel overwhelmed since there were only a couple books I was interested in and it was only a weekly email. |
| The Fussy Librarian | Daily or Weekly (you choose) | Yes, including Urban Fantasy, Horror, and Young Adult | Free to $5.99 but can choose only free books | $8 - $30 | Liked it. Only a handful of books per email (though I imagine if you expand your genres you get more). Love the option to get a weekly email. |
| Free Booksy | Daily | Yes, including Fantasy/Paranormal, Horror, and Young Adult | Free | $40 - $200 | Liked it. Only a handful of books per email, though their daily emails are too much for me. |
| Bargain Booksy | Daily or Weekly (you choose) | Yes, including Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, and Young Adult | $0.99 to $5 | $25 - $160 | Liked it. Only a handful of books per email (though I imagine if you expand your genres you get more). Love the option to get a weekly email, though I only found the weekly option once I re-subscribed after unsubscribing. |
| Ebook Soda | Daily | Yes, including Fantasy, Horror, and Teen & Young Adult | Free to $4.99 | $20 | Liked it. Only a few books per email (depending on what and how many genres you chose) and tells you what books the book is similar too. |
| Read Freely | Daily | No | Any price | $6 - $10 | Liked it. A handful of books in an email with an editor's choice. Also has book awards and author interviews on their website. |
| Book Raid | Daily | Yes, including Fantasy, Horror, and Paranormal Romance | Free to $2.99 | Free to $20 | Liked it. Only a few books per email (depending on what and how many genres you chose). |
| E-Reader News Today | Daily | Yes, including Fantasy, Horror, and Paranormal/Romance | Free to $2.99 | $35 - $150 | Liked it. Only a couple books per genre in each daily email. |
| Betty Book Freak | Daily | Yes, including Fantasy, Horror, and Young Adult/Teen | Free to $2.99 | $25 - $30 | Liked it because it was only a handful of books per day curated by Betty herself. |
| Booksends | Daily | Yes, including Fantasy, Horror, and Teen/YA | Free to $2.99 | $10 - $125 | Haven't tried it. |
| Book Barbarian | Daily | No, but Science Fiction and Fantasy only | Free to "discounted by 50% or more." Recommends $2.99 or less. | $30 - $50 | Haven't tried it. |
| BookGorilla | Daily | Yes, including Fantasy, Horror Fiction, and Teen | Free to $3.99 (unless boxed set) | $50 - $200 | Haven't tried it. |
| Read Cheaply | Daily | Yes, including Fantasy, Horror, and Teen & YA | Free to "discounted by at least 50%." Recommends $2.99 or less. | $25 - $100 | Haven't tried it. |
| Book Pebble | Daily | Yes, including Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, and Teen & Young Adult | Free to $4.99 | $10 | Haven't tried it. |
| Just Kindle Books | Daily, I think (unclear) | Not sure, but has options on website to filter by genre | Not listed | $18 - $38 | Didn't like it. Too many books in the email. |
| Digital Book Spot | Daily | No | Free to "Discounted" | $5 | It was ok. Two books were featured along with a link to their website where there were hundreds of books (too many for me). |
And now a few notes:
First, there are actually sixteen email lists here. I let this go since Free Booksy and Bargain Booksy are essentially the same. One's the list for free books. The other's the list for discounted books.
Secondly, I ordered the lists in terms of my preferences. Since I don't read a ton of books—and hate a full inbox—my priorities were less email (so OTOH Books, The Fussy Librarian, and Bargain Booksy win that hands down with their weekly option), less books per email (as guesstimated by a higher cost for the author or publisher), and books in my preferred genre (guesstimated based on whether I could choose my specific preferred genre of paranormal non-romance or urban fantasy). Your preferences may be different, which is why I included so many options and all the relevant details that I could come up with. Enjoy and happy reading!
P.S. Looking for other ways to find new books? Check out my blog post on "Five Ways to Find New Books (that aren't perusing Amazon)".
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