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Author Topic: Searching Amazon for Kindle "Best Sellers" that are currently FREE  (Read 7706 times)

IainB

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Here's a start:
Today I saw this post on : The Kindle Best Sellers that are currently Free
...This list is generated using Amazon’s sales data itself. Amazon offers a best sellers list of Kindle titles though the list is split across five pages. The tool uses web scraping to download the entire list, filters out ebooks which are no longer free (the prices on Amazon can change every hour) and then puts everything in one Pinterest style page.
(The rest of the post and the links are worth a read too.)

So I went to the link he gave http://ctrlq.org/amazon/ebooks/, and after a bit of messing about I figured out:
  • (a) that the link is related as some kind of a click-through for labnol.org.
  • (b) that the links from there seemed broken and did not end properly, and I had to go directly to the Amazon Kindle search and type in the book names to start to order them for my account.
  • (c) that you could speed up the search by putting "$0.00" into the Amazon Kindle search, and all the free books would be listed (though interspersed by non-free ones for some reason).
  • (d) that you needed to have a registered Kindle device (there are apparently 3) before you could download anything, so after some experimentation I settled for Kindle for PC and downloaded that and installed it. I could have used the web-based Kindle Cloud, so I tried that out but didn't like it. I don't have a Kindle tablet.

Quite a lot of mouse-clickiness RSI later, I had downloaded 51 books. They went into the C:\Users\[User ID]\Documents\My Kindle Content folder, where I discovered that I already had a forgotten book (Aesop's Fables) that I recall but not how I came by it.
Kindle for PC UI.jpg

This was almost as good as rummaging in a free books or cheap books jumble sale. I was as happy as the proverbial pig in sh**. I may even get a Kindle - which is presumably the marketing idea behind it, but I warily noticed that my RIAA/MAFIAA Radar went off on just about every book downloaded.
Note: from http://bhtooefr.org/...essor-to-riaa-radar/
For those unaware, RIAA Radar was a tool that Ben Tesch wrote, that made it very easy to determine whether a certain piece of media was released by a RIAA member label, to assist with boycotting the RIAA. It worked by searching Amazon for the search term in question, and returning all CDs that met that search term, along with the label that published that CD, and a simple “safe”, “unknown”, or “warning” image based on whether the label was a RIAA member or not. Unfortunately, due to maintenance and hosting issues, he took it down.

CWuestefeld

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Nice find. Another good place to look is http://ereadernewsto...y/free-kindle-books/

This blog usually has about 5 updates a day, each linking to ~5-10 free Amazon books -- all with ratings of 4.0 or better.

IainB

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Nice find. Another good place to look is http://ereadernewsto...y/free-kindle-books/

This blog usually has about 5 updates a day, each linking to ~5-10 free Amazon books -- all with ratings of 4.0 or better.
-CWuestefeld (May 09, 2012, 11:59 AM)
Ooh! Thanks.
Pig is happier still...      :Thmbsup:

lanux128

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since Kindle is a dirty word (read: restricted) here, i use Feedbooks whose store app came pre-installed with my android tablet. they have a good selection of eBooks that are public domain (therefore free) and also original self-published books (of which some are free).

http://www.feedbooks.com/

xtabber

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And the winner is:

Screenshot - 5_10_2012 , 12_49_53 PM.jpg

IainB

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Holy Bible the winner? (but wrong author)
No surprises there.
I could be wrong of course, but I thought that the Holy Bible had always been the No.1 best-seller for all time, bar none. (It was certainly one of the 51 free downloads I just made to my Kindle for PC, though it was not in the visible portion of the display-screen that I took a picture of, above).
No personal library would be complete without one.
Kindle for PC UI 03.png

This particular (KIndle) version of the Bible has a superb cross-referencing system - possibly better than the one in Interfaith Explorer.
Cross-Reference System
This edition of the ESV Bible includes one of the most extensive and useful cross-reference systems available. The ESV cross-reference system is based on a comprehensive system developed more than a hundred years ago by a team of Bible scholars from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. As far as possible this system also included the cross-references used in the original King James Version of 1611. The resulting cross-reference system was first used in the English Revised Version (RV) and has been highly regarded around the world for its effectiveness in showing the internal interrelationship of the text throughout the Bible.

The cross-reference system as it appears in this edition of the ESV Bible has been adapted as needed from the RV system for use with the ESV text. In some cases, therefore, the specific wording of the reference passage may differ, although the underlying meaning and relationship to the referenced text is normally the same.

Because the ESV is an essentially literal, word-for-word translation, the ESV is especially suited for cross-reference study of key words and concepts throughout the Bible.

Source: Crossway Bibles (2011-02-09). The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References) (Kindle Locations 436-445). Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2012, 09:10 PM by IainB, Reason: Minor corrections. »