Friday 13 November 2009

Free Books!

Does everyone except me know about Scribd? And, if so, why didn't anyone tell me?

According to themselves, Scribd is 'the world's largest social publishing company with the goal to collect all the world's written works and make them available for people to read and interact with in any way they want. Scribd is changing the way people discover, share and sell original writings and documents on the Web. Its innovative document reader technology enables anyone to easily upload any files, including PDF, Word, PowerPoint and other document types and share on scribd.com or embed on thousands of other websites.'

According to me, Scribd = free books! (And recipes, and presentations, and games, and lots else besides.)

I came across Scribd the other day when I was searching for help with short story writing. Google suggested I look at a book on Scribd, by Michael Allen, called 'How To Write A Short Story That Works'. To my surprise, after a quick registration procedure, I was able to download the entire book for free. And it had some useful stuff in, too. Not everything was relevant for me - I'm OK with spelling and grammar, thanks - and some parts felt slightly long-winded and/or repetitive, although this could be because I've read 57283 how-to books already. But there were some sizeable nuggets of information and guidance that I found very useful indeed.

So, if you want free books - and who doesn't? - I'd recommend heading over to Scribd. But be warned, there's loads of content to browse through. You may be away for some time!

10 comments:

Jumbly Girl said...

Great link Queenie, thanks. Loads of good stuff on there. Including '38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes' I'm going to have a quick look through to find out just how many of them I have made :o&

Carol said...

Wow, that sounds great!!! I've never heard of it but am now going to have to go and have a look!!!

Actually, I'm going to be good...I shall go and have a look once I have finished DJ's painting!! That can be my reward :-)

C x

Pat said...

You are now officially an authority on 'how to' books:)

HelenMWalters said...

I'd best not look. I have a zillion how to books I haven't even opened. Best do that first!

Jen said...

Free stuff? Lovely. How come none of us knew about this then?

Good find, Queenly One.

Cheryl said...

Free books??? omg im off there now. Thanks for the link

Elizabeth Bramwell said...

Hi Queenie,

thanks for the comment over at The Literary Project; I'm glad you enjoyed the interview! We've got loads more coming up over the next few weeks so I hope you'll pop back soon :-)

K.M. Saint James said...

Are they all How to Books? I'm book-marking, but I'll have to wait to go because I'm working . . . writing, and I can't let myself get distracted.

But I want to.

Thanks for the link.

Lane Mathias said...

I hadn't heard of them either. How can something so big have passed us by??

Thank you!

Queenie said...

Hope you all enjoyed your time at Scribd!

Sandra, they're not all how-to books - there are lots of different kinds of books, as well as recipes, presentations, games and lots else besides.