anywhere to buy kindle books besides amazon?

Maybe that's a dumb question, but some of my favorite authors apparently publish with someone who doesn't have an agreement with amazon. Can't find books by Umberto Eco, Faulkner, DuMaurier, robert Ludlum, etc.

Are there any other options?

As far as I know, Amazon is the only merchant offering Kindle format titles of new books. You can get some classics from Project Gutenberg, but their Kindle formatting may not be as polished as you'd expect as they are in beta with that format right now.

There might be a way to convert other formats to Kindle, but I wouldn't have the details on that since I don't - at least not yet - own a Kindle.

In addition to Project Gutenberg, you can find a lot of freebie classics on Feedbooks|Mobile which generally are a lot better formatted than the Gutenberg freebies. If you're looking for writers who are still under copyright, though, you'll have to get them from Amazon or not at all.

I'd be surprised, actually, if a copyrighted work by a prominent author (Eco, Ludlum, and so forth) is available in e-format at all if it's not also available on Amazon, though I'm sure there are occasional exceptions.

Several authors I'm aware of don't sell Kindle versions of their books for reasons often having to do with DRM. So, if you google your author's name + ebook and find nothing, it means the author just plain doesn't sell in ebook format.

If you find works for sale by other vendors, download the .mobi file - it will work just fine on your Kindle. Such vendors include Fictionwise.com and Mobipocket.com.

If your other vendor sells a different format, you can download and install Calibre (it's sort of iTunes for ebooks) and attempt to convert the file into something your Kindle can display. (If the file is locked with DRM, though, you'd have to strip the DRM - neither trivial for non-geeks nor legal in all places - and then attempt the conversion.) (Calibre is also cool because it uses RSS feeds to get your news for free, rather than buying subs through Amazon.)

The only Eco I found in ebook format was 'On Literature' at Amazon.

If you know what imprint your favorite author is with, go directly to the publisher's site; you may be able to buy ebooks there.

Did you know you can use free software like Calibre and Mobipocket to convert files for your Kindle? Many Kindle owners I know use this software to convert .pdf copies of ebooks (which are available other places than the Kindle Store). Results vary, according to what I've read, but Calibre is very popular with Kindle owners I know.

>1 japaul22:

I checked Eco, but not the others. There are a few:
http://www.amazon.com/Umberto-Eco/e/B000APW210/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Click on kindle books.

k4k

Same thing with Ludlum:
http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Ludlum/e/B000APFYQ0/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Thanks! Since I wrote that first post amazon came to agreements with several other publishers (actually agents - cutting out the middle man), so some of those books are now available.

I might look into Calibre, but for now I have dozens of books on my kindle tbr list. Thanks for the help!

under free books on amazon they list five places you can get free books. I have checked them out and some arn't bad.

You can also get Ebooks at Smashwords.com. You can download them in a range of files from .mobi (this is what kindle uses) to a simple word document.

And do take advantage of Amazons free Ebook; some of them are really rather good.

Did you know you can use free software like Calibre and Mobipocket to convert files for your Kindle? Many Kindle owners I know use this software to convert .pdf copies of ebooks (which are available other places than the Kindle Store). Results vary, according to what I've read, but Calibre is very popular with Kindle owners I know.

I found some conversion soft ware for free on the internet. If you google ebook conversion or similar it comes with loads.
Hope this helps.

PDF reading seems decent enough on my K3, and that's relatively standardized with ebook sales sites. Not the best format, but it works.

Also, don't forget that you can "ask" Amazon to try to convert other formats (like Word docs and txt/rtf) by sending it to your @kindle.com email address (listed in the Device settings).

(I just got a K3, so all of this is fresh from the User Guide...)

Try Girlebooks.com Women authors, format cleaned up and fine-tuned. Free and low priced, new and classics. Some I've never read before...Enjoy!

There's also webscription.net if you like sf, fantasy or horror.

For Science Fiction fans:

Cory Doctorow's website has his books for free in Kindle-ready formats.

Baen's Free Library is filled with good books for free in Kindle-ready format (and they even have a nice "Email to my Kindle" button it seems): http://www.baen.com/library/

Their library provides many of the first books in a series for those looking to catch up on a series. They even will attach CDs to hardcovers with entire sections of their Free Library. For instance, Cryoburn is on sale in hardcover right now and includes the entire series to date (15 books-- 5 omnibusses plus Cyroburn itself) in Kindle format on the CD, which seems like a great way to get into the series. (That's why I bought it.) I also like the option, when I get to it, to pick up my spot in the hard cover, when I get to it, on my Kindle for versatility.