For several months, I’ve been amassing a list of free eBooks for writers.
There are a ton of free eBooks out there, but not all of them are relevant to writers of fiction. Juiced on Writing has a great list of 36 downloadable books you can see here.
A couple of small problems I’ve encountered in compiling this list are that (1) sometimes eBooks are offered free for a limited time only, and (2) when people give up on their blogs and the domain eventually expires, the free resources disappear with them.
I was hoping to add Nail Your Novel by Roz Morris to this list, because a while back I downloaded it free and have loved it ever since. However, there is now a small fee to purchase this book in paperback format (I still highly recommend it).
So, I urge you to download any of the following books you’re interested in as soon as possible, because you just never know if they’ll still be available the next time you check.
Here are what I believe to be the five best free eBooks for fiction writers:
70 Solutions to Common Writing Mistakes
Bob Mayer
Written by a New York Times best-selling author, this is a very readable book on common fiction writing mistakes and how to fix them. You’ll cringe when you see your own writing in the examples.
The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies and Success
Donald Maass
Over 250 pages of quality advice from a seasoned literary agent. “The Career Novelist” was actually a print book published in 1996, so it’s slightly outdated, but still worth reading.
Ask a Literary Agent (Year One)
Noah Lukeman
This is a compilation of all the reader questions asked of literary agent Noah Lukeman during his first year of blogging. A lot of FAQs about the agent process are answered here.
How to Write a Great Query Letter
Noah Lukeman
Everything you ever wanted to know about how to write a query letter—free! Do you think Lukeman decided to offer this to aspiring authors because he was tired of reading poorly written queries?
The Marshall Plan Fiction Makeover
Evan Marshall
Marshall’s eBook offers 52 tips on how to improve your novel, and uses great examples to back them up.
What free eBooks do you have to add to the list? Please share them in the comments below.
Wow, thanks for the great list of resources, Suzanne!
No problem, Christi! Hope you find them useful 🙂
Good stuff. Thanks!
Thanks, Suzanne. These are great. I always like freebies like this, especially pertaining to writing.
As useful as always 🙂 Will reado about them during the weekend and decide which ones I read. The first one sounds quite interesting!
Thanks Scott, Cathy, and Ximena! What writer doesn’t love free stuff??
Great list!!!
Thank you so much for this list! I have taken your advice and downloaded them all while I still can! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for this Suzannah.
About Writing by Michael LaRocca is also free, at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/17941
I already have the Query Letter one, but thanks for the others!
I already have the Query letter one, but thanks for the others!
No problem—enjoy! @Natalie @Benison @Pippa Jay
Fantastic resource! I just wish there was a single book that’ll tell you everything – a curated guide.
Nice post … What great FREE resources for aspiring writers! Thanks!
Laura
http://smartlit.wordpress.com/
A seriously old oldie, but Aristotle’s Poetics is available on Kindle (and elsewhere) for free: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRWWA/
Sorry Paulo, your comment got stuck in my filter because of the link. All is good now, and thanks for the recommendation!
http://ebooklink.net is the best free ebooks download site with more 300k ebook download for free.
Holly Lisle’s “Mugging the Muse: Writing Fiction for Love and Money” is free at:
http://hollylisle.com/index.php/hollylislecom-free-downloads.html