Bookangel.co.uk

 Bookangel is the brainchild of a british bookclub, who got very tired of signing up for free ebooks, only to find the ebooks weren't free in the UK. 

It was going to be closed down earlier this year, and then the club found out the site was surprisingly popular with readers. Instead of closing, it is getting a revamp.

The site was originally the club free ebook newsletter, but now offers

• A daily list of ebooks free on Amazon.co.uk
• A library of long-term free ebooks
• A daily newsletter of free ebooks
• Reviews
• A weekly reviews newsletter
• Links to reviews of these books by other reviewers.

Visit Bookangel.co.uk

The daily list of free ebooks is available on the site. Each book will be tweeted once during the day. There is also a daily email of the books free on that day.

How are books chosen? After the books are submitted, anything with explicit content in the description is filtered out, as are spam and non-valid submitter emails. The site is 12A/15 (PG-13 for US readers).

Once the books are free, one of our reviewers may choose to download and review it. The only downside is that the review might not be positive - if we think a book is bad we reserve the right to say so.

Here are a few of today's free books.

This part of the site holds books that are free long-term, often as the start of a series. These books are free for any kindle owner with an Amazon account to download.

ebk.link is a universal booklink. If a site visitor clicks it, they will be taken to the Amazon page for the book in their country.

Does this break Amazon's rules?

No. This link does not support Amazon affiliate links, and provides Amazon with the data of the referring site, like a normal link.

How do I use it?

In your link, put in the url http://ebk.link with the Asin of the book you want to link to. So

http://ebk.link/B0051BU0B2

will go the The Docks, but it should go to the Docks on the Amazon page for your country. Alternatively add a minus to the URL to go straight to the book's page on bookangel.co.uk if it has one.

Who can use it?

Anyone. This is an open format.

Extras?

We track full stats for the link, which means that people can see how many clicks a book's link is getting. Detailed stats, such as date/time and referrer by click are available only on request.

For more information, just go to ebk.link.

The UK and US book and ebook markets are very different. It's not just size, language, and covers (the UK prefers illustrated covers and dislikes photos, while the US likes photographs and not illustrated covers), but also type, content, and genre.

The US and UK markets tend to look for very different books - in the UK short titles like novellas and novelettes are popular, while many of the US book sites and lists won't feature anything shorter than an 80,000 novel. Also the client reviews can be very different. In the US, a book with nothing wrong with it but nothing great about it often rates five stars. In the UK, that normally earns three, or no review.

It's also far more unusual for books to get reviews on the UK site as there are fewer readers, Kindle Gifting is unavailable, and many older readers we've spoken to regard leaving a review as a little crass and requesting one at the back of the book as a reason not to pick up any more of an author's titles.

The problem for UK readers is that many US promoters recommend titles meant for the US markets to UK readers, even though in general they are looking for something different.

Listing your book for an upcoming free run is easy and free, using the submit your book link. The site does only take PG-13 content, so explicit titles will be rejected. Books can appear on the upcoming list to build buzz, or be held privately until they actually go free.

By submitting a listing you do agree that one of the reviewers might pick up your book for a review - good or bad. However if your book is listed you have a chance at the Featured Book slot on the front page.

There are also sponsor slots available - $5 for one week, gets your book in the sidebar and footer across the site, as well as a feature on the promoted book page and daily tweets. As a free book site, it is unlikely to get many sales, but given the traffic it is a lot of exposure to readers.

Finally, there are Project Wonderful slots, currently a skyscraper and half-banner, available to bid for.

Whether you're an author or a reader, it's worth having a look at the site especially if you are trying to reach Uk readers, or you can leave comments and questions below:

Visit Bookangel.co.uk