22 Free e-book Sites!

Cruising around online I have found 22 free e-book sites. One site even offers free audio books and another is designed for those of us who might need a little larger print! I am a total book hound and a big fan of free stuff. Isn't the digital age wonderful?

www.AskSam.com/ebooks/ - A small selection of classic texts like Shakespeare, and assorted legal & governmental texts.

www.baen.com/library/ - Baen Free Library - A small library of downloadable science fiction novels, mostly the first in an ongoing series to get you hungry for more.

www.bookrags.com/browse/ebooks/ - BookRags.com - Small selection of free choices, and thousands more for premium members. Can be downloaded as PDF or Word documents.

www.Gutenberg.org - The first project for converting public domain works into a digital format; their selection now numbers over 5,000.

www.ManyBooks.net - Over 24,000 books to be read on your PDA, cellphone, iPod, iPhone and more.

www.Mslit.com - Over 60,000 e-books provided by Microsoft for their MS Reader.

www.NetLibrary.net - World Public Library: Annual membership, and access to over 500,000 works, is only $8.95 a year. They do offer some books for free.

http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/ - Oxford Text Archive - Thousands of texts in 25 different languages you can download as ASCII or DOC files, some do require permission of the original uploader, some are archived for preservation purposes only, but most are available and free.

www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp?CurrentPage=1 - PlanetPDF eBooks - A decent sized collection of classic novels all in PDF format.

www.planetebook.com - is the sister site to Planet PDF offers more downloadable free e-books.

www.PocketPCbooks.net - A nice selection of e-books specifically for your Windows Mobile Device. They are mostly converted from Project Gutenberg. Every one needs to carry Sun Tzu’s The Art Of War on their PDA.

www.Bartleby.com - Internet site dedicated to providing students, teachers, and the intellectually curious access to information and books for free. They have the Bible, Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, Harvard Classics, and encyclopedias are included here in this easy to browse, HTML only site.

sunsite3.berkeley.edu/Literature/- Berkeley Sunsite Classics - A selection of the works of 10 classical authors from Jane Austen and Thoreau.

www.Bibliomania.com - Over 2,000 classic texts, study guides, reference books, help for teachers, biographies, and more.

www.Grtbooks.com - Chronological collection of free-to-read online texts dating back as far as 200 B.C.

www.Infomotions.com - A collection of over 14,000 open access documents from full novels to Western philosophy.

www.ipl.org/reading/books - Internet Public Library - A directory of over 20,000 of online texts hosted at other sites.

www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper - The Perseus Digital Library - A large collection of classical texts broken down by the time period in which they were written and/or category of work.

www.ReadEasily.com - A site with e-books specifically with the visually impaired and elderly in mind. It allows you to change colors, fonts, and size to make it more legible.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/ - The Online Books Page - Directory of over 35,000 e-books from all over the web.

www.scribd.com - Over 50,000 texts from books to magazines to articles to recipes.

www.arcamax.com - over 50,000 books by e-mail, sent a chapter a week.

www.questia.com - Over 74,000 books and 2 million articles for free, but you do have to register.

http://librivox.org/- Free audiobooks. The site is dedicated to making all public domain books available as free audiobooks.

By the way, smart is sexy. Have fun bookmarking!

If you are a writer and looking for the top, best advice from the best in the business, subscribe to The Writer. It has the most current information on both getting published and self publishing from the top agents in the business! Make your own luck!

Subscribe To The Writer Now!

If you're in the mood for a little extra but not-so-free fun check out this hot book for us girls.

How To Love Like A Hot Chick

I just read this book, "How To Love Like a Hot Chick: The Girlfriend to Girlfriend Guide to Getting the Love You Deserve", and I must tell all you dating girls to get it and read it!

Hot Chick: A confident, passionate, honest woman…You want to be around her to soak up those good vibes.

Jodi Lipper and Cerina Vincent are very funny and very real. The book is full of their own dating stories, both tragic and triumphant. I love the way they take the guilt out of the experience and point you in the right direction of FUN! That's what it should be about! They do have advice for younger women too, even on dating while you are a virgin. But for the women in their late 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, come on girls! Let's have a good time out there. Jodi and Cerina remind you that dating is a short time in your life and you nee to get out there and make some memories that will have you blushing. It's your heyday...make it worth reminiscing.

In a fun way, How To Love Like a Hot Chick: The Girlfriend to Girlfriend Guide to Getting the Love You Deserve
will help you figure out what you want, how to get it, and why you shouldn't settle for anything less. Most importantly, they’ll make the entire process a lot more fun with their advice on the hidden joys of being single, how to send out magical Hot Chick Vibes and interpret the vibe your date is sending, steps to falling in love without freaking out, tactful dumping procedures, survival techniques for heart-wrenching breakups, and much more.

Whether you’re single, dating, in a relationship, or so confused you don’t know what your status even is, How to Love Like a Hot Chick will have you laughing your way through dating and relationship issues and tackling them like the sexy, fabulous woman you already are and deserve to be.

Please read it. You will have so much fun!

Find Your Dream Man On Line...Really

Have I mentioned I found my love on Match.com?

It is a real fairy tale story.

I had gone to a Christmas party at a friends house and her mom was single. We chatted a bit about boys and such and she mentioned that she was on Match.com. I was surprised and even more so once she told me that she had met some very interesting men from Match.

Hmmm. I went home that night with the intention of looking at boys online. At the time, the site wouldn't let you look without signing up. So I did. Checking out the profiles was great! It was so nice to see that there were still a lot of single me still out there. It can be so much more difficult to see that in daily life!

Match.com 7-day Free Trial

Looking at the profiles helped me think hard about what I was really looking for, what kind of a man I wanted in my life. I also took the time to check out the women's profiles to see what I was up against if someone were to search for a woman who fell into my category. That was enlightening! Do that for sure. Read a few profiles and it becomes sooo obvious what not to say!!!

The next night my girlfriends came over with wine and I took my laptop downstairs and we created my profile. By the way, "curvy" means curvier than the novice might think. So don't select "curvy" unless you are curvier.

I decided not to include a picture. I wouldn't recommend this at all for anyone, but hey, it worked for me. I was thinking that I could meet any guy in a bar who would love to do me, you know, we are girls, guys are always after us for that. I wanted a man who could READ about me and "get" me on some level other than the pic. Well, that was the philosophy, however faulty.

I searched the men for a couple I thought were worth chatting with and e-mailed.

Remember, I had only heard about it at a Christmas party. Our first date was in January. In February we were in London. We had our first Valentine together when we returned from London.

It's been three years and I love him something crazy. I think if you "match" on paper to begin with, if you meet and have chemistry, wham! It's a big deal.

When you meet at a bar or anywhere in real life, the process is reversed. You know if you have chemistry and have no idea if you have anything in common. On top of it, the chemistry causes the two of you to want to have things in common, to look for them, and maybe alter yourself just a bit to accommodate the desire to find "the one".

On-line dating is amazing. It gives you options previously unavailable. I found a true gem and one I cannot ever imagine having the opportunity to meet in daily life without an incredible amount of luck. On-line, you just search and find.

Now it's not quite that easy, but pretty close. There are lots of ins and out to the whole thing, but go on and try it now. I found a 7 day FREE trial and included it above in this post. You have nothing to lose. They even have a 6 month guarantee! On a relationship!

Wouldn't you just love to find your dream man by next week? Click the Match Free Trial above. Do it now.

Need More? Check Out "Girl Gets Guy"
and Be That Girl!

Fabulous First Date

Watch this video. She's right, we still need the coffee date! Get a coffee date of your very own on Match!

Match.com 7-day Free Trial

6 Profile Mistakes Women Make

Want to get guys emailing you left and right? Purge your profile of these common problems—and try our more guy-friendly fixes.

By Laura Gilbert

Ever wonder why a profile that describes you perfectly isn’t getting noticed by guys you’re dying to hear from? It’s not because you’re not a catch—rather, it could be that your profile contains some tiny red flags that, while invisible to the female eye, make guys think twice about winking and saying hello. But luckily, there’s nothing a few simple tweaks can’t fix. So go ahead and comb your write-up for the no-no’s, and try these substitutes (trust us, guys find them irresistible!).

Match.com -
Everyone knows someone who met on Match.com.
Now it’s your turn. Search Now

Profile problem #1: Creating a laundry list of the perfect guy’s traits
Of course, we all want someone who’s hot, rich, interesting, hilarious—the whole package, and it’d be foolish not to have a few must-haves for the guy you’d like to get to know better. But when a woman spends her introductory paragraph going on and on about who she's hoping to date, it can scare off men who don’t feel they can live up to those expectations.

Guy-friendly alternative: List just two or three of the most important things you want in a mate, whether it’s financial security or a passion for going out on the town every Post a blurry shot online and guys will wonder what you’re trying to hide. weekend. Lest you think you’re lowering your standards, think about the happiest couples you know: When they first started dating, were they exactly ideal? Or, think about someone you’ve dated who was perfect on paper but lacked that spark to keep you coming back. In other words, what makes a match work is not always based on meeting that checklist in your head. Nix it from your profile, and watch the guys pour in—then take your pick!

Profile problem #2: A picture that doesn’t really show you at your best
We all have a shot of ourselves that we love, regardless of the fact that it’s a little blurry, distant… or that you’re wearing sunglasses that hide your eyes or a huge comfy sweater that obscures your figure. That’s fine if you like it and feel free to keep it for the fond memories—post it in your profile, though, and guys will wonder what you’re trying to hide. “An obscured photo is as good as no photo,” says Roman Griffen, author of Internet Dating: Tips, Tricks, Tactics. “Men are suspicious of a shot where they can’t make you out and since they’re so visually oriented, they’ll just skip your profile if that first picture doesn’t look good.”

Guy-friendly alternative: Easy: Set your main photo to one that shows you at your best—and leaves nothing important to guesswork. It doesn’t matter if the background is boring—your goal in that first picture is just to present yourself as accurately (and positively!) as possible. It’s fine to include your beloved, more obscure photo in your secondary shots.

Profile problem #3: Going overboard in the “about me” section
We’ve all heard that old statistic about women using, oh, seventy billion words for every one that a man says, and the same is true online. While many men’s personal essays struggle to reach the 200-character minimum, many women only stop when they hit the 2,000-character max. Now, there’s nothing wrong with telling us as much about yourself as you can fit into an essay, but keep in mind that not all guys like reading a wall of “Soul mate”… “Knight in shining armor”… men get skittish when they see this kind of poetic language. text—and may be tempted to move on purely because they’re not in a reading mood.

Guy-friendly alternative: Absolutely share some basics, but save some details for later. Use anecdotes that tell your readers about the real you: “Okay, here goes: I guess that most of my friends would probably say I’m really nice,” uses up 16 words and reveals almost nothing; but “I once walked an old lady four blocks because she needed directions but didn’t speak English” is a memorable, kick-butt story to include, and just a few stories like that will turn a guy’s head.

Profile problem #4: Listing all your hobbies, including ones that turn off guys
So you absolutely love baking, sewing, flower arranging? All fine ways to spend your time. But remember, in your profile you’re trying to attract a romantic partner. “When you list your hobbies, you need to remember that your reader should appreciate them,” says Cherie Burbach, author of At the Coffee Shop: If You Thought E- Dating Was for Freaks and Weirdos, Read This Book.

Guy-friendly alternative: List hobbies that a guy might be glad to join in on himself. Even if you don’t have any current activities that could fit the bill, list something you’d like to do, like “I’ve always wanted to try kayaking.” Not only may you attract some cute kayak enthusiast, you’ll show that you’re open to new things—and that’s an attractive trait.

Profile problem #5: Harping on your exes
Plenty of profiles start with an explanation of why the person is now single. “Prove to me that men aren’t jerks” or “Where are the nice guys?” crop up. Think it’s smart to be honest about your romantic past? Wrong. “The number-one mistake I see people making online is talking about their exes,” says Liz Kelly, author of SMART Man Hunting. The problem isn’t that you’ve had a bad experience, it’s that spending precious profile space on the jerk makes you appear unready to move on.

Guy-friendly alternative: Any time you find yourself writing about your ex, flip it into a positive statement that doesn’t involve him. Turn “I moved here two years ago to be with my boyfriend but then he broke up with me” into “I’ve lived here for two years and still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of this city.” And why write “My last boyfriend seemed perfect until he turned into a liar” when you could say “The most important thing to me is finding a guy who isn’t afraid to reveal himself, warts and all”?

Profile problem #6: Using flowery, fairy-tale language
Soul mate. Knight in shining armor. These terms permeate women’s profiles, and yet it probably comes as no surprise that men get skittish when they see poetic language along these lines. “The bottom line is that everyone dating online is looking for their soul mate, so you don’t have to use terms like that,” says Griffen. “In fact, doing so makes guys feel like they’re a candidate, not just a date, and it turns the pressure way up.”

Guy-friendly alternative: Hold off on the lovey talk until you’re in love. Instead, describe what hanging out with you would actually be like: Do you love ordering a pizza and playing videogames on rainy Saturdays? Or do you make a point of hitting a trendy new bar or restaurant on weekends to keep things interesting? It’s details like these that will draw guys in—and get you one step closer to finding that soul mate you’re looking for.


Laura Gilbert writes for Health, The Knot, Stuff, and Radar—and is proud to say she’s never once used the words “soul mate” or “knight” in her profile. Or in a face-to-face conversation, for that matter.

Match.com 7-day Free Trial

or

Need More? Check Out "Girl Gets Guy" and Learn How To Be THAT Girl!