BookBub

BookBub is a free service that aggregates great deals on ebooks. It also helps publishers and authors find new fans. It is not a seller, rather it alerts you to limited-time offers that become available on retailers like Amazon's Kindle store, Barnes & Noble's Nook store, Apple's iBookstore, and others. I like BookBub both for the deals it provides and the interface of the site.

When you first register for the site, you are provided with all of the types of books they have. You place check marks next to the genres you like and the email(s) that are sent to you are tailored based on that information. I found two books that I wanted to read immediately after registering. Personally, I don't like emails so I turned them off and instead visit the site when I'm ready to start a new book (or just download a bunch of new books for my reading queue).

As I explored their site, I wondered how BookBub made any money and how they found all these deeply discounted books. The answer is in their "Partners Overview" under the "Publishers & Authors" section in the footer: it explains how to get a book on the site and the associated cost of that advertising. Therefore, the books are only offered for a limited time based on the submitter's choice. Also, they do not feature the same book more than once every 6 months or feature the same author more than once every 30 days.

While BookBub has requirements for submission (e.g. being error free and a full length book) it does not provide ratings (i.e. you can rate books you've read to get recommendations but there aren't average ratings from other BookBub users for each book). I hope in the future, BookBub considers that an enhancement for their site. For now, consumers should check out ratings wherever they can find them (e.g. retailer website, book review blogs, Good Reads) before purchasing the book.

I think it is a great service great for finding a book to read without a specific title (or even genre) in mind.