It is not at all new, reading books online. 1999, when I did my GYAR project, the new thing was the Palm Pilot, a portable screen that almost looked like what a smartphone looks like now. The talk around town was that this was the new way to read books. My idea was to let friends write stories for a webpage from where you then could download the stories to your Palm Pilot. The project was not a success, since the Palm Pilot was too expensive for anyone I knew to buy.
Fast forward many years, digital reading has exploded. Nowadays almost everyone has a device which you can use to read books. Companies like Storytel let authors write books for streaming audiobooks only and you can use the public libraries in many ways, without even setting your foot in the actual library. Another great side effect of the openness of the internet is that more people can reach out with their writing, for example with fanfiction and drama podcasts.
Now when we are spending so much time at home, I would like to give you some advice on how to access books online for free.
First of all, the public libraries are a goldmine. If you have a library card and a pin code you can access all their audiobooks and ebooks. When your loan period is up, the book disappears from your user, so you don’t have to worry about returning anything.
Perhaps it is time to dig into one of the great classics? Older books where the copyright no longer apply are easily available in full text online. Here you can find a list of places where you can download books and plays.
Do you want to share your own writing as well as read others? At Wattpad you can connect with other writers, discuss and read most of the content for free.
Good luck with your digital reading!
Ms Grönwall