Problems: missing index, table of contents, illustrations, text; typos (fixing them); custom books.
How to: get free download, free membership, preview, buy (paperback or download?) or return paperback, new book notifications,
contact us, value antique book.
For: book stores, libraries, universities, book reviewers,
nonprofit groups, publishers, authors.
About: book rights, our mission.
How do I download a free PDF copy of my paperback?
Simply go to our home page and enter the bar code number from the back cover of the paperback you bought where it says Free Scanned Book Download.
Why are there so many typos in my paperback?
The book descriptions we ask booksellers to display prominently warn that our books contain numerous typos. Most book sellers display our descriptions. But if they don't, unfortunately, there's nothing we can do.
We created your book using OCR software that includes an automated spell check. Our OCR software is 99 percent accurate if the book is in good condition. However, with up to 6,000 characters per page, even one percent can be an annoying number of typos.
We carefully proof read the books we expect to sell enough copies to cover the cost of proof reading. But that could add more than a thousand dollars to the cover price of the rest. And nobody wants to pay that.
If you need to see the original text, you can download a copy for free.
Why is the index and table of contents in my paperback missing (or not working)?
The book descriptions we ask booksellers to display prominently warn that our books are not indexed. After we re-typeset and designed your book, the page numbers change so the old index and table of contents no longer work. Therefore, we usually remove them.
Since many of our books only sell a couple of copies, manually creating a new index and table of contents could add more than a hundred dollars to the cover price. And nobody wants to pay that.
If you need to see the original index, you can download a copy for free.
Why are illustrations missing from my paperback?
The book descriptions we ask booksellers to display prominently warn that our books are not illustrated. We typeset our classics paperbacks using OCR software. Therefore, they don't have illustrations.
We would really like to manually scan and add the illustrations. But many of our books only sell a couple of copies so that could add hundreds of dollars to the cover price. And nobody wants to pay that.
If you would like to see the original illustrations, however, you can download a scanned copy of the original book for free by using the form on our home page.
Why is text missing from my paperback?
The book descriptions we ask booksellers to display prominently warn that our books may be missing text. Unfortunately, all or part of a page is occasionally missing from our copy of a book. Or the paper may be so discolored from age that you can no longer read the type.
We would really like to track down and buy multiple copies of those books to compare and manually proof read and correct any missing text. But many of our books only sell a couple of copies so that could add hundreds of dollars to the cover price. And nobody wants to pay that.
If you would like to read the original scanned book, you can download a copy for free.
How can I check the quality of a paperback before buying it?
Simply click the details link on our search results page to see a random 2,000 character except from the book.
Can I buy a paperback of the scanned book rather than your re-typeset version?
We have tried reprinting books without re-typesetting them, but the discolored paper and faded type of the original copy creates printing problems. Sometimes the original book (which usually comes from a library) even has hand written notes, underlined sentences, or paragraphs highlighted in yellow. Reprinting all that as is, looks really bad. If we only expect to sell a couple of copies, retouching hundreds of pages could add hundreds of dollars to the cover price. While most people prefer we re-typeset and design a book (with some exceptions), we continue to develop the technology necessary to restore the original rare book so we can reproduce it as is. Hopefully, we can offer that service in the future, but not yet.
What would it cost to manually retype, proof, typeset and design a book for me so it's perfect?
Proofreading a book alone can cost $13 or more per double spaced page. So a 200 page book could cost $2,600 plus typesetting and design and printing costs. Therefore, it would be less expensive to download a scanned copy from our website for free and take it to a copy shop instead. Alternatively, you could do the proof reading and just pay us the cover price to print and bind it for you.
How can I help?
Some kind readers have offered to correct the typos in a favorite book. The best place to do that is Wikisource. By typing a correct version of the book there you make it available to everyone in the world. Furthermore, other readers can help you with the job of proof reading. To automate the task, simply download the scanned version of the book from our website. Open the PDF with Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. Highlight the text with Select All from the Edit menu. Create a web page for the book. (See Wikisource instructions.) Select Paste from your browser's Edit menu to paste the book into Wikisource. You and other readers can then proof read and correct the book. Distributed Proofreaders provides a similar service but you need to email a scanned copy of the book to them first to get their approval.
Who owns the book's rights?
The book is likely in the public domain in the USA and, therefore, anyone is allowed to publish it here without permission. Please see the list of what books are in the public domain. That means we can't assign book rights to you.
Why buy the paperback? Why not dowload?
If you like to read on a computer, you can download any book from our site for $9.99 (or you may find a free copy on the internet). Our paperbacks are bought mainly by libraries and people who prefer to read a paperback than a computer screen. We only charge for scanning, editing, typesetting, designing, printing, binding and shipping of books--we don't charge for the content of books in the public domain.
I have an old book. Can you tell me what it's worth? Would you like to buy it?
Sorry, our staff are not trained in antique book valuation and we don't buy old books.
Why did you publish this book?
Our mission is to make out of print books available again.
I bought a paperback. How do I get a free book club membership?
To join our book club for free, simply go to our home page and enter the bar code number from the back cover of the paperback you bought.
I can't find a book on Amazon (or my local book store). Can I buy the paperback from you?
Please find the book by entering the title, author or ISBN in the Search form at the top of our web pages and then click the paperback link. (Please don't include the subtitle after the colon.) That will show the book sellers you can buy the paperback from. Alternatively, you can click the download link to buy the book in PDF format. We don't sell paperbacks directly.
Who distributes your books to book stores and libraries?
Book stores and libraries can order our books from our wholesalers: Ingrambook.com in the U.S., Bertrams.com and Gardners.com in the UK and Libri.de in Germany for German books. Each ship worldwide. If they list the book as out of stock, you can still order it. They will just get our local warehouse to ship it to them. Since our books don't have a cover price you can add any markup you like. We don't sell paperbacks directly; we let our wholesalers and retailers do that.
Can you send me your book catalog?
You would need to search our book catalog from our website since it's way too big to print out.
How do I return my paperback?
Could you please be so kind as to return the book to the book store you purchased it from, if it's not too much trouble? We can't accept returns directly since much of your purchase price went to the book seller, the distributor and the wholesaler so only they can refund that money. If you bought the book at Amazon, please see their refund instructions here.
Why is a book not available as a paperback? Can you let me know when it is?
We are trying to make each unique downloadable English title available in paperback. Unfortunately, we can't automatically let you know when we print a book. You need to check our website from time to time. We will print non-English language titles as we get distributors in those countries.
What's your address, phone number, personnel?
We don't list our personnel, address and phone number because it's more efficient to contact us via our Contact Us form.
I work for a University. Can I get a "desk copy" of a book?
We no longer provide printed desk copies. Instead, you can download a PDF copy of the book for free by entering the barcode from the back cover of a paperback, on our home page.
Can I get a free review copy of a book?
We provide book reviewers who work for magazines and newspapers with free digital review copies. Simply click the Contact Us link at the top of our website and enter the book's ISBN number. Could you please provide your email address at the magazine or newspaper you work for, or URLs of reviews you have written for them, if you don’t mind? We no longer provide printed review copies. Unfortunately, we don't provide free copies to people mentioned in the book, the author's relatives, websites, blogs, book stores, libraries, scholars, professors, Wikipedia contributors, etc.--but you can download a copy from our website for $9.99.
I'm with a non-profit group. Can you donate copies of your books?
I'm very sorry but we had to stop donating books due to the difficulty in verifying requests. Instead we make unsolicited donations to causes our staff are already familiar with.
I'm a publisher. Can we buy foreign rights for one of your books?
Since we are a global publisher, we don't sell foreign rights to our books. But if you would like to distribute our books in your country, please let us know.
I'm a website owner. Do you have an affiliate program?
We can provide an affiliate program to sites with half a million monthly visitors. If you qualify, simply let us know via our contact form.
I'm an author. How can I submit a manuscript?
We don't accept manuscripts from authors. We license large numbers of books from other publishers.
Can I reprint parts of a book?
For permission to reprint text, simply enter the book's details at our text agent's site.
For permission to reprint an image, simply upload a copy of the image to an online storage service, then submit the Image URL box at our image agent's site.
I have some questions about a book?
You can find any of our books by using the Search form at the top of every web page to search by title, author or ISBN. Simply click the Details link under the title in your search results to see all the information we have about the book. In many cases that includes a 2,000 character excerpt. Unfortunately, our customer service staff don't have any more details about a book than what is in our database and listed on the book's detail page. However, you could download the books at no additional charge if you were a book club member, or for $9.99 otherwise. If you buy the wrong book, simply login to your account and click the replace link at the bottom to get the correct book. Unfortunately, to get additional details you would need to hire one of our researchers to retrieve and study the actual books and that, unfortunately, would cost more than just downloading the books.
Where can I see the book's cover?
If you click the paperback link on our search results page to pick a bookseller, you should see the book's cover image at one of them.
Short Q&As
Q. Do you publish hardcovers? A. No.
Q. Do you use acid-free paper? A. No.
Q. Where do you publish from? A. Nashville, TN.
I see a charge from Books LLC. What is it for?
If the charge is for $9.99 it means you purchased a digital book. To see what book you downloaded, simply click the Login link below and enter your PayPal email address. If the charge is for $14.99 it means you purchased a book club membership. To cancel a membership, simply log into your PayPal account as explained below.
We can't make PayPal charge you. You need to order through them and cancel with them.
How do I cancel a book club subscription?
Since you ordered your subscription from PayPal, could you please be so kind as to cancel your subscription with PayPal?
Simply locate the subscription charge in PayPal, click on Details and then press the Cancel Subscription button at the bottom of the page, then again on the page following.
Alternatively:
1. Click Profile at the top of the page.
2. Click My Money on the left and My Preapproved Payments on the right.
3. Click Books LLC and then click Cancel.
If Books LLC is not listed under preapproved payments or the cancel button is grayed, you have already canceled your subscription.
If you don't cancel, PayPal will automatically bill you $14.99 every 30 days until you cancel with them. Please don't send cancellation requests to us.
I paid to download a book. Now how do I get it?
If you paid by credit card, after 10 seconds Paypal should send you back to our website to download your book. If you paid from your bank account you will need to wait up to four days until PayPal notifies us that if has received the funds from your bank.
When we receive your first payment we automatically send you an email with download instructions. If you don't get it, simply click the login link at the top of our web pages and enter the email address you gave to PayPal.
You don't need a password. After logging in you will see the books you have downloaded or purchased. Simply click the title link to download a book without charge.
If you don't see the book, could you please be so kind as to check that you logged in under the exact email address on the PayPal email confirmation for the purchase of that book.
If you did and you don't see your book, please select the email confirmation you received from PayPal and click the Forward button to forward it to us as an attachment. (We need to see the email address PayPal sent the confirmation to.)
When I click the download link I don't get (or can't read) the book. What to do?
Whenever someone tells us that they can't download or read a book, we never seem to have any problem downloading or reading it. Therefore, could you please be so kind as to try these downloading tips first:
* First, please try our suggestions below. If none of them work, please ask a friend if they can download it for you. If it doesn't work for either of you (very rare) could you please send us the URL and error message and we will find a way to get the book to you or refund your purchase.
* If the download times out, you can download the book again at anytime. Simply click the login link on our home page. Don't worry if you see a book listed more than once in your account. We will only count it as one download.
* These can be huge files. Sometimes downloads can take a long time. Therefore, as long as you don't get an error message, it's best to do something else and check the download's progress later. Try to avoid clicking the refresh button since that starts the download again making you wait even longer.
* If you see the book downloading but it doesn't display, open your browser's download page to find it. (Your browser may be set not to notify you when a download is complete.)
* Sometimes you can't save a PDF with your browser's save command; You need to use the PDF save command for the plugin you are viewing the PDF with.
* Try right clicking the download link and select Save Link As to save it directly to your computer without displaying it in the browser.
* Try upgrading your browser or try a different browser like FireFox or Google Chrome; they're free. Sometimes corrupt settings can prevent opening a PDF inside your browser.
* If your PDF reader in missing, corrupt, or not mapped to your browser properly, you may get a plugin failure or "The root object is missing or invalid" message. Try reinstalling your browser, then upgrading Adobe Reader. If you have been using another PDF reader, you may want to uninstall that from the Programs control panel first.
* If you are not using Adobe Reader, you may want to uninstall your PDF software and remove old copies of the PDF. Then install Adobe Reader, download the PDF again, launch Adobe, select Open from the File menu and open the new copy of the PDF.
* If the download doesn't start, try temporarily turning your popup blocker off if you get a message that it blocked something.
* If you get a message that this item might have a virus, try temporarily turning your web antivirus software off. (A PDF book can't have a virus.)
* If you get a message that the book is not available and you are a book club member then we suggest you try downloading another edition instead. If you are not a book club member, you can click the Contact Us link and let us know if you would like a refund or to change your order to another book number.
* Sometimes people tell us that after downloading the book the pages are blank. Normally this means the PDF hasn't finished downloading or you need to wait a few seconds after turning the page. When you can read the last page of the PDF, it means the download is done. (You can ignore our Preparing to download message if it continues to display.)
* If Adobe Reader says the PDF is corrupt, it usually means it didn't finish downloading. Please try downloading it again. You may need to delete your browser's temporary files so it doesn't serve the corrupt PDF from its catch.
* If your browser runs out of memory while downloading the PDF, please try closing your other programs to increase memory and then try again.
* Please let us know if after buying a book you get the message: The requested URL was not found on this server. We will track down the book for you. Unfortunately, if you were downloading the book free as a club member you will need to find another book to download.
* If you are getting another error message from our website could you please send us the URL where you are having a problem and what the error message is, and we will fix it. But if it's your browser or Adobe software that's giving you the error, our customer service people can't provide support for those software products.
* When the download is done, select Save from the File menu of your PDF viewer or click the disk icon on your browser, depending on how your computer is configured, to save the PDF to your computer. You computer will not save the PDF--you need to do that. You may want to make a note of what folder you saved it to so you can find it later.
* If you get an XML error when downloading a book from your account it may mean you waited too long before clicking the book. (URLs expire.) Simply click your browser's Refresh button to log into your account again and then immediately click the title of the book you want to download.
Can I read the book on my computer?
Yes, simply double-click the PDF you downloaded to read it in Adobe Reader or whatever PDF reader you have on your PC. You don’t need an iPad, Kindle, or any special hardware.
Can I read the book on my Kindle?
Yes, Kindle has a built-in PDF Reader. Simply email the PDF to your Kindle (via your @Kindle address) or drag and drop it onto your Kindle (when connected via USB).
To add Kindle functionality such as annotation, Text-to-Speech, etc., type "Convert" in the subject line when emailing the PDF to your @kindle.com address.
However, we suggest you test your ability to transfer and read a PDF on Kindle before purchasing the book from us since people often have problems doing that. We can't offer tech support for Kindle or refund your purchase if you have to read the book on your PC.
Can I read the book on my iPad?
Yes, you can read a PDF on iPad. Simply add the PDF to your iTunes 10 library, connect your iPad to your PC and Sync.
You can read the PDF with iPad's built-in PDF Reader, Goodreader, Cloudreaders, or Stanza, etc.
However, we suggest you test your ability to transfer and read a PDF on iPad before purchasing the book from us since people often have problems doing that. We can't offer tech support for iPad or its PDF readers or refund your purchase if you have to read the book on your PC.
Can I read your books on my Nook, iPhone, Sony, Blackberry, or other mobile device?
Yes, you can upload or email a PDF formatted books to your mobile device and then read them with free software like
eReader or Mobipocket. Or you can convert the book first using Calibre. Please contact the manufacturer for details. We can't provide tech support for their devices. For example, the free PDF reader that comes with a particular device may not read all PDF formats. In that case, you may need to first convert the PDF to an older format like PDF/x using software like Adobe Acrobat or install a more sophisticated PDF reader on your device.
Can I print the book?
Yes, simply double-click to open it in Adobe Reader and select Print from the File menu.
I bought the wrong book (or there are pages missing). Can I get a refund, or a re-scanned book, or another edition?
Please locate the correct book or another edition of the problem book, click the Details link and copy the ID number in the URL. (For example, if the book's URL is /book.cfm?id=4417773, copy "4417773".) Then click the login link at the top of the page to login, click the replace link at the bottom of the page and paste the new book ID beside the book you would like to replace.
However, we don't provide this service to book club members since they can simply download the other book without any charge.
If the replacement book is also missing pages, you could also search Worldcat for the closest library. Unfortunately, we don't keep the original books.
Why join the book club?
If you want to download more than one book you can save money by joining the book club for a month since a membership costs less than the cost of two books. However, please keep in mind that not all books listed in the search results are available in all countries at all times to club members.
Are your PDF books illustrated?
The books listed on our search results as PDF/scan are scanned copies of the original book. They include the original illustrations.
How do I distinguish between old scanned books and modern originals?
The books listed on our search results as PDF/scan are older books we have scanned. The condition of the books reflects their years of use in libraries (e.g. notations, faded type, yellowed paper, etc.) The scan may have missing or skewed pages. We also have hundreds of thousands of books listed simply as "PDF" that are mostly modern, original books published by us. We have typeset and designed those books and then converted them to PDFs. Therefore, you can search those books by keyword and copy and paste text into your word processor. The books "by Wikipedia" consist entirely of content licensed from Wikipedia.
Can I download books without a PayPal account?
You can pay without having a PayPal account. After clicking the download or join book club link, simply click where it says "Use your credit card or bank account." That will let you pay by echeck or credit card. If you are outside of the USA, select your country first to see your local payment options. Unfortunately, we can’t accept mailed checks or other payment methods.
I just downloaded a book. Can I switch that order to a book club membership instead?
PayPal will not let us convert your order for a single book to a book club membership. We also can't refund book purchases. Sorry.
How do I download a book again later? How do I login?
If you bought the book or a book club membership on our website, simply click login and enter your PayPal email. You don't need a password. After logging in you will see the books you have downloaded as a book club member or purchased. Simply click the download link to download a book without charge. If you wish to download a scanned copy of a paperback you purchased, please do that from our home page.
I can't find the book I'm searching for. Do you have it?
First, we suggest you search by alternatively entering the title, author or ISBN in our search box. We also suggest you omit the book's subtitle since we normally don't index on that. If that doesn't work, unfortunately, we can't help further. Our customer service people have no additional searching tools. We don't take requests for books we don't have and we have no way to let you know when we receive a book.
However, if you buy the wrong book by mistake you can try another edition at no charge as follows: Please locate the correct book or another edition of the problem book, click the Details link and copy the ID number in the URL. (For example, if the book's URL is /book.cfm?id=4417773, copy "4417773".) Then click the login link at the top of the page to login, click the replace link at the bottom of the page and paste the new book ID beside the book you would like to replace.
Do you have a list of available books?
Since we have millions of books, we suggest entering subjects or authors of interest into our search box. There's no list since it would be much too long to browse.
Can I find books by subject?
Entering the subject in the title search field will usually work. While we have assigned BISAC subjects to most books for library use, we haven't made them searchable since usually only librarians know them.
Can I get the text for a scanned book so I can search or edit it?
You can convert a scanned book to text by opening it in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. Drag your cursor to highlight the text you want.
Then select Copy from the Edit menu. Open your word processing software and select Paste from the Edit menu. If you can't highlight the text or pasting gives an image, select Document > OCR Text Recognition > Recognize Text Using OCR in Adobe Acrobat to convert the PDF to text first. That will allow let you search the book using the PDF applications Find option. For further details please contact Adobe. We cannot provide technical support for their products.
Can I preview a book before I download it?
You can click the Details link on our search results page to see if we have a 2,000 character excerpt from the book. That's the only preview option.
I'm a book club member. But when I try to download a book it asks me to pay $9.99.
Please click the Login link on our home page and enter your Paypal email address first. If you forget, at the top of the book payment page you will see a reminder that says "Book club member? If so, please login to download the book for free."
If you are a book club member you can then use the search above to find and download new books for free. But don't click the back button or you may logout. (You know you are logged in if your email is in the URL.)
I'm a book club member. How do I download more than four books a month?
At the moment there is no way to increase the downloads per month on an account. If you have another PayPal account, you could use that to subscribe to a second membership. We only offer one membership per PayPal account. Unfortunately, we don't offer discounts for multiple memberships. Otherwise, you can download as many additional books as you like for $9.99 each. Don't worry if you see a book listed more than once in your account. We will only count it as one download.
I'm a book club member. It's a new month. Why is the site saying I have already downloaded my four book maximum?
You can download up to four books every 30 days. If, for example, you download all four books on the first day you will need to wait 30 days to download more. If you download books over the course of several days you can log into your account to see the download dates. Count to four starting from the bottom of the book list and then add 31 days to that download date. That's the day you can resume downloading. The start of a new month doesn't change that.
I'm a book club member. I didn't download any books last month. Can I download twice as many books this month?
Unfortunately, our software will only let you download four books each month. Allowing for credits of books not downloaded in prior months would require a complete rewrite of our software.
Does my book club membership auto renew monthly?
Yes, PayPal will automatically bill you $14.99 every 30 days until you cancel. You don't need to do anything.
If I download the same book twice do you count that as two downloads?
If you are a book club member you can log into your account anytime and download a book again by clicking the download link on your list of books previously downloaded and we won't count that. However, if you download a book using our book search form and it is a different version of a book previously downloaded then we will count that as an additional download.
PayPal rejected my credit card. How do I pay?
You may want to contact PayPal (e.g. service@PayPal.com) to see if they can offer you an alternate way to pay. Unfortunately, we can't force them to take your credit card and we don't offer an alternative payment method.
How do I print the PDF I downloaded?
If you are having troubling printing a PDF Adobe offers the following suggestions. If you can't find the PDF you can search your computer opening Windows Explorer and enter *.pdf in search box at the top or just download it again.
What is the resolution of your PDFs?
Most PDFs are scanned at 600 dpi. However, we may reduce the resolution to 300 dpi or lower to reduce download time and the time it takes you to view the next page.
How can I reduce the size of the book?
To reduce the book size so it takes less space and prints quicker, simply open it, select Print from the file menu, select your PDF print driver, select the desired resolution and click OK. For example, for the Adobe PDF driver click the Paper Quality tab, then the Advanced button, then the Print Quality link. Please consult Adobe technical support for further details.
How do I change my email address?
To change the email address on your account, simply change your primary email address at PayPal. When we receive the next PayPal payment from you, we will automatically create a new account for the new email address. Afterwards, you can continue to download your old books from your old account.
Why am I getting this message: Sorry, this edition of the book is not available for download to your country?
Unfortunately, some books are only available for download in a limited number of countries due to local copyright laws. Therefore, we let you know before you pay. However, you can try clicking on other editions or similar books to see if they are available. If that doesn't work, there is no need to write us since we don't deliver books by email or any other means.
Do I become a book club member simply by buying a book?
No. To become a book club member you need to post a request using the form on our home page. We don't enroll you in the club without your permission.
As a book club member, does a three volume set count as three books?
If the volumes are separate downloads then, yes, we count each download as a book.
When I click on a URL in the book I downloaded why doesn't it work?
Please copy and paste the URLs into your browser rather than clicking on them. If the URL is more than one line long, you may need to paste it into Notepad first, click in front of each additional line and press that backspace key until the URL is all on one line. If you are retyping the URL, please make sure you have typed each lowercase letter as lowercase and each uppercase letter as uppercase.
Why do books sometimes have a different number of pages than listed in the search results?
We list the pages in the scanned edition; sometimes we list the pages in the paperback edition.
In either case, the two editions have the same content--the paperback edition just uses a bigger page size and a more compact design to reduce the pages.
Are the books in color?
If the original book had color illustrations then the scanned book will almost always be in color also. However, we can't guarantee that nor can we check a book to confirm the existence of color images.
When was the book written? What language is it in? What's the difference between similar titles?
In our search results we show the volume, date the book was first published (if we know) and its language in brackets. (We leave the language blank for English.) For example: [1842] [FR]=French, [IT]=Italian, [DE]=German, [ES]=Spanish, [NL]=Dutch, [PT]=Portuguese, [NO]=Norwegian, etc.
For additional details, please click the Details link. We also include those details in the descriptions we ask booksellers to display.
Something is missing from the book I downloaded. How can I see it?
You could search Worldcat for the closest library. Unfortunately, we don't keep the original books.
How can I make sure I haven't bought the same download twice?
Simply log into your account by clicking the Log in link at the top of the page. If the book is listed once, you only bought one copy. If it's listed twice, simply find another book using our search form and note the ID= number in the Download link by clicking it. Then log into your account and clicking the "request" link to get a free copy of the new book.