Best online platforms for Free/Pocket-friendly Books

If you love reading and always end up spending a lot of money on books, you need to read this post. But just remember, these are online platforms for reading, we are not talking about physical books here. You are good to go with your phone or tab to make use of these literary platforms.

Before we get into the options in detail, let me share some common information applicable to all of them.

• Use their Apps to make the best use of these platforms.
• You need to log in into the app to explore it completely.
• You can read as well as submit your work in all the platforms we discuss below.

Juggernaut

Juggernaut is a well known Indian literary platform. It is basically a digital publishing house. They have some great collections of books say Short stories, autobiographies, novellas, etc. Apart from a bunch of free novels and short stories, you can also buy some great books at really cheap prices on juggernaut.

They also have a yearly and half-yearly Readers Club subscription facility where you get to read even more books for free. These subscriptions are cheaper than kindle unlimited subscriptions. And do not forget to check out their blog section to read some really interesting literary articles and news. Try Juggernaut thank me later. Click here.

Story Mirror

Story Mirror is the fastest growing literary platform in India that gives you best content delivery. They mainly publish short stories and poems in 5 different Indian languages in addition to English. All stories and poems on their platform are free for readers. Physical books published by story mirror are available in their online store at reasonable prices.

They also have a blog section with a variety of contents to explore. Apart from this, they also conduct several literary contests and campaigns. Recently, the story mirror has started a new initiative related to audiobooks. People can record their stories/poems and submit to Story Mirror for the whole world to listen. Isn’t it interesting? Do give it a try. Click here.

I contribute short stories to Story Mirror. What I like the most about this platform is, they have a team of editors who take time to edit the submissions they receive, hence giving the readers a quality reading experience.

Pratilipi

Pratilipi is a simple ‘read and write’ platform where you can read creative works of other people as well as submit yours. They also conduct many kinds of writing contests to encourage writing skills. Pratilipi publishes in 8 Indian languages in addition to English. But here you don’t get the editing service as in Story Mirror. You submit your write-up and it gets published immediately.

I have read a lot of stories in pratilipi and didn’t find any quality issues as of such. Even I have submitted two stories on this platform. I will happily recommend pratilipi, especially for beginners. Click here.

Inkitt

Inkitt is a US-based reading platform. If you would like to try foreign authors, this is a great platform. They have a range of good quality novels for free on the platform. You get a wide range of genres to read from on Inkitt. While reading, you also get options to adjust the font size and set background colors to suit your vision. It is a very helpful feature. It is a simple and user-friendly app. Explore Inkitt and find something great to read whenever you get some free time. Click here.

Wattpad

Wattpad has its headquarters in Canada. This platform has a very unique feature. When you read a story/novel, you can highlight any part (paragraph/sentence/word) of the story and start a discussion. For example, if there is a description of any particular place in the story, people start discussing that place in the discussion section. Something like, you can comment on whichever section you feel to and not necessarily at the end of the story. Sounds cool, right? Here also you get a wide variety of genres to choose from. Click here.

Conclusion

These are some really useful platforms where you can find some great literary works. People rarely go for these options, so I thought I should share some insights into these possibilities. Even if you are a strict hard copy person, once in a while you could surely try them.

Let me know if you use any of these platforms for reading or writing. Also if you have any recommendations, do share it in the comments section below.

Keep Reading!

I am a content writer and strategist. I help Youtubers ideate and and optimise content for their channels. On this website, I share my thoughts and ideas about books, freelancing and content creation.