How to discover books

Our mission is to help you make that serendipitous discovery, to find a unique literary gem or a gripping story and to create those little “wow” moments.

We have stripped our site down to nothing but book covers, because we do judge a book by its cover and our brain is lightning fast at scrolling through images.

Often we have some idle time, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, while waiting for a friend to arrive, for a meeting to start, or for a train to arrive. Use that time to browse a selection of great reads and sample a few books for later reading.

Just start scrolling our pages and explore the book covers on display. If you see a book of interest, click on the cover for more information and to sample or share the first 10% of the book.

You can access at a later time anything you have sampled through the “My Books” icon or, if you prefer not to log in or register, you can download immediately the samples to your current gadget.

Need more help? Let’s dive in more deeply.

How to download samples

Get the first 10% of a book for free so you can try before you buy. Recommendations from friends are great, but there is nothing quite like getting a taster for a book. Our samples can be read on almost any gadget and any app (we do try our best, but not everybody likes playing nice with us, so there are a few exceptions to this rule).

What happens next after you click or tap the green “sample” button?

If you are signed in and are using a tablet or computer:

Pressing the green “sample” button will (1) add a copy of the sample to your personal cloud library from where you can download it to any other device whenever it suits you and (2) a download of the ePub file for the sample will be initiated. File downloads start immediately when you are signed in on a non mobile device.

If you are NOT signed in and are using a tablet or computer:

Pressing the green “sample” button will bring up a dialog box asking, if you (a) want to sign in or register - and as soon as you log in, the download will commence automatically as in (1) above - or (b), if you wish to stay anonymous, you can press the “Download ePub file” button and the download process will commence, but no copy will be added to your personal cloud library (you are, after all, anonymous).

If you are using a mobile device:

If you are using an iPhone or another mobile device, then a copy will again be added automatically to your cloud library, but you will be prompted to confirm the download (files range in size from 0.1 to 2 MB) whether you are signed in or not.

How does your browser handle book samples?

Chrome: the file is visible in the lower left hand corner of your browser window
Internet Explorer: IE/Windows will automatically launch the sample in ADE, if installed
Firefox: Firefox will prompt you to select the right program to open the sample
Safari: Safari will automatically launch the sample in ADE, if installed

What happens when you hit the green “sample” button from the “My Books” section? Well, the process will be exactly the same but no new copy will be added to your personal cloud library. There is always only one copy in your library.

To delete a book from your cloud library, click the “delete sample” icon shaped like a cloud with an “x” in the upper right hand corner of the book detail page that appears when you tap or click on the book cover.

“Send to Kindle”

We can send the sample to your Kindle device, even if it is not the device you are currently using.

With “Send to Kindle” we send the sample (as a .mobi file) to your Amazon account from where it will sync to your Kindle ereader, Kindle Fire or Kindle app. You need to have activated the feature and be logged in for this to happen, in which case it will be done automatically every time you sample a book.

How to read on popular gadgets

PC or Mac

We recommend installing Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). Once installed, the program will open automatically when you open a file you have just downloaded.

iPad

There are a couple of great apps out there for the iPad.

You can use Apple’s own ebook reading app, called iBooks. This does not come pre-installed on iPhone or iPad. You have to download it from the app store just like all other apps.

Another great app is the Bluefire Reader application. Bluefire also make a great app for Android, so you can enjoy the same user experience on both platforms.

You can install one or more of these apps. Every time you download a sample to iPad, iOS will ask you which reading application you want to use. Just select which app you want to use and off you are to a great read.

iPhone

The Bluefire and iBooks apps will also work on the iPhone.

You can install one or both of these apps. Every time you download a sample to iPad, iOS will ask you which reading application you want to use. Just select which app you want to use and off you are to a great read. iPhone and iPad offer almost exactly the same reading experience, except the iPad screen is a lot bigger.

Kindle

Find out how to use your Kindle with Jellybooks here.

Nook

Jellybooks samples download to the “download” folder of the Nook, not your library folder. Sorry, nothing we can yet do about that. Navigate to the “download” folder and click on the sample. This will trigger the Nook’s native reading software.

Android

Aldiko is a great app for reading ebooks on Android smartphones and tablets. It already comes pre-installed with many Android phones.

You can also use the Bluefire Reader app. They support not only iPhone/iPad, but Android as well.

Sony eReader and other eInk based devices

Details coming soon, but in most cases you will need to sync the ePub file to your PC with a USB cable using Adobe Digital Editions (ADE).

Help with setting up “Send to Kindle”

Help with Step 1: Logging into your Kindle account.

You need to log in to the Amazon webpage for the country where your Kindle is or Kindle apps are registered.

In the US: Amazon.com

In the UK: Amazon.co.uk

In France: Amazon.fr

In Germany: Amazon.de

In Spain: Amazon.es

In all other countries: Amazon.com

Or, navigate as follows:

Open Amazon homepage
Click on "Your account" and log in
Click on “Manage Your Kindle”
Click on “Personal Document” settings

You should be seeing the screen below, if not please navigate to this section:

Amazon Personal Document Settings

Help with Step 2: authorize Jellybooks to send ebook samples to your Kindle account.

Click on “add a new approved email address” (highlighted by arrow 2 above) and type “@jellybooks.com” into the box provided by Amazon

Help with Step 3: provide Jellybooks with your Kindle email address.

Highlighted by arrow 3 above is the location where you find your Kindle address.

It is typically something like [email protected]

Important: You need to be logged in to your Jellybooks account for the “Send to Kindle” feature. This feature will NOT work when you sample anonymously! Amazon’s Whispersync is free over WiFi, but you may incur charges by Amazon if sending files over a mobile connection (see Amazon’s Personal Document service policy). Jellybooks does not charge for this service!

When you delete a sample on Jellybooks, it will NOT be deleted from your Kindle account and vice versa. Each account is separate from the other once the file has been transferred.

Some of the best books we read, we discover through the recommendations of friends.

Say thank you to your friends by sharing your own discoveries with them, as well. We have attempted to make this sharing process as simple as possible.

You will find the blue “share” button whenever you click on a book cover whether it is on the home page or on the “My Books” page. We have also included a blue “share” button on the last page of every preview, so when you have finished reading, you can send a copy of the preview to your friends.

We think that a recommendation is sweeter and more helpful if the recipient can read a sample, too. Your friends do not need to register with Jellybooks. They are free to download the book anonymously when clicking on the link you that you send them. Of course, we do hope that they will find Jellybooks fun and useful and will sample and share their own discoveries with you as well.

Sharing books via Jellybooks is similar to tweeting a link to an article or sharing the link to a YouTube video. We think it is almost like sharing candy with friends.

To keep things very simple, no digital rights management (DRM) software has been added to any of our sample files. Jellybooks offers the most open service for sharing ebook samples. We don’t lock you into a walled garden, no matter how beautiful.

Nevertheless, these samples are still under copyright and you may not copy the file yourself. This would be a violation of copyright (see our help section on sharing and copyright).

Sweet deals and how they work

Sweet deals!

ebooks at ½ price feels almost like getting candy.

Sweet deals by Jellybooks are ultra-short and last only 12 hours. They start at 6 a.m. in the morning and end exactly at 6 p.m. in the evening.

They are the 21st century version of a book club, but without the membership fees. If enough members sign up during the 12 hours, then everybody gets the book at ½ price. Sharing deals with friends has its sweet rewards.

What if there is not enough interest in an offer? Well if there is no deal, then there is no charge to your credit card either! There is simply no risk.

To make sure you don’t miss out on a deal, press the “deal” button and you will added to the mailing list for the deal alert on that title. When there is a deal, we will send you an email, tweet or Facebook message based on how you first registered (you can always add more contact options by visiting the Settings menu).

When do we launch a sweet deal for a book? That depends mostly on the author or publisher, but it happens sooner for books where many Jellybooks users have requested a deal. You may of course consider recruiting your friends to “wish” a deal as well, by getting them to tag the book as well. It is OK to campaign for sweet deals on Facebook, Twitter or by email! The greater the interest, the sooner the sweet deal may happen.

What if you can’t wait for the deal and want to read the book right now? Just press the “buy” button and we will take you to the ebook shop of your choice – Kindle, iTunes, etc.

Where to shop for books

You enjoyed the sample and want to read the rest? Great, so now how do you buy the book?

You will find the purple “buy” button with the “$”symbol when you click on any book cover and it also appears on the last page of every sample. Enjoyed the sample? Well, why not buy the book from your favourite shop to continue reading? Would be sweet, wouldn’t it?

Click on the “buy” button and we will provide you with a selection of links that take you straight to the product page at your favourite retailer - Kindle Shop, iTunes Store, etc. There is no need to search for the book again. What if you don’t want to pay the retailer’s asking price? Well, from time to time we have sweet deals on books. Press the yellow “deal” button to receive a notification when there is a sweet deal. We can make no promise that there will be a deal for the book of your choice and we cannot tell you how soon a deal might happen. You will get it cheaper, but it will be at a time of the author’s or publisher’s choosing. It’s a little bit like an outlet shop, a bit of hassle, but great savings in return.

So use the purple “buy” button if you can’t wait and use the yellow “deal” button if you are patient and want to save some extra money.

Why does Jellybooks not sell ebooks like Amazon or Apple? Well, we think these companies already provide a great service with very competitive prices. We don’t think we could do better. Instead, we focus on creating a great discovery service and finding ways of offering you exceptional deals instead of the book at the same price as everywhere else. Sound sweet?

Why should you use the “buy” button instead of going directly to Amazon?

We hope we are making it simpler for you
Jellybooks gets a small reward from Amazon and the other retailers for each purchase that helps us finance the free discovery service
Clicking “buy” is like a “thumbs up” vote that you like the book and we can use that to create better book recommendations for you.

How to register/sign in

Need more help?

We apologize that we are unable to currently offer you a means of contacting us by phone, but you can email us on info(at)jellybooks(dot)com or chat with us on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin. Our handle or profile name is “Jellybooks”.