Ebooks Explained

Yes, you can buy ebooks from your local independent bookstore!  If, like many of us, you like being able to read on your electronic reader as well as from printed books, we can provide you with many books in the format of your choice.  

Finding ebooks.

Start with the "Search Books and Ebooks" box in the right sidebar.  Use the author's name, title or keyword, just as you would in searching a regular book.  Look for the "Google eBooks" tab at the top of the book listing to see what the available electronic formats are for the book of your choice. Or click "Search for Google eBooks" in the right sidebar to find just ebooks.    

Google ebooks.

When you buy a Google ebook through Greenlight Bookstore, you are purchasing a file that is stored "in the cloud" -- just like your Gmail, Google Calendar entries, or other Google products you can access from any computer using your Google login.  You can also download Google ebooks to Android phones, iPhone, iPad, and many eReaders, and read them using the free Google Books App. 

You can read your purchased Google ebooks several different ways: 1) on your "My ebooks" page when logged into Greenlight Bookstore; 2) on the Google Books page when logged into your Google or Gmail account; 3) on your smartphone or ereader.  As you read, your page positions are saved across all the devices so you can pick up reading where you last left off. That means you can start reading on your PC, continue on your laptop, and carry on reading on your smartphone.

The first time you buy a Google ebook from Greenlight, you will be asked to link your Greenlight Bookstore account to your Google account, and accept the Google Books Terms of Service.  You only have to do this once; checkout proceeds as usual, and you can then access your Google Books.

For detailed step-by-step instructions for downloading Google Ebooks for various electronic devices, click here.

 

Getting help.

Though we hope the experience of buying ebooks from Greenlight is relatively straightforward, you may find things confusing at first, or there may be occasional glitches.  The Greenlight Bookstore staff has been trained to understand our system and all the formats of books we offer, and we're always happy to help!  Please call us at (718) 246-0200 during regular business hours and we'll be happy to walk you through the process.  And if the problem is something more complicated, we can pass along questions to our site hosts at the American Booksellers Association or to Google.

 

 * * *

Not all titles are currently available as ebooks, and the prices on some ebooks (as set by publishers) may sometimes seem strange.  The world of ebooks is still in a state of flux right now, which means that these options will probably change in the coming months and years – hopefully for the better.  Along with booksellers and readers everywhere, we're excited about the possibilities for books in any and all formats.