Freebies
In addition to being free, the ebooks listed here have a Creative Commons license which permits sharing.
Three Times Time is a story sampler of Jack Matthews stories which you can generally find at most ebook stores for free. If you want, you can download the epub file directly here.
My Heart for Hostage by Robert Hillyer is a lauded 1942 novel now in the public domain. Personville Press has prepared a special critical edition which is a free download and available on the web.
Existential Smut titles. Some of these titles from the Ripe Mango Take Two imprint are a free download with a Paypal donation requested.
Sales and Discounts
While ebooks are generally low-cost items to begin with, Personville Press occasionally offers discounts and freebies on ebooks. Here are some tips about how to obtain Personville titles at the lowest possible price. .
- subscribe to the Personville Press newsletter (you can do so here) to stay informed about upcoming deals.
- Prices on unencrypted ebooks are somewhat cheaper than cloud-based ebooks bought on Amazon, Kobo, Apple and Google Play Books. on stores like Amazon which sell cloud-based ebooks. In 2025 Smashwords sells unencrypted ebooks, and they have regular sales twice a year. (here’s the unencrypted ebooks currently on Payhip and Smashwords).
Preferred Distributor
Any way you support the publisher is appreciated.
Obviously Amazon is the biggest cloud-based distributor and often the most convenient way to obtain ebooks. Here are some things to keep in mind when buying from Amazon:
- When the list price is 2.99 or above, almost all the ebook distributors pay authors 70% of list price.
- Amazon pays publishers a lower percentage (35%) than other distributors when the ebook price is below $2.99. For ebooks below $2.99, Google Play Books compensates the publiser at the highest rate (70%). The percent of the price paid for ebooks bought at Apple, BN and Kobo varies. Personville uses a distributor (Draft2Digital) to distribute to Apple, BN and Kobo. As of May 2026, the percent going to publishers is 59% (minus annual fees). That essentially means that Personville Press receives 35%-40% of the purchase price for items bought at Apple, BN and Kobo. Ebooks bought at Apple, BN and Kobo pay authors different percent to the authors. and ebook sellers like Apple, BN, Kobo compensate the author at a still respectable 59%). When you buy from Smashwords, pays authors 40% for ebooks priced below 2.99 and % for ebooks at 2.99 and above.
- Payhip is a direct sale storefront which allows customers to buy unencrypted ebooks directly. Generally the prices are lower than what you will find on Amazon, and the percent going to the publisher is generally higher (65%-90%). The downside is that there is no customer service for Payhip. It’s just me, Robert Nagle! Have no fear. Just send me a message directly, and I’d be happy to help you resolve any issues.
- Cloud-based ebooks vs. unencrypted DRM-free ebooks: which is better?
- Cloud-based ebooks. You can view ebooks on different devices using the company’s app or proprietary device. Customer service is generally available, and if the ebook gets updated, the change will propagate immediately across devices and platforms. The downside is that you cannot import a cloud-based ebook into a different reading system. You generally can’t share the ebook with friends and family and at some point in the future, encrypted ebooks won’t be readable; you can only read the ebook with a proprietary app or device.
- Unencrypted DRM-free ebooks. In addition to being somewhat cheaper, it’s relatively easy to import these files unofficially into other reading systems. Also, epub is just a zip file with an .epub file extension. You can easily rename and unzip it and view the source files! The downside is that after importing the epub file into your preferred reading system, you should archive it somewhere so you don’t lose it or accidentally erase it.