Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who runs this site and is it all legal?
2. Which format should I download?
3. How do I put the e-books on my device?
4. Questions about the e-book collections.
9. How can I support the site?
10. My question isn't listed here.
1. Who runs this site and is it all legal?
I run the site. My name is Julie, I live in London, and I've been running Global Grey by myself for around 10 years. The site is completely legal. No illegal books here. Only free, out of copyright books that have entered the public domain. I know some sites offer newer books, but I believe that is wrong - authors deserve to be paid for their work.
2. Which format should I download?
I offer three formats: PDF, epub, and ebook for Kindle. Which format you download depends on which device you are planning on reading the e-books on. If you like reading on your pc, or a large tablet - PDF would be the way to go. If you read via Amazon Kindle on either an actual Kindle, or though the Amazon Kindle app - you will need to download the Kindle (mobi or AZW3). For almost any other ereader, you will need the epub. Note: Amazon have recently come out and said that in late 2022, mobi and AZW3 files will no longer be supported on their devices - they are making the switch to epub. As of now, I will continue to offer Kindle files until I am sure that a) support for these files has stopped, and b) that epubs can be loaded onto Kindle devices via USB.
3. How do I put the e-books on my device?
There are so many devices nowadays it would be impossible to cover all of them, but you can find instructions for a few in this 'how-to' article.
PDFs, however, are the easy one - just click download and save the file to your pc. Open and read. You can also download PDFs to other devices but the smaller the device, the harder it will be to read, because unlike ebooks, PDFs don't resize well. Best to be read on larger screens.
4. Questions about the e-book collections.
Please go to the e-book collections 'faq'.
5. Copyright issues.
I have checked all the books on my site, to ensure they are legally out of copyright. All the artwork on the covers also comes from public domain sources. Every effort has been made to ascertain this fact. However, if there is a book/artwork that you know is not in the public domain, please do let me know. I take copyright issues very seriously and do not wish to infringe upon the rights of others. Please contact me at julie@globalgreyebooks.com.
6. Can I request a book?
Yes! Although I am working my way through quite a lot of requests right now, so you may need to wait a while for me to get it up on the site (unless it's a really easy book to do). Feel free to email me at julie@globalgreyebooks.com, and let me know what book you want, and, providing it's out of copyright (I can check that for you), I will try my best!
7. Using books from the site.
I don't have an issue at all with people sharing the books, nor with teachers who wish to share the ebooks with their students. All the texts on Global Grey are in the public domain, so you are free to do whatever you want with them.
8. Site etiquette.
Technically there are no download limits on the site. The amount I pay for bandwidth allows for a healthy amount of downloads per person. However, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t download hundreds of books in one visit. This site isn't going anywhere - add it to your bookmarks and come back again.
9. How can I support the site?
I'm glad you asked! I don't have any ads on the site so I am solely funded by generous people who donate or who buy collections. The money goes towards paying for web hosting, bandwidth, domain name renewals, security updates, and other software connected to running the site. In addition, if there’s ever a time when I have a surplus of donations (it hasn't happened yet), then I would like to put more money into additional features to make the site better. If you can't afford to donate or buy a collection - you can help out by spreading the word. Tell everyone you know (literally - everyone!) about the site.
10. My question isn't listed here.
You can email me at julie@globalgreyebooks.com, and I will answer you as soon as humanly possible. I'm in the UK, and I'm generally around from 5am till 7pm. If you email within these hours and don't get a reply back within a couple of hours, please do check your spam folder because I always reply - I'm nice like that.
