Downloading AK Press E-books & Audiobooks

Below you will find some basic instructions for how to download and open your purchased files.

Basic Information about Downloadable Products

When you purchase an e-book or audiobook from the AK Press website, your download links will be sent immediately in your confirmation email. You can also access your downloads by logging into your customer account and going to "My Downloadable Products."

Our downloadable products are DRM-free and once downloaded, can be moved and shared freely between your devices. Make sure you are downloading to a device where you will be able to find and access downloaded files and transfer them to other devices if you so desire.

E-book Instructions

The specific instructions for downloading and opening e-books will depend on what device and app you are using to read them. We encourage you to consult whatever instructions are available for your specific devices and apps if you are having issues. Many e-book reading apps are prioprietary to a specific platform and make it as difficult as possible to load e-books from outside sources. But it can be done! Here are some basics:

If you are using a Kindle device or app, download your e-books to a location where you will be able to access the files easily to move them. Then go here, where you can drag and drop or upload files to your Kindle library.

For any other app, just download your e-books and you should then be able to open the files using whatever ePub reading app you have set as your default.

If you do not have an e-reader app built into your device, you can try Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre for reading on a computer (both available as free downloads). There are also a number of free e-reader apps available for phones and tablets.

Our e-books are limited to 3 downloads from our website per purchase, but once downloaded, can be shared freely between your devices.

Some customers have had a problem with downloaded epub files being renamed by their computer as zip files (and then not opening, because they are not really zip files). This is a known issue with some Windows and Android devices and we're not sure why it happens, but no e-books downloaded from AK Press should be zip files; if your device thinks they are, then renaming them with an ".epub" extension typically solves the problem.

If you are experiencing an issue not addressed here or in your device or app's instructions, contact us and we'll do our best to help you. Please be as specific as possible about the issue you are having (what device, app, or browser are you using and what exactly is happening?).

Audiobook Instructions

When you purchase an audiobook from AK Press, you will be presented with a list of many files. The first (and largest) file will be an .m4b file containing the entire audiobook including chapter markers. If you want to download the entire e-book for listening in an audio player, this .m4b file is the only file you need to download. You will be limited to 3 downloads of the .m4b file per purchase, so make sure that you are downloading to a device with enough free space on it, where you will be able to find, access, and move the files as necessary. When you click on the link, certain browsers may open the .m4b file in a browser window rather than downloading. In that case, once it has fully loaded, you can right-click or ctrl-click on the opened file in your browser and choose the "save as" option to download it. Once the file is saved, you should consult the specific instructions for the audio player you are using to learn how to add or import these files to your library for listening, and how to navigate using the chapter markers.

M4b audiobook files can be played in iTunes—and if transferred onto an iPhone or iPad, can also be opened using the Books app. There are many other free audio players and audiobook apps for other platforms that will play .m4b files.

If you prefer to listen to the audiobook online chapter-by-chapter instead of downloading the whole thing, you can click on the individual .mp3 files (which are numbered in sequential order for ease of listening). This should open each chapter as a file in a browser window and you can use the browser's built-in audio player to listen. There is no limit on the number of times you can listen to each audiobook this way per purchase.