Coronavirus/COVID-19 Resource Round-Up: Free entertainment, activities, and more

In the wake of this terrible COVID-19 pandemic, I am reminded of the good that comes from people banning together to support one another. Here are some of the many things people are doing now to help us all as we self-isolate and wait out this storm.

LAST UPDATED MAY 1st 2020

Free and Discounted Ebooks

Many authors are offering free or discounted books during this hard time. Here are a few to help you pass the time. (Prices may change at any time so please check before purchasing!)

1. Deborah Coonts’ Wanna Get Lucky? is free on all ebook platforms. This is a humorous mystery set in Vegas.
2. New York Times bestseller Dianna Love is offering numerous ebooks for free and others for a huge discount. Dianna writes urban fantasy, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, and sci-fi/fantasy YA Click here to get her books.
3. USA Today bestseller Zara Keane has three free books Dial P for Poison (Irish-set cozy mystery), Love and Shenanigans (small-town romance), and Her Treasure Hunter Ex (romantic suspense).
4. Kristina Rienzi is offering Luring Shadows (new adult domestic thriller) free for April. All her other books are currently 99 cents.
5. Kobo has a great landing page full of free and discounted ebooks and audiobooks. Check it out here: Stay Home and Read with Kobo.
6. Barnes & Noble has a list of 20 great mystery books that are currently free. Check them out here: 20 Comfy Cozy Mystery eBooks for Free!
7. Scribd is offering its library free for 30 days (which includes millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazine articles, and more). Click here for details.
8. Get two months of Kindle Unlimited for free! Click here to sign up.
9. Michael J Bowler’s newest YA suspense novel I Know When You’re Going to Die is 99 cents for a limited time.
10. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read these books free:
    1. Falguni Kothari’s Starstruck (A Second Chance novella)
    2. Falguni Kothari’s It’s Your Move, Wordfreak! (contemporary romance)
    3. Eric R Asher’s Vesik series (urban fantasy)
    4. Eric R Asher’s Mason Dixon Monster Hunter series (urban fantasy)
11. Libby and Hoopla are two apps you can use to borrow ebooks free from your local library without having to leave home. (For New York residents, try SimplyE).

Free and Discounted Audiobooks

1. Audible is offering free audiobooks, listen here: Audible Stories.
2. Scribd is offering its library free for 30 days (which includes millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazine articles, and more). Click here for details.
3. Libby and Hoopla are two apps you can use to borrow audiobooks free from your local library without having to leave home.
4. Deborah Coonts’ Wanna Get Lucky? audiobook is $1.99 on Chirp through April. This is a humorous mystery set in Vegas.
5. Kobo has a great landing page full of free and discounted ebooks and audiobooks. Check it out here: Stay Home and Read with Kobo.

Entertainment

Here are some other ways to keep busy while self-isolating!

1. The Metropolitan Opera is offering free nightly streams.
2. Enjoy Broadway at home with BroadwayHD (free seven-day trial)!
3. Explore famous historic and cultural heritage sites with Google Arts & Culture.
4. Watch Netflix shows together with friends thanks to Netflix Party!
5. Enjoy this adorable video of penguins exploring at the Shedd Aquarium. If one isn’t enough, have another! (And if you still need more, check out Kansas City Zoo’s Penguin Cam)
6. The Philadelphia Zoo is hosting a live-streaming event that gets you up close and personal to some of their animals. Check it out on Facebook: Philly Zoo at 2.
7. Enjoy this free pen-and-paper RPG: Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. (Click here for a how-to guide if you are new to pen-and-paper RPGs.)
8. Award-winning chef Massimo Bottura is teaching free cooking classes on Instagram.
9. Bummed you didn’t get a chance to see that new movie? I have good news for you! AMC is offering all of their current movies for streaming at affordable prices (less than a movie ticket!).
10. Enjoy the Monterey Bay Aquarium via numerous live streams. I’m partial to the Jelly cam, myself.
11. CBS All Access is offering an extended free trial for those in the US. Patrick Stewart shares on Instagram.
12. Take a (virtual) museum tour:
    • British Museum (London)
    • Guggenheim Museum (New York)
    • National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
    • Musée d’Orsay (Paris)
    • National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul)
    • Pergamon Museum (Berlin)
    • Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)
    • Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam)
    • The J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles)
    • Uffizi Gallery (Florence)
    • MASP (São Paulo)
    • National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico City)
    • the Louvre (Paris)
    • Google Arts & Culture’s collection of museums
    • museum Street Views from Google

For Kids

If you have kids at home, many kid lit authors are doing read-alongs and activity times online. Here are some ways you can keep your kids entertained! (Even if you don’t have kids at home, you might enjoy some of these online events yourself.)

1. New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds is doing picture book read-alongs.
2. Scientist and YA author Rachael Allen is offering fun science experiments.
3. New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Mo Willems has a whole series of lunch doodles.
4. Author Chris Field offers afternoon adventures for kids.
5. Josh Gad (the voice actor behind Disney Frozen’s Olaf) is reading bedtime stories for kids, here are two: Olivia Goes to Venice and The Giving Tree.
6. Fatherly has a list of indoor games to play with your kids.
7. Everywhere Book Fest is a free online event with your favorite picture book, middle grade, and young adult authors, coming May 1st.
8. Author/illustrator Liz Climo has a free coloring book you can download and print here.
9. Author/illustrator Jarrett Lerner has a whole resource page of activities for kids!
10. Storyline Online streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations on YouTube.

Education

1. There are over 450 online Ivy League courses available for free.
2. LanguageBird will be offering free resources for students to help them learn different languages. Click here for more.
3. Yale is offering one of their most popular courses, free: The Science of Well-Being
4. NASA is offering STEM activities for kids.
5. The Cincinnati Zoo takes kids on virtual safaris.
6. Art teacher Mrs. Velazquez has an amazing resource for art education at home here.
7. FableVision Learning has an amazing list of free distance learning resources.
8. The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators has a digital directory for remote learning resources.

For Authors and Creatives

1. ConvertKit is offering free plans with up to 500 subscribers + Creator Pass for a limited time. Click here to make an account.
2. Mark Dawson is offering enrollment to the Self Publishing Formula University free of charge: click here to enroll.
3. Author Accelerator is offering free courses and resources for authors.
4. Kristen Hadeed has a great guide for those working from home: The Remote Working Guide: How to Lead A Team + Yourself
5. Berkeley Extension is offering resources: Mental Health Resources to Help Prevent Creative and Professional Burnout

Financial Assistance

1. Coronavirus (COVID-19): Small Business Guidance & Loan Resources | U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
2. Disaster assistance from SBA: “The SBA provides low-interest disaster loans to help businesses and homeowners recover from declared disasters.”
3. ConvertKit is offering assistance for creatives with The Creator Fund. Apply here.
4. To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, a coalition of national arts grantmakers have come together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States. See more about this here: Artist Relief
5. We Need Diverse Books has created the WNDB Emergency Fund for Diverse Creatives in Children’s Publishing. Learn more here.

I hope these resources help you through this difficult time.

What resources have you found helpful? What are you still looking for? Let me know in the comments!

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