Sunday, November 28, 2010

Kindle How -To -- Using Your Own Books!

There are several ways to transfer your own books to your kindle, this is how I do it.  Kindle accepts several formats, however, I've found that books or documents converted to .mobi flow the best on the kindle reader.


First, you need a program (FREE, of course) to convert your books or documents into .mobi format.  I've found CALIBRE as my favorite.  After you have downloaded this program, you can convert your own files to be read on your kindle.  Then proceed in CALIBRE:


1.  Select Add Books in upper left hand corner as shown below:


2.  Select your book/document that you want to convert to .mobi format for transfer to your kindle:


3.  After adding the documents/books to your CALIBRE library, HIGHLIGHT the book you want to convert.  Now select the little arrow beside the 3rd button on the top labeled "CONVERT Ebooks."


4.  Choose convert individually (or bulk convert for the more avid Calibre User).


5.  Select "MOBI" format from the drop down menu on the upper right hand corner, then click "OK" at the bottom of the screen.


6.  Wait patiently, usually about a minute, for your book/document to be converted to .mobi format.  Then, with the book still highlighted in your CALIBRE library, choose SAVE SINGLE FORMAT TO DISK from the drop down arrow beside "SAVE TO DISK."  Slide your cursor over to select MOBI as your selected format to save.


7.  Choose where you want to save your book collection in MOBI format, and you're done!  Simply plug your kindle into your computer and drag and drop your MOBI format books/documents into the "documents" file on your kindle!

2 comments:

HGlover said...

To convert books for your NOOK, just follow these easy instructions and convert your own books to .EPUB files in Calibre! They should be in the new documents section of your nook... Just check for new content!

Paul said...

Hi Harriette,

Are you still active on this blogspot?

I wouldn't mind sharing more notes about my experience with converting books to and from kindle format.

Paul