How to add an eBook to your eReader
This year has been my year for Kindle reading. I’ve almost read exclusively via Kindle, whether through the Overdrive app in partnership with my library, or with public domain classics.
I once declared to a pile of aging, dog-eared books that e-reading wasn’t for real book lovers. Oh my, what a biased and naive and bigoted thing to say, huh. I do apologize and declare that I was greatly wrong.
It did take some adjustment, reading with a digital light and never really knowing how much more of the story I had left (especially in those ‘collection’ series). And... there was, in the beginning, always that fear of losing my place every time I closed the app.
I’ve grown :)
Now, Amazon makes using their products seamless and user friendly, especially when pairing with their devices. I, however, found it doubly tricky to download public domain eBooks to my kindle. I suppose Amazon has its reasons for the work around.
For future me and for you, I’ve created a little cheat sheet to download eBooks to eReaders, specifically for Kindles. Next time I’m browsing Project Gutenburg or Standard Ebooks, or creating something for Lesser Known Works, I’ll go about it with ease.
These lists and ingredients might sound condescending, but I truly need rudimentary directions when it comes to technology. So I apologize if this tutorial sounds simplistic and almost facetious.
INGREDIENTS:
(Cause we are cooking up some magic)
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
- Kindle
- Laptop
- USB cable that connects your Kindle to your laptop.
- A book to download in azw3 format
METHOD:
- Connect your laptop to your kindle device with a USB cable (this is what I use to charge my kindle).
- Find your file explorer (for me it’s called file explorer, I have windows).
- Navigate to your Kindle under the USB label.
- Within your Kindle files, find documents or books folder (depends on the year of your kindle). Whichever one that appears, documents or books, you’ll choose that one.
- From documents or books, find your downloads folder. There you’ll see all the books you’ve downloaded to your Kindle/eReader.
- Navigate back to your browser and locate the book you wish to download to your eReader.
- Download the book, format should be azw3.
- Place downloaded book into your Kindle Books folder that we previously opened.
Viola!
I hope this was helpful. I’ve read more new authors this year since my English Literature college days--and I had sensory overload in those days. I do think this next year, I’d like to slow down and spend more time with a book, really digest the story, you know.
I’m currently reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, which I downloaded from Project Gutenberg. I always forget how charmingly funny Austen is.
Thank you for reading this small tutorial. I hope you find it helpful. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or run into any issues. I promise, I won’t think it strange or weird to hear from you; I gladly welcome it. I’m more than happy to aid your eBook reading endeavors.