How to import any eBook into Amazon Kindle
A while ago I embarked on this endeavor to find the perfect e-reading app. I tried about 3 different e-readers. I am not going to name them, but the one that impressed me the most was Amazon Kindle. The entire app is just really intuitive and hours have gone into making sure that the user experience is pleasant.
Except for one thing.
You can’t just open the app and import any .ePub or .mobi file on your phone or computer. This infuriated me to no end until I found the answer.
I am going to show you how to easily import any book or document into your kindle account.
Why would you need to import a document or book into Kindle?
There is a store after all, isn’t there?
This is true but here are some use cases:
- You found an open source book online that you don’t want to purchase again.
- You were given a pdf book in class that you need to read for your studies.
- You bought the .epub or .mobi on another website
- Amazon didn’t have a digital version of the book but you found it somewhere else.
A note about .mobi files
If the file that you want to import is a .mobi then this process is going to be really easy. You can go ahead and skip to step #6
Amazon requires all files imported to either be PDF or .mobi
Step One
Assuming your file is NOT a .mobi you’ll need to download a nifty piece of software called Calibre. Calibre is an eBook software that allows you to read, manage and convert ebooks to any format that you would like.
Step Two
You’ll need to locate your source ebook file on your computer through Calibre.
Click “Add Books”
Step Three
Once you have located and added your book it will show up in the main Calibre pane. If you click a book it will show all the formats that are currently accessible to you in the information pane on the right.
Step Four
Click “Convert Books”.
This button will bring up a book convert dialogue. On the top left hand corner of the ‘convert books’ dialogue you will see the Source of the book. In the top Right corner you’ll see the output format. In this case you will select .mobi.
Click “Ok” to convert the book.
Step Five
If you click on a book in Calibre once a book has converted to .mobi – you’ll notice that it displays the formats that the book is available in on the right hand side of the calibre application.
Step Six
Now it’s time to import the .mobi book file into Kindle. To do this all you’ll need to do is open your kindle application and retrieve your kindle email account. This is an email account specifically designed to allow you to send content to your devices. It’s not the same as the email that you used to sign up to your Amazon account. For example your kindle email will typically look like xyz@kindle.com
On android:
Kindle Home Screen -> More -> App Settings -> “Send to kindle Email Address”
Attach the .mobi file to an email and send it the email address specified on your Kindle device. After about 5mins the book should show up in your library.
Summary
I hope you have found this article helpful. Please leave a comment down below if you need assistance with anything or message me on twitter @ross_d_g