The Amazon Kindle is arguably the best eBook reader. Arguably is the operative word because Kindle is tightly linked to Amazon’s ecosystem. If you have the Kindle Fire, you won’t have a problem uploading and reading non-Amazon books on your reader. But if you have the other models—the Kindle, the Paperwhite, or the Voyage—it will take considerable effort to read content that doesn’t directly come from Amazon.
The good thing is that it will only take a little bit of your time to do so, and you can enjoy reading non-Amazon content on your Kindle reader. Here’s how to do it:
The simplest—and most direct—way to upload non-Amazon eBooks on your Kindle is via email. You need your Kindle address to make this work. If you don’t know what it is, or you haven’t got one, simply:
- Go to www.amazon.com/myk.
- Choose “Your Devices.”
- Pick the model of your Kindle from the choices.
- Click “Settings.”
- Check “Approved Personal Document Email List.”
- Tap “Add a New Approved Email Address”
- Input the email address you plan to send your eBooks from.
And you’re done. Just remember that your Kindle needs to be connected to a Wi-Fi or a 3G network before you can email your eBooks.
Sideload through a USB Cable
If you want to manually transfer your non-Amazon eBooks into your Kindle device, you can do so via a USB cable.
- Connect your USB into your computer.
- Go to your Amazon account.
- Tap “Manage Your Content and Devices Page.”
- Sideload the books you want to transfer from your computer to your USB.
- Transfer the content of the USB to your Kindle.
This is the best way to transfer your non-Amazon books to your Kindle device if you don’t have Wi-Fi access or 3G Network. It’s an old-fashioned way to carry out the task, but an effective one.
eBook Sites
Some eBook sites that offer free content can directly transfer the downloaded books into your Kindle. Most of the time, it follows the email procedure. If you’re using an eBook site to send books to your device, make sure that the content is virus-free.
Calibre
Perhaps the most popular and most used third-party eBook software is Calibre. Markets that sell tablet units often recommend Calibre as well. It’s primarily a management app for your books. Its two main features are the Calibre library and the Calibre conversion.
With Calibre, you can easily convert your eBooks to other formats. To send your non-Amazon books via Calibre, all you need to do is to set up an account. From there, you can directly send the eBooks to your Kindle. Using the Calibre plugin, you can also quickly get rid of the DRM from EPUB eBooks for easy conversion.
Kindle devices support several formats besides the standard Kindle formats. These include PDF, TXT, MOBI, and PRC. Apart from Calibre, Amazon likewise provides a free conversion service to convert non-Kindle files like HTML, DOC, and DOCX into Kindle formats.