The Amazon Kindle is the most popular e-reader brand in the world. They are the global number one player when it comes to worldwide sales and also are the largest ebook retailer. Some people like to sideload in their own books on the Kindle, since it can get quite expensive to buy them all. EPUB is the most popular ebook format, since it plays nice with virtually every e-reader in the world. Today, we are going to look at the best Kindle formats to convert your DRM-Free EPUB books.
In order to covert your books from one format to another, you will have to download Calibre. This is the best book management software suite and it is always updated to introduce new features and enhancements. It is free software and is available for Windows, MAC, Linux, Android and iOS. You can download it from HERE. When you download and install the software you need to add books to your library. You simply can browse your device and import them in. If they are missing in the cover art, you can right click and fetch metadata, which will search Google/Amazon and pull the latest cover art and also the author, book description and rating. Once you have prepped your book, you will want to convert the book from EPUB to an Amazon friendly format.
KFX – This is the latest generation format. It supports the best typography, so text will be clear, with no weird spacing issues.
AZW3 – This is the most common format that people convert from EPUB. It supports Amazon X-Ray, so even with your sideloaded books, you can use this service.
MOBI – The oldest format for Kindle. You will likely find millions of books online converted in this format, but there are issues with fonts. It is also great for syncing through the Send to Kindle Email feature.
Once you have converted your EPUB to one of these formats, you will want to plug your Kindle with the USB cable into your computer. You can right click on the ebook file and then click send to device, and it will copy the book directly to your Kindle. It will then show up in your library and you will being reading.
Where do you find DRM-Free ebooks online? You can normally just search for the book on Google, and it will display links to forums or websites. I would not recommend paying any sort of subscription fee for the book, most of them can be downloaded for free. If you want to backup books you have bought from other retailers, but are protected by Digital Rights Management, some people think this is OK.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.