Tag Archives: ereader

Works, Publishing

How to “sideload” e-books

I wasn’t sure whether I should cover this, but I’ve gotten enough questions that I can see it’s really important! When you download an ebook file from a site like Smashwords or my store, it doesn’t automatically appear on your Kindle like purchases from Amazon (I wish). But fear not! You can read the book on your device—you just have to “sideload” it.

Kindle instructions | Nook instructions | Other apps to help

Sideloading on Kindle

Once you have the file, you have a few options.

    1. Email the file as an attachment to your Kindle address. You can forward an email if the file comes as an attachment, or attach the file from your computer if you’ve saved it. You can find your Kindle address and set this up at http://amazon.com/myk under Settings > Personal Document Settings. You have to tell which email addresses can send you files. (You must have Wi-Fi service on your Kindle to download them.)

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  1. When your Kindle is connected to your computer, drag and drop the file into your Kindle’s Documents folder. (You could even save it there in the first place, if you want.)
  2. Use a program to help you (more below)
  3. Use Amazon’s Send to Kindle service as a browser add-on, or as a program on your desktop or phone. (Note on this below)

Sideloading on Nook

Since I don’t own a Nook, I found this guide for PCs and Macs (to use after saving the file to your computer):

1. Connect your Nook to your computer with the USB cable. A “Nook” drive will appear in My Computer (PC) or Desktop (Mac).

2: Copy and Paste, or Drag and Drop downloaded PDF or EPUB files into the My Documents folder on the Nook drive.

3: Go to My Library on the Nook, hit View My Documents, and then hit Check for New Content.

4: Select one of the files you sideloaded into My Documents and press Select to open it.

If you have a PC, you can also try this step-by-step guide from the Nook forums:

  1. Buy the book
  2. Open Nook for PC on your computer
  3. Nook for PC should automatically sync to your online account and download the book.  If it doesn’t, click on the sync icon in the upper right corner.
  4. Make sure that My Library – All Items or My Library – eBooks is selected on the left.
  5. If the sort button doesn’t say Recent, click on it until it does.  This will put your new books at the top. (Note, in the instructions for her, I have a picture of this)
  6. Once your book is downloaded to Nook for PC, connect your Nook to the computer.
  7. You should see a popup window that says “DEVICE DETECTED”.  Click yes.
  8. Now you should see a file sharing window.  The left white box is the Nook, the right white box is your computer (desktop).
  9. Click on My Library next to the word Desktop.
  10. Find the book you want to transfer and click on it to highlight it.  If you want to transfer more than one book, hold down the control key on your keyboard and click the next book you want to transfer.
  11. Click on the left facing double arrow between the two white boxes.  This will transfer the files.
  12. Now you should see the books in the left (Nook) white box, indicating they have been copied onto the Nook.  (Note:  They will still be on the desktop side also.)
  13. You have completed transferring the books to the Nook.  Now you need to eject the Nook and disconnect from the computer.
  14. Open Windows Explorer (File Manager), locate the Nook drive on the left pane.  Right mouse click and select eject.
  15. Open the Nook to the library and your books should be there.  If you have the sort order set to recent, they should be at the top.  If not, they’ll either be in author or title order.

Alternate to step 7.  If you already have your Nook connected when you load Nook for PC, then click on “My Stuff” on the left and click on the button at the top that says “Manage Devices” to open the file sharing window.

Software to save you headaches!

You can also use an app like Calibre, which is totally free. It can manage and convert your ebook files (I heard they recently added Word doc conversion!) and transfer files to your device. It doesn’t play well with Kindle collections last I checked (but I never update), but I use it and like it.

Amazon has recently premiered free software to do this as well. Send to Kindle is available as an add-on to the Chrome and Firefox browsers, a stand-alone for your computer—even an Android app. However, the browser add-on appears to be mostly geared to sending web content to your Kindle. The computer app adds an option to Send to Kindle on the menu when you right-click (PC) on a file.

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Now, read & enjoy!

The winner of the I, Spy song contest is (Drum roll please!)

Renae Mackley!!
Congratulations, Renae!

The Mr. Nice Spy contest remains unsolved! Give me some time to think about this one.

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Reading, News & Contests

Awww MAN (or not): New Kindles

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In case you haven’t heard already (I heard it here), Amazon has unveiled a few new Kindles today, and they hit that all-important price point: under $99. And not just a little under: with special offers, there’s a $79 model.

Sort of. DO NOT BE DECEIVED by the “SPECIAL OFFERS.” They make it sound like it’s something you want. It’s advertising delivered to your Kindle. Your book is now a billboard. (Although they say they won’t interrupt the reading experience, and they’d better not.) You can decide if that’s something you want, but it’s definitely not something I want.

Probably the most important technological innovations to me are the Kindle Touch—a touch screen eReader—and the $200 (no special offers, I think) Kindle Fire. It’s a tablet (the color one in the slideshow). Yep, a tablet. Are we approaching the dream eReader that I was searching for last summer?

I was planning to hold out until my “ideal e-reader” became a reality. (In short, it would be a cross between a Kindle and an iPad, with a touchscreen that could be LCD or e-Ink as needed. Don’t look at me that way—I’m not a hardware person! I don’t know/care if that’s impossible!)

Oooor not. While it’s a heck of a lot less than most of its competition, this is still a regular old LCD tablet (though I’ve discovered I’m not alone in the wish for a screen that would switch between eInk and LCD. Still not a hardware person, but just thinking about it doesn’t sound feasible, unless the eInk screen were on top of the LCD screen and could be switched off, but I think that could lead to a lot of problems….).

I actually have last year’s Kindle (now the Kindle Keyboard without Special Offers—affiliate link, I get a small % of any purchase made through that link—amazingly, it’s still $139. Hm.) And if I had to do it again right now, I think I might actually go for the same thing.

Your mileage may definitely vary, but I LOVE physical keyboards—on smartphones (would that my phone were smart), on computers, and I assume on eReaders. I hate typing on touchscreen keyboards (again, YMMV, but I never have success with them and I’ve been touch typing for 15 years. Also, that’s from my experience with the iPad1, so I guess this could be different.). Oh, and advertising to me on my own personal device for possibly the rest of my life costs >$40. Sorry. I’m not that cheap. However, I do kind of like the idea of subsidizing a lifetime of reading to make it affordable for some people.

And Amazon’s new baseline model: a non-touch, keyboard-free Kindle, the smallest size ever, for $79 (it’s the silver one with one square button and four circular ones at the bottom in the pictures above). I’m guessing you’ll have to input text using the 5-way arrow button. Fuuuun. But good if you’re not a note taker (I really, really am one—especially when reading my own manuscripts).

What do you think? Do you have an e-Reader? Will you be buying a new one?

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Publishing

The ideal e-reader

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If you haven’t heard, e-readers (eReaders, if you prefer) are the wave of the future in publishing. With the same experience as reading from paper, e-readers take e-books to the next level (and reduce eyestrain FTW).

I’ve accepted that an e-reader is probably in my future—but suddenly, I realized that future is now: I’m in the market for an e-reader.

I actually had planned this post before I began shopping. I was planning to hold out until my “ideal e-reader” became a reality. (In short, it would be a cross between a Kindle and an iPad, with a touchscreen that could be LCD or e-Ink as needed. Don’t look at me that way—I’m not a hardware person! I don’t know/care if that’s impossible!) But I don’t have to hold out until my iRead dream becomes a reality—I have the money for an e-reader right now.

So if we’re shopping for an e-reader now, the main contenders are the Barnes & Noble NOOK and the Amazon Kindle. It doesn’t hurt that they both just dropped their prices under $200.

Here are the basics: they’re both about the same size. They both use e-Ink for an awesome reading experience (I’ve heard). They both wirelessly download books, including many free books in the public domain. They can both take notes on your books, and can hold about 1500 books, they say.

The Kindle is tied to Amazon. It reads mainly Amazon-tied formats, though you can email some types of files (like Word documents) to a Kindle account and have them converted. (I hear they’re free if you have them emailed back and put them on your Kindle through your computer; there’s a nominal fee if you want it delivered wirelessly to your device). Amazon has an awesome selection and on average, slightly lower prices on e-books. It also has a bubble button “hard” keyboard and can read your books to you with text to speech software.

The Nook is tied to Barnes & Noble. In addition to the e-Ink screen, it features a smaller LCD touchscreen. This is where you find your library as well as a virtual keyboard, and even email and some games. For a few select books, you can loan a book one time to another Nook owner for two weeks. The Nook supports more e-book formats—but not Amazon’s proprietary format. You can take it into B&M B&Ns and sample books for free, up to an hour a piece per book, I think. It also features a replaceable battery and a memory card, so you can expand your library even more, should you ever own more than 1500 e-books.

I still have to try out the gadgets in person (Kindles are at some Targets and Nooks are obviously at B&Ns), but I think I’m leaning toward one right now. Still not totally committed.

What do you think? Would you choose the Nook or the Kindle? What would your ideal e-reader look like?

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