getithere | Help with Calibre/Mobipocket Creator

Mods - Please remove if you don't want this post here...didn't know where else to go *whines a little*

Anyway, last night I sent 3 fics to my Kindle e-ink reader (cheapy @ $79...have no idea what "generation" it is. That shit confuses me!) and it took like 2 hours for it to ever show up. This has never happened before, so in the meantime I started looking for alternative ways to place a fic on my Kindle via the USB cable. I ran across articles/discussion boards about Calibre & Mobipocket Creator. Needless to say, I still couldn't make it do what I wanted it to.

The Mobipocket would convert the Word Doc, but only to HTML and I could not find a place to change that setting regardless of what was stated on the different boards. I was trying to convert to an AZW file (which some said was the same as EPUB and I still don't know what the hell that is).

After failing with Mobipocket I downloaded Calibre and couldn't figure out how to work that either. Call me technically challenged, but I'm begging for some very simple directions on how to get a fic directly onto my Kindle without having to wait for my email. Is this even possible?

Any & all help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks :)

EDIT: Much help found in the comments. I was successful with Calibre thanks to the most awesome josieb1

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The simplist way for me to upload fics to my kindle is to convert the fic to mobi (which is kindle format) using this free site - http://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-mobi
It is so easy to use, simply upload the fic you want to convert (make sure you fill out the "change ebook title" box with the title or it'll give you a title of letters and numbers) and in minutes, sometimes seconds, it's done. Then use a USB cable to move it on to your kindle. It will convert any file type to any other, including epub I think, but I have never tried epub files on my kindle. With my Kindle I read mobi, word doc, and pdf files. The mobi and pdf work the best. The word files are iffy for me.
The white cable that came with my first kindle plugged into my computer so I didn't have to buy a separate one, but with the Kindle Fire I had to buy a cable. It was a couple of dollars on amazon.
If you have any more questions I'd be glad to help. I also have a bunch of fics already converted to mobi if you want them to get you started.

edit: I use mobipocket reader to read the fics in mobi format on my computer, but I haven't used it for anything else.

Edited 2012-04-04 22:54 (UTC)

Thanks for that link. Josieb1 was actually able to help me with the Calibre thing, but I'll definitely email that link to myself in case I have to depend on someone else's computer that doesn't have Calibre.

It's always good to have alternatives...thanks muchly!

I absolutely love Calibre. <3

However, there's steps you can take to make it simple. When you first install it, it should have asked you what e-reader you normally use.

Then you would click on the Add Books button (looks like a red book with a plus sign) and simply either collectively pull all files from a certain folder or add individuals. After you add the files, they will stay in your calibre library so you don't have to worry about them if you decide to move files to another location on your computer.

Then, if you ever need to convert books, you can click on Convert Books. It will give you options on how you want to change files. I mainly use my nook, even thought I have a Kindle Fire, but I change all .pdf files to .epub. I don't have as many formatting issues when I do this. (Drastic changes in font size was one of the major downfalls.) You can also edit how the books appear. I'm not fond of the Author first naming system that is set up in the downloads, but I can understand why others do like it. So I fix all of the metadata before putting them on my nook. (Which would fall under, Edit Metadata)

Once you have your ereader connected to your PC, you just click on 'Send to Device' and all the files you selected will be sent to your ereader. Then you can tell it to eject the device and you are good to go. :)

The other great thing is that even if you don't take the time to convert files, if the file isn't compatible with the device, Calibre will convert it automatically for you.

Thanks, but my problem was as josieb1 thought...it didn't like my Word Doc format. I had to change it to Rich Text, but now it works great!

Thanks for helping a 'tech challenged blonde doofus'!!! Don't know what I'd do without this community...I feel the love!

Ah, sorry, I must have skipped that part. I tend to convert all of my completed fic files into .pdf files. I haven't tried the .html or other extensions to make sure all formatting, pictures, etc that I tend to hold in them stay in place.

It's almost second nature when I save files to automatically make another in .pdf. ^^;;

Yeah. I wish I had saved in PDF too, but I have way too many to go back & mess with it now & I have just enough OCD that I have to have everything the same. That can be such a bitch sometimes :)

Hi Kelly, I have sent you a PM with some instructions on how to use Calibre, you can email me for more info if you want.

AZW is the format Amazon use for the ebooks they sell, just ignore that format for now, as bastdazbog has said you want to convert your word docs or PDFs to mobi format. One thing to remember is to open your word docs and resave as a Rich Text Font document first, load that into Calibre as it doesn't like word docs.

My instructions explain how to do it, but I have more detailed ones, with pictures, if you send me your email address.

Once you have it figgered out Calibre is awesome. I have been using it since 2009.

Edited 2012-04-04 23:09 (UTC)

Josieb1...you're AWESOME! That worked great for me & I truly appreciate all your help!!!

Let me know if I can ever return the favor!

And if these instructions don't get it for you, I've got a detailed one, as well. There is a conversion step for Word docs before importing them into Calibre that you might be missing. You do have to save them as html files first. Let me know if you want me to email you my (longass) explanation.

I would say that if you're not looking for a full ebook management system and just want to convert Word docs to mobi files, converters other than Calibre might work just as well for you. You can also look in the Tags under e-readers for a couple of other file converter options.

LOL! 'Longass explanations' are probably apropos with my 'long ass request'!

Anyway, thanks to josieb1 I got the Calibre to work for me. I am soooo in love with this community!

And damn, did I miss checking a tag? I always try to do that when searching for fics before making a request, but I just didn't even think there would be a tag for this kind of thing. See, what'd I tell ya...this community has everything!!!

I'm just gonna chalk it up to a long day, bad headache, being blonde & a husband that is royally pissing me off tonight! Shit! I need a vacation!!!

I know you sent them to me before but I had computer problems before I had the chance to download calibre and now I can't find them in my documents folder. I was hoping, it it's not too much trouble, if you could please send them to me again if you have time.

spike7451@gmail.com

Thank you. :)

Sent them, Lyn. Hope you've received them. If not, let me know, and I'll resend.

Got them thank you so much.
*hugs*

Lyn.

Help with Calibre/Mobipocket Creator

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