Help with Calibre/Mobipocket Creator

[kellydeer.livejournal.com]

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

Comments

[ipitydaf00l.livejournal.com]

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.

[kellydeer.livejournal.com]

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!

[ipitydaf00l.livejournal.com]

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. ^^;;

[kellydeer.livejournal.com]

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 :)