Kindle Ebook Resources

Sep 27, 2011

Kindle with Wi-Fi Features

File formats supported by Kindle 3: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

My favorite sites are in bold.

TOC

  1. Kindle 3 keyboard shortcuts
  2. Charging problems
  3. Forums for Kindle in General
  4. Customize your Kindle and Software
  5. Pay/Discount Ebooks
  6. Free Ebooks
  7. Free audio books
  8. Info/Blogs About Kindles and Related
  9. Open wifi spots
  10. Ebook related specs, misc
  11. Reviews - Get Your Book Reviewed

    Author tools

  12. Software for Making Ebooks
  13. Authoring sites
  14. Make book cover images
  15. Free images for covers
  16. Publish it here

Kindle 3 General Shortcuts.


From http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2010/08/29/kindle-3-shortcuts-hot-keys-and-hidden-features/.
Also http://blog.diannegorman.net/2010/09/kindle-3-keyboard-shortcuts-et-al/.

Kindle 3 Shortcuts while Reading

Kindle 3 charging problems

Charging from USB port

  1. Make sure computer is on and never goes to sleep. Some computers might turn off USB ports when in sleep mode, because the purpose of sleep mode is to save power.

Charging General

  1. Kindle 3 switch light will turn orange when it is charging. It will turn green when it is done charging. Does your light turn orange?
  2. Make sure cable connections to Kindle and charger are good.
  3. Is the outlet controlled by a wall switch? Make sure outlet is on by plugging a light into the outlet, and turning it on.
  4. Turn off wifi as it drains battery power.
  5. Turn off indexing, as it drains battery power, and slows down a "hard" reboot.
  6. Battery charge does not last long: turn off wi-fi, only use wi-fi when you are expecting a new book, or if you need to update a blog. Also, turn off indexing as it uses a lot of power if you have many books/blogs.
  7. Battery won't hold a charge: Cheaper replacement batteries from China also do not last long.

Forums for Kindle in General

  1. Amazon Kindlesupport - Amazon customer support for using the Kindle.
  2. Amazon Kindle User Support - user provided support for using the Kindle.
  3. Amazon Kindle Software Forum - using the KindleGen publishing software, also Kindle Preview, both free.
  4. Amazon Meet Our Authors forum - from Amazon
  5. KDP Support Forums
  6. Nanowrimo.org - ask for editing, reviews, talk about plots, characters, blurbs/summaries of your story, more.
  7. Smashwords forum

Customize Your Kindle 3 and Software for it

  1. Develop Kindle Apps with KDK - Kindle apps are programmed in Java Java ME (Java Micro Edition, was J2Me).
  2. http://www.ebookworm.us/screensaver/ - change your Kindle 3 screen saver images by using the Jailbreak hack.
  3. Kindle 2.x and 3.x Screensaver hack - will not work on Kindle 3 SO (v.3.2.1 firmware). The Kindle 3 SO (v3.2.1) requires this web page here. Forum post here
  4. Big List of Free Kindle Tools - reading tools, ebook conversion, PDF to Kindle conversion, sending web content to your Kindle.

Pay/Discount Ebooks

  1. Amazon.com
  2. KindleIQ.com - tracks when your ebook drops in price.
  3. Smashwords - nice selection, also filter by free books, best sellers, most downloaded. Fun stories.

Free Ebooks

  1. 1500 Authors
  2. Baen Free Library - free sci-fi.
  3. British Library - British Library puts up copies of ancient manuscripts for free here.
  4. Ebooks2u
  5. EReaderIQ Free section
  6. Feedbooks - free and discount ebooks.
  7. Freekindlebooks.org - mostly the classics.
  8. Free Sci-fi books
  9. Kolor Books - lists new free books by date, but a darker color means higher ratings.
  10. Lulu - buy books, hire editors, buy publishing packages, or marketing packages.
  11. Manybooks.net - mostly older books out of copyright. Includes Encyclopedia Britannica.
  12. Obooko - download books, or upload yours to get exposure.
  13. Project Gutenberg - contains only older books out of copyright.
  14. Smashwords - nice selection, also filter by free books, best sellers, most downloaded. Stretchy, bouncy, fun stories.
  15. Tor.com - contains sci-fi and fantasy books.
  16. Wattpad.com

Free audio/Audible books

  1. Audible.com
  2. Audible.co.uk - An Amazon company.
  3. http://blog.booksontheknob.org/

Info/Blogs about Kindle and Related

  1. http://ebooksiteslist.blogspot.com/ - lots of info about using the Kindle, book sites, more.
  2. Kindlemap.net - point your Kindle browser here to get a map, or search for hotels, gas stations, churches, etc.
  3. http://www.anysubjects.com/ - list of Kindle-friendly websites.

Open Wifi Spots, Search for local

  1. Openwifispots.com - Open wifi at: McDonald's, Starbuck's, some other cafes, Hampton Inn (probably need a password), bigger libraries.

Ebook related

  1. International Digital Publishing Forum - Open EPUB format specs. EPUB is the successor to Open Ebook. Use EpubCheck (free) to make sure your EPUB file is correct before publishing.

Reviews - Get your ebook reviewed

  1. Red adept reviews

Software for Making Ebooks

  1. Amazon KindleGen software - including previewer.
  2. Autokindle - convert PDF and HTML to MOBI.
  3. Calibre - one of the bigger software packages, recommended.
  4. Ebook conversion wiki - See "Web Based" section near bottom of page.
  5. Mobi Pocket Creator - KDP wants authors to use this to create NCX files. Takes a Word file or HTML and images as input. Test your document with a built-in reader emulator.
  6. http://code.google.com/p/sigil/ - Sigil: convert EPUB to Kindle format.
  7. More Kindle tools - Areas covered include: eBook Reading Tools, General eBook Conversion, PDF to Kindle Conversion, Organizing files on your Kindle, and Sending web content to your Kindle. Also, sending RSS feeds to your Kindle.
  8. http://ebooksiteslist.blogspot.com/ - more sites for the Kindle.
  9. http://www.simpletext.ws/ - a website you can view with your Kindle and use as a notebook.
  10. http://threepress.org/document/epub-validate - validate EPUB files via EPUBCHECK, which is required by the Apple ebook store.
  11. http://www.ebookopoly.com/ - convert books to Kindle format for $20 in 24 hours.
  12. http://www.kindleprocessor.com/ - convert TXT file to HTML file for Kindle for free.

Authoring Sites

  1. 1500Authors.com - sell books here, no forum for self-promo.
  2. Amazon Meet Our Authors forum - self-promote.
  3. Epublishingconsortium.com - New site will promote your books for free.
  4. Freebies for Writers - a blog talking about free resources for indie authors.
  5. Independent Authors Forum - site for authors. 2600+ members.
  6. IndependentAuthors.org - site for authors, including self-promotion.
  7. Scribd.com
  8. Smashwords.com - Site to read and buy independent authors; also forum for authors. Smashwords forum
  9. Theindiespot.org - 400+ members.
  10. http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php?topic=42600.0 - Kindle Primer and making Kindle books.
  11. Kindle HTML codes allowed from Amazon
  12. Kindle Publishing Guidelines from KDP - includes info on how to make the cover, TOC, and more.
  13. http://www.mindtech.com.vu/PROMO.htm - Free ideas to market your book. (Be careful, some ideas are considered spam by some forums. Like some forums will not let you put a link to a non-free product in your signature line.)

Make book cover images online

These should all be free.
  1. http://www.signgenerator.org/books/dummies/ - make a "Dummies" style book cover. Images are 319x400 pixels.
  2. http://postit.note.txt2pic.com/ - make an image like a Postit note. Yellow only, but several styles.

    WARNING: The cover generators below may be missing some features, may not let you download an image, or may not let you download an image of big enough size.

  3. http://www.myecovermaker.com/ecover-design - looks good, choose cover background image, text style, color and size. Creates ONLY 3D covers. That is, looking at a stack of books at an angle.
  4. http://www.jellymuffin.com/generators/fordummies/ - this flash-based Dummies editor makes images for use on web pages only, they cannot be downloaded. Still fun.
  5. http://www.oreillymaker.com/ - make book covers in OReilly style. Cannot download image. 12 animal images to choose from.

Free Images for Book Covers

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_image_resources - public domain images free for commercial use. Also contains links to other public domain image sites.
  2. http://toolserver.org/~magnus/fist.php - Free Image Search Tool.
  3. http://www.dreamstime.com/ - cheap images, as low as 20 cents per image. Ok for book covers. You need a free account.
  4. http://www.freephotos.com/ - no link back and no credit card required.
  5. http://www.clker.com/search/animal+bird/1 - free line art. You can also upload bitmaps and convert them to line art.

    Paint programs to make/edit covers

  6. http://www.getpaint.net/download.html - Paint.net is a paint program for Windows only. Can generate clouds, fractals (Mandelbrot and Julia sets), special effects, more. Has layers.
  7. http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ - Gimp, for Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Sun OpenSolaris, FreeBSD. Many plugins.

Publish it here

  1. Amazon.com Kindle Direct Publishing - You can email an HTML or DOC file to your Kindle for testing. Sales reports and commission checks are 60 days behind. Support: http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/index.jspa
  2. Pubit - this is for Barnes and Noble only. Input files: Word DOC, HTML, TXT, EPUB.
  3. http://www.scribd.com/ - Search results do not show price or reviews. On book page, reviews are not shown, you must open them up with a slider.
  4. Smashwords.com - SW feeds into the Apple store, Barnes and Noble, the Sony store, and several other major retailers. Hence their formatting requirements Seem strict, but really you only need consistency of formatting. But sales tracking is easier and more timley, and authors can issue coupon codes with an expiration date. The input file is Word DOC only.