How to download a Smashwords book to a Kindle reader
Don’t be held captive by Amazon. Sure it’s more convenient to buy e-books direct from Amazon, but this week you can get some really good book deals at Smashwords. For some reason, Amazon won’t take books from Smashwords. They prefer exclusivity, so writers have to publish directly.
Don’t worry. You can still benefit from the Smashwords promotion. As I promised yesterday, here are the instructions on how to download a Smashwords book to your Kindle or Kindle Fire.
First find the book you want at Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com
How do I download books to my Kindle or Kindle Fire? You’ll find links to all your purchased books in your Smashwords Library. There are two options for loading Smashwords ebook content to your Kindle or Kindle Fire:
1. USB Connection. Plug your Kindle into the USB slot (small rectangular slot) of your computer using the cable that came with your Kindle (the Kindle Fire doesn’t come standard with the USB cable, so you’ll need to obtain the cable separately, or, use the email option described in #2 below). When you attach your Kindle to your computer via the USB cable, it makes your Kindle appear as a hard drive on your computer. After you purchase the book, from the book’s book page click to download the “Kindle” .MOBI format. Next, navigate to where you see the Kindle show up as a hard drive on your computer. Next, just drop the book’s file (it should end in file name of .mobi) to the Kindle’s “documents” folder. Then disconnect the Kindle from your computer and the book will be ready to read. If you already downloaded the .MOBI file to your computer, here’s a helpful YouTube video that shows how to drag the file from your desktop to the Kindle’s documents folder:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UPOgXDYj3M (video not produced by Smashwords).
2. Email the Ebook to Your Kindle Email Address: For both first generation Kindles and the newest Kindle Fire, you can email your Smashwords .mobi files to your Kindle email address. Amazon’s support page provides complete details. To email files to first generation Kindles (Kindles other than the Kindle Fire), click here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200140600. For Kindle Fire only, Click here for how to set up your free Kindle email address, and how to load ebooks or email ebooks to your Kindle Fire using either the email or USB cable method.
How do I download books to my Kindle from my Mac? First, go to your web browser’s Preferences and click Downloads. Make sure to click on the box that directs your browser to ask you where you want to save downloads. If you don’t do this first step, your files may go to your Downloads folder, and then it will be difficult to move them to your Kindle. Next, connect your Kindle to your Mac using the USB cable that came with your Kindle. Next, click to your Smashwords Library to find the link for your purchased book. Then click to download the .MOBI file. When your browser asks where you want to save the file, navigate to your Kindle’s “Documents” folder, and drop the file there. After a few seconds, unplug your Kindle’s USB cable and you’re ready to read.
Hope this works for you.
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