How to Convert eBooks to Kindle Format

If you are looking for a way to convert eBooks to Kindle format, look no further.

The Amazon Kindle is arguably the best eBook reader in the world in spite of stiff competition from the likes of the Sony Digital Reader series and of course the Apple iPad. The Amazon Kindle however uses the proprietary AZW format for eBooks whereas the devices from Sony and Apple use the open epub format so that your eBook library is not restricted to any one device. Essentially what this used to mean is that eBooks purchased from Amazon can only be read on a Kindle device and that your existing library will not be compatible with the Kindle. Not anymore.

Now you can convert your eBooks to a Kindle friendly format quickly and easily and it won’t cost you a dime, thanks to a little piece of software called Calibre.

Calibre is free to download and simple to install. Once installation is complete Calibre will place a folder called Calibre Library in your My Documents folder or any other location of your choosing. All books added to and converted by Calibre can be found in this folder which is sorted by author name as default.

Open Calibre, click the ‘Add’ button on the toolbar and select the eBooks you want to convert. You can choose to convert books individually or batch convert a larger number of books. You can also fix meta tags such as author details and book titles, and even add cover art to books that are lacking a cover.This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Calibre can do.

Once you've added your eBooks, select the output format as MOBI and click convert. Calibre will output your eBook in the MOBI format and save a copy of the eBook in its original format.

Since the AZW format is proprietary, Calibre cannot convert eBooks to this format. The MOBI format is the closest format to AZW and displays perfectly on the Amazon Kindle. You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between an AZW eBook and a MOBI eBook.