How to Send Your eBook to the Kindle

Did you know that an eBook can be sent directly to the Kindle via e-mail? I know, right???? OMG what a convenience! *Arial grumbles at B&N for not getting with the program*

If you're an author and have a few beta readers who help you test out your novel before it gets published OR if you're a blogger and would love to receive ARCs and beta books from authors for reviews, this is a great option! It takes just a little bit of time to set up, but once you've done it, not only is it a breeze to do again, you only have to do it once per author/sender.

The instructions below are addressed to the person who owns the Kindle, so...

• Authors - You can send your readers here for these instructions OR copy and paste them into an e-mail to send to your beta readers/bloggers who will be reviewing your book. And please Click to Tweet this page with your author friends to spread the word!
• Book Reviewers/Beta Readers - Just follow the instructions and refer authors to this page or Click to Tweet and spread the word!

Don't Have a Kindle?

No prahhhhblem!!! (<---Chicago accent coming out) Amazon provides a FREE application you can download on your iPad, iPhone, Android phone, PC or Mac! Click here to get yours!

Once you've downloaded your app and registered it with your Amazon account, you can receive books via e-mail just like a regular Kindle device. Here's how!

Basic Steps

1. You need the e-mail address to your Kindle
2. You’ll need to approve the author's (or your) e-mail address (the address that will be sending the eBooks) as a sender of documents
3. The file sent to the Kindle must be either a MOBI or PRC file.
4. The file is e-mailed to the Kindle e-mail address and the book will then be automatically loaded onto the Kindle the next time it connects to Wi-fi/3G. 

How to Find the Email Address to Your Kindle

1. Go to Amazon.com
2. Toward the top right of the Amazon.com home page, you should see a button/section that says “Hello, [your name or “sign in”] Your Account”. Hover your mouse over (don't click on) the Your Account button/section.
3. From the menu that appears, click on "Manage Your Content and Devices" (formerly “Manage Your Kindle”)
4. It will probably ask you to login to your Amazon account – go ahead and do that and you will be forwarded to the Manage Your Content and Devices page.
5. When you arrive at the Manage Your Content and Devices page, there are some tabs at the top. Click on the "Your Devices" tab.
6. Your Kindle device and any devices that have the Kindle application (e.g., smartphone, iPad, computer, etc.) will be listed here with picture icons. Click on the device where you want to receive documents or eBooks.
7. Clicking on the icon for the device of your choice should display, just below the icons, an e-mail address that ends in @kindle.com. THAT’S the e-mail address of that Kindle device/app. Put that information aside for now.

How to Approve an Email Address to Receive Documents

1. If you did the above steps, you’ll already be at the "Manage Your Content and Devices" page. If not, please follow steps 1-4 above before proceeding to the next step.
2. Click on the "Settings" tab at the top (just right of the "Your Devices" tab)
3. At that new page, scroll down (it's a long scroll, so keep going) to the section titled "Personal Document Settings" and there is a sub-category titled “Approved Personal Document E-mail List” and click on the link “Add a new approved e-mail address.”
4. In the box that appears, type in @arialburnz.com (or your e-mail address or the e-mail address of the author/person sending the eBook).
5. Click the “Add Address” button.

And there you have it! Your Kindle is now prepared to receive documents and eBooks from that e-mail address. Of course, you can follow the same instructions if you'd like to remove an address. Just click on the DELETE link to the right of the e-mail address on your approved list. (Click on above image - look under "Actions")

How to Email an eBook to the Kindle

1. Be sure you follow all the steps above for both sets of instructions, or this won't work.
2. If an author or friend is going to send the eBook to your Kindle, then you need to send them the e-mail address of your Kindl, which you grabbed and put aside back in Step 7 above. (Remember, they needed to be the e-mail address you added in Step 4 of "How to Approve an E-mail Address to Receive Documents" above.
3. If you are sending the eBook to your Kindle (or an author is), then compose an e-mail addressed to the @kindle.com address for your Kindle.
4. Attach the MOBI or PRC file of the eBook to the e-mail you're composing.
5. Do not put anything in the body of the e-mail. It won't be seen by the Kindle anyway. The only thing that matters is the attachment(s). Yes, you can send more than one eBook file in the same e-mail.
6. Click send and off it goes!!
7. On the device/application, you must sync the device, so it must have a wireless connection.
8. Once it's synced, you should find the eBook in the "Docs" section of your Kindle device or app. Sadly, you might not see the cover of the book, but you should see the name of the file.

For those of you who have a Nook and aren't sure how to load a file onto your device, go to this link for detailed instructions:  How To Transfer Files from Computer to Nook Tablet.

Tips for Authors

Do this for your own device! Just set your Kindle up as instructed above, then e-mail the eBook to your own Kindle. You'll not only see how the process works, but you'll get to test the book on your reader and see if you need to make any fine-tuned adjustments.

Authors, in my next article, I'll show you how you convert your MS Word document into the various eBook file formats for any eReader!

Until then...

That's my two pence...

Arial ;)