Trouble with my Kindle file

[sigridmac]

Hi everyone,

I successfully formatted my book on Lulu for print and e-pub, and then also for Kindle. I loaded it on Kindle and everything worked fine.  Then I bought a copy and put it in my Kindle for PC library. Now I want to send a copy to some people, but I can't get it out of the library. There doesn't seem to be any function that allows me to copy it.

 I own this book and want to send it to people so that they can review it.  How can I turn the Word file into a Kindle file that could be read on somebody's Kindle Reader?  Or is there a way to take the book out of my Kindle library and share with somebody?

 Many thanks. Sigrid

[Ken Anderson]

Lulu do not support Kindle.

This question is perhaps best asked on an Amazon Kindle Forum - not here. 

[Maggie]

Sigrid,

You can convert it using Calibre. It's free software. Just check that it looks formatted before you send it off to people.

You must convert your Word file to html and upload that to Calibre.

[Peter May]

Hi Sigrid

Since this is a Lulu forum its not really the place to discuss Kindle formatting, but the short answer is that books download from Amazon Kindle are copy-protected and -- although there is a loan option -- you can't copy the book to others.

If you want to send out Kindle readable review copies then you need to create one that doesn't have Amazon's DRM. That is easy to do with Mobi Pocket Publisher free software.

Mobi is owned by Amazon, and indeed its a good idea to create a Mobi file and upload that to Amazon KDP rather than a Word file in the same way it is better to upload a PDF to Lulu rather than a Word file because you can check formatting first.

The Mobi version can be read on Kindle hardware and all the Kindle apps, i.e. the recipient doesn't need a Kindle to read it, they can use a PC, iPad, or smartphone if they download the relevent Kindle app.

[Greg Banks (BDDesign Online)]

Ther is a way to "gift" people a copy of an ebook through the store. You'd be paying for the copies, however.

[sigridmac]

Thanks, everybody.

These are all really good suggestions and of course I recognize that this is a Lulu forum and not a Kindle forum. The reason I asked here is that I figured that people who published books electronically on Lulu own the rights to those books and may also want to put them directly on Kindle.

I found a good solution. Apparently there is a file folder in my documents called My Kindle Content. When I went in there, I found the files that I had purchased and was able to send my own book to readers.

Will keep these other suggestions in mind for the future. Thanks again. Sigrid

[rdpruden]

Why is this? As a writer I would like to sell to as much of the public as possible. While I personally don't use Kindle, I am aware that it is very popular. The list of ebook retail partners for Lulu is pretty short as it is, though at least most ereaders will support the epub format, so with some clever marketing I might be able to convince some potential readers to buy from a sight from which they may not usually buy ebooks. I can't do this with Kindle, as they must buy from Amazon.
Are there plans in the future to support this format, or must I look elsewhere for this service.

[Peter May]

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rdpruden wrote:
Why is this? 

Presumably because Amazon supplies everything needed to convert book to Kindle format and see no point in sharing commission with Lulu.

. I can't do this with Kindle,

Yes you can. Go to kdp.amazon.com - you can upload your word document and Amazon will convert it

Are there plans in the future to support this format,

Don't hold your breath. But who knows, that is a business matter between Lulu and Amazon

or must I look elsewhere for this service.

You don't have to look far. kdp.amazon.com

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[Ken Anderson]

Would you go into a Jaguar garage to buy a BMW?

[rdpruden]

Thanks Peter.
Did some looking into this. As it turns out, Amazon requires authors who use their kdp service to pull their books off of all other book markets for 90 days. This really bites my buns, so I won't be using this service anytime soon. Perhaps if they change the policy.
If you want to look this up, check out this post about it: http://blog.smashwords.com/2011/12/amazon-shows-predatory-spots-with-kdp.html