How to get ebooks on your Kindle - and other expert tips and tricks

Buy ebooks from Amazon's Kindle store

Amazon has millions of ebooks on its store, so odds are, you'll find what you're looking for. To get started, make sure you're connected to the internet and click on the little store shopping cart icon at the top of your Kindle. There, you can browse through all the categories, genres, deals, recommendations, and more.

When you find a title you want, click on it to see the price. If you're okay with the price tag, just click the Buy for $X.XX button. Your ebook will download, and you'll be set to read it.

You can also click Try a Sample, so you can read the first chapter or so before you decide to buy it.

If you're not ready to buy, but want to remember the title, you can click Add to List and it'll pop the ebook on your Kindle Wish List. You can see your Kindle Wish List by clicking the three menu dots in the upper left corner of your Kindle and selecting My Reading Lists. There you'll see any samples you've downloaded and your wish list.

If you want to get ebooks on your Kindle that you previously downloaded on your computer or phone, make sure you're connected to the internet by turning off Airplane Mode, tap the Gear icon, and then tap Sync My Kindle. Your new titles should start downloading.

The Kindle store also has a Deals section where you can see all the discounted ebook deals that are currently on offer. You'd be surprised how many great titles go on sale. To get notified about ebook sales, you should sign up for BookBub, which we explain further down on this page.

If you find yourself spending more than $10 a month on ebooks, you'll want to look into a Kindle Unlimited subscription (which we describe below) to get access to as many of the one-million-plus titles as you can read in a month.

Join Kindle Unlimited for $9.99 a month

Kindle Unlimited lets you read as many of the one-million-plus titles as you want for $9.99 a month. The selection includes audiobooks and the latest issues of popular magazines. You can have up to 10 Kindle Unlimited titles in your library at a time before you need to delete any. The 30-day free trial lets you try it before you buy it.

Kindle Unlimited ebooks are easy to spot in the store, because they have the words, Kindle Unlimited next to the listing. If you have Kindle Unlimited, when you click on the ebook, it gives you the option to Read for free with Kindle Unlimited. If you don't have it yet, you see the purchase price in one box and the option to get Kindle Unlimited in the other.

You can sign up for Kindle Unlimited in the store by clicking on Kindle Unlimited and starting your 30-day free trial.

Subscribe to BookBub emails to hear about ebook discounts

BookBub is a free service that sends you a daily email with ebook deals and discounts. You simply enter your email address, confirm it's you, select the types of ebook deals you want to know about, select Amazon Kindle as the ebook store you use, and follow some of your favorite authors.

From there, you'll get special deal alerts on ebooks you'll love. Often, you can get ebooks for free or for as little as $1.99 or $2.99. In the email, just click on the link and you'll be directed to Amazon's store on your phone, tablet, or computer. Click on the buy button, and your ebook should be sent directly to your Kindle when it's connected to Wi-Fi. You can read our full review of BookBub for more details.

Borrow ebooks from the Kindle Lending Library

If you own a Kindle and you're a Prime Member, you have access to the Kindle Lending Library, which houses more than 800,000 titles that you can borrow for free.

To find the free ebooks, go on your Kindle to the store, click on All Categories or the three menu dots, click on Kindle Owner's Lending Library, and look through the ebooks below to see all the ones that are available to you. When you find the ebook you want, click on it and select Borrow for Free.

You can only borrow one ebook at a time. When you finish the book, go to My Library, click on the three dots in the lower left corner of the ebook and select Remove From Device. Then you'll be able to borrow a new ebook.

Read ebooks for free with Prime Reading

Amazon's Prime Reading is a perk for Prime members, which gives you free access to more than a thousand of the most popular books and magazines. You can download up to 10 titles at a time to your Kindle.

It also includes Amazon First Reads, which gives you early access to one free Kindle book a month, chosen from a collection of editors' picks.

To access these free ebooks, go to the store and click on the words Prime Reading to see the titles you have access to. When you click on one of these ebooks, you'll see the option to Read for Free with Prime Reading. Click on that and download your ebook.

When you finish the book, go to My Library, click on the three dots in the lower left corner of the ebook and select Remove From Device. Then you'll be able to borrow a new ebook.

This is only for Prime Members, so if you don't have Prime yet, get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime here.

Read classics and select genre ebooks for free

Amazon has tons of free and cheap ebooks and many of them are classic novels like "Jane Eyre," "Hamlet," and "Alice in Wonderland." You can get them on your Kindle with the click of a button. Browse all the free Kindle ebooks on Amazon here.

Use your library card and Overdrive to borrow free ebooks

If you have a public library card (which you should because it's free and easy to sign up for!), OverDrive is invaluable. Find your local library, sign in with your library card number, then browse all the ebook and audiobooks your library has to offer by subject, language, and keywords.

You can also place holds on titles and add books to a wish list. After you click "Borrow," you'll be directed to your Amazon account to download the title to your Kindle device. Once the loan period expires, the book will automatically be deleted from your account.

OverDrive's latest mobile app is called Libby, and you can download it on iOS here or on Android here.

Download free ebooks from Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg has more than 57,000 free ebooks. Most of them are classics that are in the public domain, so you can catch up on all those well-known books you've always meant to read like "Pride and Prejudice," "The Odyssey," "Moby Dick," and more.

You just find the book you want, make sure that it's in a Kindle-friendly format (MOBI is fine), and download it. From there, you can email it to your Kindle email address so it automatically goes to your device.

Share with another adult Amazon user

If you want to share the ebooks you've bought with friends and family members, you can add another adult Amazon user to your account and enable sharing access.

To do so, go to Menu > Settings > Registration > Household > Family Library > Add a New Person > Add Adult on your Kindle.

You'll be prompted to add the Amazon account ID and password of the person you want to add. Once your friend or family member has entered their info, Amazon will ask them to confirm that they wish to gain access to your library. As a final confirmation, Amazon will ask you to enable sharing, too. After you've completed all those steps, you can choose which books you want to share.

Be forewarned that you must trust the person you're adding because they will have access to the credit cards associated with the two Amazon accounts.

Share with your kids

Sharing ebooks with your kids is also easy. Go to Home screen > Menu > Settings > Registration > Household > Family Library > Add a New Person > Add Child.

After that, you'll enter your parental controls password and your child's name, birthday and gender then tap Next. You'll then pick the books you want to share with your child and then tap Next and Done.

Lend an ebook without linking accounts

Amazon lets you lend one book from your Kindle account for 14 days without any account linking. Go to Amazon.com/mycd, select the title of the book you plan to share, click on the three dots, and select Loan this title. Then, choose who you want to share the book with. Note that some books do not allow this kind of sharing, so if you don't see the option, it is unavailable.

Get PDFs and documents on your Kindle and convert them

If you want to get a PDF or another document on your Kindle for easy reading, you can use Amazon's special Send to Kindle email address.

To check or change your Send to Kindle email address, go to Amazon's website, select Manage Your Content and Devices, scroll down in Settings to Personal Document Settings. Under your Send-to-Kindle Email Settings, you'll see your Send to Kindle email address. It should be something like this: johnsmith@kindle.com.

If you want to change the email address, click Edit next to your device, enter a new email address, and then click Save to save your changes.

Now that you know your Send to Kindle email address, you can use it to send yourself PDFs, documents, and ebooks that you download on sites like Project Gutenberg. Simply go to your email, enter your Send to Kindle email address, and attach the file you want to read on your Kindle. It will send to your Kindle as soon as you sync your device over Wi-Fi.

If the file you want on your Kindle isn't a supported file type, you can write Convert in the email subject line, and the file will be converted into a Kindle-Friendly file.

Get web pages and online articles on your Kindle

If you like to read articles online but you wish you could get them on your Kindle, you're in luck. There are plenty of apps that help you do that, though Amazon's methods are the simplest.

• On Chrome: If you use the Chrome web browser, you should download the Send to Kindle Chrome extension. Once you've downloaded it, the extension will appear on your Chrome web browser. It'll prompt you to sign into your Amazon account and decide which device you want to send web pages to. Choose your Kindle, and you should be set. From then on, you can just click the Send to Kindle extension in Chrome to save the web page to your Kindle. When you sync your Kindle over Wi-Fi, you'll have the file.
• With Firefox, Mac, or Windows: Those of you who use Mozilla's Firefox browser will be happy to know there's a version for you, too. There's also a Mac and Windows Send to Kindle app you can download, but we think the Chrome extension is easiest to use.
• With an iPhone: If you download the Kindle app on your phone, you can save any webpage to your Kindle easily. On iOS, go to Safari, open the web page you want to send, click the Share button (it looks like a rectangle with an arrow pointing up inside), scroll through the options until you see More, tap on More, scroll through the list of apps that can share until you find Send to Kindle, toggle it on so you see green, and hit Done. Then, when you tap the Share button again, scroll through until you see the Send to Kindle option, and then do it. Your web page will be sent to your Kindle as soon as it's synced over Wi-Fi.
• With an Android phone: On Android, the process is similar. Download the Kindle app, use the share function on your phone, and select Send to Kindle.

You can also use Instapaper and Pocket, two third-party apps, but we find Amazon's methods the easiest.

Highlight quotations

To highlight quotations as you're reading, simply press down on a word, maintain slight pressure, and slide your finger along until you reach the end of the passage you wish to highlight. You'll see options, but highlighting is the default.

You can look back on all the parts you've highlighted at any time or even share them on Goodreads, as we explain below.

Share what you're reading on Goodreads

If you read a lot, your friends read a lot, and you all like to share, review, and talk about what you're reading, you'll love Goodreads. It's an app and website for book lovers to review and share their thoughts on what they're reading.

Goodreads is built right into the Kindle, so it's easy to use. Just create an account with an email address, log in, create your profile, and get started. You can share your reading progress, reviews of books, quotations you've highlighted in your Kindle, and more. Your friends' reading may inspire you to read new things and inspire you to read more.

Buy Amazon's Kindle cases for $24.99 to $69.99

It's a good idea to grab a case for your Kindle to prevent scratches on the screen and damage from drops. Amazon's Kindle case selection is wide — you can choose from fabric or genuine leather cases that fit every model of the Kindle.

We've used both the leather and fabric Kindle cases from Amazon over the years and we love them. They're sturdy and they protect the Kindle's screen and back cover. There's also a nice magnetic closure to ensure that the screen stays covered and your case doesn't pop open in your bag.

The cases may be a bit expensive, but they will truly protect your Kindle from daily wear and tear so that your ereader lasts for years. You can see all the Kindle cases here, ranging from $24.99 to $69.99. You can also choose to buy Amazon's Kindle bundles, which net you the case and the Kindle for a good price.

Buy Anker's Micro-USB Charging Cable for $5.49 and AUKEY's Wall Charger for $9.99

If you don't already have a wall charger and a Micro-USB cable, you'll want to buy a set for your Kindle. Kindles don't come with the wall charger — you only get the Micro-USB cable in the box.

We like Anker's Micro-USB cable if you want an extra and AUKEY's Wall Charger is the perfect outlet adapter to plug your Micro-USB cable into so you can charge your Kindle.