What she said

I don't often write posts that just refer to other posts, but over on the Teleread blog, they are running an excellent series by Juli Monroe on how to use Calibre.  Teleread is a great site to follow for info on what's happening in the world of digital publishing and e-reading. It's focused more on the technology of readers and tablets than on what's being published. Unlike the MobileReads site, which is a very useful forum for users of all types of ereaders to ask questions, Teleread is generally more news-based, and posts stories and opinion pieces about new developments and new technology.

Sometimes, though, Teleread will run how-to sorts of posts, and this series about Calibre is an excellent example of that.  I use Calibre to convert my own and other writers' manuscripts to Kindle format, so I can read and proof them on my Kindle (note: I don't currently rely on Calibre for the version I send to Amazon, because it doesn't offer the kind of stylistic options I'm looking for, but I might do that one day).  However, a lot of folks use Calibre in other ways, to manage their ebook collection. It has a lot of features I don't use, which is one reason I'm recommending this series on Teleread.

The first post in the series covers getting started with the software. Calibre is available for free, but remember the creator of it relies on donations, so do give some money if you use it and like it. Upgrades are frequent and also free. The second post is about using Calibre to create or edit metadata (author, title, ISBN, genre, etc) for an ebook, and the third is on using Calibre to load ebooks onto your ereader. If you have a lot of Project Gutenberg books on your PC, for example, Calibre offers a fast and easy way to put them onto your Kindle or other ereader in a bulk load sort of way. This relies on using the USB cable, not the email delivery I described in an earlier post.

From the links at the top of the first post, it looks like the plan is for a total of 10 posts, but as of today, there were only three.  I'll be watching for the next one!

Addendum: the next one just arrived! The fourth post is on using Calibre as a content server for ebook management.