Three Fun and Easy Kindle Tips for Writers
Have you ever wished that you could preview and proofread your Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX) manuscript on your Kindle before uploading it to Amazon KDP, or maybe find a convenient, low-cost way to ship your manuscript to beta readers for their feedback and have them ship their notes and highlights back to you?
Less than a year ago, my reaction to the above wishes would have been, “Yeah, right. I don’t have the time or patience to learn new techie tricks.”
Well, I have some good news for you. The following Kindle tips for writers are not only helpful, but also fun—and easy.
Tip 1. How to send a Word document to your Kindle
- To find your Send-to-Kindle e-mail address, log into your Kindle account. On the Manage Your Content and Devices page click “Your Devices.” There you will find your Kindle type, its serial number, and your Kindle email.
- Before you can send documents to your Kindle, you need to register the personal e-mail address you intend to use. From the Manage your Content and Devices page, click “Settings.” Scroll down to Personal Document Settings, which looks like the example below.
Personal Document Settings
Kindle Personal Documents service makes it easy to take your personal documents with you, eliminating the need to print. You and your approved contacts can send documents to your device by e-mailing the documents to your Send-to-Kindle e-mail address.
Send-to-Kindle E-Mail Settings
You can e-mail personal documents to the following Kindle(s) using the e-mail addresses shown.
| Name | E-mail address | Actions |
| Your Name | Your Kindle email address | Edit |
- Now, scroll down to Approved Personal Document E-Mail List. Click on “Add a new approved e-mail address” and enter the email you want to send your documents from (your personal email).
Approved Personal Document E-mail List
To prevent spam, your device will only receive files from the following e-mail addresses you have authorized.
| E-mail address | Actions |
| Put your personal email account address here. | Delete |
Add a new approved e-mail address
- To send your Word Doc to your Kindle, attach it to an email addressed to your Send-to-Kindle email. It should look something like this: yourname@kindle.com
- Write the word “Convert” in the subject line, hit send, and next thing you know, you’ll find the document on your Kindle. How easy was that?
To learn more about sending supported file types to your Kindle, go to: Send to Kindle by E-mail.
Tip 2. How to send your Word doc via Kindle to your beta readers
To send your draft to your reviewers’ Kindles, they will need to add your personal e-mail address to their Approved Personal Document E-mail List. Then send an e-mail with your document attached to their Kindle e-mail addresses (which, of course, they will need to share with you) as outlined above.
Tip 3. How your beta readers can share their Kindle notes and highlights with you
The highlights and notes are stored in the Clippings file on your beta readers’ Kindles.
Here’s how they can share them with you.
- Plug the kindle device into their computer
- Find and click on the Kindle device on their computer’s hard drive.
- Click on the Documents folder.
- Click on the My Clippings.txt file.
- Copy and paste their notes into a .docx or .txt file and email them to you.
Easy and Fun!
RE: Sending Word docs to Kindle: Margaret's tips are great. For editors and for writers. I've done this for years. When I'm working on a new manuscript, either mine or a client's, I send it to my Kindle reader. Having it on a "page" like that gives me a sense of how it will read in print and I also relax into reading the work "like" a book, that is, mostly just relaxing into reading. There's a strange alchemy that occurs when you read a "book" page versus a manuscript page, which a Random House editor taught me back in pre-digital years. The printed page gives an authority to the writing that you don't always grasp in reading a manuscript. Reading on the Kindle (or other e-reader) provides that sense of authority of a printed page, which changes how I'd edit or rewrite. Before e-books I used to format 10 or 15 pages of a manuscript I was working on, setting up the font style, page layout, size, etc., of what the printed page would look like. I think this is very important for writers and editors. I loved it when with my first e-reader I discovered I could do that. Also, don't overlook the fact that you can highlight text on the Kindle, make notes to yourself for changes you want to make, and even print out those notes in the end. I don't always print out the notes. I just read them on the Kindle as I'm making the changes on my desktop. It's a very handy tool and is really as easy as sending yourself an email once you've got the addresses set up.
I so agree with you, Hal. You said so perfectly what a great advantage it is to read your manuscript on Kindle to see how it will read in print. I wasn't aware of this until recently and couldn't believe my luck. It's easy once you've done it a time or two. Now, I use it often. It's great to hear from you again. Missed you!
thank you Margaret – I appreciate the helpful, practical tips! I can always use these kind of tips.
You're very welcome, Jodine.
So good to know! Thanks, Margeret!
You're very welcome, Rea.
So good to know! Thanks, Margaret!
Thanks, Margaret. Isn't it interesting how publishing has changed and what authors need to know these days?
Oh my yes, Theresa. I just learned how to format my own books. What a challenge, since I seem to learn everything the hard way (through my mistakes). But what a great feeling to have met the challenge. Now, I feel even more in charge.
What's great about putting our own Kindles to work is that now we have the ability (so easily done!) to upload our manuscripts to our Kindles and see how they will appear in print. We can highlight and magnify and take our manuscripts with us on the road. Seeing our work in a different format is almost like reading someone else's work, causing typos and other spots needing editing to stand out in way they didn't on the computer.
I also found that by uploading my manuscript (PDF) to Createspace, I can magnify it and read it line-by-line and catch minute errors I'd missed after many previous edits. I correct my manuscript accordingly, create a new PDF, and check it. What a wonderful editing tool!
My older Kindle reader used to read text to speech but the newer one I have doesn't have that feature. Do the "newer" new ones have this feature? I guess you can do text to speech with Word, too, but I haven't gotten to that yet. I do think hearing our text read, even by a robot, can be helpful.
I agree, Hal. Maybe Eleni can share more of what she knows. I'd love to hear my text read by someone besides myself.
Great article Margaret. It certainly is very liberating when you can format your own books, and I’m glad to hear your success. Kindle has also made editing a lot easier, especially with the text-to-speech feature, something which I use all the time!
Hi Eleni. I haven't heard of the text-to-speech feature. Maybe you can share what you know about it sometime in a post here at VFA.
There are several YouTube instructions on setting up the text to speech program for Word 2010 and above. I haven't done it yet but looks pretty straightforward.
Thanks, Hal. I'll check it out when I get caught up. Maybe even report back to the VFA.
Have you heard that HarperOne via HarperLegend (Visionary Digital Fiction)is asking for visionary/transformational fiction? Their exact words: "We want to read your visionary fiction. If you have a novel (or a trilogy or a series) that communicates wisdom, insight, transformation and/or personal growth, bring them on." Is this the opportunity visionary fiction writers have been waiting for? Here's the link: http://harperone.hc.com/harperlegend/.
Glad to see this opportunity reposted here. Perhaps we should place it more prominently on the site also? An opportunity for all of us, and I'd think a strong response to their appeal for VF would confirm the validity of Harper's business decision. This is one time where it seems legit to "swamp" the editors.
Hey, Margaret. Could kick myself (not literally, am not quite that agile any more) for not reading this post a few days ago. Just donated $60 in ink to HP to print out a couple of copies of my latest book for beta readers when I could have used your system. Had tried the process a couple years ago and got frustrated with Amazon's instructions. Sounds like they improved things. Will now follow your clear directions along with Hal's advices and let you know. And I'm supposed to be the computer geek! Thanks much for doing this. We visionaries can always be more practical, thus saving time to savor our visions.
Let me know if you run into any problems, Vic, and I'll steer you through. I also put the notes to a 45-minute talk I presented to the California Writers/Sacramento onto my Kindle and highlighted the most important points. That meant no note cards or clumsy papers to sort through. All it took was the slide of my index finger over the Kindle on podium and the audience could hardly tell I was using notes. I'd taken my note cards along as a back up and didn't end up using them. The Kindle worked just great!
Had no idea about this, Margaret! Thanks so much for an excellent tip.
You're very welcome, Saleena. I use Kindle all the time to read my work and highlight typos, etc. for revision.