Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

This is my first foray into self-publishing and I have successfully uploaded my book to the Kindle Store and have submitted it to Apple.

I would like to be able to offer free copies to Reviewers for honest reviews, but I do not know how to convert my word document to .mobi. Using Kindle Publishing, I could gift the Kindle version, but that would mean I pay the list price and Amazon then gets their distribution fee. I don't really believe that is what Kindle intends, but I can't find a good way to convert my word document to the mobi format.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to easily convert my word or pdf document to mobi?
Many thanks,

If you're with Windows, you can use Calibre e-book management. It's a free software that easily converts various sources into mobi or epub format e-books:

calibre

Thank you, Bernard. I will give that a try - I appreciate your help.

You could use software as outlined above for that, or you could publish your book on smashwords.com where there are multiple formats available and you can control what's free and what's discounted.

You can also download the file from your Kindle dashboard.
Go to your kindle dashboard, look for your book, at the far right side there is a button with three dots, hover over button it will bring up a menu, press edit book content. Once on that page go to the bottom to the box that says Kindle eBook Preview, press the link that say 'Preview on your computer', a menu drops down, go to step #2 and hit MOBI. That will download your novel in a Mobi file.

R.M. wrote: "You can also download the file from your Kindle dashboard.
Go to your kindle dashboard, look for your book, at the far right side there is a button with three dots, hover over button it will bring..."
Thank you -- that worked. I really appreciate everyone's help on this topic -- Calibre and Smashwords are also good options.

Happy New Year.

M. wrote: "R.M. wrote: "You can also download the file from your Kindle dashboard.
Go to your kindle dashboard, look for your book, at the far right side there is a button with three dots, hover over button ..."

You're welcome

M. wrote: "Calibre and Smashwords are also good options. n ..."

The thing I like about Smashwords is that it will take your doc and convert it into any/all major ebook formats that you choose.

Michael wrote: "M. wrote: "Calibre and Smashwords are also good options. n ..."

The thing I like about Smashwords is that it will take your doc and convert it into any/all major ebook formats that you choose."
Don't they charge for that though? I thought it was a per book thing, but I haven't looked into it in a long time. I think I may try it for the next one.

M. wrote: "Michael wrote: "M. wrote: "Calibre and Smashwords are also good options. n ..."

The thing I like about Smashwords is that it will take your doc and convert it into any/all major ebook formats that..."

I published my first novel two years ago, and Smashwords didn't charge anything to publish the book into multiple formats/distributors. Have they added pricing since then?

Michael wrote: "M. wrote: "Michael wrote: "M. wrote: "Calibre and Smashwords are also good options. n ..."

The thing I like about Smashwords is that it will take your doc and convert it into any/all major ebook f..."
I really don't know -- it was just my impression -- not based on fact at all. Sorry. :-(

M. wrote: "Michael wrote: "M. wrote: "Michael wrote: "M. wrote: "Calibre and Smashwords are also good options. n ..."

The thing I like about Smashwords is that it will take your doc and convert it into any/a..."

No, they haven't added a charge for it since then. I've published all my books through Smashwords, and each one has been converted to all available formats free of charge. Bearing in mind, my most recent release was just last month.

Smashwords also have the benifit of having an option to create and give out coupons, which means you can provide a copy in all available formats without it costing you or the reviewer anything... Assuming the reviewer has, or is willing to create, a Smashwords account (which is completely free to do).