What Are Kindle Books? A complete Beginner’s Guid

You may have just bought a Kindle or installed a Kindle app on your device. And you may wonder how the device works, what books you can read on your Kindle, and how to buy or get a Kindle book.

Kindle books are ebook versions developed for the Amazon Kindle portable reader series. You can buy these on Amazon’s Kindle store, but you can also download books for free. Kindle books’ file format is based on the Mobipocket format and carries a file extension of either .azw, .azw3, or .kfx.

This article will discuss Kindle books, including how to buy and read one through your Kindle device. We will also explore whether it’s cheaper to buy Kindle books than physical books, where to get free Kindle books, and the pros and cons of reading Kindle books. Keep reading to learn more. 

Reading a Kindle Book

Ideally, you have to use a Kindle device to be able to read a Kindle ebook. But you don’t have to buy a Kindle for the sole purpose of reading Kindle ebooks. Google Play Store and Apple App Store have versions of the Kindle app that are free for anyone to download.

To view your book collection, tap My Library on your Kindle device. The list will include everything you purchase or store in your account and those downloaded to your Kindle device. A book downloaded to your Kindle device will have a checkmark on the bottom left side of the ebook cover.

If you want to read or download a book, tap the ebook you wish to read.

If you want to go to the next page of the book, tap or swipe the right area of your Kindle’s screen. If you want to go to the previous page, tap or swipe the screen’s left side.

How To Buy a Kindle Book?

You can buy a Kindle book using your Kindle device. Search for the book title you wish to purchase and click the “Buy Now” button if you’re ready to make the order. You can purchase the book using your credit or debit card. You can also use Amazon gift cards to buy a Kindle book.

Once the purchase has been completed, it will be automatically added to your Kindle account.

If you’re using another device with a Kindle app, you need to log in to your Amazon account on your web browser using your credentials to buy a Kindle book. To see the specific steps, watch this YouTube video:

Kindle Unlimited

Amazon has a program called Kindle Unlimited. For $9.99 monthly, you can access more than 1 million books and magazines from prominent authors and publishers. You can check if a book or magazine is included in this program if you can see a Kindle Unlimited logo on the webpage.

They also offer a three-month free trial which Amazon account holders can sign up for and try if this works for them.

Are Kindle Books Cheaper Than Physical Books?

If you are a voracious reader and you are reading more books than anyone else, Kindle books are cheaper than buying physical copies of books. Even if a Kindle device costs more than buying numerous physical books, you can save more in the long run by buying ebooks.

When you buy physical books, you may have to invest in buying bookshelves or space to store your books. However, buying a Kindle device allows you to purchase as many books as you like without worrying about where to keep them because it is automatically stored in your Kindle cloud. 

Research conducted by The Book Buff has found that the average price of a Kindle book is $11.80, with the cheapest bestseller on the Kindle Store costing $4 and the most expensive costing more than $19. The same research has also found that a Kindle book is 32% to 37% cheaper than buying a physical copy on Amazon.

Additionally, there are Kindle books that are being sold at heavily discounted prices. You can get these books through Amazon’s Daily Deals email.

Can I Get Free Kindle Books?

You can get free Kindle books. Some publishers or authors make their books for free for a short period to promote them and get as many readers as they can that will buy copies of their books in the future.

You can also download books from Project Gutenberg. The books featured on this website are in the public domain or have their copyright lapsed over time, and you can legally have a copy of that book without paying. You just have to send the ebook file compatible with your Kindle device directly to your Send-to-Kindle email address.

Another way to get free Kindle books is through OverDrive. It allows you to borrow Kindle books from your local library electronically. All you need is your library card, and you’re ready to borrow as many books as possible.

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow up to 10 books through its Prime Reading program. You can keep it to yourself indefinitely and return it when you’re done reading. You can also receive a free ebook monthly through its First Reads program. It has a smaller selection than Prime Reading, but you can keep the ebook forever.

And if you’re not an Amazon Prime member, you can get free ebooks through Kindle Books’ Top 100 Bestsellers List. Most of the books on the list are fiction books and romance titles. 

You can also do an Advanced Search on the Kindle Store, sort the results by price, and filter the type of book you wish to read, and you will be able to get free books and magazines.

Benefits of Kindle Books

Here are some benefits you can get from reading Kindle books:

• You can carry all your books on one device (or even more) – Your Kindle account will store all the books you purchase from Amazon or the Kindle Store in your Kindle cloud to keep as many books on your device as possible. You can now bring all your books anywhere, as you only need internet access and your device to read them. 
  
• Note-taking is easier with Kindle Books – As with any other ebook, you can take notes using your Kindle device or the Kindle App installed on your phone or tablet.
  
• Kindle has a built-in dictionary – If you don’t know the meaning of the word you’re looking for, or you’re just lazy to find the word in the dictionary, just highlight the word, and Kindle will provide you with a dictionary entry that gives you the meaning of that word. It can even help you enrich your vocabulary.
  
• Kindle books are affordable – As discussed above, buying ebooks when you have a Kindle device or a Kindle app installed on your phone or tablet is cheaper than buying physical copies. You can buy an ebook for a dollar, or you can even get them for free.
  
• The Kindle Store has a lot of titles to choose from – It has an extensive collection of books you can buy or download, so you will not run out of interesting books you want to read. Furthermore, you’ll get access to a million book titles if you’re an Amazon Prime member.
  
• Kindle books are easy to use – Operating an e-reader like Kindle is straightforward since almost everyone has experience working on a smartphone. You can adjust your device’s settings depending on where and when you’re reading a book. You can also flip the pages by tapping on the screen.
  
• Reading through Kindle can be environmentally friendly – Reading an ebook only requires charging your device. You can read an ebook without turning on the lights because you can adjust the brightness of your preferred reading device.

Drawbacks of Kindle Books

• Kindle books do not resemble the feeling of reading a physical book – If you like touching the paper or flipping a page of a book, you might not appreciate tapping a screen to read. And if you’re fond of collecting books or looking at a bookshelf, this is something absent from your Kindle device or the Kindle app on your phone. 
  
• Prolonged reading on an electronic device can cause eye strain – While it may not cause permanent damage to your eyes, spending several hours reading on your electronic device can make your eyes feel tired and worsen your eyesight over time. This is something you don’t experience when you read a physical book. 

You cannot lend a Kindle book to a friend as you can lend a physical book. You can hand over a physical book to a friend or family member instantly for an indefinite period, but that is not the case with Kindle books. You can only lend a book once, and your friend can only borrow it for 14 days.