5 Tips Kindle Owners Say Will Improve Your Reading Experience

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A Kindle provides an enjoyable reading experience, largely due to its e-ink display. Compared to LCD and OLED screens, e-ink is significantly easier on the eyes. It’s not too blinding, especially for nighttime use. Plus, the Kindle performs considerably better when reading in the sun. This means you can easily take it along on your beach days and quick outdoor runs. Your device will also last for a while, allowing you to delve deeper into your book without interruption.

But more than hardware, your Kindle actually offers many other features and customization settings that can improve your reading experience even further. If you’ve just unboxed your first Kindle or are looking to get the most out of your old model, here are five tips that Kindle users (and me) swear by. These include easy ways to personalize your device, as well as handy Kindle features you might not use.

Kindle books aren’t exactly cheap. If you want to save on books, Kindle owners highly recommend signing up for Libby. The app allows you to borrow an e-book from your local library for free and read it on your Kindle. To use Libby, you must first apply for a library card through your local library. Once you’ve done so, install Libby on your phone and answer the setup questions until you’re prompted to sign in using your library card. From there, you should be good to go. Simply follow these steps to start borrowing books:

1. Go to the search tab at the bottom.
2. Find the title you want to borrow.
3. Click the Borrow button next to the book. Libby will show you how long you can keep the book.
4. Tap Borrow again to confirm.
5. Select Read with Kindle.
6. Log in to the Amazon account you use on your Kindle.
7. Tap Get Library Book.

The eBook should automatically download to your Kindle library, where you can read it freely for the specified duration. Once the eBook expires, it is returned to the local library and deleted from your Kindle. You can also return the book manually after finishing it earlier through the Libby app.

Keep in mind that Libby is only offered in select countries, including the United States and Canada. Another limitation to consider is that your local library will not carry all e-books. If it contains the book you are interested in, it may not always be available immediately. Luckily, you can put it on hold and Libby will tell you how long the wait is and how many people are also on the waiting list.

Some of the first settings you should change on your Kindle are the reading interface customization options. This is where you will spend most of your time, so it should suit your needs. To get started, open any book and tap the empty space at the top. Next, go to the Aa icon. Here you will be given options to change themes, font, layout, etc. The Themes tab allows you to choose predefined themes with different font styles, font sizes and orientation. You can choose one of the available themes or create your own theme. Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to the Font tab.
2. Change the font family to your preferred style. You can see what the new font looks like on the book in the background.
3. Adjust the text boldness, size and spacing as needed.
4. Tap the Layout tab.
5. Set the text orientation, margins and alignment. The book in the background will change with each option.
6. Select the More tab.
7. Enable “Show clock while playing” to display the clock on top.
8. Choose Playback Progress.
9. Switch to the option you want to use. Personally, I have my show “Time Remaining in Chapter”, but you can choose “Page in Book” or “Time Remaining in Book”.
10. Return to the More screen.
11. Adjust other settings as desired.
12. Tap the Themes tab.
13. Tap Save Current Settings to save your custom theme with the name you want.

To get the most out of custom themes on Kindle, you can create multiple themes for different situations. Maybe you prefer to read fantasy books in landscape and any other books in portrait. Or maybe a font looks better on you in daylight than when dark mode is enabled.

If there’s one Kindle accessory that users swear by, it’s a page turner. This is handy when you want to read in bed but are afraid the Kindle will fall on your face or you just don’t like having to take your hands off the cover. Instead, you can leave your Kindle on a tablet stand or pillow stand and click the remote to advance the page far and wide. It’s much more convenient and puts less strain on your hands.

The general operation of page turners is simple. Simply attach the sensor clip to the empty space on the far right side of the Kindle and use the associated remote to control the clip with a single press. Each press advances to the next page. Unfortunately, that’s all you can do with third-party page turners like the popular Datafy Page Turner and Jimzoo Page Turner Ring.

However, Amazon has just released its own version of a page turner called Kindle Click. It does not have a sensor clip since it works via Bluetooth. But that also means it can do more than advance the pages of the book. The Kindle Click also allows you to go back to the previous page, increase or decrease the screen brightness, and even put your Kindle into sleep mode.

You can always just leave your downloaded books in your library and continue your reading session without any problem. But when you’re working with hundreds of titles, it becomes much more difficult to sort through them, and finding one can now take forever. To resolve this dilemma, it’s a good idea to organize your books. One of the best ways to do this on a Kindle is to sort them into collections.

There are many collections you can create. You can sort by authors and genres. This is useful if you have a few books by the same author or genre and usually refer to them when you want to start a new book. Another clever way to use collections is to keep track of your playlist. To create collections on your Kindle, follow these steps:

1. Connect your Kindle to the Internet.
2. On your Kindle’s home screen, tap the three dots at the top right of the screen.
3. Tap Create Collection.
4. Enter a name for the collection.
5. If you want to add the collection to your favorites, leave the “Mark collection as favorite” box checked. Otherwise, uncheck the box.
6. Tap Create.
7. Choose the books you want to add to your new collection.
8. Tap Save.

From here, you can configure your library to display collections instead of individual books. To do this, go to the Library tab and tap the two arrows at the top right. Under Display Options, tap Collections. If you have books that you haven’t added to any collections yet, you can find them in Uncollected Collections.

It may seem ironic to use the Kindle app on your phone when you purchased a Kindle to avoid reading on your phone and straining your eyes. But hear me out, the Kindle app isn’t exactly a complete replacement for your Kindle but rather an extension.

Personally, I turn to my Kindle app whenever I want to continue reading my current book but don’t have my Kindle with me (sometimes it’s bulky in comparison). As long as my Kindle is connected to Wi-Fi, it can sync my reading location with the app’s reading location. This allows me to seamlessly switch between the two. I also prefer the Kindle app over the actual Kindle when I need to check my notes and highlights. It is, after all, much easier to scroll through annotations on a phone than on an e-reader.

Besides convenience, another reason I use the app is the set of features exclusive to the Kindle app that you won’t find on the current Kindle. For one, I can only participate in reading challenges through the app. These vary depending on the time of year, although some are available all year round. My reading sequence is also only visible on the app. Then there are interface features like the Reading Ruler which adds a nifty measurement for the line I’m reading, and the Continuous Scroll option which lets me not turn pages.