I have collections set up to match my Goodreads shelves plus a few extra for specific long series so I can find them easily. I only add books to the collections once they’re read though.
I organize by general category – historical fiction, nonfiction, science fiction, etc. I also organize by author if I have many from the same author and by series if the series of books is quite extensive. That makes it easier to re-read a series which I do quite often.
Collections. Mostly by genre, I have a collection favorites that are books I will read again and refuse to delete off of the device, and some groups are authors if I have more than one of their books on my kindle.
The inability to include a book in multiple collections, and the need to manage books one item at a time made me give up on kindle’s software long ago. I use Calibre, which allows me categories and (multiple) tags as well as series identifiers.
CarolAnne Murphy That is excellent. Very early on, it was ‘one collection only’ and they were not very receptive to feedback. From Marilee’s comment, it sounds like they got over that – lol prolly right after i threw up my hands and started ignoring them!
May have to go take an updated look at the functionality. Have they added the ability to mass-select and send to a collection (rather than having to add one at a time)?
I must admit, I am still being a bit stubborn about the fact that if I get a new kindle (or even switch profiles on an existing) i must manually, one at a time, download every one of my books, using a clunky interface that is very sensitive to interpreting the download request as an open request instead, and cancelling everything i Have managed to select to try to queue.
I find much to whine about with their UI design – specially knowing how easy it would be to change many of the most annoying and effort-intensive parts. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t made improvements – I should try to be more open minded about them and check it out now and again rather than just writing it off altogether. 🙂
@Di I think you are just knit-picking. If you don’t like the kindle, don’t like it, but it sounds like you are just trying to come up with any excuse as to why you don’t want one.
Heather, I own four, and have used them since the first generation. I am also a technology professional with an understanding of user interface design. I’ve answered the OPs inquiry, and focused my comments on that topic, rather than on trying to judge, insult, or target other users. You are free to disagree with my opinions WITHOUT flamey snipes targeting your assumptions about my judgment and motivations. *Civil* discourse please.
Yes, I do. I make them as I go when i feel like I want some to be organized. I have crafting, read, to be read, didn’t like, didn’t finish, certain long series…
I have general collections (fiction, non-fiction, short pieces) but also more specific collections, such as states or geographic regions or international pieces. Right now I’m planning a trip to the Eastern U.S. so I’ve started a collection of books to read in preparation for or during the trip.
Unread books are downloaded on the kindle, finished books are removed. About as simple as you can get, though the unread count is high from a few years back I spent time grabbing all the free books I could.
At the top of collections I keep a few categories called All Current, All Next to Read, All That are Borrowed, All That are Completed. I also have some by genre/topic. I don’t worry about categorizing them until I read them usually and then place in multiple categories.
yea, you really have to organize as you add or it easily gets out of hand. That was one thing that continues to bother me about kindle, Amazon’s refusal to integrate it with PC tools to more easily organize your library.
When I learned that holding many books on my Kindle causes the battery to wear down faster, I decided to only keep a couple of books on the device. I categorize the other books for easy retrieval. One category is Books I Have Not Read, the Other categories are genres. When I buy a new book, I put it in the Books I Have Not Read. When I finish reading a book, I change the category to the correct genre.
@Stacia when my Paperwhite was new, I thought there was something wrong with the battery. It was advertised to last for much longer than mine did. I did some research and discovered the information about keeping books on the devise wearing the battery. Also, I read on it much more than the averages the advertising is talking about, so I use battery faster.
I have collections set up to match my Goodreads shelves plus a few extra for specific long series so I can find them easily. I only add books to the collections once they’re read though.
I do, I have favourite authors ( by name), read, to -read, gave-up on, stuff like that.
I organize by general category – historical fiction, nonfiction, science fiction, etc. I also organize by author if I have many from the same author and by series if the series of books is quite extensive. That makes it easier to re-read a series which I do quite often.
Collections. Mostly by genre, I have a collection favorites that are books I will read again and refuse to delete off of the device, and some groups are authors if I have more than one of their books on my kindle.
The inability to include a book in multiple collections, and the need to manage books one item at a time made me give up on kindle’s software long ago. I use Calibre, which allows me categories and (multiple) tags as well as series identifiers.
You can put 1 book in multiple collections….
Must be an update since the time that I gave up on them. 🙂 Thanks!
I’ve been able to books in multiple collections almost as long as they offered the collection ability.
All the books in my ‘Read’ collection are also in their genre (and sub-genre), whether part of a series, if reviewed, if from netgalley etc etc
CarolAnne Murphy That is excellent. Very early on, it was ‘one collection only’ and they were not very receptive to feedback. From Marilee’s comment, it sounds like they got over that – lol prolly right after i threw up my hands and started ignoring them!
May have to go take an updated look at the functionality. Have they added the ability to mass-select and send to a collection (rather than having to add one at a time)?
@Di sadly no ? That’s why I add a book to collections once I’ve finished reading it, then send it to the cloud
I must admit, I am still being a bit stubborn about the fact that if I get a new kindle (or even switch profiles on an existing) i must manually, one at a time, download every one of my books, using a clunky interface that is very sensitive to interpreting the download request as an open request instead, and cancelling everything i Have managed to select to try to queue.
I find much to whine about with their UI design – specially knowing how easy it would be to change many of the most annoying and effort-intensive parts. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t made improvements – I should try to be more open minded about them and check it out now and again rather than just writing it off altogether. 🙂
@Di I think you are just knit-picking. If you don’t like the kindle, don’t like it, but it sounds like you are just trying to come up with any excuse as to why you don’t want one.
Heather, I own four, and have used them since the first generation. I am also a technology professional with an understanding of user interface design. I’ve answered the OPs inquiry, and focused my comments on that topic, rather than on trying to judge, insult, or target other users. You are free to disagree with my opinions WITHOUT flamey snipes targeting your assumptions about my judgment and motivations. *Civil* discourse please.
Di Brown you can mass select under “my content and devices” on the Amazon website from a computer. I do it all the time.
Yes, I do. I make them as I go when i feel like I want some to be organized. I have crafting, read, to be read, didn’t like, didn’t finish, certain long series…
I don’t like the kindle menu at all. Fortunately the collections help a bit. I organize them by genre or by author if I have many books of them
I have general collections (fiction, non-fiction, short pieces) but also more specific collections, such as states or geographic regions or international pieces. Right now I’m planning a trip to the Eastern U.S. so I’ve started a collection of books to read in preparation for or during the trip.
Shelf (books I’ve read)
Side Table (books I’m currently reading)
Library (books I’m planning to read and samples I’m thinking of adding)
Unread books are downloaded on the kindle, finished books are removed. About as simple as you can get, though the unread count is high from a few years back I spent time grabbing all the free books I could.
Ditto!
I also do this. Once a book is read, it’s removed.
I just started to. Some are by series and some are by author of its a fav that doesn’t do series (king, etc..)
At the top of collections I keep a few categories called All Current, All Next to Read, All That are Borrowed, All That are Completed. I also have some by genre/topic. I don’t worry about categorizing them until I read them usually and then place in multiple categories.
Yours is similar to mine, but I just leave them in completed and don’t further categorize.
I started organizing my Kindle books a few months ago, but gave up. Takes too much time and I’d rather use my time reading.
yea, you really have to organize as you add or it easily gets out of hand. That was one thing that continues to bother me about kindle, Amazon’s refusal to integrate it with PC tools to more easily organize your library.
When I learned that holding many books on my Kindle causes the battery to wear down faster, I decided to only keep a couple of books on the device. I categorize the other books for easy retrieval. One category is Books I Have Not Read, the Other categories are genres. When I buy a new book, I put it in the Books I Have Not Read. When I finish reading a book, I change the category to the correct genre.
Thanks. Wondered why my battery charge wasn’t lasting as long.
@Stacia when my Paperwhite was new, I thought there was something wrong with the battery. It was advertised to last for much longer than mine did. I did some research and discovered the information about keeping books on the devise wearing the battery. Also, I read on it much more than the averages the advertising is talking about, so I use battery faster.