You’ve just received an e-reader and you’re excited to use it. Naturally, you want to find some books to read and download. However, after hours of searching, you’ve realized that you’ve only downloaded a few books because you spent too much time searching and reading the snippets. Don’t worry, it happens to everyone. It’s easy to get lost in the search and the countless offers of free books will make any bibliophile’s head spin.
It’s tempting to download as many free books as possible, but doing so will clutter your device and lead to disorganization. To keep your e-reader running smoothly and ensure a pleasant reading experience, consider these tips:
Organize your e-reader with categories and collection folders
Categories and collections are interchangeable but generally speaking, categories are based on subjects or genres such as cooking, Sci-Fi, and Romance.
Collections are based on similar topics or series such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Dark Tower and the Harry Potter series. Collections can be nestled inside categories or other collections. For example, the Dark Tower Series can be placed in the horror genre or the Steven King collections folder.
Create collections based on your preferences and limit the number of categories to keep things organized. You can use tags and notes to add context to each e-book or folder, making it easier to sort and retrieve them later.
Popular categories include mystery, romance, horror, science fiction, self-help, religion, politics, home decor, biographies, crime, comedy, travel, food and fantasy.
There are hundreds of categories but limiting your choices to fifteen is recommended. This keeps things focused and helps when you want to sort or search for books. Most people do not have that many interests so why create empty folders? This will only lead to confusion later on.
Store only the books you want to keep. There is no point in storing a hundred recipe collections if you are vegetarian because chances are you will never use them. If you need to cook, grab a cookbook and delete it.
The main idea is to create a functional and logical filing system for your books that is organized and clutter-free.
Book management applications like Calibre or BookFusion offer a complete and comprehensive way to organize your digital library into useful categories.
Do Not Store Free E-books when it is not required
I know a few of you are shaking your heads thinking isn’t storing books one of the main reasons for having an e-reader? Yes, it is. However, downloading and storing too many books will waste space.
Membership-based, public domain and online library books are free and you do not have to store books on your device because they are always accessible.
Promotional book offers will not remain free if the book becomes popular so downloading these makes sense.
If you have a clutter-free device you can use the additional space to grab flash deals like the ones on Amazon. They are not free, but inexpensive and often too good of a deal to pass up. It makes sense to get them when they become available because they don’t stay around for a long time.
Deals like these can be found under the discounts and deals tab on Amazon.
