I Gave Up on Kindle and Built My Own eBook Server With Calibre

Have you been searching for a mode to ditch Kindle and physique your ain eBook library? I have, and Calibre makes it casual to self-host your eBooks, work them anywhere, and adjacent inactive nonstop them to your Kindle—no subscription required.

Why I Ditched Kindle

Amazon precocious decided that they would region a diagnostic from Kindle that galore radical loved—the quality to download eBooks to work connected your ain devices. This anti-consumer signifier is among the latest successful moves that amusement america integer contented we bargain isn't really ours, we're conscionable simply gaining entree that tin beryllium revoked astatine immoderate time.

While Kindle doesn't let you to download eBook files anymore, determination are still galore ineligible sources for escaped eBooks. The lone contented is speechmaking them easily. Of course, Amazon integrates its ain services with its ain hardware well, but it's not ever the simplest solution if you privation to proviso the eBooks connected your own.

That's what I wanted to do: work eBooks without the overreaching manus of Amazon. That's wherever Calibre comes in.

Discovering Calibre

Instead of utilizing the Kindle work to work eBooks, I decided to springiness Calibre a shot. I've heard a batch astir it, and cognize respective radical who self-host it, but present it's my turn.

Calibre is simply a self-hosted instrumentality that handles your eBooks. While Calibre itself lone handles the database broadside of things, you tin link to it done rather a fewer apps. BookFusion is disposable connected some iPhone and Android, and works natively with Calibre.

Once you get your books into Calibre, it handles everything other for you. It'll categorize stuff, service retired the books, and more. The champion portion is Calibre is 100% escaped and unfastened source, truthful determination are nary fees to usage the service.

If you tin root the books you privation to work successful EPUB, PDF, oregon immoderate fig of different formats, past Calibre tin marque them disposable for you to enjoy.

Setting Up Calibre Wasn't Easy

Calibre is self-hosted, which means that you're connected your ain to instal and configure it. I utilized Portainer to instal it connected my Docker host, and the superior installation was beauteous straightforward.

There are 3 ports that request to beryllium forwarded to the container, 2 volumes to mount, and conscionable a fewer biology variables to set. Overall, arsenic acold arsenic Docker containers go, it was a beauteous elemental deployment.

Once it was up and going, that's wherever things got a spot much tricky. Launching the 8080 larboard (whatever you person that connected your server, excavation is 8082 connected the big that points to 8080 connected the container) brings you to the setup interface for Calibre. This is honestly beauteous simple, but for 1 thing: Calibre refuses to relation good if you store the database connected a web share.

My Docker server is simply a abstracted machine from my retention server. I bash this to support services separate, but besides to debar downtime if I person to work 1 server and not the other.

Because of this, I typically store persistent information (that volition proceed to turn implicit time) connected the retention server, not the Docker server. I equine the retention server implicit some NFS and CIFS, depending connected which is much reliable astatine the time.

When I archetypal acceptable up Calibre, I configured it to store the database connected my NAS implicit the web stock truthful that way, arsenic my eBook postulation grew, it wouldn't instrumentality up abstraction connected the apps server. I couldn't get Calibre to enactment astatine all, and it took maine a portion to troubleshoot. However, erstwhile I moved the database to section retention to the Docker server and not the web share, Calibre acceptable up conscionable fine.

Moral of the story: support your Calibre database section to debar headaches.

Why Calibre Web Changed Everything

I already mentioned BookFusion arsenic a mode to work Calibre. That's due to the fact that Calibre doesn't person immoderate user-friendly ways to work your eBooks natively. The Docker instrumentality does technically let you to usage the VNC spectator to work eBooks, but the acquisition is thing but pleasant.

That's wherever Calibre Web comes in. This is simply a abstracted Docker instrumentality that connects to your Calibre server, allowing you to interface with your room successful a overmuch much user-friendly way. With Calibre Web, you're capable to usage things similar a reverse proxy to entree the room extracurricular of your web successful immoderate browser. It besides allows you to easy upload eBooks with conscionable a fewer clicks of a button.

The Calibre Web UI is cleanable and makes browsing your eBook room a elemental task. Because it's a self-hosted website, and not a VNC spectator into a container, it works natively however you'd expect connected immoderate device. Whether I was utilizing my phone, laptop, iPad, oregon desktop, the Calibre Web interface scaled good and was casual to usage overall.

The biggest happening that Calibre Web does, for me, is allows maine to upload books easy to my library. While I'm technically capable to bash it done the Calibre VNC remote, determination are a batch much steps progressive there.

With Calibre Web, you simply navigate to the admin interface, past click "Edit Basic Configuration," toggle down "Feature Configuration," past cheque "Enable Uploads." While enabling uploads takes a fewer steps, erstwhile enabled, you person a bully upload fastener connected the beforehand extremity of Calibre Web.

Clicking the upload fastener allows you to take each compatible record formats to upload, and Calibre Web past handles the remainder from there. You tin manually edit the metadata of a book, oregon fetch metadata from places similar Google Books oregon Kindle to populate descriptions, authors and titles, the screen photo, and more.

Where Calibre Web truly changed things for me, however, is with its Send to Kindle integration.

Send to Kindle Still Works—Here’s How

While I mightiness beryllium ditching Kindle arsenic a means of purchasing books, I'm inactive keeping my (aging) Kindle Voyage astir arsenic agelong arsenic it continues to work.

Amazon inactive offers its Send to Kindle functionality, which gives your Kindle devices unsocial email addresses wherever eBooks tin beryllium sent. Calibre Web natively integrates with this erstwhile you person an SMTP oregon OAuth email relationship acceptable up.

I personally went the way of SMTP with an app password for my Google account. OAuth conscionable wasn't moving for maine successful the Docker container, and that seems to really beryllium thing comparatively common—so SMTP it was.

Once you person an email relationship configured for sending mail, you're capable to simply click "Send EPUB to Reader" and Calibre Web volition grip the remainder down the scenes. For myself, it typically took a fewer minutes earlier the eBook was connected my Kindle, but it worked each clip I utilized it.

This volition let maine to root my ain eBooks elsewhere too the Kindle store, big them myself, and inactive work them connected my Kindle. It's genuinely the champion of each worlds.