What to do if nothing happens

When you have finished specifying the e-book you want, the following things happen:

Our web server creates a Kindle e-book according to your specification.
Our web server sends the e-book to you.

THEN
You forward the email to Amazon.
Amazon process the e-book.
Amazon deliver the e-book to your Kindle.

Steps 1 and 2 normally take between ten minutes and an hour, depending on the size of the e-book and how many other e-books are in the queue at the time.

After you forward the email to your Kindle’s @kindle.com email address, wait half an hour or so.

If nothing has happened after that time, it is time to look into what might be going on. Amazon send no error reports at all, they either deliver the e-book or they don't, so if they haven't, a bit of detective work is in order.

New (from August 2022): An Amazon error message. The new improved Amazon systems sometimes fail and send an error message. You can read all about this here.

1. Check the Kindle email address

Every Kindle (and Kindle app) has an email address ending in @kindle.com. If you choose the wrong one, it isn't like sending an email to a wrong address – the email just disappears.

This page explains how to check the Kindle email address.

2. Check the "from" email address

You have to make sure that your email address is listed in Amazon's "Approved Personal Document E-mail List" for your account. If it isn't, the e-book won't bounce back to you: it will simply be discarded.

This page explains how to check Amazon's Approved Personal Document E-mail List.

Once an e-book has been discarded by Amazon for either of the above reasons, it will have disappeared entirely. So after correcting the cause, forward the email to Amazon again.

2a. Respond to Amazon’s confirmation of your email address

Sometimes Amazon will send you an email asking for confirmation that this is your address and you did send a Personal Document from it. They give you 48 hours to respond, and if they have not heard from you by then, they will delete the e-book instead of delivering it.

Depending on your spam filter, this confirmation email may have gone into spam, so you might need to look for it there.

3. Check your wi-fi

Your Kindle needs to be connected to the Internet to receive e-books. If, like us, you turn off the wi-fi most of the time, to save the battery, turn it on!!!!

Wait a while after turning it on, and with any luck your e-book will arrive.

4. Check your Personal Documents list

A good way of narrowing down the cause of any problems is to see whether Amazon have rejected and discarded your e-book, or accepted it but failed to deliver it. Amazon's web site has a list of Personal Documents. Here is how to find it:

In "My Account", select "Manage Your Content and Devices" (not "Apps and Devices", which is different).
In "Manage Your Content and Devices", look at the "Your Content" tab, and set the "Show" option to say "Docs" rather than "Books".
You will then see all the Personal Documents that have landed in your account.

If your e-book is in the list, then the problem is delivery from Amazon to your Kindle; if it is not in the list, then one of the key email addresses must have been wrong or not registered.

5. Ask Amazon

If nothing else works, ask Amazon.

Your experience may be different, but in general we find Amazon's staff in this area to be more helpful than useful. (Amazon's great strength is in customer service rather than technical support).