Breaking Free: How to Build a Truly Independent eBook Library

From SRP author Taylen Carver:

If you’ve ever felt like your ebook collection is more of a rental than an actual library, you’re not wrong. Most retailers make it really easy to buy—one click, done—but they also make it deliberately hard to take your books with you if you ever want to leave. And let’s not sugarcoat this: Amazon is the worst offender.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s entirely possible to build an ebook library that’s yours. Independent, portable, safe, secure, and backed up. A library that lives on your hard drive—not inside someone else’s walled garden.

Let’s talk about becoming platform agnostic.

Your Library, Your Rules

When you buy a physical book, you get to shelve it where you like, lend it out, pack it in a box and take it with you if you move. The digital equivalent should be the same. That’s what being platform agnostic is about: not being locked into a single device, retailer, or app just because you happened to click “Buy” there once.

It starts with this simple rule: Keep your ebooks somewhere you control. Not locked inside Amazon’s cloud or Kobo’s or Apple’s or anyone else’s. Back them up. Sort them. Store them in a library you can actually manage.

Enter Calibre: The Swiss Army Knife of Ebook Management

I’ve sung Calibre’s praises before on the Tracy Cooper-Posey site [here and here, among others], but it bears repeating. Calibre is, without exaggeration, one of the most powerful tools available to readers who want control over their digital library.

You can:

• Sort and organize thousands of books
• Edit metadata (like titles, blurbs, and those precious series numbers!)
• Find missing covers and fill in the gaps
• Add your own ratings, notes, and tags
• Read books right in the app
• Sync your collection to cloud storage
• Transfer to any device you like

I donate to Calibre every year because I honestly couldn’t manage my reading life without it.

Download it here: https://calibre-ebook.com/download

Want to see it in action? Watch the demo video: https://calibre-ebook.com/demo

Read on Anything

Once your books are in your own library, you’re free to read them however you want. Try out apps like Moon+ Reader or FBReader. Personally, I use Google Play Books—you can upload any EPUB or PDF, and it syncs across devices without fuss. No weird blank covers or disappearing downloads just because the book didn’t come from their store.

Buy From Anywhere

Being agnostic isn’t just about reading—it’s about buying too. If a book is available on Kobo, Smashwords, or direct from the author, grab it there. Amazon exclusivity is real, and yes, it’s frustrating. But the more we support open platforms, the more they’ll grow.

And yes, sometimes you’ll need to take a few extra steps to get a book from point A to your reader of choice. But those few minutes are worth it for the long-term control you get.

And here’s the real magic: once your library is centralized and you know how to manage your books, you’re free to buy directly from any author, anywhere. That opens up a world of benefits—author-direct discounts, exclusive editions, early access, and those lovely multi-book bundles that often never make it to the big stores. Direct sales are often better for authors and readers, and once you’ve gone that route, you may never want to go back.

A Note on DRM

Now, about DRM—Digital Rights Management. Books that are DRM-locked can’t be opened outside the retailer’s own ecosystem. That means you can’t load them into Calibre or read them in your chosen app. There are tools out there that can remove DRM, and many readers use them in order to centralize their personal libraries.

However, be aware that doing so may violate the terms of service of whichever retailer you bought from. It’s a personal decision, and one to make with eyes open.

Take Back Your Library

Amazon recently backed off from their new policy of not allowing downloads of purchased books—a rare reversal. That makes this a very good time to begin reclaiming your Kindle content. The same applies to other retailers, too. If you’ve ever felt like your ebooks were being held hostage, this is your moment to start moving them into your own space.

Here’s a simple approach to building your own independent ebook library:

1. Start small. Figure out how to get just one book out of your retailer’s walled garden and into your own reading system.
2. Be consistent. Each day or week after that, systematically extract five or ten more books and add them to your library.
3. Add as you go. While you’re doing that, get into the habit of adding every new book you buy directly into your centralized library.

Eventually, you’ll have every book you’ve ever purchased safely under your own roof. If you buy from multiple retailers, start with the one that has the smallest number of your books—it’ll give you an easy win—then move on from there in order of collection size.

Freedom doesn’t have to be overwhelming—it just needs to be intentional.

And once you’ve seen what it’s like to actually own your books, you’ll wonder why you ever settled for anything else.