Can't you put them into a collection or folder and call it books read? I wouldn't delete them just in case I wanted to read the book again.

Another question...

When you purchase a book that you already have, Amazon will give you a message that you have already purchased that book. If you delete it from your cloud, will you get any kind of message if you attempt to purchase a book that you had in the past?

First, you should definitely create a Collection on your Kindle and name it something like "Been Read" or "Done Reading." (Remember, Collections will appear alphabetically, so name it whatever works best for you.) When you are done reading a book, add it to your "Done" collection and remove it from any other collection where you might have it.

If you want to remove books from your Kindle to make room to add more books, you should choose to "Remove from Device." That will remove it from your Kindle, but the book will remain in your Amazon Cloud. As long as you have it in your Cloud, you can always download it again, even to a different Kindle device that's registered to you.

If you remove a book from your Amazon Cloud, you would need to purchase it again. (Yes, even if it's a free book, you'd have to go through the process of getting it again.) Remember, too, that just because a book is free when you first get it, it might not always be free, so if you delete it from your Cloud, you may have to pay to get it again.

Moonie, I honestly don't know what happens to the "you've already purchased this book" message once you've deleted it from your Cloud, because I simply don't delete stuff from my Cloud, so I've never been in that situation. I guess you could pose that question to the folks at Kindle support...

One way to let you know if you have already read a book is to leave it at 100%. My husband used to put the pages back to 0% and then wouldn't know if he had read it or not. I think I have him convinced to do the above like I do.

All great answers. We used to not be able to do collections on the kindle app but recently they added that option which is great so that way we can make folders for those that are finished reading or separate them into individual folders for the various persons reading from the same Amazon library. My husband has a folder with his name and his selection of books and I have mine. Some do over lap but the separation helps keep it more organized.
I also never remove books from my Amazon library because should you want to loan that book to someone else with a kindle if you removed it well it's gone. You have unlimited space so why remove them?
And if you just move the ones you are currently interested in onto the device it is much easier to keep track.
And yes leave them at 100%! I wish there was some type of marker they had that would mark the cover as read. You can however add a notation to the book which once you open it and wonder if you have read this you can look at notations and if you added the note that you finished this book you would know. I taught my husband how to do that and put the date he finished it. He reads extremely fast and goes through books like crazy so he really was having a hard time remembering what he had read.
I only keep about half a dozen or so books on my device at a time, the ones I want to read next, then I move them into my collections folder for done reading in my name. So I have a folder for Ravens books and one for Ravens finished books same for hubby.

I love that they let me know I have already ordered the book because several times I am not sure. I doubt that it would give that warning if you no longer had that book in your library but I don't know for sure because I have never removed a book.

I am a pretty new Kindle user and I can't figure out how to make a folder or collection for my books. I only have about 10, but I'm just getting started. Disorganization drives me nuts - how do I make folders?

(Please use one or two syllable words.)

Collections are not possible on the Fire (at least the first gen; not sure about the newer ones). What Kindle do you have?

I'm sorry that I'm so computer ignorant that I can't tell you. It came on my HP laptop (as a Kindle app) that I got in December 2012.

Little bug first make sure you have the latest updates for your Kindle app. 4.3.0.4.4 is the latest. To find out that information, open your Kindle app where it says Kindle up in the top left corner click there it will also show as 3 bars. When the menu opens go down to info click that, then about to see what version you have.
To make collections click the same Kindle in the top left corner, you will see collections click here to create folders. There at the top right will be a plus sign with a tag icon that is how you create your folder. To put books in the folder, click on the folder you made then click the plus sign and select the books you want to move to the folder. It's pretty self explanatory once you get started.

You don't have a Kindle, you have the Kindle app, if it is on a Windows laptop then it's the Kindle app for windows.
It's essential that you keep your Kindle app updated, the older versions do not have collections and folders.

Most of what I read on my Kindle are from the library and free. I usually delete the book as soon as I finish, and whenever I'm at Amazon I go to Manage My Kindle, and delete the books there, too.

I do the same as Shelgal. I delete the books after I finish reading them. All that shows are books I have not read.

I have the Kindle app for Windows 8. I hate Windows 8.

The instructions from ravencajun seem very clear (thank you) HOWEVER nothing described there seems to match up with anything on my Kindle screen. :(

Ok I edited my post after going to you tube and watching the Kindle app for windows 8. It's completely different.
But thats what you need to do go watch the you tube videos they show you step by step instructions. Here's one but for more just do a search on you tube for Kindle windows 8.

Here is a link that might be useful: You tube

This post was edited by ravencajun on Wed, Jan 8, 14 at 22:54

Go to Google and Google how to use Kindle app for windows 8.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon help.