2. Calibre for formatting books in any format (windows and linux).
With "Mangle" you can format manga's:
http://foosoft.net/mangle/
1. The Kindle feels very sturdy but I got my a leather case nonetheless. I am taking no riscs.
Oh and I have one of the cases where you have a string with a leather thingy. It itself is sturdy enough to open and fold it backwards w/o touching my kindle.