This is a question I have been wondering and researching for a while now, with no answers:

How or where do people get ebooks for free or turn a novel into an ebook? What I mean is- do people who provide links for ebooks somehow "jailbreak" a paid ebook and then make a link for it, or do most of them find other means to get the ebooks...

Nulla in mundo pax sincera
"Always go too far, because that's where you'll find the truth." - Albert Camus

You convert them (novels, comics, whatever) with programs like calibre.

You can pretty much put anything you want in a e-reader. Whether it be comics or novels, you can pretty much convert them all and then put it in the e-reader. No need for jailbreaking/hacking/modding stuff.