Special Pages - Reports

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tip: Moving files to Kindle w/o USB cable - UPDATE2

Tip of the day for those who don't want to use the USB cable to transfer a Kindle-readable file from a computer to the Kindle.

  Joel Anderson uses his computer to send his Kindle book files to his http://docs.google.com storage area and then uses his Kindle web browser to go to http://docs.google.com/m, the mobile version of that Google docs page, to just download the file(s) direct to the Kindle.
 This will not work with a PDF file, but it will work with .prc, .mobi, or .txt files.

UPDATE - (Same day) This DOES NOT WORK with ORIGINAL Kindle 1 ("Kindle Classic") mode.  It does work with the 6" Kindle ("Kindle 2") (released February 2009) and the Kindle DX (U.S. and Global on both Kindles).  Apologies for not checking the Kindle 1 when I wrote this.
  (I'll try one of the focused file-upload/download sites later.  If anyone else does in the meantime and finds an upload/download site that works with the Kindle 1, please let us know.

  As he said on the popular Amazon forum thread on unique use of the Kindle, "Don't know if this is unusual - but I've found it handy to upload .mobi files to my Google docs in order to download them to my Kindle. Handy when I've got files on my computer, but no cable to move them to the Kindle."

See the Google docs support page for information about how to use that page for documents.  You can share documents or just store them or convert them to Google-docs format (where that is possible) to edit them.

UPDATE2 - Same day Correction for storage limits, which are 1 gig for free accounts vs info on sample-illustrations showing 10,240 MB (10 gigs).  It's definitely 1-gigabyte storage for free + 25 cents per each additional gigabyte.

Apparently, you can store up to about 10 gigs 1 gig of documents there at no charge.   If you need more, you can buy additional storage at 25 cents per gigabyte. There's a $5/year plan to upload up to 20 gigs, and there are additional plans for heavier needs.

Here is the "In a nutshell" explanation by Google about file size limits.
'   * Docs: Each doc can have a maximum size of 500K, plus up to 2MB per embedded image to be converted to Google Docs format.
  * Spreadsheets: Each spreadsheet can be up to 256 columns, 200,000 cells, or 100 sheets, whichever is reached first, to be converted to Google Docs format. There's no limit on rows.
  * Presentations: Files in .ppt and .pps formats can have a maximum size of 10MB or 200 slides to be converted to Google Docs format; files uploaded from the Web can be up to 2MB.
  * Stored files: Files that you store but don't convert to Google Docs can be up to 1 GB each. '
Not bad!

See the Size Limits page for more detail (file formats etc).

Here's the "Getting Started" guide and the "Take a Tour page."

Thanks to Joel on the tip for transferring files to your Kindle without needing to use the USB cable connected to a computer.

  There's no charge for a transfer of Kindle-compatible file from a website page.  HOWEVER, PDFs can't be downloaded direct to the Kindle.



See the ongoing Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources
Also, a page of links that confine searches to mid-range priced e-books.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

30,000 free books for iPad are for Kindle too - UPDATE

(Special note:  The March 26 blog entry has not been released by Amazon blogs dept - some kind of glitch.  I hope it comes through along with this post.  Apologies to Kindle Edition subscribers.  The gap is not what it would appear.)

Columns about the Apple iPad are highlighting the 30,000 free Project Gutenberg titles that come with it.
    As many regulars know, that's also available to Kindle owners.
  But for the benefit of those who have become Kindle users in the last 6 months and those who are Kindle Edition subscribers, I'm reposting the information on that as it will have fallen off the current pages.

The below is from a popular Kindleworld blog-article which is being highlighted for newcomers and Kindle-blog edition subscribers (who can reference it on the Kindle for another 25 days or so).

ALL Kindle-compatible books with file extensions ".mobi" or ".prc" that you download to your computers (rather than to your Kindle, which is possible from many places) can be read on the computer by the free Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac software by just clicking on the book file that is on your computer (wherever it is downloaded and kept).

The 30,000 free Project Gutenberg books are laid out well and proof-read.
This tip allows you to directly download a Project Gutenberg book to the Kindle, although that will work only where whispernet web-browsing is enabled already - U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico.

International Kindle users who live outside the U.S. and do not have web-browsing enabled in their countries can download these free books to their computers instead (choosing "Kindle" or "mobi" or "prc" format) and then move them to their Kindles with the USB cable that is part of their Kindle power cord.

Originally posted April 2, 2009
TIP OF THE DAY: James Adcock tells us how to download chosen Project Gutenbook books direct to our Kindles.  First, you need to get the catalog on to your Kindle, and you can download it by webbing via your Kindle to http://www.freekindlebooks.org/MagicCatalog/magiccatalog.html
(mucho typing on that Kindle keyboard but I did it).
OH, for the Kindle, try this instead: http://tinyurl.com/gutmagic

After downloading "The Magic Catalog of the Project Gutenberg E-Books (MOBI Edition) to your Kindle (or transferring it from your computer to the Kindle if you don't want to type in the long URL on the Kindle), follow James's instructions which are:
"Use your Kindle's Search Feature to find your favorite Author and/or Title.  Click to go to that page.  Click again on the Author: Title listing and your chosen E-Book will automagically download directly from the Project Gutenberg website to your Kindle..."
Thanks, James!

Added tip from James - How to use mobipocket.com's mobigen.exe, to easily convert EPUB books (at the DOS prompt) to MOBI versions.  Downside, any illustrations in a book are not included at this point.

  UPDATE - 3/30/10 This blog entry was first posted 3/27/10.
- It's better now to convert these using Calibre instead.  For detailed info on how to do that, see the Kindleworld article on converting ePub files to Kindle-readable 'prc' files.


See the ongoing Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources
There's also a page of links that confine searches to mid-range priced e-books.

Monday, March 29, 2010

AP compares Kindle and iPad advantages


The AP today compares E-book advantages on the Kindle and the iPad.

They advise that, if choosing between a Kindle or an iPad for reading e-books, buyers keep in mind some advantages of both products.
' Kindle:
  . Lower price. ($259)

  . Light weight. (10.2 ounces. The iPad is 1.5 pounds.)

  . Can wirelessly download books any time, anywhere from Amazon's Kindle Store without a monthly fee.
    The $499, entry-level iPad goes online only in Wi-Fi hot spots.

  .   Wireless connectivity anywhere requires an iPad that is $629 and up, plus a monthly service fee.

  . Gray-scale "e-ink" screen that can be read in direct sunlight.

  . Battery lasts up to a week with wireless connection on, or two weeks with it off.

iPad:
  . LCD color touch screen is 9.7 inches diagonally, compared with 6 inches on the Kindle.  That can give a more complete Web-surfing experience.

  . It also functions as an iPod and video player.
    [ But doesn't support Flash video -- No Hulu, no ESPN videos]

  . It can download music and videos from Apple's iTunes Store and games and applications from its App Store — including e-reading apps from Apple and other companies, such as Amazon. '
In other words, it depends on whether you want it to mainly read books, even in direct sunlight, and want to be able to download a book to your reader wherever you are, or whether you also (or mainly) want a device that allows you to surf the web in color and download reading when you are around a WiFi network (for about twice the $-amount -- you'll need to buy an adapter kit to transfer files).

 The e-ink screen is monochrome and slower but works really well for reading books but while its web browser is free it is also slow. The iPad will dazzle with color and variety but will cost considerably more and it may be harder to read books on the large LCD screen for long periods of time.  For some it'd be no problem.


See the ongoing Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources
Also, a page of links that confine searches to mid-range priced e-books.

Author Solutions to distribute all new Indie titles via Kindle

Author Solutions, "the world leader in indie book publishing," announced an agreement with Amazon to distribute all new black-and-white AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, and Xlibris titles through the Kindle.

Although a default price of $9.99 will be set for every ASI title made available through the Kindle, each author will be able to set his or her own price.  E-book distribution through the Kindle will be included as a free service for all new black-and-white ASI titles.   For more information on Author Solutions, see their website.

Random House a hold-out on iPad pricing plan. Newly free books.

NEWLY/TEMPORARILY FREE KINDLE BOOKS- NOT Recommendations, but only Alerts
  Christian fiction is dominating Amazon's new free Kindle books area and that's been a subject of some controversy on the forums.  Ratings will tend to be based on readers drawn to the genre.  I'll continue to do the alerts but won't include ebooks that have very low customer ratings.
  You'll find the new non-classic books easily, though, by using the links at the Free and Low-cost Kindle Books page and choosing the link(s) for sorting by publication date.  There aren't many at any time.  I also don't include any 'Excerpts' as the alerts are to full books only.

A Gift of Grace, by Amy Clipston.   437 pages   Publisher: Zondervon, May 1, 2009.  Hardcover-Large Print and paperback versions are available.
23 customer reviews, 4-1/2 stars out of 5, current price $0.00

Text-to-speech: Enabled.  Genre: Fiction, Domestic Life, Religious Fiction
From Product Description:  "When Rebecca Kauffman-s older sister, who left the Amish community when she was a teenager, dies in an automobile accident, Rebecca is left custody of her two modern non-Amish teenage nieces, Jessica and Lindsay.  Will she be able to reconcile the two worlds in her home-or will the clash of cultures tear her world, including her marriage, apart?"

The Homeplace, by Gilbert Morris   336 pages,   Publisher: Zondervon, June 1, 2009.  Hardcover-Large Print, Paperback, and Audible (audio) versions are available.
5 customer reviews, 4-1/2 stars out of 5, current price $0.00

Text-to-speech: Enabled.  Genre: Christian Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
This is another book about families surviving tragedies, and this was Book One in the Fairhope Series.

YOUR PAGE OF AMAZON RECOMMENDATIONS
On the forums, some have been asking about the page and I'd never even noticed they'd made a separate page for it on top of having recommendations galore on any screen, so am including this link to the page.

RANDOM HOUSE NOT SIGNED FOR IPAD YET
Financial Times's Gerrit Wiesmann reports that Random House is uncomfortable with Apple's new "Agency" pricing mode for e-book publishers, feeling it could erode established publishing practices and see authors and agents missing out on potential earnings.

 Certainly we've seen many reports that customers will not pay the higher average prices Apple and the large publishers prefer, and the Apple "Agency" plan itself leaves publishers (and authors then) with LESS money from Amazon per book than with the traditional wholesaler arrangement.

  See my earlier article for details on all that.  The benefit is said to be the publishers' feeling of "control" over pricing.  I think Random House is right that it's detrimental to overall profits, and it's certainly not buyer-friendly.
  Here are some of the points made in the FT article:
' Random House, the world’s largest book publisher by sales, could keep its books from Apple’s iPad when it goes on sale next month, as [it] fears the effects of the tablet device on the pricing of electronic books.

...the absence of the book market leader would prove a blow to Apple.  Markus Dohle, Random House chief executive, did not exclude the possibility of reaching a deal before the iPad goes on sale on April 3, but said he was treading carefully, as Apple’s pricing regime could erode established publishing practices.

...Mr Dohle said the iPad and iBookstore spelled “changes, in particular for our stakeholders”, which would require the publisher to consult further with its authors and their agents. '
The entire situation with its uncertainties and resistance by Amazon and its customers is affecting other traditional wholesalers and distributors

PRICING POLICY EFFECT ON OTHERS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN
TheBigMoney's Marion Maneker headlines their March 25 article "The E-Book Supply-Chain Collapses"

Paul Biba of Teleread.Org wrote that Publishers Lunch ($-subscription required) reported that "Ingram may have to stop wholesaling ebooks until new agreements are reached with publishers who want to use the agency model. Ingram has told publishers that this may happen by April 1. If publishers want to change the model from that which has been used for the last 10 years then Ingram will have to come to new arrangements with each publisher individually."

Ingram and its publisher clients have to come to a new arrangement about how to allocate revenues.  The article reports that only Random House, who has not moved to the agency model, is unaffected.  Among others, Ingram supplies Powells.com, Diesel ebooks and BooksonBoard.

THEN, Books on Board's Bob LiVolsi wrote a detailed post to Teleread describing the effect on his company.   Here's part of it:
' Thursday afternoon, March 25, the 5 publishers still do not have all the necessary info to the distributors for cut over to new system – items such as sales tax nexus (because, under the new model, they will now require sales tax where the publisher has nexus/locations), ONIX feeds of the changed metadata that includes the new Required Ebook Pricing (REP), and rules for promotion, etc.

  These things require more than a few days notice to code and test for well over 100,000 titles. So we and others may not have all titles on April 1, but we’ll still have over 200,000 to choose from, including thousands from our top publishers Random House, Harlequin and Samhain, none of whom are playing in this new pricing game.

The distributors’ problem has nothing to do with clinging to old systems. It has everything to do with publishers, desperate for better profits in these hard times, trying to force a change on very short notice.
  This is a change that increases prices for consumers – many nearly doubling in street price with this change – eliminating by mandate all discounts and rewards programs for the 5 publishers’ titles in an effort to create a somewhat surreal level playing field.

  Unfortunately, the 5 publishers have chosen as of this writing to push this program through without having the plan fully spelled out. Even if they spelled it out tonight, that still leaves only 5 days for major systems changes and testing.

We’re told this is in order to both meet the deadline for the Apple iPad’s release in early April in order to deliver a message to the two other multi-billion dollar giants that have been selling below cost (Amazon and Barnes & Noble).

  The iPad, interestingly, is a product that our in-house surveys indicate 90%+ of our customers will never touch because they view it as impractical, incredibly expensive and targeted at the very affluent – unlike 98% of all readers who are working extra hard to make ends meet these days.  And why would a typical reader, with household income of less than $60k during these hard times, spend up to $800 to read a $7 eBook?
. . .
  Meanwhile, the Required Pricing scheme guarantees Apple – anything but a struggling company – huge margins on eBooks, raises consumer prices (including forcing sales tax to be charged in approximately 24 states where it is not typically charged for eBooks today), and squeezing out many of the independent ebook stores that rely on Ingram for product.

  Unfortunately, the agency pricing scheme turns consumers wallets and small independents into collateral damage to “friendly” fire.  End result will be to further concentrate economic power, including the selection of who gets published and promoted, in the hands of a few multi-billion dollar behemoths ... '
See the rest of the post by Books on Board's Bob LiVolsi at Teleread.

Friday, March 26, 2010

New Free Kindle Book(s) late March 2010

(Had to make a new, separate entry for this, as the RSS-feed Google Reader does not move the recent new free Kindle books to the current date on the feeds.  Click for other recent books.)

NEWLY/TEMPORARILY FREE BOOKS - NOT Recommendations, but only Alerts
UPDATED 3/26/10 (Orig'l post was dated 3/13 at 11:50 AM)
Publish on Amazon Kindle with the Digital Text Platform, by Amazon.com.   315K size (small)   Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, March 14, 2010
No customer reviews yet, current price $0.00

Text-to-speech: Enabled.  Genre: Desktop publishing, Graphic Design, Reference
From Product Description:  "A guide to publishing your book on Kindle with Amazon’s Digital Text Platform (DTP).  DTP is a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets anyone upload and format their titles for sale in the Kindle Store.  If you have an Amazon.com account, you're already signed up with Digital Text Platform. ...  Digital Text Platform gives you everything you need to become your own publisher today."

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler.   802K size (normal)   Publisher: Zondervan, June 1, 2009 & March 23, 2010
42 customer reviews with 4-1/2 stars out of 5, current price $0.00

Current hardcover price: $14.95.  Audio: $15.59 Genre: Christology, Bible, Faith
From Product Description:  "What would it be like to journey back to the first century and sit at the feet of Rabbi Jesus as one of his Jewish disciples? How would your understanding of the gospel have been shaped by the customs, beliefs, and traditions of the Jewish culture in which you lived?"

UPDATED 3/24/10 (Orig'l post was dated 3/13 at 11:50 AM)
The Twelve Sacred Traditions of Magnificent Mothers-in-Law, by Haywood Smith.
6 customer reviews with 5 stars out of 5, current price $0.00

Current paperback price $9.95. Genre: Family Relationships
From Product Description:  A very Southern mother-in-law's humorous advice to mothers-in-law everywhere. From the multiple New York Times bestselling author of The Red Hat Club.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Kindle and Tablets / E-book Pricing Wars

Kindles and tablet computers will co-exist, for many reasons.  At least this is what most columnists are saying this week, who have experienced e-Ink screens and know by experience how easy those are on most eyes (compared to LCD screens) with more long-session, sequential reading as in books (vs web-surfing w/lots of eye relief).

  Besides reading the various colummns today, I noticed Amazon's new? Kindle at beach ad.  And it's a good one, highlighting the small-form and how easy it is to read in direct sunlight.  Others enjoy reading their iPods or iPhones under the covers at night which don't, like e-Ink books, need external clip-on lights that can upset those next to them.

CRUNCHGEAR ARTICLE ON IMPACT OF THE KINDLE APP FOR TABLETS
CrunchGear's Matt Burns asks: "Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers: Is it the king of ereaders?

  Unlike the Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac, both of which are bare-bones in their Beta state, the new Kindle App for Tablets takes styling cues from Apple’s iBooks, he says.  And he adds:
' This is huge.  No longer can the iPad claim dominance on the color ebook world.  The upcoming Kindle tablet program will be able to run on presumably any PC tablet and still sync to the other Kindle apps, mobile or otherwise.  Knock “color ebook reader” off of the iPad’s list of Pros. The tablet race just got a bit more interesting.

  Content is king in the world of ebook readers and Apple should know that more than any company. The App Store, with its tens of thousands of apps, is one of the main reasons the iPad is guaranteed to be a success.
  The same thinking will drive the Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers program.  Consumers have been buying books from the Kindle Store since its launch in 2007 and Amazon keeps making those books more accessible by releasing Kindle apps for different platforms.

  Consumers own this content and expect to be able to access it no matter what device they are using because of Amazon’s precedent.  Now they can read their books not only on the Kindle itself, but also a BlackBerry, iPhone, PC, Mac, and soon nearly any tablet PC. '
  Now here's the thing -- though he doesn't say it explicitly in this article, others have pointed it out.

ARE THE E-BOOKS READABLE ON OTHER DEVICES?
  While, as he says, Kindle books can be read on the Kindle, the Blackberry, iPhone, iPod, PC, Mac, and soon any tablet computer AND sync'd between them --
  iBooks won't be readable on anything but the iPad, though I imagine they have to be making a corresponding app to read iBooks on the iPhone and iPod (optimized for the smaller size) and certainly eventually on a Mac computer.

THE FOCUS OF THE COMPANIES
  Apple's a hardware company first though, while Amazon's a book and other-content company first.  It's hard to imagine iBooks available for Blackberry or PC's, as Apple's main focus would be on selling iPads, iPods and iPhones (and, secondarily, data plans with AT&T and others) rather than e-books with all the hassles with publishers.

  Amazon's customer service for the Kindle is noted not only for its flexibility with respect to exchanges for any hardware/software kinks, it has the same standards for its Kindle books.  Will Apple?

  Unlike with Barnes and Noble's nook, you can return a Kindle book for a refund within 7 days if the formatting is sub-par or if there are missing pages or tables of contents without links.  Not so with the Nook -- its e-books are not returnable.
  If unsatisfied with. or not liking, a Kindle itself within 30 days of it being shipped you, you can return it (undamaged) in its box for a full refund.
  With the nook, it's 15 days.  What's the policy with the Sony?  What will be the policy with the various expensive tablets, including Apple's?  Amazon's been very secure in these areas.

Mann brings up another scenario.  He feels the availability of the Amazon Kindle app for Tablets "doesn't mean that it will ever hit the iPad.  Technically it’s up to Apple whether this app will run on the iPad and Apple’s track record doesn’t make its future look all that promising."

  He points out that iBooks will be a key feature of the iPad, just as Safari and iTunes are to its iPhone/iPod, but Apple has not approved the Firefox Mobile or Opera web browsers for them.  I think Amazon may have cleared it with Apple since its Kindle apps ARE on the iPhone/iPod.

  If not, there are various tablets coming out very soon, at least two of them far more capable than the iPad, which was intentionally somewhat crippled to keep its WiFi-only model priced low enough (no USB port, no multi-tasking, no SD slots, no webcam, no flash support -- no Hulu or ESPN video then).  The other models will have these and cost no more, or will cost less.  It wouldn't be good for Apple if Amazon books were available on other tablets but not the iPad.

CONTINUING E-BOOK PRICING WARS
As you'll have seen in earlier articles here, Apple has pushed for higher pricing via publishers setting selling-price rather than wholesale price, with Amazon/Apple to be acting as 'agencies' under the Apple plan.  Five of the six large publishers dove in, eager to get the guaranteed pricing, as Apple insisted in their agreements that no other bookstores would be allowed to sell at lower prices than theirs.

  Then Apple turned around and attempted (apparently successfully) to insert language into their own Agency plan with publishers, that would let Apple sell "hottest" titles at $9.99.  Note that "hottest" is synonymous, in the business, with the New York Times Bestsellers.

  Publishers (not Random House) who bought the Agency plan (and are trying to foist it on Amazon) HAD been getting $12.50 from Amazon on a $25 List-Price book, sold by Amazon for $9.99 (as loss-leaders), with the traditional wholesaler plan.

  Now, on books that sell for $9.95 at Apple, Jobs has publishers in a predicament because they would get only 70% of that $9.95 price -- or $7.00 rather than the $12.50 they would have gotten from Amazon under the traditional arrangement as opposed to Steve Job's "Agency" agreement.   How does $12.50 look against $7.00?

  Jobs might have negotiated a deal whereby the publishers who allow this would still get 70% of their desired pricing of $15 -- or $10.50, which would mean Apple would take a loss there (is this likely?) while the Publishers would get $2.00 less per sale than they would have with Amazon under the most favorable scenario for the publisher.

Now, again, who is setting the price?

UPDATE - Confirmation that Random House is Smarter on this
Random House is still not signed onto the Agency idea for the reasons cited in the linked article and wants to consult with stockholders and authors first:

  1. The agency model "lets the company take preset commissions on sales."
  2. "Apple would have the publishers put the price-tags as paid by customers, something which doesn’t seem to be [a] lucrative proposition to Random House executives."

"LEAK" ABOUT APPLE iBOOKSTORE PRICING ON NY TIMES BEING $9.99
The above speculations are due to AppAdvice's Alexander Vaughn "revealing" iPad iBooks pricing for the NY Times Bestsellers, in that he was at a preview of the iPad Bookstore and has a picture of the pricing shown at the presentation.  He does say it was a "not-so-NDA-complying preview."

  He reports that of the 32 e-books featured in the NYT's bestseller's section, 27 of them, including the entire top 10 are priced at $9.99.

Again, this means that Apple would pay the publishers $7 of the $10 OR if they applied the 30% to the publishers' WANTED selling price ($15), then they'd pay the publishers $10.50, losing money on each book.  Is that likely?

IN THE MEANTIME
Amazon would be making $3 on each NYT bestseller instead of losing $3.50 on each, using the 'Agency' plan Macmillan and others have been negotiating.

Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan writes about the "Supposedly Leaked" pricing and points out that the highest priced e-book of the 32 bestsellers mentioned is Poor Little Bitch Girl by Jackie Collins, going for $12.99 - but the Kindle counterpart is only $8.83.

So, who is (not) matching whom?  I think some are missing that Macmillan's new agreement with Amazon was to start April 1, not now (though people have noticed e-book pricing inching up).  So it's difficult to determine who is setting the price and matching whom in April.  And it would be very time-consuming to monitor and regulate between all the bookstores.  This is what the large publishers have bought into though, while attempting to set fixed higher pricing to be the same at all stores (per Apple).

WHY THE E-BOOK EXPLOSION
Authorlink discusses the new IDPF survey and points to a few articles on the explosion of e-books.  One is TBIResearch's headline by Rory Maher that Here's Why Amazon Will Win The eBook War: Kindle Already Has 90% eBook Market Share.  Read his article to see all the implications if Amazon continues to lead after the next half-year.

Authorlink also points to the main article about the e-book explosion by Mark Coker, CEO of Smashwords, an already very influential e-book publisher, who sums things up with:
' Why are consumers going ga ga over ebooks?  Back in October, I blogged some of the reasons in my Huffington Post piece, Why Ebooks are Hot and Getting Hotter.  I listed several reasons, such as the proliferation of exciting new e-reading devices; screen reading rivaling paper; content selection; free ebooks as the gateway drug; lower prices; and great selection.

If we boil it all down to what really matters, it's about customer experience.  People who try ebooks are loving ebooks. '
And what many have left out of their predictions is the very real difference between reading books (not web images and short articles) on an e-Ink screen and on a larger LCD screen.

Then there is the $259 price for the 6" Kindle with which you can download a book immediately from almost anywhere with no web-data charge vs the $500 price for the iPad which will not have that downloadable-from-anywhere feature unless you pay $630 for the tablet plus a monthly fee for web data.

  But it's not an either/or. Many Kindle owners plan to buy the iPad also (or another tablet) for fast, colorful, portable web-browsing and fast email.



See the ongoing Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources
Also, a page of links that confine searches to mid-range priced e-books.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

New Free Kindle Books 3/13-3/14 Updated 3/26

NEWLY/TEMPORARILY FREE BOOKS - NOT Recommendations, but only Alerts
UPDATED 3/26/10 (Orig'l post was dated 3/13 at 11:50 AM)
Publish on Amazon Kindle with the Digital Text Platform, by Amazon.com.   315K size (small)   Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, March 14, 2010
No customer reviews yet, current price $0.00

Text-to-speech: Enabled.  Genre: Desktop publishing, Graphic Design, Reference
From Product Description:  "A guide to publishing your book on Kindle with Amazon’s Digital Text Platform (DTP).  DTP is a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets anyone upload and format their titles for sale in the Kindle Store.  If you have an Amazon.com account, you're already signed up with Digital Text Platform. ...  Digital Text Platform gives you everything you need to become your own publisher today."

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler.   802K size (normal)   Publisher: Zondervan, June 1, 2009
42 customer reviews with 4-1/2 stars out of 5, current price $0.00

Current hardcover price: $14.95.  Audio: $15.59 Genre: Christology, Bible, Faith
From Product Description:  What would it be like to journey back to the first century and sit at the feet of Rabbi Jesus as one of his Jewish disciples? How would your understanding of the gospel have been shaped by the customs, beliefs, and traditions of the Jewish culture in which you lived?

UPDATED 3/24/10 (Orig'l post was dated 3/13 at 11:50 AM)
The Twelve Sacred Traditions of Magnificent Mothers-in-Law, by Haywood Smith.
6 customer reviews with 5 stars out of 5, current price $0.00

Current paperback price $9.95. Genre: Family Relationships
From Product Description:  A very Southern mother-in-law's humorous advice to mothers-in-law everywhere. From the multiple New York Times bestselling author of The Red Hat Club.

UPDATED 3/14/10 (Orig'l post was dated 3/13 at 11:50 AM)
Take One (Above The Line Series #1), by Karen Kingsbury.
34 customer reviews with 4-1/2 stars out of 5, current price $0.00

Current hardcover price $14.99; paperback price $6.00.  Digital List price was set at $11.99. This Kindle book is published by Zondervan with a displayed date of March 10, as a free Kindle book promo, I guess.  As with so many of Amazon's faster-selling Kindle books lately, this is labeled Christian Fiction.  It's about two who decide to make a feature film in Hollywood and their travails with that process.  There aren't any external newspaper reviews cited though.


The Dark Tide (Free for a Limited Time - With Bonus Material), by Andrew Gross
55 customer reviews with 4 stars out of 5, current price $0.00.

This is a pre-order for March 23 release date (Harper Collins)
At its former Amazon Kindle listing (without the bonus material) where the reviews are shown, the Kindle price is listed as $7.99. The free copy will be, as usual, temporary, for a relatively newer book (2008).


Rides a Dread Legion Free, with Bonus Material, by Raymond E. Feist.
33 customer reviews, with 4 stars out of 5, current price $0.00

This is another pre-order for March 23 release date (Eos)
At an alternate Amazon Kindle listing (without the bonus material) where the reviews are shown, the Kindle price is listed as $7.99 although the little box underneath the main header says that the Kindle Edition is $12.59. A new paperback edition, with the extended title of Rides a Dread Legion: Book One of the Demonwar Saga (Mass Market Paperback) is being released on April for $7.99 according to that little box.
The free copy will be, as usual, temporary, for a relatively newer book.




Stopping Time, Part 1
by Melissa Marr
March 16 pre-order
Temporary price $0.00
Stopping Time, Part 2
by Melissa Marr
March 23 pre-order
Temporary price $0.99 - now $0.00

Young adult novels, fantasy genre. Her Ink Exchange for Harper Collins received a positive review by The Washington Post's Mary Quattlebaum: "As the sequel to last year's popular Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange is even more compelling, thanks to Melissa Marr's more nuanced characterizations..."

HarperCollins is putting a lot of teen-market money behind Marr. See the video they've produced.



See the ongoing Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources
There's also a page of links that confine searches to mid-range priced e-books.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

F. Paul Wilson's LaNague Fed'n Series Exclusive on Kindle

NYTimes bestselling F. Paul Wilson, noted for his horror and science fiction books, has decided to make available, exclusively at Amazon for the next year, 5 books in his LaNague Federation series

The books have not been available in e-book form until now, and Wilson chose to use Amazon's self-service Digital Text Platform to upload these books and make them available to Kindle customers globally.  This means that in July when the new publisher price arrangements are effective (and his may be starting now), he will be getting 70% of the price.  All of these books are $2.99.
  This is more attractive for authors who own the electronic rights to their books than the 20-25% (or less) they get from the large traditional publishers.

MarketWatch quotes Amazon: "One of the great things about Kindle is the ability for authors to make previously out-of-print titles available for their readers again," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content.  "For the first time ever, F. Paul Wilson's fans will be able to discover their favorite titles electronically, and new fans can find these previously out-of-print titles more easily than ever before."

The titles from the LaNague Federation series are:
-- "An Enemy of the State," winner of the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award
-- "Wheels Within Wheels," winner of the first Prometheus Award
-- "The Tery"
-- "Dydeetown World," on the American Library Association's list of "Best Books for Young Adults" and on the New York Public Library's recommended list of "Books for the Teen Age"
-- "Healer," winner of the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award

F. Paul Wilson has won the Stoker, Inkpot, Porgie and Prometheus awards and has written more than 40 books, translated into 24 languages.  'His work has been adapted for film and TV: his novel "The Keep" was made into a 1983 film directed by Michael Mann, and many of his stories have been adapted into teleplays that have aired on Showtime and the Sci-Fi Channel (now called SyFy).'

Amazon's press release includes a quote from author Wilson:
' "I'm thrilled that I'm able to make all five novels of the LaNague Federation series -- including an additional five bonus short stories -- available for the first time in digital, and for the first time all together as a series," said F. Paul Wilson. "The result is a giant roman à thèse exclusively for Kindle readers.  It's wonderful that Kindle and the Digital Text Platform provide a convenient channel for authors like me to reintroduce classic titles to a whole new audience." '
NOTE:
Amazon now has a new number quoted for books available for the Kindle, as they are counting, as they should, the books that are Kindle compatible and available at places like The Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, and other sites.

  After citing the 450,000 books available at the Kindlestore itself which they describe as "the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read" they add that "Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle..."



See the ongoing Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources
There's also a page of links that confine searches to mid-range priced e-books.

More iPad challengers: WePad and ZenPad

iPad challengers are gathering outside the castle.  Besides the Dell Streak and the Adam by Notion Ink, both described here March 10, there is the amazing-sounding WePad (shouldn't that be "wePad"?)Android device to be released soon in Germany by Neofonie,

 While the iPad will have the Golden Apple clout, the WePad will have an even bigger (11.6") multitouch screen and a faster CPU and promises the following features that are missing in the iPad:
' [It] runs Flash, has USB ports, an inbuilt card reader and expandable memory.  Additionally it allows complete multitasking and has a webcam. '
Neofonie GmbH is a 12-yr old software company that also runs a search engine called WeFind and sells an e-publishing platform by the name of WeMagazine. It makes newspapers and magazines readable on computers and smartphones, and they see as the real business for their WePad tablet PC.  They are planning to undercut the iPad in price.  Supposedly, it's for release fairly soon.  It's not being marketed as an e-book reader, as there's no mention of that, but the chart indicates that the file formats it can read include "all open standards" which would mean, for now, almost no current books with rights-protection (DRM) until they partner with a bookstore or add Adobe's Digital Edition (unless I'm missing something there).
  See the comparison chart on their site.

 And there's a very low-cost one gaining considerable interest - the ZenPad by Enso.  It's only 5" so and, like the far more expensive Dell Streak, it's pocketable.

  Priced at $155 and shipping now, the 800 x 480 Android 1.6 tablet with 8GB of storage (on a replaceable microSD) comes with GPS for an additional $25.   Powered by a 667MHz Samsung 6410 processor, with about six hours of battery life, it has WiFi built-in while an external 3G cellular wireless adapter is just another $35. As Engadget says, "a fully max'd out unit with GPS and 3G would set you back $210 -- plus $25 for shipping."  Engadget also says that commenter 'Raikus' writes that it appears to be a rebrand of the Smit MID-650.
  There's a video at that site of the Smit but the videoclip itself is labeled the 'Archos 7 Home Tablet' while showing what is clearly a "MID-650."

I'm interested in a smaller carry-about device but I'd want to read reviews of it before deciding to plunk down even $155 or $210.  I'm also not interested in an expensive monthly data plan and I already have a great GPS unit.  But we will have a lot to choose from in the next half-year if wanting a portable web tablet.  The idea of carrying something small that does not have 3G wireless becomes strange though.  Makes me appreciate even more the ability to look up web info on the Kindle w/o having to pay for a monthly plan, though there is no colorful pizazz in that.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Amazon previews Kindle for Tablets - Update2

The banner above is Amazon's from a preview given, per HEXUS.net's Parm Mann, who tells us that Amazon "has provided a first look at its upcoming Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers."

UPDATE2 - Here is Amazon's own Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers page now ready for Amazon customers.

He writes that they are showing device-specific Kindle applications, not surprisingly with a specific focus on the Apple iPad.  The app, pictured in the banner shown, according to the Hexus website, will revolve around a new home screen that lists books on a backdrop designed to change based on the time of day.

Mann adds that in the pictured example (the familiar figure reading under a tree), the image will show the sun rising and setting in real time.

Amazon has adopted the iPad's page-turn animation, but those preferring the traditional page turn will have the option of reverting to "Basic Reading" mode.

The Kindle app will offer the ability to "customize background colour and font size to ease eye strain."  (The spelling is British because Hexus is based in Great Britain.)

 There's no confirmed release date for the Kindle App yet, but they say Amazon is said to be working to ensure its app is present at the iTunes store for April 3, when the first US iPads are delivered.

UPDATE - MediaMemo's Peter Kafka says that the Kindle App won't be ready by April 3 because they need to test it on the actual device first.


Ongoing Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources
Also, a page of links that confine searches to mid-range priced e-books.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

First anniversary of the blog - Unique uses for the Kindle


Without realizing it, I celebrated the first anniversary of this blog yesterday, March 19, by spending some time at a park and then going next door to Costco, where I used the Kindle again to check product reviews on sales items.  (Until I received a note reminding me, late last night, I totally forgot it had been a year.)

HOW TO GOOGLE REVIEWS, NARROWING RESULTS
At any rate, after you turn on wireless and wait for it to get a good 3G connection, you can google reviews easily from the Home Page by just starting to type the Search terms or Keywords.  In this case, I typed 'samsung' and then the model number, followed by the word "review" after it and then pushed the 5-way button to the right until it said 'google' and pressed down on the 5-way.

There's usually no need to do a log-in to read reviews, so you can do this in the 'Basic Mode' setting and it's a bit faster usually.  But I was in 'Advanced
Mode' yesterday at times too and it wasn't as slow as before nor did the colors always get translated into many shades of hard-to-read-gray on the review pages.
  But, normally, I recommend Basic Mode for this.

The web browsing experience, overall, seems considerably faster than it was last year.  I'd still never call it 'surfing' -- it can be more like swimming against the tide, but it's better lately.  I wonder if they're working on that a bit as part of the software updates.
  Getting the first page of results or of any article will take the longest because it's gathering the rest of the pages also.  After that, next-paging is as fast as on a computer now.

After you've clicked a link to 'jump' to a review and finished reading or skimming it, you press the 'BACK' button to get back to the search-results page where you can choose another link.

You can also view this in Landscape mode and be able to read more easily sometimes.  (Press the Aa key to rotate the display.)  I checked http://gmail.com (not the mobile version, which doesn't work well with Kindle) in Landscape mode and was able to awkwardly get through its input blocks to read latest mail.  It's not fun but it's doable.

If interested in trying the web-browser feature, take a look at my tips on getting better speed with it.  The blog article also includes a downloadable file (free) with prepared links to webpages that are optimized for mobile-devices.

FROM THE FORUMS - Unusual/Unique things done with the Kindle
Today's blog entry won't be about other readers, tablets, or the book-pricing wars but -- in keeping with seeing how Kindle owners are enjoying their readers a year after I started this site -- this will feature what some of what people at the forums are saying the last 3 months about the unusual things they enjoy doing with their Kindles.  The topic has been going on for some time, with good ideas (recipes being a favorite, as well as searching for info as a rider in a car in a new place), but there are a few more uses.  These will be the latest from the message thread titled The Most Unusual/Unique Thing You Use Your Kindle For.
' [Starting with the most basic use]
A. Sisk says:
Most of things you all talk about I use my iPhone for...I just use my Kindle as ....well....a book.

And I love it.


A. Book Lover says:
Merriam Webster Spanish-English Dictionary ($6.36) works fine on my Kindle 2. I made it the default dictionary and it works as a translator at the bottom of pages in a Spanish language book I bought.


VKI says:
Okay, my children are Irish dancers. At their Oireachtas (regional championship), after I saw the competitor lists, I went online and looked up the results from last year. That helped me remember what name went with which dancer and about how well they were all dancing last year.


Maggie Leung says:
For travel, I compiled a file of handy foreign phrases and loaded it on my Kindle.

This is one source for phrases:
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/index.htm

It has a bunch of useful phrases, plus this goofy one, which I'm looking forward to springing on someone:

"My hovercraft is full of eels."


techweenie says:
I put my lecture notes on my Kindle instead of printing them out every semester.


techweenie says:
... good idea. I also keep book lists on mine, so I know what the next book in a series is.


A. MacDiarmid says:
Techweenie: I do that too but also books by favorite authors so I can easily find which book I want to get next even if it is not in a series.


[Lead Singer 63 asked how the following was done from a previous posting by E. Sund that said:]
I used my Kindle to read a paper I wrote for grad school out loud to me because it was easy to catch grammar mistakes and awkward wording that I would have missed if I read it silently. I think I'll do it with every paper from now on!


A. MacDiarmid says:
Lead Singer 63: ... I use Open Office which saves files in ODT format. Calibre can translate that to a Mobi file which is readable by the Kindle. I just send it to the device and it translates and copies it to the Kindle in one click. Calibre handles a lot of different file types, so look and see if it has yours.


Carbonbased says:
I have the Installation of Officers for my fraternal organization on my Kindle. I originally typed it up in word and saved a copy in .rtf so I could use it on a palm-based pda. When I got my [Kindle] DX, I attached the .rtf file to an email to (me)@free.kindle.com.

It comes back as .azw [Kindle format] and TTS [Text-to-speech] works on it. For a very small fee [15c per megabyte of a file], you can [instead] send it wirelessly [to your Kindle] from any email you have given permission to send. You give permission on the 'manage your kindle' page. Your home email on file with Amazon is already listed, with a function to add other specific addresses or whole domains.


Tawnilynani says:
My husband & I went to a city we were not that familiar with to buy me a car, after driving around for about 45 minutes looking for a certain bank, I remembered I had my Kindle with me. I used it to find the nearest bank branch & the car auction! Thank goodness my Kindle is always in my purse!


Patti D. says:
I'm now storing genealogy records on it, so they'll be with me whenever I want to access them.
I also have lecture notes on mine, in case I need to step in for a colleague who is ill, without advance warning.
(I plan on putting all of my lecture notes on mine, eventually.) '

  Another useful forum thread that's ongoing is in response to forum visitors who wonder whether the Kindle is worth $260.

THE COMING YEAR
When I started this blog, I think the only solid competitor Amazon had was Sony, a company which was making e-readers quite some time before the Kindle -- but the free wireless downloads of books from almost anywhere was the defining and usually irresistable feature (for those who wanted e-readers at all) in a unit that was well thought-out for those who like to not only read but search a book, make notes and highlight passages.  If only Amazon would make that possible for its PDF handling.

 Maybe the 50 or so new e-readers marching toward Amazon's gates will help Kindle customers get some needed features more quickly. ( An update for Kindle organization is due before summer, per Amazon's Kindle support team.)

  I used to feature info on new ereaders, to see what other companies are offering, but they are in such abundance now that I'll tend to wait until they become reality and people have had a chance to explore the functioning of the units -- we've seen how misleading ad specs can be this last year.

  I noticed a tweet the other night from @Merrilyn (Jan Zlendich):
"Using the new Kindle for Mac software makes me think I'll not be using the iPad for reading books - e-ink makes for a more relaxing read."

I have the same reaction to long-session, sequential reading on a really good netbook screen even with white background dimmed (Samsung's matte screen - with almost no reflections) even though I can read short articles on the web for hours on a computer).  It'll be interesting to see how people new to e-reading will respond to non-e-ink screens for book-reading.

FRIDAY'S THE KINDLE CHRONICLES PODCAST
This week's interview is with Joshua Tallent, Founder and CEO of eBook Architects, who spoke with Len Edgerly in person on March 14, 2010, in Austin, where they were attending South by Southwest Interactive.  They discussed the iPad, eBook prices, and how authors can succeed in publishing for eBook formats, especially the Kindle.
  Each Friday's podcast includes Kindle news, tech tips, an interview, and comments from listeners via phone or email.  I learn something new with every podcast.

And for those interested in the latest in the e-reader and tablet scene, visit his new The Reading Edge Podcast - "Conversations about the eBook Revolution Hosted by Len Edgerly." Lots of interesting stuff.


Ongoing GUIDE TO FINDING FREE OR LOW-COST KINDLE-BOOKS AND SOURCES
Also, a page of links that confine searches to mid-range priced e-books.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Amazon plays hardball to keep lower pricing option

NY Times's Motoko Rich and Brad Stone or their editor wrote a rather black-hat title for their column on the latest stage of the hardball battle between Amazon and Apple's "guidance" of the Big 6 publishers toward higher prices (Random House, to its credit, is not following, however).  So, we see "Amazon Threatens Publishers as Apple Looms."  Very dramatic.

  One might say the publishers have "threatened" to force Amazon to follow the Apple-Agency plan of higher pricing for book customers and if Amazon balks, the publishers would not provide a Kindle book for new or NY Times Bestseller books.  Do we ever see that described as 'threatening' Amazon?

Traditional Wholesale Agreements - and Authors' revenue basis
  Bear in mind that the traditional wholesale arrangement Amazon has used does NOT affect the author as the publishers seem to like to get their authors to write on the forums.

  Amazon has always paid the publishers an agreed percentage based on the Publisher-Set LIST price.  Don't be fooled by the mantra "Let the publisher set the price" because they always have.

  Again, if Amazon pays the publisher 50% of $25 (traditionally), Amazon pays the publisher $12.50.  Period.  It doesn't matter, for the author (except for pride of an expensive book maybe), that the bestseller might be sold at $10 by Amazon.  The publisher (who pays the author) GETS the full $12.50, from which the author is paid.

Amazon manages to do well with loss leaders while selling some 'cooled' e-books at higher rates.

  The low pricing does not mean less money for the author, unless the publisher decides the author should get a lower percentage.

Trouble-making, Non-physical E-Books Available for Less
  Large, long-time book publishers worry about Kindle books selling too well "causing" e-book consumers to not buy their hardcover books (as the publishers have said).  They should wake up and realize that most e-reader buyers are NOT going to go get new hardcover fiction books after buying e-readers.

  It's a new world, and most will wait and then probably decide not to get the book at all if book reviews are not great or if the book is Old News by the time it's released.  The latter is already happening.

  Publishers are refusing money being offered them for e-titles, preferring to attempt to artificially inflate the attractiveness of hard-cover books in a new digital age.  The audience has changed.  Whether they know it or not, publishers will do better following the Amazon pricing, because most I know will not be running to hardcovers.  There is just too much we want and can buy to read now.  People are also discovering why the classics (free) are classics :-)

The Genesis and Evolution of the Push for Higher E-Book Prices
  All right, back to the NY Times article and the drama going on between Amazon and the publishers, and Apple's part in it.

For background, see the genesis of all this unnecessary, forced raising of prices.

  Adding another layer of normal business manipulations was the discovery that Apple is inserting language into the Agency plan that insists that THEY be able to sell "hottest" books or bestsellers at $10 if they want (!)  I'd love to see the publisher reactions to that, but the last I read they were still "in negotiations" on that.

Rich and Stone write that Amazon.com has "threatened to stop directly selling the books of some publishers online unless they agree to a detailed list of concessions regarding the sale of electronic books, according to two industry executives with direct knowledge of the discussions."

 In other words, the tone of the reports is colored by those IN publishing and unhappy that Amazon has not agreed to their demands.  They don't like the concessions wanted to get their way, so what are those awful concessions?

 Reading on ...
' "An Amazon spokesman, Craig Berman, declined to comment on any talks with publishers."   [Wise man.]

Five of the country’s six largest publishers — Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins and Penguin — have already reached deals with Apple to sell their books through its iBookstore, which will be featured on the iPad. (The holdout is Random House.)

Under those agreements, the publishers will set consumer prices for each book, and Apple will serve as an agent and take a 30 percent commission.  E-book editions of most newly released adult general fiction and nonfiction will cost $12.99 to $14.99.

Amazon has agreed in principle that the major publishers would be able to set prices in its Kindle store as well.  But it is also demanding that they lock into three-year contracts and guarantee that no other competitor will get lower prices or better terms. '
  Well, that demand for a guarantee when agreeing to raise prices to Apple iBookstore standards is certainly rude of Amazon, isn't it?  All emphases in the quoted areas are mine.  Back to the NYT article
' Apple, for its part, is requiring that publishers not permit other retailers to sell any e-books for less than what is listed in the iBookstore. '
Oh, I see.  Apple is not 'threatening' or 'demanding' -- they are just 'requiring' that the publishers not permit other online bookstores to sell anything for less than what Apple has decided for its own iBookstore.

Who's In Charge of Making and Maintaining Fixed Pricing, U.S. wide?
 And if the publishers refuse? What? Would Apple 'threaten' to do something unpleasant?

  This reporting of Apple's "requirement" for publishers is different, for Rich, from Amazon's "demanding" a similar guarantee for AGREEING TO Apple's publisher-plan.  Good grief.

  Notice who's in charge in this battle?  Notice who all have to follow whatever Apple (Steve Jobs?) ever decides is right for the customer in the way of book pricing?  Do we get black headlines about how Apple is threatening publishers with not signing contracts to sell their books?

Who is Threatening to Remove Buy Buttons
  The publishers are threatening to remove from access, Kindle editions of bestseller books if higher pricing wants aren't met.  They are 'removing' access ahead of time and are refusing to allow 'Buy' buttons for their bestsellers if in Kindle format.  This is a change.

  So, Rich/Stone continue, the publishers have 'sought,' not 'insisted on,' but 'sought' (much more polite) to renegotiate agreements with Amazon to make them align their selling practices with what Apple decides is right for the book-readers of the entire United States.

The Digital World is What's Looming
  I don't blame publishers for resisting 3-year contracts, as they are right that the digital book world is changing rapidly, but then why don't they acknowledge the changes as a reality and adjust to that instead of trying to stall, slow down, and stop it, as has been written?

  This particular article ultimately does a pretty fair job of reporting, but it is worded initially and headlined as if fed by publishers again, as was perceived by many in a recent article by Motoko Rich on the publishers' lament that they earn practically nothing much on e-books because of the expenses they need to charge against them.

Publishers make small margins on E-Books?
  Read the excellent analysis by Fair.Org's Jim Naureckas with regard to the publishers' claims and to that earlier NYT piece itself.  This wasn't a shining moment for NY Times's objectivity.  But they are a publisher also in need of a way to meet the challenges of the digital reading world.

What Choices will Smaller Publishers Have?
Amazon is talking with smaller publishers (let's call them the Small Thousands vs the Big 6) that haven't yet signed with Apple, in hopes of retaining its wholesale pricing model with them.

The Push to Fix Prices to be Never Lower than what Apple has Chosen
 However, some of the smaller publishers are of course talking with Apple too, and have been told the following by Apple, according to Motoko Rich:
'...any publisher that wishes to sell its books on the iPad must offer the same terms to all booksellers.  In other words, to do business with Apple, publishers must export Apple’s business model to all retailers. '
  Our-way-or-the-highway... And if the small publishers don't want to do that, then what ?
  No Apple Buy-Buttons for them?  It's an arena filled with implied threats.
Life in the rough lane.

Updated: I forgot to add that Rich's article included this interesting tidbit:
' Apple is not likely to give up on smaller publishers.  A new job posting on its Web site is for an “independent publisher account manager, iBookstore.”  The posting says the person would be “responsible for building and growing relationships with small- and medium-size book publishers, self-published authors and other content providers for the iBookstore.” '
  But back to Amazon's "threatening" behavior, did we ever see Amazon insist, under the traditional wholesale arrangement, that publishers not allow other stores to price any of their books lower than Amazon's pricing?

 What would the NY Times have written about that?

  But casually "fixed" pricing will bring all these problems with it.

I do agree that if Amazon ever felt it had to remove 'buy' buttons again for awhile, it could hurt its own reputation.  Point to Steve Jobs there.  Good play.  The books would be available elsewhere anyway, at of course higher prices.  Consumers want to consume.

Smaller Publishers and pricing plans
Rich and Stone point out that
' Amazon may believe that if it can keep those publishers from moving to an agency model, Apple will choose not to sell their e-books, and Amazon will be seen as having a broader selection.

Amazon’s strategy “is to work very hard to limit participation in the agency model to only the big four or five firms that are already announced,” said Evan Schnittman, vice president for global business development at Oxford University Press. “This would leave 50 to 60 percent of the content out there subject to the standard distribution terms, enabling Amazon to promote and price as it does today, and forcing Apple to have to compete with Amazon’s strength.” '
  But, as Rich and Stone point out, Apple wouldn't likely just give up on smaller publishers.  And shouldn't.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING
Fair.Org's Jim Naureckas is not resting.  He has a wonderfully ironic piece about this New York Times article, titling his response:
"NYT Exposes Amazon's Fiendish Plot to Sell Books for Less Money"

Sampling:
' By implication, the hero would be Apple, which is also entering the electronic book market.
  Apple's business model, at any rate, doesn't get the harsh spin from the Times that Amazon receives. '
EXACTLY right.  More...
' Which is funny, because Apple's plan would result in consumers paying from 30 percent to 50 percent more to buy most e-books, and prevent publishers from allowing anyone else to undercut Apple's inflated prices. [Emphasis mine] '
  He says it's a "terrible deal for consumers ... but the piece is written with the unstated assumption that we're all rooting for the publishers. "

  And worse, the last two NY Times articles on this, with Rich headlining them, seem worded to make us root for the publishers.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Kindle for Macs - finally here. What it does and doesn't do. - Update4


So it finally happened.  Kindle for Mac is actually here!  Unlike the page for the Kindle for PC, it doesn't say it's in beta format and the "Future Improvements" listing fot the PC are not showing on the Mac page though it may later.

 However, I see that the news release has a paragraph about that (not sure it was there early on), which says, "Several features will be added to the Kindle for Mac app in the near future, including full text search and the ability to create and edit notes and highlights.  Kindle for Mac is available to customers around the world as a free download."

  Reaction to the news in the Amazon Community Discussion is of course elation.  The promise of "a few months" was kept but it obviously seemed a long time for Mac owners.

System Requirements
  * A Mac with a 500MHz Intel processor or faster
  * At least 512MB of RAM
  * Screen resolution of 800x600 or greater
  * Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
  * 100MB of available disk space

NOTE - Sending a book to your Mac (or PC) adds a device used for the book you've sent.  Remember that some publishers limit us to 5 or 6 Kindle or Kindle-compatible devices used for any one book.  That will include iPods, iPhones, Blackberrys, and soon, iPads.

  It's great to be able to read these books on the desktop or a laptop or netbook when wanted, even if for shorter periods of time depending on the eyes.

 Some features that Kindle owners are used to but which are missing in the current editions of Kindle for Macs and PC are not mentioned on the Amazon page for this Mac software yet, although they are noted on the Kindle 4 PC page and the press release, and the temporary limitations are the same:

  Annotations made on your Kindle can be viewed on the computer-versions if you choose that option, but they can't be created on the computer, although Amazon does list that function as a future improvement.  You can make bookmarks, though.

  The excellent Kindle Search function is not part of the Kindle for computer versions yet and that is said to be coming as are 'zoom and rotate' though they did not include the future improvements section on the Kindle for Mac page.  Too much on the plate for now, maybe ? Or, maybe an oversight if the ad was created by a separate group.  The Kindle for PC title even says "Beta" next to it but not here; it's as if they didn't check the Kindle for PC page.

  I'll summarize what the software offers:

This is a file format that releases the book owner from dependence on the Kindle device
  Essentially, this new software that makes it possible to read any purchased or free Kindle book on computers -- whether a Mac, netbook or tablet -- upends the argument that if our Kindles are lost, destroyed, and we don't want to order a replacement, it would mean we'd no longer have access to the book we purchased.  Now, we have a sure way of being able to read any Kindle book we got from Amazon, whether or not we still have a Kindle.

  In fact, people who have never bought a Kindle and never may buy one can also use this app and buy Kindle books for their computers at the usually excellent Kindle pricing offered (though they cost more outside the U.S.).

  In other words, you don't need a Kindle to read Kindle books you buy.
  Also, you can request free samples (usually the first chapter or two) just as is done with Kindles.

Shared reading by other household members.
  Note that other household members will be able to read, on a shared computer and at no added cost, any of the books bought by the account holder.
  In that case, whispersync should be turned Off, as different people reading concurrently on Kindles and computers should have different last-page-read markers.

  Again, the computer counts as an added 'device' for the feature that allows up to 6 devices to share a book under one account, but also remember that public domain books and many new books published on the Amazon Digital Platform don't have these limits.

Color
We can read a book in color, if that's important -- not ordinarily, since most books are black text on light background.  But if it's a travel or photography book or a book using illustrations or charts dependent on color coding, then this will be extremely useful as a supplementary way of reading the book.

  Kindle books don't always have high-resolution photographs, and some will even exclude some photographs (which the publisher should note in the product description and if the publisher doesn't, then it's good cause for returning the book for refund, possible within 7 days of the purchase).   But most do include the photographs and usually in the original color.


Control of font sizes and column-widths (Update 2 to blog entry)
You can click on "Aa" for font control of the type you have on the Kindle, except that for this -- on both PCs and Macs -- you can move the horizontal line to modify exactly the width of the column you're reading, for eye-comfort.  Much better than deciding with 3 fixed options.

Flexibility
This is a larger feature than some had noticed in early reviews of the PC version.  That an e-reader formatted Kindle book can be read on any of your computers, with a Kindlestore registration and purchase, does two things, one of concern to publishers.

  While (1) opening up your reading options and making you far less dependent on having or keeping your Kindle, it still (2) protects publisher and author rights (to a point), at a time when it's so easy for some to distribute whole books for the taking from anonymous-membership binary download areas.  Unlike musicians, who get the bulk of their income from live concerts/performances after CD and mp3 exposure, the book is the end-'Performance' and if that's freely distributed to all out of a love of "cool" things to do (which happens to deprive a writer of income for the work), then it's not helpful to the book scene.

Kindle-user book-annotations shown
  Some online writers have noted the currently unrivaled flexibility of this e-reader in its ability to allow you to continue reading on your iPhone/iPod, Blackberry, or Kindle from where you'd last read on another device.  (For the PC version, some have used the touchscreen capabilities of their laptops when using Window 7's new touch-screen feature with any Kindle book though it is not yet working in a very smooth way yet.)
 It turns out there's no multi-touch capability with the Mac version though, ironically, there is with the PC software used on a Windows 7 system.

In addition to the current (largely unknown but excellent) feature of being able to read your annotations (notes and highlighting) for any of your books on a private Amazon web page (if you opted to allow backups of annotations to the Amazon servers), with the ability to "See all your highlights and notes on one page" (offered at the bottom of the first password-protected webpage of notes for a book -- Sample here), the new Kindle for Mac software probably includes an optionally-displayed pane that lists and links to the annotations you've made in the book, as the version for PC does.

  Amazon is working on a way to add annotations via the Kindle for computer readers, which would make this a much more valuable academic tool.  Personally I highlight and add notes often, to reinforce and then jog my memory and to share info I can find easily then, with friends.

Kindle Search feature - missing for now
  The Kindle Search feature (giving location-identified results with surrounding context) is not included yet, and Amazon says that's being worked on also, for the PC as I mentioned.  In the meantime, Windows users can use the Ctrl-F or (Find/Search) feature of Windows to find a word on a page, and Mac users can use the Cmd-F or Find feature of Macs for that -- but it's not a real substitute for the Kindle search of a book).

Reading a book when you haven't brought along your Kindle or an iPhone, iPod, or Blackberry
The new application software allows you to read any Kindle book you own, during lunch, while at work (if you work on a Mac), for example, even if you didn't bring your Kindle.

Free samples
Free samples from books can be ordered in the way they're ordered from the Kindle.

Kindle periodicals are not included currently for Mac or PC software
Amazon has limited the reader to books for now, explaining: "Kindle newspapers, magazines, and blogs are not currently available for Kindle for Mac" - all these require ongoing agreements with publishers and authors.  Blogs tend to be relatively low-cost but have higher distribution costs because they are not sent or downloaded only once as books are but delivered often daily or a few times a day.

PDFs - For Kindle 2's
PDF books are not easily readable on the 6" Kindles (though placing them in Landscape mode often makes them quite readable).   But PDFs are meant for computers.

The system-requirements are modest and are listed at the beginning of this blog article.

Selection of books and International Kindle book costs
Kindle users outside the USA have a smaller selection of books available due to lack of publisher agreements in the other countries.
  Unfortunately, 'free' books (for US Kindle-owners) at Amazon will involve a charge of about $2.30 US for international Kindle users living in countries with high wireless-access costs.

Reports -- from writers who tried, early, the beta version for PC -- which should apply to the Mac version, include:

  . Kindle for PC: Game, Set and Match for Amazon - Ed Moltzen for ChannelWeb.Com reports its ease of use and "... a new leader in the drive to make data truly portable and cross-platform."

  . Renay San Miguel for TechNewsWorld points out that the quick and small download "sets up an easy-to-navigate Home page for you and automatically archives any previous Kindle purchases."  If you don't have touchscreen capabilities on your netbook you'll need to use the Kindle-style "Aa" font button.  One book was received in "full-color glory" while another had some color photos in b&w.

  . Amazon Leaves Behind its Rivals with a New Version of Kindle - Sidhrath Surana for The Latest News in India reports that it's very easy to use.

  . Yardena Arar for PC World under the Washington Post web page, finds it "highly useable" but writes that the app "does not support registration of multiple accounts" (which would not be the same as multiple Kindles under one account).
  Adar says that arrow buttons or mouse's scroll wheel can be used to turn pages.  There are 10 font sizes available and the page width can be set with a slider - something not doable with Kindle hardware except that with the Kindle DX you are given three choices of left/right margins, which will allow reading to the edges or, at the other extreme, a more newspaper-column type look to the page, but with only one column.

  As ever, Whispernet synchonization is for a one-user account when that person wants to read on another device from the last point read with another device.  The default setting is Whispersync" is "On" but I turned mine off as I haven't needed it yet, and definitely two people reading the same book should not have that feature turned On.  See the bottom of your ManageYourKindle page to turn that on or off.

  Adar noted that the menu item "Future Improvements" on the PC version says that Amazon plans to add both annotation (adding, since it already offers viewing of those) and book-search support similar to the Kindle's.

  Is that menu option there for Mac owners?  Let me know.  Thanks.

  UPDATE4 - Turns out that while "Future Improvements" was shown under the Menu button for the PC version, it's now placed under the "Manu/Help" option.

  The "Back" button (on the PC version) works in the same way it does for the Kindle 2 and DX.  Remember that 1-yr factory warrantied refurbished DX's are available for $399 ($90 less than a new one).

The Back Button
The Back button doesn't take you to the previous page but takes you 'back' to any page that linked you to the current one and from which you clicked to 'jump' to the current page.
  For example, on the Kindle, if you look up the full detail for a word, in the dictionary, clicking on 'Back' will take you back to the page on which you read the word.

UPDATE3
Pressing Home button before leaving Kindle for Mac and Kindle for PC
From experiences with Kindle for PC, people have found that the sync'g of the computer with Kindles can be unreliable unless you remember to press the 'Home' button at the top, left.  That apparently logs current page and passes the info on to the servers for sync'g.

All in all, this is a great new capability.

All Grisham on Kindle + Worldreader.Org + New Cookbooks. UPDATE

TechFlash's Eric Engleman reports that John Grisham, a vocal skeptic of e-books, apparently changed his mind, as 23 of his backlist titles -- from The Firm to Ford Country -- will now be available in digital form.  Prices for Grisham's backlist books will be between $5.99 and $9.99.  His publisher, Random House, is the one from the Big 6 that decided not to insist on higher pricing for NY Times bestseller e-books.  (Too bad that they also tend to disable text-to-speech on their books, requiring vision-impaired customers to jump through hoops to maybe get their Kindle books enabled for text-to-speech.)

USA Today's Ed Baig writes that Random House announced that 'all' Grisham's books are in e-book format now and that while Amazon is selling the Kindle ediitons of The Associate and Ford Country at $9.99, most older titles go for $7.99 and a few are priced lower than that.

  Also, Baig noted that "On most titles, Barnes & Noble and Sony are charging more than Amazon."

WORLDREADER.ORG

Worldreader.org
has announced that it is "conducting the developing world's first-ever e-reader test beginning March 15, 2010, at OrphanAid Africa's District Assembly School in the village of Ayenyah, Ghana."

In response to a few questions I had about the practicality of the program (questions asked when states (including California) have pondered the use of Kindles in elementary and middle-schools here, Zev Lowe wrote back on behalf of the organization:
' Our goal is to use e-readers to reduce the cost and complexity of delivering reading materials to places that don't currently have access to a wide variety of books (unlike California, where conventional books are easily available).

We share your awareness of the many challenges this entails -- in fact, we are currently running trials in Ghana to figure out answers to many of these questions. If we don't give it a try, then we will always continue to wonder if those challenges could be overcome, without ever finding solutions.

Right now we're looking for people to join us in imagining what it might be like for a child who might previously only ever have seen 5 books, to get access to hundreds, even a thousand, in the palm of his or her hand. What if you previously had to rely on a once-a-month visit from a bus containing a mobile library, with a sparse collection of out-of-date books, and now you have more books to choose from. '
They've been hard at work on this.  Amazon has donated a number of Kindle e-readers to allow Worldreader to begin its trials in Barcelona Spain, and Accra, Ghana, with the goal of helping the organization to achieve its mission of bringing books to families everywhere.

The Benjamin Franklin International School, which Worldreader describes as Barcelona, Spain’s pre-eminent International Primary and Secondary school, is serving as a test-bed for worldreader.org’s first e-reader trials.

Rassak Experience, a digital brand builder with offices in San Francisco and Barcelona, is "helping design the current Worldreader.org digital presence and the roadmap for engaging the multicultural Worldreader community."

OrphanAid Africa's goal, Worldreader writes, is to ensure that children grow up in safe and permanent family settings with appropriate care and protection.  Their District Assembly School Ayenyah will be the second test-bed for Worldreader.org’s e-reader trials.

Geek.com's Brian Osborne has a story on this, I see.  He reports that one of Worldreader.org’s co-founders is David Risher who was a previous vice president of product and platform development for Amazon.com.
  Osburne describes what Worldreader is trying to do (and it hopes to enlist more partners and company donations) and gives his opinion of the program's goals:
' I like Worldreader.org’s method of distribution.  Don’t just give the devices away, make them affordable.  That way local governments have a stake in the success of any program.  It also prevents the local government from continuing to rely on handouts for sustainability.  Instead, as the market make e-readers more affordable communities will be in a better position to continue their use.  Until that time, Worldreader.org hopes to help bridge that gap.

You can’t argue with the choice of the Kindle for the organization’s primary e-reader.  The biggest advantage to the device is its global wireless support which makes downloading new e-books easy. It also has quite a large selection of ebooks currently... '
UPDATE 11:25 AM - After I wrote the above, I found out that WIRED's Charlie Sorrel did a terrific piece on Worldreader.  Here's their first paragraph:
' The iPad may be gripping the moneyed world in a fever of technolust, but the other e-reader, the Kindle, is still better at many things. Take Ghana, West Africa, for example. If you are a school in a small village with satellite internet and solar power, what device would be best for you? The power-sucking, data-heavy iPad, or the Kindle, a reader that can be read in sunlight, has free internet access and lasts for weeks on a single charge? '
They go on with really interesting detail on exactly what is being done and how the first day went with the class.  Again, that's here.

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES NOW AVAILABLE FOR KINDLE
The subscription cost is $9.49 per month or 75 cents per issue.  For the usual 14-day free trial, go to Amazon's subscription page.

AMAZON ADDS MORE BOOKS FOR COOKS AND EPICURES
Amazon announced today that the Kindle Store recently added many new quality books for cooks, including three new cookbooks, Amazon says, that are available today in the Kindle Store: Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition, Rose Levy Berenbaum's Rose's Heavenly Cakes and Nancy Baggett's Kneadlessly Simple: Fabulous, Fuss-Free, No-Knead Breads (though the latter is not actually new - maybe they listed it as it's a popular book).  Amazon lists other books that are popular, which can be found under its Bestsellers in Cooking, Food & Wine.

In the PR piece, Amazon's Russ Grandinetti, VP, Kindle Content, adds that
' Customers tell us they love to cook from recipes on their Kindles... Kindle for iPhone or Kindle for BlackBerry is a great way to keep ingredients lists with you when you go to the grocery store, and then pick up right at that recipe on your Kindle when you're ready to cook.  In the kitchen, Kindle doesn't have pages that may close while you're trying to reference a recipe. '
While that suggestion is of course expected in a press release, Kindle owners at the Amazon Kindle forums have said the same in message threads, the main one being "The Most Unusual/Unique Thing You Use Your Kindle For."