Thursday, September 1, 2011

100 Amazon editor picks for $1.99-$3.99 thru' 9/30/11 + Ask @Author while reading

100 KINDLE BOOKS FOR $1.99 to $3.99

The Kindle Post (readable close to the top right corner of the Kindle Store), has quite a bit of news lately.

  The editors have "hand-selected" a varied lot here, with most of the books being sold at $1.99 to $2.99 and some at $3.99, until September 30, 2011.  There are some really interesting books in this particular collection.

  The image used includes some that Amazon editors have highlighted as "favorites" -- but click here to check them out.


THE NEW '@AUTHOR' FEATURE
Kindle owners can now connect with authors in an unusual way: Amazon's new @author feature makes it easy for readers to ask questions of a participating author while reading a Kindle book -- or from that author's Amazon Author page.  16 authors are participating in what Amazon calls the "beta release" of the new feature.

Here's info straight from the Kindle Post:
'To ask one of these authors a question from a Kindle book, just highlight a passage using the 5-way controller, type “@author” followed by your question, and Share.

We’ll tweet the question to the author and post it on the Author Page; you’ll automatically receive an email if the author answers your question.

You can also ask a question from the Author Page of a participating author; look for the “Ask a question” link beneath the author’s biography or next to one of the author’s books if you want to ask a question specifically about that book.

Authors won’t be able to answer all questions, but readers can answer other reader’s questions from the Author Page too.  If the author answers a question written from a Kindle book and you’ve chosen to follow the author on https://kindle.amazon.com, the question and the author’s answer will both become Public Notes in your book.

We’re eager to see the great questions you ask! Learn more.
'

So, check your private, password-protected annotations webpage on the Amazon servers.  I wrote a Kindleworld article about the benefits of our annotations pages, with examples of our highlighting and notes as they appear on our personal pages, and they've expanded the features available on those pages.

You can "follow" others there, if they make their annotations public (sharing them). So, according to the above, if you "follow" a participating author on/from your annotations page, your question and any author-reply will appear as public notes on your Kindle.

  See the quoted portion above for more details.  While authors won't be able to answer all questions, readers can answer other reader's questions from that Author Page also.

  Also -- From the @Author page:
 "Anyone who has purchased items from Amazon.com can reply to an existing question or ask a new one, and all visitors to Amazon.com can read any current question or response."
' How Do I Ask a Question?
  Posting a question from the Kindle:

1. Place the cursor at the beginning of the passage you'd like to ask a question about, using the 5-way controller, then press down to anchor it

2. Highlight the passage using the 5-way controller

3. Enter your question about the passage you highlighted, beginning with the phrase "@author". Please note that questions asked from the Kindle are limited to 100 characters. [because Amazon then tweets the author for you].  If you would like to ask a longer question, feel free to ask the question from the Amazon Author Page.

4. Select "save & share" from the options at the bottom of the note window when finished

If you don't have a Twitter account associated with your Amazon.com account, you'll have the option to press Alt + Enter to manage your social network registration before your message is posted. You can read more about posting to Twitter on our Help pages.

Posting a question from the Author Page:
If there are no questions yet, click the "Ask a question" button on the Amazon Author Page. '

What Else Should I Know?
You'll find more answers about @author in Amazon's Frequently Asked Questions, including:

• How am I notified of an answer to my question?
• What if I find an inappropriate question or answer?
• What shouldn't I ask or answer?

This will probably be a fairly popular feature once more people know about it.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle


(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Posted by Unknown at 9/01/2011 - To Mail this:
Labels: , , ,

8 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 1, 2011 at 7:31:00 AM PDT

    I feel this is just a sample of the things Amazon has in store for us. With all the rumors and anticipation, I have the sensation that Amazon is like a steam engine, ready to start, and giving out a puff from time to time, but we're going to see much, much more. I sure hope so!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 1, 2011 at 8:14:00 AM PDT

    That's a great description, Corneliu :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gordon InkelesSeptember 1, 2011 at 12:56:00 PM PDT

    Thanks for another very helpful heads up, Andrys! I've asked about participating through the Amazon.com Advantage program, our publisher's link to Amazon.com. However, as you know, they can be hard to reach and Advantage may not be the best way. If you hear of other (better?) ways for an author to volunteer for this new program please do let me know,

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownSeptember 1, 2011 at 3:46:00 PM PDT

    Gordon,
    Sure thing. I'll keep my eyes open on this, but I suspect that their description of this as a beta-release means they selected a few and some accepted and they'll use this as a basis for how to handle the program when they've ironed out the problems sure to come (number of and type of questions people ask ... the amount of time trying to contain snark and rudeness that we've seen but at least they know they'll need to).

    I added the FAQ last night and I hope it's read. I should put another link to it near the top except that I made it a post on two subjects instead of on just the beta-release and from what I see in Stats, the interest in low-cost books may have taken away from the 2nd, so I'll maybe do a follow-up on this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gordon InkelesSeptember 1, 2011 at 7:25:00 PM PDT

    Hard to know which direction they will take with the various beta programs. Kindle Singles just launched to mixed reviews so far.

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownSeptember 1, 2011 at 7:36:00 PM PDT

    Gordon,
    One thing I've noticed -- there is less interest in non-fiction books according to my stats for hits.

    I think the majority of Singles are non-fiction.
    I also think that people realize that they are more like long articles in a magazine and they look at the pricing -- I've found that some are sort of high for that, and with all the big sales of full books, it becomes a harder sell.

    There also isn't the publicity for new Singles that you see for books. At least not when I'm looking...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gordon InkelesSeptember 2, 2011 at 10:52:00 AM PDT

    I agree that many of the Kindle Singles seem pricey. They have an unfortunate way of confirming a common suspicion that and ebook is somehow "less" than a paper book. We'll see if that format lasts.

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownSeptember 2, 2011 at 11:04:00 AM PDT

    Gordon, I hope they separate Singles from Ebooks when counting them, as I'm hoping they are doing with the one-short-story ebooks being offered at low-cost too.

    They do confirm they don't count free downloads though. I like the Singles format and hope they keep it, but separate.

    ReplyDelete

NOTE: TO AVOID SPAM being posted instantly, this blog uses the blogger.com "DELAY" feature.

Am often away much of the day, and postings won't show up right away. Posts done to use referrer-links may never show up.

Usually, am online enough to release comments within a day though, so the hard-to-read match-text tests for commenting won't be needed this way.

Feedback and questions are welcome. Thanks for participating.

Technical Problems?
If you're having problems leaving a Comment, Google's blogger-help asks that you clear the 'blogger.com' cookies on your browser's Tools or Options menu bar and that will fix the Comment-box problems (until they have a permanent fix).

IF that doesn't work either, then UNcheck the "keep me signed in" box -- Google-help says that should allow your comment to post (it's a workaround to a current bug).
Apologies for the problems.

TIP: There's a size limit. If longer than 3500 characters or so, in a text editor, make two posts out of it.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
[Valid RSS]