100 KINDLE BOOKS FOR $1.99 to $3.99The 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.
'
- Ted Dekker: (@tedDekker) Forbidden and The Priest's Graveyard
- Timothy Ferriss: (@tferriss) The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Workweek
- Marie Force: (@MarieForce) Ready for Love and Fool for Love
- Barbara Freethy: (@BarbaraFreethy) Love Will Find a Way and One True Love
- Steven Johnson: (@stevenbjohnson) Where Good Ideas Come From and Everything Bad Is Good for You
- Robert Kiyosaki: (@theRealKiyosaki) Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant
- J.A. Konrath: (@jakonrath) SERIAL and Endurance
- John Locke: (@DonovanCreed) The Love You Crave and Lethal People
- Elisa Lorello: (@ElisaLorello) Ordinary World
- C.J.Lyons: (@cjlyonswriter) Blind Faith and Borrowed Time
- Debbi Mack: (@debbimack) Identity Crisis and Least Wanted
- Brad Meltzer: (@bradmeltzer) The Inner Circle and The Zero Game
- Scott Nicholson: (@hauntedcomputer) Ashes and Write Good or Die
- Susan Orlean: (@susanorlean) Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief
- Deborah Reed: (@DebReedAuthor) Carry Yourself Back to Me and A Small Fortune
- James Rollins: (@jamesrollins) The Skeleton Key and The Devil Colony
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.
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!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great description, Corneliu :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks 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,
ReplyDeleteGordon,
ReplyDeleteSure 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.
Hard to know which direction they will take with the various beta programs. Kindle Singles just launched to mixed reviews so far.
ReplyDeleteGordon,
ReplyDeleteOne 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...
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.
ReplyDeleteGordon, 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.
ReplyDeleteThey do confirm they don't count free downloads though. I like the Singles format and hope they keep it, but separate.