To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.
- Seneca
Other Stuff
I received this email from Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing today. If you have a book published for Kindle, this is exciting news.
Here is the body of the email:
Hello from KDP!
We’re excited to introduce KDP Select – a new option dedicated to KDP authors and publishers worldwide, featuring a fund of $500,000 in December 2011 and at least $6 million in total for 2012! KDP Select gives you a new way to earn royalties, reach a broader audience, and use a new set of promotional tools.
Here’s how KDP Select works:
When you make any of your titles exclusive to the Kindle Store for at least 90 days, those with US rights will automatically be included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and can earn a share of a monthly fund. The monthly fund for December 2011 is $500,000 and will total at least $6 million in 2012. If you haven’t checked it out already, the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is a collection of books that eligible US Amazon Prime members can borrow for free once a month with no due dates.
You’ll also now have access to a new set of promotional tools, starting with the option to promote your KDP Select-enrolled titles for FREE for up to 5 days every 90 days.
How your share of the monthly fund is calculated:
Your share of the monthly fund is based on your enrolled titles’ share of the total number of borrows across all participating KDP titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. For example, if total borrows of all participating KDP titles are 100,000 in December and your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn $7,500 in additional royalties from KDP Select in December. Enrolled titles will remain available for sale to any customer in the Kindle Store and you will continue to earn your regular royalties on those sales.
What this means to you:
KDP Select gives you access to a whole new source of royalties and readers- you not only benefit from a new way of making money, but you also get the chance to reach even more readers by getting your book in front of a growing number of US Amazon Prime customers: readers and future fans of your books that you may have not had a chance to reach before! Additionally, the ability to offer your book for free will help expand your worldwide reader base.
How to enroll:
KDP Select is available for titles participating in both the 70% and 35% royalty options. You can immediately start by enrolling a single title, your whole catalog, or anything in between.
If you’re interested in enrolling a title that’s already uploaded, simply click “Enroll” next to the book in your Bookshelf. To enroll multiple titles that are already uploaded, select the boxes next to any number of titles, then click “Actions” and choose “Enroll these books in KDP Select.” The titles you choose will be enrolled immediately.
If you’re interested in enrolling a new title, simply check the “Enroll this book in KDP Select” box while submitting details about your book and proceed to publish the book as you normally would. For new titles, enrollment takes effect once the book is available for sale on our website.
To learn more about KDP Select, visit: http://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/KDPSelect
To learn more about the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/kindleownerslendinglibrary
Very cool news. It is super easy to do – took me all of 30 seconds and now my Kindle book is made available to an even larger audience!
I’ve owned a Kindle for a couple of years now. I love it. I have since it first arrived and though I love my paper books and my full bookcase, most of my book reading has been on the Kindle over the past year or so. So, when I went to Amazon a few weeks back and saw the Kindle Fire announcement, I was pretty stoked.
Now, I’m not a gotta-have-the-newest-tech kind of guy. Didn’t get an iPhone until last year. (and you’ll only get it from me when you pry it from my cold, dead hands) And even though I love the concept of the iPad and all things Apple, I just can’t imagine what I would use it for so I am iPadless. When I saw the Kindle Fire, I thought, “Wow. That’s cool.” But I didn’t think I’d get one. After spending some time researching the Fire and all of its features, I decided to make the leap and ordered one.
It just arrived and here are my initial thoughts:
First, it shipped and arrived from Amazon about a week before they said it would. Super Saver shipping was free and it took less than 4 days for it to arrive in my mail box – here in Alaska, no less.
I opened the box. It contained: 1 Kindle Fire device. 1 charging cord. 1 playing-card sized card with quick start instructions. Huh. Simplicity in its purest form.
I knew I had to register the thing so I anticipated a lengthy process involving passwords and possibly a call or email to tech support. Well, Amazon came through yet again (like they always seem to do for me). I hit the “on” button and it fired up, automatically downloaded the latest software and registered the Fire to my account. Bam! I didn’t have to do a danged thing. Off to a good start, me thinks.
Amazon Prime
It’s important to take a moment to talk about Amazon Prime. One of the features and a big selling point is the inclusion of a free one month Amazon Prime membership with your Kindle Fire purchase. Your free month starts automatically, as soon as you fire up your Fire for the first time. When your free month is up, the annual fee is $79 if you choose to continue.
Amazon Prime benefits include:
- Access to over 10,000 TV shows and movies
- Free 2 day shipping for all your Amazon purchases
- Access to the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library
10,000 TV Shows and Movies
I have to admit that this was one of the reasons I bought the Fire. I’ve already spent a lot of time looking at what’s available. If you’re looking for first run, current movies as part of your Amazon Prime membership then you will likely be a bit disappointed. If quirky, sometimes classic, sometimes “B” movies are your thing then you are going to feel right at home. Sample titles: A Clockwork Orange, Time Bandits, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The TV shows are every bit as eclectic as well: Lost, Gilligan’s Island, 24, The Wonder Years.
Before you purchase the Fire, go to Amazon and you can look at and search for virtually all of the Amazon Prime titles.
Free 2 Day Shipping
A no brainer, really. No price minimum like there is with Super-Saver shipping.
Kindle Owner’s Lending Library
Every month, you can download and read one free Kindle book. There are lots of titles available and quite a few of them are best sellers.
Okay, on to the rest of the review.
The first real test happened within a few hours of registering. My 8 year old daughter (who was more excited than I was about getting this, I think) got home from school and immediately wanted to download a movie. I went to the video section for her and she took it from there. She started streaming “The Iron Giant” all on her own with *zero* help from me.
Here is how the videos work: Amazon Prime titles are streamed. This means you have to be connected to a wireless source. Amazon Prime titles cannot be downloaded to watch later. You have to stream them. This differs from the other movies and tv shows available for rent or purchase on Amazon in that those things that you rent or purchase can be streamed from the cloud or downloaded to the device for future viewing. Being able to download to the device is kind of a big deal for those of us who have kind of a sucky internet provider plan that sticks it to you for usage overages. Being one of those unfortunate souls, I plan to use the “free” wireless at coffee shops and such to download any purchased movies and otherwise occasionally stream an Amazon Prime show. Along these lines (and it is not a criticism of the Fire), it would be nice to know how much data a particular movie or TV show is prior to downloading or streaming. Thus far, I can’t figure out how to figure that out.
The Reader
Truly, the thing I will use the Fire for the most is as an e-reader. I have a bunch of Kindle books already and like I said, it is how I read most of my books these days. The Kindle Fire kicks all previous versions to the curb. Big time.
When you go to the Books tab, all of your Kindle titles are there. Now, they are all in the cloud, so they are not in your device yet. If there is a title you want to read, you have to tap on the cover and it will then download to your device. Also, with the Whisper-Synch technology, the book will be synched to the last page read, even if you started the title on your earlier Kindle.
There are a lot of improvements over previous Kindle devices. The most significant improvement is the ease of use in terms of changing the font size and such. Tap the screen and the menu is right there. Change font size, typeface and the background color. You can customize your reading experience and ain’t that grand.
One of the things I’ll have to get used to is the screen. Much like an iPhone, there is a definite glare. It hasn’t affected my reading experience yet, but I need to try it under different light conditions.
In General
- The touch screen works pretty well, but it doesn’t tend to work as smoothly as the iPhone.
- I would like to see a scroll bar. There isn’t one and I’m used to having it.
- Even when you put the Fire in “sleep” mode, it appears the battery drains and I haven’t figured out if it still stays connected to the wireless in sleep mode.
- You can load videos, music and pictures from your PC to the Fire using a micro-USB cable.
- I love how you can watch or read things in wide screen just by turning the Fire sideways.
- I haven’t had the Fire long enough to know about battery life yet. I’ll probably end up posting another review after I’ve had it a month or so. This also goes for the web function. I’ll play with it and let you know.
Finally
I’m pretty happy with the Kindle Fire so far. For 200 bucks I think it’s a good deal. Also, my sense is that I will sign up for the Amazon Prime once my free trial is done.
If you have been on the fence about getting the Kindle Fire, I hope this helps.
Please feel free to leave specific questions in the comment section
Last week, Amazon (relatively) quietly announced what may actually be one of the biggest game changing programs readers may ever see in their lifetime. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library further blurs the line between books, e-books and how a reading public consumes them. It’s very early, and this is an initial step. The program will change as it grows, and I have no doubt it will grow. The implications here are staggering. Ultimately, the program Amazon launched could bring an end to libraries as we know them.
How It Works
First, the lending program is only available to Kindle owners. In other words, no Kindle, no dice. Second, you have to sign up with Amazon’s premium service, Amazon Prime. That’s going to cost you $79 a year but Amazon Prime is about a lot more than the lending of books. Streaming shows, 2 day shipping and other features might just make the yearly fee worth it for a lot of people.
You can borrow one book at a time and not all titles are available for lending right now. I’m certain more titles will be available as the program progresses – especially if it catches on. There are no due dates and currently you can only borrow one book a month. For us voracious readers, one book a month is probably not enough to make us burn our library card. Also, there is no “rollover” feature. If you don’t borrow a book during any given calendar month, you don’t get to borrow two the next.
What I Think
I know this section is likely to piss some people off, so let me preface it with a few statements:
- I love books. I mean the physical, hold in your hands, great smelling paper things.
- I don’t believe that physical books will ever go away completely.
- I love my Kindle, and I love reading on my Kindle, but I will always buy and read physical books.
- I love libraries. I’ve worked in a public library and understand their advantages.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at how Amazon’s kindle Lending Library changes the game.
I think that our generation may be the last generation of paper book readers. When we were growing up, we had books. If we wanted to play video games, we went to the arcade at the mall or we commandeered the TV and hooked up the Atari or Nintendo. The next generation does things differently. They have smart phones. They have portable gaming devices. They understand and use electronics – a lot more than we ever did. A lot of schools around the country don’t hand out text books anymore. Each student is given a tablet device and assignments and reading material is downloaded to it. We are closer to having paperless classrooms than we ever have been. In short, the next generation is used to electronics and while they have a passing knowledge of paper books, the first choice will most often be the format they are used to.
Here’s my take on the public library aspect of this:
Public libraries struggle. Often, they are the first to be lined up on the budgetary chopping block. Right or wrong, that’s just how it is. Libraries are working to change their role from book lenders to information centers. While book lending remains at the core of what a public library does, public computer terminals and other electronic goodies such as DVD movies are the things bringing a lot of folks to the library these days. Ask any librarian and they will tell you that patronage is up in this failing economy. Is it up because of book lending? Not necessarily.
If something like Amazon’s program catches on, it’s easy to see that eventually this could affect the core program of public libraries. And if book lending goes away from the libraries, they could be left behind as not much more than “Book Museums.” I don’t think this is just around the corner. I don’t even think it will happen in my lifetime. But I can see it happening one day, and I think last week Amazon took the first step.
I’m seeing a Chinese Medicine doctor/acupuncturist. Not a big fan of western medicine but I’ve got some issues and so far, I like the results. One of the things that happens in each session is that we chat about how things are going in my life. In my last session I went on about how I’m stuck with my writing. I feel I’m on the verge of something big happening, yet I feel slothy and unmotivated. My doc grinned widely and said, “I know just the thing for you. You need to read “The War of Art.” You will be impressed.
Well, that night I downloaded
and in less than a minute, I was engrossed.
The book is a relatively short read and the format has the pages flying by at a pretty good clip.
It made perfect sense from the very beginning. Seems as if the danged thing was written specifically for me!
There are three “books” here. In the first, Steven Pressfield describes the enemy. That enemy is Resistance and she is a foul temptress with unbelievable power. The second book describes methods for giving her the ol’ steel toed boot. The third book, (and the most helpful to me) concerns itself with the Muse, and how to invoke her into your writing life. For this chapter, it’s important to read the entire book before making judgement.
I’m not going to give much away because I think that as a writer and a human, you need to read it for yourself and see if it speaks to you. If you don’t want to spend the seven bucks at Amazon, go to your library and check it out.
Have any of my writing buddies read this? If so, what did you think?
