My Kindle Stuff

Well, I’m swamped by rumors, happy with Kindle news and what with all the good books I’ve found– just wallowing in Kindle-goodness.

Rumors

First for the rumors.  Sometime yesterday the 6″ Kindle went out of stock, there were refurbs available, but they’ve since sold out as well.  Rumors on Twitter, Amazon Discussion boards, Kindleboards and MobileReads speculate that the Kindle 3 is just around the corner.  In response, 3rd parties have already raised the prices of used Kindles upwards of $230, pretty much reflecting the old Kindle price of $259.  It will be interesting to watch the price gouging wars if the Kindle 2 stays out of stock for a few days.  I don’t dare look at the prices on ebay (ugh).

News

In Kindle news, Amazon issued a Press Release announcing that Stieg Larsson (author of the Millennium Trilogy)  is the frst author and first member of the “Kindle Million Club”.  That club is for writers whose books have sold over 1 million Kindle copies.
This kind of confuses me as I thought James Patterson was the 1st, but apparently that news was for selling a million ebooks (whether Kindle or otherwise) and was issued by his publisher, not Amazon.  So there you go.
For those thinking that the iPad was going to be the death of the Kindle–raspberries to you.  I say up with dedicated devices that do one thing great rather than focus on muli-ourpose ones that do a lot of stuff just okay. Don’t get me wrong, I love my iPad, but my Kindle is my baby!

My Lastest books (All VERY good! If you are into the Fantasy genre, be sure to check them out)

All that Lives Must Die (Mortal Coils #2) – Mortal Coils (Mortal Coils #1) by Eric Nylund – Mortal Coils was one of my Best Books of 2009

Tracking the Tempest (Jane True #2), Tempest Rising (Jane True, #1) by Nicole Peeler

Acacia: The War with the Mein (Acacia #1) by David Anthony Durham

Salute the Dark (Shadows of the Apt #4), Blood of the Mantis (Shadows of the Apt #3), Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt #2), Empire in Black & Gold (Shadows of the Apt #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

So its been a few weeks since the entire kerfluffle over ebook pricing.  Readers have gone on in their quest for stuff to read, Amazon prices are slowly edging up and most bloggers and Twitterites have moved on to other subjects.  That may be just what the publishers wanted because a year from now, only early adoption ereader customers will even remember that whole “$9.99 thing”.

Right now, its unclear whether the iPad will have conquer the world, but it will have accomplished one thing–ebook prices upwards of $12.95 will be generally accepted because that’s what most new books will be priced–our memories are short.  Between now and then, Amazon will probably have to quietly remove the ‘most books are $9.99′ statement, as most will not be $9.99.  I have no idea what that’s going to do for prices outside the U.S. except that is not a pretty picture.

I don’t think that the prices will have a lot to do towards slowing down the ebook momentum. Dedicated readers who have found the Kindle, nook, Sony or other readers aren’t looking back.  Some, like me, have given up dead tree books entirely when reading general fiction.  And if I find a device that gives me the experience that I’m looking for in technical books and magazines, I’ll be going digital all the way.  And publishers, if you’re listening–if it ain’t digital, I’m giving it up for the next guy that is digital–I’m not getting the paper version.  I just don’t enjoy reading physical copies anymore.  And judging from the way internet news and magazines are moving, I’m getting a lot of company.

There will be customers that take a stand on lower prices, but if most prices go up a dollar or two, I doubt that the number of hold-outs will be equal to the amount of outrage expressed when this subject first came up–myself included.  Sure, we’ll be more open to smaller independent publishers with discounted prices and free books, but I’m one of those readers who when I was reading dead-tree books, generally got the paperback except for the books I really wanted to read, then I’d pay hard cover prices.  That’s probably what I’ll end up doing a year or two from now, except it’ll be for ebooks.  I’m price sensitive now, but when the next Charlaine Harris or Patricia Briggs or Ilona Andrews book comes out, price sensitivity will fly right out the window and I’ll be clicking the buy now button.

What will last for me is the resentment towards MacMillan.  I’m not a hater and won’t be going out of my way to bad-mouth the company; but as a consumer, when I do notice their brand, I’ll be less likely to spend my money with them if I have to choose.  And that resentment will last a long time; probably past the time when I remember or even care about where it came from.  They may not notice or miss my thousand dollars a year, but it will make me feel a lot better. Wow, I guess I’m bitter; how irritating is that!

(Updated: 12/15/2009 – Kindle Book Deletion has been confirmed.  You can delete books from your account on the Manage Your Kindle page.  Also, you can add Kindle books to your Wish List via the Kindle store on your device or online.)

Thanks to Anarel on Kindleboards who noticed the new feature on the Kindle’s Manage Your Kindle pages.  Amazon is  quietly adding or testing the ability to permanently delete items in your Kindle archive.  Nice!  Well, I’m off to make a list of nook features that would require backend or software updates only.  Bet we see them soon!

This feature is not yet enabled on my account, but I am looking forward to it.

Additions So far

• International Device
• Native PDF
• Screen Rotation
• Longer Battery Life
• Kindle Wish Lists (available online/device)
• Book Deletion
• Kindle for PC (Mac announced sign-up here/Blackberry coming)
• Content Management (Coming Soon)

Possibly next?

• Custom screensavers
• Add’l fonts
• Add’l file types
• Maybe another DRM format?

Then, they’ll add stuff that nook doesn’t have that they’ve been holding on to FOREVER – like folders/tagging and other user-requested features.  The nook will be fixing performance for the next couple of months, then they’ll have to do something.  Hopefully this will go on until they have maxed out features on the current hardware.

If you haven’t gotten them, you better hurry as according to the Suvudu website, they’ll be gone (as free editions) on November 1st

• Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
• Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter
• Queen of the Orcs: King’s Property by Morgan Howell
• The Brass Bed by Jennifer Stevenson
• The Briar King by Greg Keyes
• Changelings by McCaffrey & Scarborough
• Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
• Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur

My teeth are grinding as I write this.  I’ve got my little system to add books to my Wish List.  I have multiple lists–one for Kindle versions only, and one for DT versions (the one for non-books is not relevant to this conversation). I use the Universal Wish List button to add books to the appropriate lists; if I don’t discover it myself, Mysteria notifies me via email when an item on my Non-Kindle wish list has been Kindled.

This works for me.  Amazon doesn’t have any way other than the Universal Wish List button to add any and all Kindle books to a Wish List. Some can be added via a screwball way on the Comments page, but since that’s not available for all Kindle books, I just use the Universal button.  Why I’m not sure.  I guess they feel that the only two options should be sample or buy?

In any case, I rummage thru my Wish Lists often.  Today when viewing the Non-Kindle books list, I notice that Amazon has updated the page.  Nice options for ordering, Pre-Ordering with new 1-Click buttons.  New link to add comments, quantity & priority.  So I head on over to my Kindle wish list to see what happened to options for Kindle lists.

Ugh–no more purchasing Kindle books directly from the page.  I have a ‘See buying options’ button like the Kindle version is some out of print book.  I now have to go to the books page from my wish list page to either sample or order.  I’m sure they did this so that we can select which device to send our book to, which tells me that they don’t plan on upgrading some needed options for us multi-device users.

Can a make a few suggestions Amazon?

Recognize the different versions of a book right on the wish list page

Allow all Kindle books to be added to a wish list from the product page (you already list my Kindle devices, add my wish list to the bottom of the list)

Dump the ‘See buying options’ button and add a Buy or Sample button right on the wish list page

Then go here and throw in the other needed options for those of us that use multiple devices…please.