Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

A Touch Screen for Your Kindle?

kindle amazon touch screen material
Coming to the Kindel?

The New York Times reported

Touchco uses a technology called interpolating force-sensitive resistance, which it puts into displays that can be completely transparent and could cost as little as $10 a square foot. The capacitive touch screens used in the iPad and iPhone are considerably more expensive. Unlike those screens, the Touchco screens can also detect an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points.

The e-ink technology used in today’s Kindle products is much easier on the eyes than the lighted displays of most devices but we know that on screen viewing will continue to improve.

Do you need color on your book reading app?

Who Controls What Price You Get For a Book?

Reading more on the Amazon/Macmillin dispute and the old school bullying tactics both are using in the fight.

I’ve stated in previous posts my position.. I think the consumer (readers) will ultimately control what price we can sell a book for.

Amazon is letting the market decide.

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the “big six” publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer

What do you think?

Pricing Changes for Amazon eBooks

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The $9.99 best seller that helped Amazon.com Inc. build a dominant position in the now-thriving e-book market was at risk of extinction Sunday after Amazon capitulated in a battle sparked by the launch of Apple Inc.’s new iPad.

Amazon conceded defeat Sunday evening after halting sales of all books published by Macmillan in a dispute over higher e-book prices. Having made the $9.99 e-book a fixture, Amazon now faces the prospect of raising its prices to match new terms Apple is offering publishers.

This is not over folks. We’re going to see a continued power play from the old school publishers as the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad and others take over the market.

As we discussed here, the winner will be the player that controls distribution. Will that be the traditional publishers?

Amazon Plays Hardball With Publishers

Amazon Kindle

I caught a discussion among some writers about titles missing from Kindle when a publisher doesn’t like Amazon’s pricing.

Apple makes the iPadSome suggested that Amazon better be careful now that Apple has announce the iPad.. the giant iPod touch the will be out soon… claiming “the timing couldn’t be worse for Amazon”

The timing couldn’t be better.

Amazon, Apple, or somebody is going to discover new ways of getting books to people. Whoever does will win the ebook distribution war.

The Apple iPod was not the first mp3 player.. Jobs was the first to take on the music publishers and win. The “game changer” is not the pretty new hardware.. it will be the distribution deals that give consumers what they want.

Amazon make the KindleImagine a future where the quantity of books sold without killing a tree equals the number of ringtones purchased. Sure, there would be some low prices, some piracy, some

I can’t say where things will end.. but it’s clear that we won’t be going back to publishing of yesterday. That’s gone for good.

Submit Your Novel To Win Cash: The 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award:

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Amazon.com, along with Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace, is pleased to announce the third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, the international competition seeking the next popular novel. For the first time, the competition will award two grand prizes: one for General Fiction and one for Young Adult Fiction. The 2010 competition is open to unpublished and previously self-published novels waiting to be discovered. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance.

Manuscript submissions are now being accepted through February 7, 2010, at 11:59 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time), or when 5,000 entries have been received in each category, whichever is earlier.

Go to www.createspace.com/abna to register and submit your manuscript following the instructions on the entry form.