Posts tagged ‘Amazon’
Amazon Content: Rank and Restriction, Finding GLBT Books Online
Obviously Amazon.com knows how to direct online activity. Over the past several years we have seen Amazon rise to dominance in the online retail market. The likelihood is that they have the best price for the book you need and for the backpack, school clothes, vehicles — pretty much anything you want.
In fact, Amazon is so big and powerful that it might be easy to forget that they are as free as anyone else to make decisions regarding what materials are listed in what way on their site. This is offset by the idea that if Amazon or any company behaves in a way that the overall society sees as unethical or irresponsible, the offending party will not see continued support from the markets that they may have angered.
On Amazon’s site we are able to understand the success of products by their rank. GLBT books suddenly found themselves dropped from ranking recently. This is clearly a step that can limit the success of the titles in question. If the buying public cannot find referential information about the behavior of the competing products in our free-market, then many of those products are effectively invisible.
One problem with electronic information is that it can be vulnerable to attacks and errors. There are several theories regarding the change in status for these titles. One man claims to have caused the issue himself using the complaint function within Amazon and a line of code that would basically cause that same complaint to be registered repeatedly. It has also been suggested that the issue was the result of a minor error made when adjusting the code on Amazon’s French site.
I find that most enterprises that are extremely successful listen very closely to the dominant voices in their markets and shape the customer experience on a day-to-day basis in response to feedback. It is likely that if Amazon suddenly removes a certain type of book from prominent promotion, they are responding directly to more vocal voices within the market. In the case of disagreements, I assume they would try to find the most suitable compromise. Considering the variables, however, it seems that before forming an opinion, we might want to consult the IT crowd to see if there is another explanation.
-1000 Chimps
Kindle 2: Better, Faster, Stronger, Smaller
This week, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos announced that the Kindle reader’s next generation will ship before the end of the month. He was joined by Stephen King at a show put on for the press and a few lucky guests. King came on stage and read part of a piece that he wrote that will initially be available exclusively for the Kindle. The story features a haunted pink Kindle device. King said that he supports the Kindle and has one himself. Bezos then spoken about short-form reading versus long-form reading.
This new version of the popular little machine is sleeker and smarter than the original Kindle. The memory has been upgraded to 2GB, and there is a function that allows the device to read books to you via electronic male or female voices. The page turn buttons have been repositioned, and there is a smart ‘joystick’ 5-way button taking the place of the less user-friendly controls of Kindle 1.
It seems that Amazon is pushing Kindle 2 at a time when there is soon to be more competition in the market. We have already seen the Sony Reader, which beat the Kindle to market, but didn’t ship with wi-fi functionality. Now, Shortcovers is releasing software and services to make 200,000 chapters, 50,000 full books, magazines, newspapers etc. available on the iPhone and other smart phones.
The Kindle and the Kindle 2 are clearly luxury items in a tough economy. For the retail price of the Kindle, you could afford a good number of paperbacks and lattes. It is good for book people and publishing in general that something such as this has come along to provoke interest in reading. If the major booksellers and other content providers find a way to get a piece of the pie or at least ride the wave of reader interest, perhaps they can help to fortify their own questionable financial statuses.
The future of bookstores could easily be reduced to a vending machine that spits out coffee, e-books, MP3 files and subscriptions to electronic periodicals — perhaps with a built-in print-on-demand paperback printer that could queue up and print out any title in minutes, that is if consumers decide that they prefer that type of interaction.
Announcing Contest for Authors & Readers Hosted by BookRix.com
Win as an author…
…and as a reader!
“Web Your Book” Award
BookRix.com is proud to present readers and writers with their first official writing competition, called “Web Your Book.” Authors as well as readers can enter the competition and win attractive prices.
Visit BookRix.com for Complete Guidelines>>
Timelines and Deadlines
The submission period of the competition runs for eight weeks starting December 9, 2008, which means that authors still have enough time to register one of their BookRix books for the competition. The deadline for entry is February 1st 2009, 6 p.m. (EST). Authors are completely free in the genre: short stories, poems and everything else is welcome. The only requirement is that the book be longer than 20 BookRix pages.
Readers are able to vote for their favorite books on December 9, 2008 and February 15, 2009 the. This vote will ascertain the winners of the competition. The authors who are ranked number one to five the competition charts on February 15, 2009 at 6 p.m. (EST) will win the listed prizes.
Prices for Authors:
First Prize: $2000.00
Second Prize: $1000.00
3rd – 5th Prize: Amazon Kindle E-Book-Reader
Prizes for Readers:
$100.00 each will be given to three readers following a raffle.
BookRix.com provides users with a platform to:
- find other readers and authors
- share thoughts about interests in groups
- discuss books and projects
join author fan clubs
- participate in writing competitions
- Connect within a literary network
- write book reviews
- send your books to friends and family
- find top-rated and new books
POD Rising: Is Print on Demand the Future of Publishing or the Latest Fad?
As Sara Nelson pointed out in her Publishers Weekly Blog The Summer of POD, neither traditional publishers, nor independent presses are above approaching POD companies such as Lightning Source or Amazon’s BookSurge when there’s high demand for a title.
Simply put, publishers can approach POD printers when their inventory runs short. Instead of waiting for a massive print-run, POD printers can store a digital file of the book, which can be printed as each copy is sold. Which means, should you purchase a copy of a POD book online, the printer only needs to print your individual copy only, shipping your order the same day.
Theoretically, this not only saves traditional publishers money on physical warehouse storage space, but also ensures anyone who wants a copy, actually receives a copy in merely a few days time. In a word, POD printing allows indie presses to curtail the risk so often associated with standard printing, like:
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Going out of print because you’ve run out of copies
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Running short on titles during hot market trends
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Warehousing unsold copies of out-dated books
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Potentially wasting resources such as paper and labor
And it doesn’t seem as though POD is losing momentum. In fact, POD companies seem stronger and healthier than ever before. As self-publishing becomes a more viable and respected option for even established authors, and traditional presses begin to come around to the advantages of the print-on-demand process, the future of books has never been brighter.
Now, the smallest press can partner with The Perseus Books Group Constellation or even Author Solutions Publishing Serives Group, where publishers can basically request an affordable POD option for some of their titles and rush orders. “Out-of-print” is quickly becoming a thing of the past, and print-on-demand is definitely gaining acceptance.
The Point: Saving time, money and energy is the ultimate goal of POD, and though traditional publishers may be hesitant to the change, bother readers and authors should expect a print revolution that can benefit everyone!
A Publishing Company Planting Trees? It Ain’t Easy Being Green
Justin here, and today I’m announcing that our partnership with Trees for the Future has resulted in more than 500 trees planted in Moja Garena, Ethiopia, an area devastated by deforestation.
As you might recall, we pledged to plant a tree for every Wordclay book published in April, and two trees for books published on Earth Day, April 22. Fortunately, we published quite a few authors last month, and we were to make good on our word.
In honor of this achievement, Wordclay and our authors (notified via e-mail) received a snazzy certificate, but the real satisfaction comes from the locations and the people these trees help. The certificate is posted here, but you can view a copy on the Wordclay Bookstore Spotlight.
Just watch Trees for the Future documentary video with founder, Dave Deppner, if you’re curious about the settings your publication indirectly helped by our donation.
Truth be told, it’s difficult to conceive of an environmentally friendly publishing company without imagining a futuristic coffeehouse, where are the students are reading from their handheld digital books, paper now obsolete. You can definitely see movement toward these paperless technologies with print-on-demand virtual inventories and Amazon’s new wireless reading device Kindle, but we can hardly deny the substantial paper consumption by publishing and printing companies alike.
Wordclay understands its paper consumption and carbon emission shortcomings, but we also want to ensure the future of our planet’s health as well as the future of book publishing. (more…)
Kevin Weiss, Author Solutions CEO, States Position on Current Amazon/BookSurge Situation
Over the last several weeks there have been numerous articles, blog posts and letters written about Amazon.com’s intent to route all print-on-demand titles sold through Amazon.com through its self-publishing subsidiary – BookSurge. It has created quite a stir with the media, with many of our competitors, and even with some authors. While we suspect that the debate will not end anytime soon, we wanted to clearly state our position for our current and future authors.
Our authors are at the heart of everything we do at Wordclay. Through you we achieved our industry leading position, and by continuing to understand and meet your needs we will remain the leader. You can rest assured that we will continue to deliver high quality solutions at affordable prices. To that end, we are making significant investments in both our internal production systems and all of our customer- facing systems. By the end of the summer, we will deliver the most advanced systems in the industry. Those new systems will create flexibility for us internally, but more importantly they will afford you the opportunity to make the best choices that fit your needs throughout the publishing process and beyond. We do not believe that it is ever in your interest to limit choice.
Here at Wordclay, you will receive the same level of quality support and service that you have come to expect from us. If there are any changes that we think will have an impact on you – either positive or negative – we will let you know directly. We are committed to keeping the self-publishing industry strong, 
ensuring that authors have choice, and helping all of you get your voice in print at a reasonable price. We will aggressively fight anything that is done to limit choice, increase cost, or weaken the industry that together we’ve worked so hard to build.
Fresh Products Help Authors Self-Publish Independently: Claim Space on Amazon and Kindle, Be Your Own Publisher and Sport a Winning Logo
Before the ground thaws and you finally decide to wash the dried salt off of your car, there’s a time when you begin to wake yourself from your winter comatose and feel your way to the computer, blinded by the light reflecting off your sun-starved skin. But when your eyes begin to focus on your screen, be sure to brace yourself. Wordclay has fresh new products sprouting in the Services Store to help you shift into high gear with more ways to self-publish independently and successfully.
If you’ve procrastinated all winter, kick winter’s butt out the door. Now’s the perfect time to plan your DIY book project. It’s Spring, things are fresh and new and there are more publishing options than ever in Wordclay.
First, there’s a new way to publish: Be your own publisher. You can still use Wordclay’s free publishing (more…)
