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From the Kindle Nation Mailbag: Using a Mighty Bright Light for Reading My Kindle in Bed

Thanks to Kindle Nation citizen and My Real Life Was Backordered blogger DeNae for her comment on our post “Dude, Do I Have to Paint a Picture for You?“:

Honestly, the backlight thing is a reason I haven’t converted to Kindle just yet. (My mother loves hers, if that helps!) Because, yes, I do read at night. And I haven’t yet found a good solution to the whole problem of my needing a good reading light and my husband needing to sleep. So, Anonymous #2, there’s my response. I think it’s a valid thing to want in the product.

Makes good sense to me, DeNae.

We all have different reading styles and approaches, and what’s good for the goose may keep the gander awake nights. I have both an iPad and a Kindle, and while I am more likely to use the iPad if I am reading email in bed, I’m still far more likely to use a Kindle with a booklight if I am reading an ebook. My son gave me a Mighty Bright XtraFlex2 Clip-On Light (Kindle Version) last Christmas and it’s a great Kindle accessory that also gets a lot of use for all kinds of nonKindle reading whenever there’s tiny print involved. 

I change the batteries about once every three months, and it works like a charm.

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert for Tuesday, June 22: Three New Business & Leadership Shorts from FT Press, and Dozens More

Changing a Troubled Ship
Must Read Related Post:

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Step-by-Step Tip: Amazon & Open Library Collaborate So You Can Send Tens of Thousands of Free eBooks Directly to Your Kindle via Whispernet

 L. Ron Hubbard

Cry Sanctuary: Book 1 of Red Rock Pass series

Two mid-day additions to our updated list of dozens of free Kindle promotional titles:

Violet Dawn
A new daybook from inspirational author Zig Ziglar and a popular religious novel start the week’s free Kindle Store promotional listings:

by Dwight “Ike” Reighard 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
(Love Comes Softly Series, Book 1) by Janette Oke 4.8 out of 5 stars (104 customer reviews) 

Also, if you are a fan of Kindle Store bargains, don’t miss this weekend post:

Kindle Nation Daily Bargain Book Alert: 15 Great Reads from 79 Cents to $1.99!

Here’s the rest of our updated list of free promotional titles in the Kindle Store as of June 21:

Kindle Readers Get Final Version as Well as Original Author’s Cut of Today’s New Konrath Release, TRAPPED

Related posts: 

J.A. Konrath, King of the Kindlesphere, Gives Big Publishers a Rejection Slip with “Endurance” and “Trapped”

JA Konrath Releases Two Original Kindle Thrillers

Yesterday the citizens of Kindle Nation sent Joe Konrath’s new “Jack Kilborn” terror novel, Endurance, soaring into the top 50 paid bestsellers in the Kindle Store.

Today, you’re the first to learn about another groundbreaking “Kilborn” ebook, Trapped. Here’s what Joe wrote to me in an email about it last night — the only thing I’ve cut out of the email pertains to discussions that Joe and I are having about a special surprise treat that we will be springing on Kindle Nation subscribers next week:

Hi Steve,

TRAPPED, another Jack Kilborn ebook, will be live [Tuesday]. I did something fun with this, and it’s another first.

My publisher really hated the first draft of TRAPPED, and made me do significant changes. I made those changes, adding new characters, cutting scenes, writing new ones. They still thought the book was too extreme. So I found another publisher for it, then wound up turning them down in order to self-publish.

With the Kindle release of TRAPPED, readers are getting both versions. The final, edited version, and the uncut first draft with all the different stuff. It’s sort of like a DVD with special features. And, as always, it’s $2.99.

Joe

Bulletin: Amazon Lowers Kindle Price to $189!

Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6″ Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) 

Big news! Amazon has just lowered the price of the Kindle 2 with 3G global wireless and internal web connectivity to $189. There have been indications today that Kindle inventory may be on the low side, so here’s your link to get a Kindle at this all-time record low price while supplies last!

Here’s the guts of Amazon’s news release today:

AMAZON KINDLE NOW ONLY $189
Still with free 3G wireless–no monthly fees or annual contracts
 

SEATTLE, Jun 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that Amazon Kindle, the best e-reader on the market (see this recent press release from the world’s leading consumer reporting organization–http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/2010/06/amazons-kindle-tops-cr-ebook-reader-ratings.html), is now only $189, down from $259. Kindle is the 3G wireless portable reader that allows you to think of a book and be reading in 60 seconds, from wherever you happen to be. Easy to read even in bright sunlight, the 10.2 ounce Kindle is light enough for one-handed reading. Even though it’s a 3G wireless device, Kindle has no monthly fees or annual contracts. The Kindle Store includes over 600,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including 109 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases from $9.99. In addition, over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are available to read on Kindle. Since its release, Kindle has been the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon. Kindle is in stock and available for immediate shipment at the new lower price of $189. Learn more at www.amazon.com/kindle.

J.A. Konrath, King of the Kindlesphere, Gives Big Publishers a Rejection Slip with “Endurance” and “Trapped”

J.A. “Joe” Konrath is no stranger to the citizens of Kindle Nation, whether he is writing under his real name or his “Jack Kilborn” nom de plume. He was one of the first authors to be featured in our Free Kindle Nation Shorts program with his short story “The Screaming” in May 2009, he has been a frequent occupant of the highest rungs of the Kindle Store’s bestseller lists, and he made big publishing news just a few weeks ago with the announcement that his forthcoming novel Shaken, the 7th title in his bestselling Jack Daniels series, will be published by AmazonEncore as a Kindle edition in October and a paperback in February. He has sold over 50,000 Kindle books, and he has a huge following among Kindle Nation readers.

But today he is breaking some serious new ground for authors, publishers, and readers.

What’s the story?

Konrath is issuing a big fat rejection slip to the traditional publishing industry by pulling back Endurance, a “Jack Kilborn” novel that was headed for traditional publication, and publishing it directly and exclusively as a Kindle book at a price, at least for now, of $2.99. 

It’s on my Kindle, and it is available to download wirelessly to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, PC, or Mac with a click of this link.

There will be another Konrath exclusive coming out later this week — Trapped, which had been accepted for traditional publication before Konrath pulled it back to publish it directly and exclusively himself — and we’ll be sure to issue a reminder here.  In addition to being a terrific and versatile author of thrillers, horror tales, and police procedurals, Konrath’s blog about publishing and writing is a must-read for anyone in the book trades, and you can keep up with it at A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing blog, or read Konrath’s similarly titled ebook, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing (Everything A Writer Needs To Know).

Not every author who decides to circumvent the traditional publishers is going to experience anything close to Konrath’s success. But if you’re an author who is wondering whether direct publishing on the Kindle platform might work for you, here are a few things to consider:

  • If you publish a paperback novel with a traditional publisher, your royalties will be somewhere in the range of 60 cents to $1.50 per copy sold, based on the standard contract royalty rates of 6 to 10 percent and a retail priced between $10 and $15.
  • If you publish a Kindle ebook priced at $2.99 anytime after next week, your royalty will range between $2 and $2.07 based on a 70 percent royalty rate less a small charge for electronic transmission. At a price of $5.99, your royalty would be over $4.10. 
  • How much marketing power would you expect a traditional publisher to throw behind your book, if any? How much could you offset that force with your own marketing efforts and a much lower price?
  • How much would you be limiting your market by publishing on the Kindle platform. Or, to put the same question another way, how many of your likely readers are without any of the following Kindle-compatible devices: Kindle, PC, Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, or iPad.

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert for Monday, June 21: Goodbye, “ER” … Hello, “Critical Care” — A Medical Romance by Candace Calvert

Must Read Related Post:

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Step-by-Step Tip: Amazon & Open Library Collaborate So You Can Send Tens of Thousands of Free eBooks Directly to Your Kindle via Whispernet

by Candace Calvert
4.4 out of 5 stars over 29 customer reviews

Review

“Good-bye, ER. Hello, Critical Care! Candace Calvert delivers a wonderful medical romance that peeks inside the doors of an ER to discover a cast of real-life characters who learn to love and live and discover God’s truths, all in the high-stress world of medicine. If you like ER and House, you’ll love Logan and Claire and their friends at Sierra Mercy. Give me another dose, and soon!”
—Susan May Warren, award-winning author of Happily Ever After and Nothing but Trouble

“I’ve always said if I weren’t an author, I’d be in the medical field, so it’s no wonder I ate up Candace Calvert’s new book Critical Care. I lived and breathed the problems and struggles in ER along with the characters. Terrific story and terrific writing. Can’t wait for the next one!”
—Colleen Coble, author of Cry in the Night and Lonestar Secrets

“Finally, a reason to turn off ER and Grey’s Anatomy. Here is a realistic medical drama with heart. Candace Calvert gets it right with page-turning prose, a heartwarming love story, and hope. Don’t make us wait too long for the next one!”
—Harry Kraus, MD, best-selling author of Salty Like Blood and Could I Have This Dance?

Product Description

After her brother dies in a trauma room, nurse Claire Avery can no longer face the ER. She’s determined to make a fresh start–new hospital, new career in nursing education–move forward, no turning back. But her plans fall apart when she’s called to offer stress counseling for medical staff after a heartbreaking day care center explosion. Worse, she’s forced back to the ER, where she clashes with Logan Caldwell, a doctor who believes touchy-feely counseling is a waste of time. He demands his staff be as tough as he is. Yet he finds himself drawn to this nurse educator . . . who just might teach him the true meaning of healing. 

Winter

Winter’s Passage by Julie Kagawa

Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl…until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck–Meghan’s best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon–who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey.
Yet Meghan and Ash’s detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter–a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat….
An eBook exclusive story from Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series.

Here’s another L. Ron Hubbard story, free in the Kindle store, to add to yesterday’s listing of The Last Drop:

 L. Ron Hubbard

Tuesday: The free promotional titles just keep on coming in the Kindle Store. Today we have L. Ron Hubbard’s The Last Drop and Moira Rogers’ Cry Sanctuary, the leadoff novel in her Red Rock Pass series.

Cry Sanctuary: Book 1 of Red Rock Pass series

Two mid-day additions to our updated list of dozens of free Kindle promotional titles:

Violet Dawn
A new daybook from inspirational author Zig Ziglar and a popular religious novel start the week’s free Kindle Store promotional listings:

by Dwight “Ike” Reighard 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
(Love Comes Softly Series, Book 1) by Janette Oke 4.8 out of 5 stars (104 customer reviews) 

Also, if you are a fan of Kindle Store bargains, don’t miss this weekend post:

Kindle Nation Daily Bargain Book Alert: 15 Great Reads from 79 Cents to $1.99!

Here’s the rest of our updated list of free promotional titles in the Kindle Store as of June 21:

Dude, Do I Have to Paint a Picture for You?

I was reading an excellent post by Alex Wilhelm the other day at The Next Web, and I came across a telling comment by somebody named Lou Biggs. Like me, Mr. Biggs is a big fan of the iPad, but in his case that also seems to mean that he doesn’t understand what serious readers love about the Kindle. He responded to Wilhelm’s analysis with this comment:

Dude Kindle is not even back lit. You need a light to read at night. Who would want that??

I’m not going to begin here by suggesting that we should be dismissive of the “serious reader” chops of anyone who begins a comment by addressing the original poster as “Dude,” lest in doing so I reveal myself to be in some measure curmudgeonly. Instead, I will just note that Mr. Biggs is not entirely alone, among some subset of Apple fans, in failing to understand the limitations of the iPad’s lovely and magical backlit screen. And on the off chance that pictures may be more helpful than words in expanding the understanding of Mr. Biggs and some who share his limitations, I recommend to the citizens of Kindle Nation that this 30 second video — yes, it is an Amazon commercial — may be helpful.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWd9WXFdYI4]

Of course, the Kindle has its limitations too, some of which — like the Kindle’s inability to play this video — some serious readers may consider a strength. So, if you are reading this post on your Kindle, and you want to see the video, you’ll need to type in http://bit.ly/KindleBeach on a computer. Or on your iPad.