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Kindle Nation Daily Bargain Book Alert for Thursday, May 6, 2010: Two "Amelia Peabody" Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters at $1.99 Each

Fun coincidence here. My Kindle friend Richard A. visited earlier this week to lend me his Kindle DX so I could check out the features of the new version 2.5 Kindle software upgrade on the DX hardware, and in the course of talking about everything under the sun we were talking for a moment about something that we both enjoy, which is quality audiobooks. Rick strongly recommended that I give a listen to Barbara Rosenblat’s readings of some of Elizabeth Peters’ series of Amelia Peabody novels, which he said, perhaps not in so many words, are the very apotheosis of excellence in the spoken word.

And I will.

But meanwhile, so soon after our conversation, I couldn’t help but notice that there are two Elizabeth Peters ebooks from that self-same Amelia Peabody series racing up the Kindle Store sales ranking ladder today after being priced at $1.99 each, apparently not by Amazon but by imprints of their agency model publisher, Hachette. No idea how long these prices will last, but given that they have been priced at $1.99 in both the Kindle and iBooks stores, one must assume that the pricing is no accident. Here they are:

So, if you don’t have these books on your Kindle yet, and you’ve ever wanted to give Elizabeth Peters a read, now’s the time. And while I am sure that the Kindle text-to-speech (TTS) feature is no match for Barbara Rosenblat, let me hasten to note that both books are TTS-enabled on the Kindle!

One more reason why you might want to try these at $1.99, if you are an advocate of affordable ebook pricing:  

When an agency model publisher fixes a low price for a backlist title like these, the publishing is putting itself in a position to learn a great deal about pricing, sales, and profitability in the ebook world. Based on my own experiences and those of other authors, I believe that the ideal Kindle Store price for many backlist titles is in the $2.99 to $4.99 range, and that most such titles, if they are quality books with a little bit of marketing effort behind them are likely to sell roughly twice as many copies if they are reduced from $9.99 to $4.99 or roughly three times as many if they are reduced from $9.99 to $2.99. If Hachette and other publishers find out that such formulas apply to their backlist titles, it could be a powerful incentive for them to lower prices wherever possible.

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert for Thursday, May 6: Zettabytes of eBooks from Google Books and the Internet Archive

No new free promotional books specifically in the Kindle Store today, so let’s pause and consider that the Kindle is the best way to read millions of other free books: 

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert for Wednesday, May 5: Colters’ Wife by Maya Banks, and Dozens More

Colters’ Wife, an erotic western romance novella by Maya Banks, is today’s new kid on the block among free promotional books in the Kindle Store.

Banks is a good example of a prolific author who has hit the sweet spot and found her own connections with readers with her nicely priced Kindle offerings, including Amber EyesStay With Me, Seducing Simon, Reckless: A Red Hot Summer Story, Sweet Seduction, Sweet Persuasion, Sweet Surrender, Love Me, Still, Brazen, Be With Me, The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress, and her Unbroken series (Understood (Unbroken Book 1), Overheard (Unbroken, Book 2), and Undenied (Unbroken, Book 3)).

Meanwhile, check out our new listing of 30 months of month-by-month Kindle Store bestsellers here:

Kindle Store Bestsellers, Month-by-Month for the First 30 Months

 

Death of a Trophy Wife, the eighth novel in Laura Levine’s Jane Austen series, was released by Kensington Saturday as a $22 hardcover, discounted to $14.96 by Amazon, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.

 
The Killing Room by John Manning will be released as a $6.99 paperback tomorrow by Pinnacle Books, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.
Mistress By Mistake by Maggie Robinson was released by Kensington Saturday as a $14 paperback, discounted to $10.20 by Amazon, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.
D.L. Bogdan’s Secrets of the Tudor Court was released by Kensington Saturday as a $15 paperback, discounted to $10.20 by Amazon, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.
 
Bestselling author Niobia Bryant’s steamy novel Give Me Fever will be released as a $6.99 paperback tomorrow by Dafina Books, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.
 

Breach of Trust by DiAnn Mills, a popular 2009 release from Tyndale, is newly free in the Kindle Store.

 Meanwhile….

Here are our other updated free promotional listings in the Kindle Store as of May 3:

 
The Fence My Father Built by Linda S. Clare

Snow Melts in Spring by Deborah Vogts

 Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie

by Martha I. Finney and Duncan Mathison

Swashbuckling Fantasy: 10 Thrilling Tales of Magical Adventure, a Sampler from Simon & Schuster

Nothing’s been ordinary in the world of ebooks lately, but ordinarily, lately, when you see the line “This price was set by the publisher” on a Kindle ebook’s product page it is Amazon’s way of letting us know  that there’s bad news adjacent to it in the form of one of those special “agency price-fixing model” prices. $12? $15? One never knows.

But here’s a breath of fresh air! Big Six publisher Simon & Schuster has done some creative thinking about how to leverage the power of “free” in the Kindle Store and used the agency price-fixing model to try something new, with a substantial volume of freebies under the lusty title Swashbuckling Fantasy: 10 Thrilling Tales of Magical Adventure.

Just what do I mean by substantial? 

  • First, these are 10 tales by 10 authors each with her own substantial oeuvre of fantasy titles already, so of course the authors and the publisher are hoping that this process will work for them and lead readers to their other work in the same way that we have seen work so effectively with our own Free Kindle Nation Shorts program. The authors represented are Jane Johnson, Linda BuckleyArcher, Scott Westerfeld, Kai Meyer, Alan Snow, Anne Ursu, Obert Skye, Margaret Peterson Haddix, D.J. MacHale and Holly Black.
  • Second, for those of you who, like me, take a look at file size and “number of locations” in an ebooks metadata and free sample before committing to a book, you’ll recognize that the offering’s file size of 1320 KB and its 3,936 “locations” spell a book of significant size and virtual weight.
  • Third, my quick perusal of the full text indicates that, unlike many “sampler” offerings, these 10 tales appear to be just that — tales, self-contained short stories or novellas — rather than frustrating tastes of an excerpted chapter or two.

So, bravo, Simon & Schuster! This is just the kind of thing that the big publishers should be doing to experiment with and begin to figure out the retail marketing power of distinctive pricing and free-to-paid linkages, so we’ve got your back if some of the other agency price-fixing model publishers whine that you are engaging in competitive and adversarial behavior.

And, of course, we still have dozens of other freebies in the Kindle Store, in case you’ve missed any of them.

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert for Tuesday, May 4: The Merry Month of May Continues – New Fiction Freebies — Death of a Trophy Wife, The Killing Room, Mistress by Mistake, Secrets of the Tudor Court, Give Me Fever, Breach of Trust — and Dozens More

The early May march of free books for easy download in the Kindle Store continued Monday with six new listings, most of them new releases, bringing the total for May to 11!
Meanwhile, check out our new listing of 30 months of month-by-month Kindle Store bestsellers here:

Kindle Store Bestsellers, Month-by-Month for the First 30 Months

 

Death of a Trophy Wife, the eighth novel in Laura Levine’s Jane Austen series, was released by Kensington Saturday as a $22 hardcover, discounted to $14.96 by Amazon, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.

 
The Killing Room by John Manning will be released as a $6.99 paperback tomorrow by Pinnacle Books, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.
Mistress By Mistake by Maggie Robinson was released by Kensington Saturday as a $14 paperback, discounted to $10.20 by Amazon, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.
D.L. Bogdan’s Secrets of the Tudor Court was released by Kensington Saturday as a $15 paperback, discounted to $10.20 by Amazon, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.
 
Bestselling author Niobia Bryant’s steamy novel Give Me Fever will be released as a $6.99 paperback tomorrow by Dafina Books, but it’s free today in the Kindle Store.
 

Breach of Trust by DiAnn Mills, a popular 2009 release from Tyndale, is newly free in the Kindle Store.

 Meanwhile….

Here are our other updated free promotional listings in the Kindle Store as of May 3:

 
The Fence My Father Built by Linda S. Clare

Snow Melts in Spring by Deborah Vogts

 Tender Graces by Kathryn Magendie

by Martha I. Finney and Duncan Mathison

Swashbuckling Fantasy: 10 Thrilling Tales of Magical Adventure, a Sampler from Simon & Schuster

Nothing’s been ordinary in the world of ebooks lately, but ordinarily, lately, when you see the line “This price was set by the publisher” on a Kindle ebook’s product page it is Amazon’s way of letting us know  that there’s bad news adjacent to it in the form of one of those special “agency price-fixing model” prices. $12? $15? One never knows.

But here’s a breath of fresh air! Big Six publisher Simon & Schuster has done some creative thinking about how to leverage the power of “free” in the Kindle Store and used the agency price-fixing model to try something new, with a substantial volume of freebies under the lusty title Swashbuckling Fantasy: 10 Thrilling Tales of Magical Adventure.

Just what do I mean by substantial? 

  • First, these are 10 tales by 10 authors each with her own substantial oeuvre of fantasy titles already, so of course the authors and the publisher are hoping that this process will work for them and lead readers to their other work in the same way that we have seen work so effectively with our own Free Kindle Nation Shorts program. The authors represented are Jane Johnson, Linda BuckleyArcher, Scott Westerfeld, Kai Meyer, Alan Snow, Anne Ursu, Obert Skye, Margaret Peterson Haddix, D.J. MacHale and Holly Black.
  • Second, for those of you who, like me, take a look at file size and “number of locations” in an ebooks metadata and free sample before committing to a book, you’ll recognize that the offering’s file size of 1320 KB and its 3,936 “locations” spell a book of significant size and virtual weight.
  • Third, my quick perusal of the full text indicates that, unlike many “sampler” offerings, these 10 tales appear to be just that — tales, self-contained short stories or novellas — rather than frustrating tastes of an excerpted chapter or two.

So, bravo, Simon & Schuster! This is just the kind of thing that the big publishers should be doing to experiment with and begin to figure out the retail marketing power of distinctive pricing and free-to-paid linkages, so we’ve got your back if some of the other agency price-fixing model publishers whine that you are engaging in competitive and adversarial behavior.

And, of course, we still have dozens of other freebies in the Kindle Store, in case you’ve missed any of them.

From the Kindle Nation Mailbag: Don’t Cry for Me, La Agencia! Making a Silk Purse Out of the Sow’s Ear Fact That You Can’t Resell eBooks After You Read Them

Thanks to Kindle Nation Citizen Western Reader for this comment on an earlier Kindle Nation Daily post:

Item for Wishful Thinking Department: Wouldn’t it be nice if one could sell one’s “used” Kindle books? Ah, but how could one legally and/or ethically sell a book that was acquired at no cost in the first place? There are probably too many hurdles to even begin the journey. That’s why this idea is classified as wishful.

Well, @WR, you are correct that it’s unlikely you would ever be able to resell your license to your gently read Kindle books, but there’s more than one way to look at this. And, no surprise here: I prefer mine, which is based on the following notions:

  • Turn the concept inside out and what do we get? The fact that ebooks cannot be resold, compared with the fact that most print books will bring 30% to 50% of what you paid for them if resold in “very good” to “like new” condition through Amazon Marketplace, is a powerful value argument that aligns well with various cost arguments (most notably the lack of publisher costs for production, storage & warehousing, fulfillment, and returns) in favor of significantly lower suggested retail list prices for ebooks. It’s not how the publishing world or the executives of Steve Jobs’ collusive Agency Price-Fixing Model (SCAP-M) are seeing the world today, but the economics are straightforward and the logic is compelling, so it is just a matter of time.
  • While I would argue that you cannot ethically or legally resell your Kindle books, I have posted recently that Kindle owners of all ages should consider not only their Kindles but their Kindle accounts and their Kindle content to be part of their estates, something of significant and palpable value to be passed along in each case to a single favored heir. And Amazon should assign two smart people, a lawyer and a marketing copy whiz, to figure out the ins and outs, set the policy, and codify it in language on the Kindle portion of the Amazon website.

Feedbooks outstrips Apple in ebook downloads

Teleread’s Paul Biba has just posted a very important set of juxtaposed numbers with an elegant economy of expression, and I re-post his words here in their entirety with his permission:

Feedbooks outstrips Apple in ebook downloads

By Paul Biba
logo.pngThere are numbers, and then there are numbers that mean something.
Engadget has reported that 1.5 million ebooks were downloaded to the iPad in the first 28 days after its introduction. Wow! the press says. “It shows that the iBookstore will rule the world”.

Not.

I picked up a Tweet from Hardrien Gardeur of Feedbooks, the site that specializes in public domain and original books from new authors. Get ready ….. here it comes ….

Feedbooks distributed 2.6 million books during the same period!!

Enough said.

It’s Official: Amazon Now Pays Amazon Associates Commissions on Kindle Books

So, it was not an early morning mirage when we speculated Saturday morning that Amazon had changed its policies to resume paying “advertising commissions” on Kindle books and other Kindle content.

Amazon officially announced the major Kindle content marketing initiative moments ago in this post to its Amazon Associates blog:

May 03, 2010

Changes to Amazon Kindle Advertising Fees

We’re sending this note to announce a couple of changes to the Associates Program that relate to Amazon Kindle. Kindle is the #1 bestselling, most-gifted, and most wished-for product at Amazon.com. Please read on for further details.
Earn Advertising Fees on Kindle Books
Amazon is excited to announce that effective May 1, 2010, you can earn advertising fees on Kindle books. With over 500,000 books, including 105 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, Kindle books represent another great way to earn money advertising Amazon products. Advertising fees range from 4 to 8.5%.

Kindle Device Advertising Fee Rates Have Changed
Also effective May 1, 2010, Kindle devices have a new advertising fee. Kindle devices will be included in the “General Products” category and are eligible for 4 to 8.5% in advertising fees depending on the number of qualifying products you refer. Kindle newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other subscriptions will also be included in the “General Products” category. See the Operating Agreement for more information.
K2-email_002

New Kindle Landing Page: Build Links to Kindle & Make Money
We’d like to invite you to browse through our new Kindle page in Associates Central which gives you an overview of all the tools you’ll need to easily build links and earn money on everything Kindle related, all in one place!

There are several simple ways to earn advertising fees on Kindle, and now Kindle books:

  • Link directly to the Kindle detail page using the following link format, replacing “YOUR_ID_HERE-20” with your Associates ID: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015T963C?tag=YOUR_ID_HERE-20
  • Link directly to the Kindle books page using the following link format, replacing “YOUR_ID_HERE-20” with your Associates ID: http://www.amazon.com/b?node=1286228011&tag=YOUR_ID_HERE-20
  • Display Kindle banners – New Rotating Kindle banners are available in various sizes
  • Visit product links and select “Kindle Store” from the drop down menu

In addition to earning advertising fees on Kindle devices and Kindle books, Associates can also earn advertising fees on qualifying sales of Kindle accessories and magazine, newspaper, & blog subscriptions.
We want to thank you for your continued participation in the Amazon Associates Program, and invite you to start or continue advertising Kindle devices and Kindle books. Stay connected by following us on Twitter and finding us on Facebook.