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From Kindle Chronicles Episode 101: Wider Distribution Ahead for Kindle Authors and Bloggers

Russ Grandinetti is the guy at Amazon when it comes to getting all kinds of books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs into the Kindle Store. Officially, he’s Amazon’s vice president for Kindle content, and he had some important things to say — not only for readers but for authors and bloggers as well — when he appeared on Len Edgerly’s The Kindle Chronicles podcast the other day. Let’s focus on blogs in this post, and we’ll get into Grandinetti’s positive reinforcement for authors in a later post.

Asked by Edgerly why Kindle edition bogs don’t show up on other Kindle apps like the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, PC, Android, and Mac, Grandinetti made it clear that it is more a question of when than of why:

“It’s a feature we’re working on, so stay tuned…. It’s something we’re very interested in delivering over time.”

That’s bound to make Kindle edition blogs more appealing to readers, but it is important for blog publishers as well. It confirms, from a loftier perspective, what I have reported here in the past based on conversations with Kindle Support. As of this morning there are 9,398 active blogs in the Kindle store, and some of the most active, like Kindle Nation Daily, have well over 5,000 Kindle edition subscribers. If Amazon improves the interoperability of the Kindle platform so that Kindle editions of blogs, magazines, and newspapers are served to Kindle subscribers on any Kindle-compatible device in any country, the sky’s the limit for many reader-friendly bloggers to get the kind of support that could actually allow them to make a living at what they do and, in the bargain, do it better.

Although I was initially skeptical about the potential for Kindle edition blogs, I’ve learned from the support for my own efforts here that the convenience of being able to check on a blog right from your Kindle home screen drives subscriptions, and the same is likely to be true with respect to the convenience of being able to catch up on a handful of one’s favorite Kindle blog subscriptions if they are served directly to the home screens of Kindle apps on millions of Kindle-compatible mobile devices including the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, and Android.

“Operationally, such an offering could be based on opening up those apps to include periodicals directly without any circuitous transfer procedures,” I wrote in a post on this subject back on April 14. “Currently Kindle content customers can read Kindle books on their Kindle-for-X device apps, but booting up the Kindle app on the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the PC, the Mac and the BlackBerry provides no access to their Kindle newspaper, magazine, and blog subscriptions. I receive multiple emails each day from my blog subscribers looking for Kindle-for-X device app access to their Kindle subscriptions Kindle Nation Daily or iPad Nation Daily, and it would not surprise me if Amazon was working both on serving blogs to their Kindle-for-X device apps and on making them accessible beyond U.S. borders.”

If you are a current or prospective blog author or publisher and you are interested in bringing a blog “to market” through the Kindle Store, you might be shocked at how straightforward the process is using my guide: 21 Steps: How to Publish a Kindle Blog (And Why You Might Want To). It takes about 15 minutes of actual work — in addition to the long hours of slaving away at your blog, of course — and it doesn’t cost a thing.

RE-SEND: Scary Saturday, a Regular Weekly Feature of Free Kindle Nation Shorts: “Finicky Eater” by Jack Kilborn/J.A. Konrath

 “Finicky Eater”
a short story by Jack Kilborn, J.A. Konrath

Copyright © 2010 Joe Konrath and published here with his permission

Edito’s Note: We are re-sending this post from Saturday because we received a report today that it may not have downloaded to all subscribers’ Kindles as intended.

Author’s note: This is my very first published story, which was published right after I sold Whiskey Sour. It centers on a theme I’ve gone back to often in my fiction. This appeared in the magazine Horror Garage, which featured a girl on the cover with her face soaked in blood. My mom didn’t pass out copies at her job.

-J.K
“Eat it.”
Billy pushed his plate away.
“I’m not hungry anymore.”
A pout appeared on his shiny little face. A miniature version of Josh’s. Marge could remember when it used to be cute.
“You haven’t even tried it. I made it different today. Just take a bite.”
“No.”
Marge could feel the tension build in her neck, like cables beneath the skin.
“Billy, honey, you need to eat. Look how skinny you’re getting.”
“I want an apple.”
“We’ve been over this Billy. There are no apples. There won’t be any apples ever again.”
He crossed his arms. So thin. His elbows and wrists looked huge.
“I want a Twinkie.”
Marge’s mouth quivered, got wet.
“Billy, please don’t…”
“I want McDonald’s french fries, and a Coke.”
A deep breath.
“Billy, we don’t have any of those things anymore. Since they dropped all those bombs, we have to make do with what’s available. Now please, you need to eat.”
She pushed the plate back towards her son. His portion of meat was small, scarcely the size of a cracker. Pale and greasy. Marge eyed it and felt her stomach rumble.
It’s for Billy, she chastened herself.
But if he didn’t want it…
Marge killed the thought and looked away for some distraction.
She failed.
After three months in the shelter, there was nothing left to distract herself with.
She knew every inch of the tiny room like she knew her own body. The shelves, once stocked with canned goods, were empty. The TV and radio didn’t work. The three dirty cots smelled like body odor, and the sump hole in the corner had long overflowed with urine and feces. No view, no entertainment, no escape.
Josh had built the shelter because he wanted his family to live. But was this living?
Marge turned to her son, the tears coming. “We’re going to make it, Billy. I promise. But you need to eat. Please.”
“No.” Billy’s own eyes began to glaze. “I want Daddy.”
“I know you do. But Daddy left, Billy. He knew we didn’t have enough food. So he made a sacrifice for you and me.”
“I wish Daddy was here.”
Tears burned her cheeks.
“He’s here, Billy.” She patted her chest. “He’s here, inside of us, and he always will be.”
Billy narrowed his eyes. “You hit Daddy on the head.”
Marge recoiled as if slapped.
“No, Billy. Your father made a sacrifice.”
“He did not. You hit him on the head while he was asleep.”
Billy picked up the small piece of meat and threw it at his mother.
“I don’t want to eat Daddy anymore!”
Marge scooped up the meat, sobbing. It tasted salty. She didn’t want to take food from her son, but she needed the strength for what came next.
She silently cursed her husband. Why didn’t he properly stock this place? Getting nuked would have been better than this.
Her hand closed around the fire axe.

*     *     *


The scream woke her up.
Marge’s face burned with fever. Infection, she knew. In a way, a blessing. Consciousness was far too horrible.
“Billy?”
Whimpering. Marge squinted in the darkness.
“Mommy?”
She shifted, the pain in her legs causing her to cry out. She unconsciously reached down to touch them, but felt nothing.
They’d eaten her legs last week.
“What’s the matter, Billy? Are you hungry, honey?”
“I made a sacrifice, Mommy.”
He crawled out of the shadows, handing Marge his tiny, dirty foot.
The drool that leaked from her mouth had a mind of its own.

*     *     *

*     *     *


“You…you have to do it, Billy.”
Billy was crying.
“You have to do it for Mommy. Mommy can’t cut off her second arm. I can’t hold the axe.”
“I wish Daddy were here.”
“Daddy!” Marge’s face raged with anger, madness. “Your father did this to us! He got off lucky!”
She stared a her baby boy, legless, pulling himself along on his hands. Damn the world, and damn God, and damn Josh for letting this…
There was a noise coming from the door.
It was a knock! Someone was knocking!
“Billy! Do you hear it! We’re going to be…”
Billy swung the axe.

*      *     *


“This one’s still alive!”
Officer Carlton leaned over the small boy, checking his pulse. He was awful to look at, legless and caked with blood. His mouth was a ruin of ragged flesh.
No-not a ruin. The flesh wasn’t his.
“Jesus.”
His partner, Jones, made a face.
“Looks like the kid ate his mom. There’s another body over here. My guess it’s the homeowner. Why’d they come down here?”
Carlton shrugged. “The father had a history of paranoid behavior. Maybe he convinced them it was a nuclear war.”
He squinted at the father’s corpse. The bones had been broken to get at the marrow inside. Carlton shivered.
“There’s a hidden room back here. Look, the shelf swings away.”
The hinged shelf moved inward, revealing a large pantry, stocked with canned goods. Enough for years.
“Now, Billy!”
Carlton caught the movement and spun around, in time to see the little creature with the axe bring it down on his partner’s head.
Carlton’s jaw dropped. The woman-the gory, limbless torso that they thought was dead-was undulating across the floor towards him like a gigantic worm.
He drew his gun. The axe hit him in the belly.
“We’re saved!” the mother-thing cried.
Her voice was wet with something. Blood?
When she bit into his leg, he realized it was drool.

*      *     *


Marge slithered away from the light. It was too bright outside. There was probably radiation coming in, but she didn’t pay it any mind.
Her only motivation was hunger. And the food was in the hidden room.
Part of her brain recognized the can goods around her, recognized that they contained edible things. But her attention was focused on the police officer, cowering in the corner, holding the pumping wound in his gut.
Her mouth got wet.
She crawled, inch-worm style, up to him.
“Get away, lady!”
Billy crawled past her, faster because he still had arms. The cop screamed, and Billy hacked at his flailing legs like kindling.
A sound mixed in with the screams, and Marge realized it was laughter.
Her son was laughing.
“Billy! Don’t play with your food!”

*      *     *


“You killed Daddy.”
Billy had his mouth full of something purple, and his eyes were far away.
“Yes I did, Billy. I killed him so you could have food. But we have enough food now for weeks. And these men have families, who will come looking for them. We’ll never be hungry again.”
Billy chewed and spit out something hard.
“Daddy is inside me.”
“That’s right.”
“You’re a little inside me, too. Your legs and arms.”
Marge almost smiled at the child’s analogy.
“That’s right. Mommy is a little inside you.”
Billy narrowed his eyes.
“I want all of you inside me.”
Marge watched her son drag himself over to the axe.

*      *     *


Billy opened his eyes. The sheets were soaked with sweat. He turned in bed and shook his wife, who was snoring softly.
“Jill! Wake up!”
Her eyelids fluttered. “What’s wrong, Billy?”
“Get the baby!” Billy rolled over and strapped on his prosthetic legs, snugging the belts tight. “It’s happening!”
Jill sat up. The air raid siren cut through their bedroom like a scream.
“The bombs are dropping, Jill! We have to get down to the shelter! Hurry!”
He hobbled out of the room, Jill joining him on the stairs with their six month old son. The siren was louder in the night air. On the horizon was a horribly bright light, and a pluming cloud in the shape of a mushroom.
He opened the door to the underground shelter, ushering his wife and son down the stairs, frightened and anxious and…salivating.

*      *     *

We hope you enjoyed this story.

Check out the latest bestsellers by J.A. Konrath, just $2.99 in the Kindle Store!
or read more about Joe Konrath below:

J.A. Konrath is the author of seven novels in the Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels thriller series, Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb, and Shaken (coming in October, 2010.)


Under the name Jack Kilborn he wrote the horror novel Afraid. Two more Jack Kilborn novels, Endurance and Trapped, have just been released.


Under the name Joe Kimball, he also writes sci-fi, which is set in 2054 Chicago and features Jack Daniels’ grandson as the hero.

SERIAL, by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch, a free ebook about serial killers, was one of the top Kindle Store downloads of 2009, and SERIAL UNCUT (Extended Edition) is now available in the Kindle Store for $2.99.

Konrath has also released several other books on Amazon Kindle, most of them for just $2.99 each, including:



Truck Stop

– A Jack Daniels novella

The List

– A police technothriller (Jack Daniels makes a cameo)

Shot of Tequila

– A heist thriller (Jack Daniels is a supporting character)

Origin

– A horrific technothriller about Satan

Disturb

– A horror thriller about medical experiments

Planter’s Punch

– A Jack Daniels novella written with Tom Schreck


Floaters

– A Jack Daniels novella written with Henry Perez

Suckers

– A Harry McGalde novella writeen with Jeff Strand

Newbie’s Guide to Publishing

– Over 360,000 words of writing advice


You can visit Joe at www.JAKonrath.com

Have Your Cake & Hear It, Too: New Audio-Video Enhancements in Kindle for iPad & iPhone Books Go Beyond the Birds and the Beatles

(This post appeared first at Planet iPad.)

Maybe the best way to think of an iPad or iPod Touch is as an accessory for your Kindle? Or maybe you’re thinking of picking up a Kindle as an accessory for your iPad, now that the price has been cut to $189?

Horse, cart? Cart, horse?


Either way, it doesn’t matter. And reading ebooks on your iPad, iPhone or iPad Touch is getting more fun, full-featured, and interesting every day, and Amazon announced overnight that readers can now enjoy embedded video and audio clips in Kindle books on these Apple devices. The important thing about these enhancements is that this is not a matter of adding “How I wrote this book” or “Here’s the room where I write” videos to popular novels, which I frankly expect will be a non-starter. Instead, Amazon is focusing on an interesting selection of books for which embedded audio and video could really make a difference in what you get out of an ebook, as with these examples:

  • Together We Cannot Fail “brings [FDR] and his era to life like no other biography, combining the insight of noted historian Terry Golway with Roosevelt’s own voice in audio excerpts from his most memorable speeches and chats.”
  • Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song  “presents the most notable North American birds, including the rediscovered Ivory-billed Woodpecker, with lavish full-color illustrations and accompanied by their corresponding songs and calls. Renowned bird biologist Les Beletsky provides a succinct description of each of the 250 birds profiled, with an emphasis on their distinctive songs.”
  • Best of the Beatles for Acoustic Guitar helps you “learn the trademark acoustic guitar elements of rock’s most influential band. This audio/ebook by guitar dean Wolf Marshall provides in-depth analysis of 21 songs including: Across the Universe, And I Love Her, Blackbird Girl, Here Comes the Sun, Hey Jude, I Will, I’ve Just Seen a Face, Julia, Norwegian Wood, Rocky Raccoon, Till There Was You, Yesterday, You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, and more. 
  • Rick Steves’: Venice 2010 “includes 4 Venice audio tours: Frari Church, Grand Canal, St. Mark’s Basilica, and St. Mark’s Square, presented in 63 audio clips, narrated by Rick Steves.”
  • Lullaby Baby by Audrey Ficociello features 50 well known lullabies with written lyrics and audio tracks and full-color illustrations.

Although some publishers have spoken of enhanced ebooks as if they might somehow justify prices in the range of current hardcover prices, Amazon has wisely priced these new offerings at $9.99. Here’s the guts of today’s Amazon press release:

Amazon Announces New Functionality for Kindle Apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Readers can now enjoy embedded video and audio clips in Kindle books on their iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch
SEATTLE, Jun 27, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced a new update to Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch, which allows readers to enjoy the benefits of embedded video and audio clips in Kindle books. The first books to take advantage of this new technology, including Rick Steves’ London by Rick Steves and Together We Cannot Fail by Terry Golway, are available in the Kindle Store at http://www.amazon.com/kindleaudiovideo.
“We are excited to add this functionality to Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch,” said Dorothy Nicholls, director, Amazon Kindle. “Readers will already find some Kindle Editions with audio/video clips in the Kindle Store today–from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes with video tips on preparing the perfect cake to Bird Songs with audio clips that relate the songs and calls to the birds’ appearances. This is just the beginning–we look forward to seeing what authors and publishers create for Kindle customers using the new functionality of the Kindle apps.”
“We are truly excited to have collaborated with Amazon to launch Kindle Editions with audio/video,” said Peter Balis, Director, Digital Content Sales, Wiley. “Innovations like these represent the advantages that digital can offer. Advancing our content in this manner is important for our authors and our readers and it will raise the bar on what digital reading can offer for years to come.”
“In the new Kindle Edition with audio/video of Rick Steves’ London, the embedded walking tours allow customers to listen to Rick as they explore the sites of London,” said Bill Newlin, publisher, Avalon Travel. “Rick’s narration adds depth to the reader’s experience, while listeners can follow the routes more easily with the text.”
Kindle Editions with audio/video are available now with the latest Kindle App on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Kindle for iPhone is now optimized for iPhone 4’s retina display. For more information, go to http://www.amazon.com/kindleapps.

Kindle Nation Daily Free & Bargain Book Alert for Monday, June 28 – New Christian Fiction Freebie, Mysteries & Thrillers Under $1, and Over 100 Free Promotional eBook Titles, Now Sorted by Category!

Today’s Sponsor


Today’s Kindle Nation Daily Free and Bargain Book Alert is sponsored by Snow Ball: A Novel, by April L. Hamilton. Hamilton’s quirky characters, great dialogue, and dark plot twists brought to mind the movie Fargo when I first read Snow Ball, and both Snow Ball and another novel, Adelaide Einstein, have earned close to a 5-star rating from dozens of Amazon reviewers. If your reading tastes for dark humor are anything like mine, you’ll keep tapping or turning the pages right through everything I offer her and keep right on going to the Kindle Store to pick up Snow Ball and Adelaide Einstein.

Each day’s list is sponsored by one paid title that is offered at $2.99, and of course, we urge you to support our sponsors. Some of these $2.99 paid titles will be from our own Kindle Nation Daily press (an imprint of Harvard Perspectives Press), while others will be paid titles by other authors.

(Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Scroll down to the bottom of this post to learn more.)

In the absence of many new free listings this morning, we’ll lead off with some bargain Mysteries and Thrillers that have been rated 5-star reads by other Kindle readers. Here’s a list of the categories in today’s Free & Bargain Book Alert:

New From Bethany House: Christian Fiction Meets Grisham
Mysteries & Thrillers Under $1
Children/Young Adult/Teen

Contemporary Fiction
Nonfiction/Leadership/Change/Reference/Essay

Christian Spirituality & Christian Fiction
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Romance 
Erotica
Naughty Nooners — Erotica from Cerridwen Press
Scintillating Samples — Romance/Erotica from Cerridwen Press

Samples

Memoir, Biography, Personal Story
Writing and Publishing

New From Bethany House: Christian Fiction Meets Grisham 

The Heir


Mysteries & Thrillers Under $1

Children/Young Adult/Teen
In Between: A Katie Parker Production (Act I)
In Between: A Katie Parker Production (Act I)

Contemporary Fiction

Nonfiction/Leadership/Change/Reference/Essay

Romance 
Erotica
Peak Energy
Naughty Nooners — Erotica from Cerridwen Press
Scintillating Samples — Romance/Erotica from Cerridwen Press

Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert for Sunday, June 27 – Over 100 Free Promotional eBook Titles, Now Sorted by Category!

We’re happy to launch a new approach today with Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alerts, in response to good suggestions from the citizens of Kindle Nation. Beginning today we will present the list sorted by category in order to make it easier for you to find the kind of books that appeal to you. Each day’s list will be sponsored by one paid title that is offered at $2.99, and of course, we urge you to support our sponsors. Some of these $2.99 paid titles will be from our own Kindle Nation Daily press (an imprint of Harvard Perspectives Press), while others will be paid titles by other authors. (Scroll down to the bottom of this post to learn more about sponsorship.)

Today’s Sponsor

Today’s Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert is sponsored by The Complete User’s Guide To the Amazing Amazon Kindle 2: Tips, Tricks, & Links To Unlock Cool Features & Save You Hundreds on Kindle Content (#1 Guide to the Kindle US & Global), by Stephen Windwalker, just $2.99 in the Kindle Store and downloaded already by over 100,000 Kindle owners.

Here’s a list of the categories in today’s Free Book Alert:

Memoir, Biography, Personal Story
Writing and Publishing
Children/Young Adult/Teen

Contemporary Fiction
Nonfiction/Leadership/Change/Reference/Essay

Christian Spirituality & Christian Fiction
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Romance 
Erotica
Naughty Nooners — Erotica from Cerridwen Press
Scintillating Samples — Romance/Erotica from Cerridwen Press

Samples

Memoir, Biography, Personal Story
Writing and Publishing
Children/Young Adult/Teen
In Between: A Katie Parker Production (Act I)
In Between: A Katie Parker Production (Act I)

Contemporary Fiction

Nonfiction/Leadership/Change/Reference/Essay

Romance 
Erotica
Peak Energy
Naughty Nooners — Erotica from Cerridwen Press
Scintillating Samples — Romance/Erotica from Cerridwen Press

Checking in on Kindle Store Prices 4 Days Before Launch of New Kindle Pricing and Royalty Structure: Gradual Migration to $2.99-$9.99 Range, But $12.99 Seeming to Hold for Big Names

By Stephen Windwalker, Editor of Kindle Nation Daily – Originally posted 6.26.2010

Time for a quick price check into the total overall catalog and the composition of the 100 top paid bestsellers list in the Kindle Store, a few days ahead of major structural changes in pricing and royalties for the Kindle’s Digital Text Platform (DTP). Here is what Amazon has announced will happen on the DTP on Wednesday, June 30:

For each eligible Kindle book sold, authors and publishers who choose the new 70 percent royalty option will receive 70 percent of list price, net of delivery costs, beginning June 30, 2010. Delivery costs will be based on file size and pricing will be $0.15/MB. In order to qualify for the 70 percent royalty option, the author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99, must be at least 20 percent below the lowest physical list price for the physical book, and the title must be made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights, must be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech, and must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices. At launch, the 70 percent royalty option will only be available for books sold in the United States.

Under this new royalty structure, no DTP author with an understanding of the rules and of simple price-demand elasticity would ever price a book between $10 and $25, and few authors with any confidence in their product would ever price a book below $2.99. (This royalty structure does not yet apply to larger corporate publishers under the agency model, but they may create pricing trends that could affect all publishers, and Amazon has shown an interest in publisher parity and may try to move gradually in the future to bring larger publisher contracts into conformity with this structure.)

Here’s how royalties would play out at various price points, assuming a net delivery cost of 6 cents per unit:

Retail   Royalty   Net      Royalty
Price    Pct.      Delivery

                   Cost

$0.99    35.00%    $0.00    $0.35
$1.99    35.00%    $0.00    $0.70
$2.99    70.00%    $0.06    $2.03
$3.99    70.00%    $0.06    $2.73
$4.99    70.00%    $0.06    $3.43
$5.99    70.00%    $0.06    $4.13
$6.99    70.00%    $0.06    $4.83
$7.99    70.00%    $0.06    $5.53
$8.99    70.00%    $0.06    $6.23
$9.99    70.00%    $0.06    $6.93
$10.99    35.00%    $0.00   $3.85
$11.99    35.00%    $0.00   $4.20
$12.99    35.00%    $0.00   $4.55
$13.99    35.00%    $0.00   $4.90
$14.99    35.00%    $0.00   $5.25
$19.99    35.00%    $0.00   $7.00
$24.99    35.00%    $0.00   $8.75
$29.99    35.00%    $0.00   $10.50

Although one might expect that the price array of the Kindle Store catalog would already be beginning to conform itself to these $2.99 to $9.99 parameters, such migration has been gradual and mixed:

  • The overall percentage of titles in this $2.99 to $9.99 price range has increased from 56.96% on May 22 to 57.22% on June 14 to 57.32% on June 26.
  • All of this migration has come from a relative decline in ebook titles priced at $10 and up, from 19.16% on May 22 to 18.82% on June 14 to 18.52% on June 26.
  • Any expected decline in the percentage of titles priced at under $2.99 has yet to occur, as that subset has grown from 23.88% on May 22 to 23.96% on June 14 to 24.16% on June 26.

As for the composition of the 100 top paid bestsellers list in the Kindle Store, the trends noted in our last price check post seem to be extending and strengthening:

  • Titles priced between 79 cents and $2.98 continue to show strong representation among the bestsellers, stead at 13 since June 14, and up from 6 on May 22. Now that the top “free” titles have been separated  from the the 100 top paid bestsellers list, these titles between 79 cents and $2.98 stand out much as free books stood out in the past, with the added virtue of actually earning royalties for their publishers and/or authors.
  • The number of top 100 bestsellers priced between $2.99 and $9.99, which had slipped from 71 on May 22 to 57 on June 14, increased slightly to 61 on June 26.
  • There were continued indications that Kindle readers will pay up to $12.99 for new full-length books by established bestselling authors, as the category of bestsellers priced between $10 and $12.99 held relatively steady at 24 titles, 10 of which made the top 25 list.  The composition of that group is telling: Evanovich at 4, DeMille at 10, Beck at 12, Stockett 13, Sandford 15, Harris 19, Giffin, 20, Turow 21, Deaver 23, and Patterson 25. 
  • Kindle readers are increasingly rejecting agency model new releases priced between $13 and $14.99, and those titles slipped from 5 on May 22 to 4 on June 14 and only 2 on June 26 (none in the top 45, with Picoult at #46 and Coben at #79).

Here’s a price breakdown of the 623,077 book titles in the Kindle Store as of 7 a.m. EDT on June 26, 2010:

Here’s where we stood with the 609,975 book titles in the Kindle Store as of 5 p.m. EDT on June 14, 2010:

  • 20,589 Kindle Books Priced “Free” (3.38%)
  • 5,041 Titles Priced from a Penny to 98 Cents (0.83%)
  • 58,624 Kindle Books Priced at 99 Cents (9.61%)
  • 80,197 Kindle Books Priced from $1 to $2.99 (13.15%)
  • 115,891 Kindle Books Priced from $3 to $4.99 (19.00%)
  • 155,056 Titles Priced from $5 to $9.98 (25.42%)
  • 59,797 Titles Priced at $9.99 (9.80%)
  • 8,173 Titles Priced from $10 to $12.99 (1.34%)
  • 14,105 Titles Priced from $13 to $14.99 (2.31%)
  • 92,500 Titles Priced at $15 and Up (15.16%)

Here’s where we stood with the 587,104 book titles in the Kindle Store as of 5 p.m. EDT on May 22, 2010:

  • 20,584 Kindle Books Priced “Free” (3.51%)
  • 4,830 Titles Priced from a Penny to 98 Cents (0.82%)
  • 55,901 Kindle Books Priced at 99 Cents (9.52%)
  • 76,054 Kindle Books Priced from $1 to $2.99 (12.95%)
  • 109,706 Kindle Books Priced from $3 to $4.99 (18.69%)
  • 151,509 Titles Priced from $5 to $9.98 (25.81%)
  • 56,059 Titles Priced at $9.99 (9.55%)
  • 7,700 Titles Priced from $10 to $12.99 (1.31%)
  • 13,803 Titles Priced from $13 to $14.99 (2.35%)
  • 90,958 Titles Priced at $15 and Up (15.49%)

Here’s where we stood with the 511,759 book titles in the Kindle Store as of 9 a.m. EDT on May 7, 2010:

  • 20,601 Kindle Books Priced “Free” (4.03%)
  • 4,857 Titles Priced from a Penny to 98 Cents (0.94%)
  • 53,936 Kindle Books Priced at 99 Cents (10.54%)
  • 73,987 Kindle Books Priced from $1 to $2.99 (14.46%)
  • 101,014 Kindle Books Priced from $3 to $4.99 (19.74%)
  • 91,871 Titles Priced from $5 to $9.98 (17.95%)
  • 54,342 Titles Priced at $9.99 (10.62%)
  • 7,434 Titles Priced from $10 to $12.99 (1.45%)
  • 13,489 Titles Priced from $13 to $14.99 (2.64%)
  • 90,257 Titles Priced at $15 and Up (17.64%)

Here’s where we stood with the 487,715 book titles in the Kindle Store as of 9 a.m. EDT on April 7, 2010:

  • 20,620 Kindle Books Priced “Free” (4.23%)
  • 4,709 Titles Priced from a Penny to 98 Cents (0.97%)
  • 46,360 Kindle Books Priced at 99 Cents (9.51%)
  • 69,846 Kindle Books Priced from $1 to $2.99 (14.32%)
  • 94,891 Kindle Books Priced from $3 to $4.99 (19.46%)
  • 86,924 Titles Priced from $5 to $9.98 (17.82%)
  • 53,705 Titles Priced at $9.99 (11.01%)
  • 7,537 Titles Priced from $10 to $12.99 (1.51%)
  • 13,124 Titles Priced from $13 to $14.99 (2.69%)
  • 90,011 Titles Priced at $15 and Up (18.46%)

Here’s where we stood with the 480,238 book titles in the Kindle Store on April 1:

  • 20,620 Kindle Books Priced “Free” (4.29%)
  • 4,706 Titles Priced from a Penny to 98 Cents (0.98%)
  • 43,993 Kindle Books Priced at 99 Cents (9.16%)
  • 68,807 Kindle Books Priced from $1 to $2.99 (14.33%)
  • 93,706 Kindle Books Priced from $3 to $4.99 (19.51%)
  • 85,612 Titles Priced from $5 to $9.98 (17.83%)
  • 53,124 Titles Priced at $9.99 (11.06%)
  • 5,952 Titles Priced from $10 to $12.99 (1.24%)
  • 14,158 Titles Priced from $13 to $14.99 (2.95%)
  • 89,525 Titles Priced at $15 and Up (18.64%)

Here’s where we stood with about 463,000 Kindle Store titles on March 10:

  • 20,125 Kindle Books Priced “Free” (4.34%)
  • 2,588 Titles Priced from a Penny to 98 Cents (0.56%)
  • 39,095 Kindle Books Priced at 99 Cents (8.44%)
  • 64,105 Kindle Books Priced from $1 to $2.99 (13.84%)
  • 90,580 Kindle Books Priced from $3 to $4.99 (19.55%)
  • 84,055 Titles Priced from $5 to $9.98 (18.15%)
  • 53,697 Titles Priced at $9.99 (11.56%)
  • 5,793 Titles Priced from $10 to $12.99 (1.25%)
  • 13,731 Titles Priced from $13 to $14.99 (2.96%)
  • 89,448 Titles Priced at $15 and Up (19.31%)

And here’s where we stood with about 447,000 Kindle Store titles on February 25:

  • 19,795 Kindle Books Priced “Free” (4.42%) 
  • 3,023 Titles Priced from a Penny to 98 Cents (0.67%) 
  • 36,370 Kindle Books Priced at 99 Cents (8.12%) 
  • 62,275 Kindle Books Priced from $1 to $2.99 (13.9%) 
  • 87,722 Kindle Books Priced from $3 to $4.99 (19.58%) 
  • 81,230 Titles Priced from $5 to $9.98 (18.13%) 
  • 55,269 Titles Priced at $9.99 (12.34%) 
  • 5,139 Titles Priced from $10 to $12.99 (1.15%) 
  • 9,331 Titles Priced from $13 to $14.99 (2.08%) 
  • 87,771 Titles Priced at $15 and Up (19.59%)

Click here to see underlying statistical analysis (Based on U.S. Kindle Store book catalog as of 7 a.m. ET 6.26.2010)

Scary Saturday, a Regular Weekly Feature of Free Kindle Nation Shorts: “Finicky Eater” by Jack Kilborn/J.A. Konrath

Welcome to Scary Saturday

For the past year our Free Kindle Nation Shorts program has been connecting thousands of Kindle readers with emerging and established writers, and we’re proud to have helped many writers of distinction climb the Kindle Store bestseller lists. One of those authors has been Joe Konrath, and it has been a lot of fun to watch such a talented storyteller become one of the most successful fiction writers in the Kindlesphere. Joe has also been a very important trailblazer in the world of writing and independent publishing, so I was especially pleased when he decided recently that he wanted to give something back to the citizens of Kindle Nation by providing the stories on which we are drawing to initiate a new Free Kindle Nation Shorts feature called “Scary Saturday.”

We’ll continue to showcase many other writers here at Free Kindle Nation Shorts, but on many coming Saturdays we’ll treat you to truckloads of terror with the horror fiction of J.A. “Joe” Konrath. We’ll also provide links to his current and coming Kindle books and we hope you’ll be brave enough to turn all the lights on and keep reading.

Check out the latest bestsellers by J.A. Konrath, just $2.99 in the Kindle Store!
 
or scroll to the end of the story to read more about Joe Konrath

Horror Stories

 “Finicky Eater”
a short story by Jack Kilborn, J.A. Konrath
 
Copyright © 2010 Joe Konrath and published here with his permission

Author’s note: This is my very first published story, which was published right after I sold Whiskey Sour. It centers on a theme I’ve gone back to often in my fiction. This appeared in the magazine Horror Garage, which featured a girl on the cover with her face soaked in blood. My mom didn’t pass out copies at her job.
-J.K.

*     *     *     *    *

 “Eat it.”
Billy pushed his plate away.
“I’m not hungry anymore.”
A pout appeared on his shiny little face. A miniature version of Josh’s. Marge could remember when it used to be cute.
“You haven’t even tried it. I made it different today. Just take a bite.”
“No.”
Marge could feel the tension build in her neck, like cables beneath the skin.
“Billy, honey, you need to eat. Look how skinny you’re getting.”
“I want an apple.”
“We’ve been over this Billy. There are no apples. There won’t be any apples ever again.”
He crossed his arms. So thin. His elbows and wrists looked huge.
“I want a Twinkie.”
Marge’s mouth quivered, got wet.
“Billy, please don’t…”
“I want McDonald’s french fries, and a Coke.”
A deep breath.
“Billy, we don’t have any of those things anymore. Since they dropped all those bombs, we have to make do with what’s available. Now please, you need to eat.”
She pushed the plate back towards her son. His portion of meat was small, scarcely the size of a cracker. Pale and greasy. Marge eyed it and felt her stomach rumble.
It’s for Billy, she chastened herself.
But if he didn’t want it…
Marge killed the thought and looked away for some distraction.
She failed.
After three months in the shelter, there was nothing left to distract herself with.
She knew every inch of the tiny room like she knew her own body. The shelves, once stocked with canned goods, were empty. The TV and radio didn’t work. The three dirty cots smelled like body odor, and the sump hole in the corner had long overflowed with urine and feces. No view, no entertainment, no escape.
Josh had built the shelter because he wanted his family to live. But was this living?
Marge turned to her son, the tears coming. “We’re going to make it, Billy. I promise. But you need to eat. Please.”
“No.” Billy’s own eyes began to glaze. “I want Daddy.”
“I know you do. But Daddy left, Billy. He knew we didn’t have enough food. So he made a sacrifice for you and me.”
“I wish Daddy was here.”
Tears burned her cheeks.
“He’s here, Billy.” She patted her chest. “He’s here, inside of us, and he always will be.”
Billy narrowed his eyes. “You hit Daddy on the head.”
Marge recoiled as if slapped.
“No, Billy. Your father made a sacrifice.”
“He did not. You hit him on the head while he was asleep.”
Billy picked up the small piece of meat and threw it at his mother.
“I don’t want to eat Daddy anymore!”
Marge scooped up the meat, sobbing. It tasted salty. She didn’t want to take food from her son, but she needed the strength for what came next.
She silently cursed her husband. Why didn’t he properly stock this place? Getting nuked would have been better than this.
Her hand closed around the fire axe.
*     *     *
The scream woke her up.
Marge’s face burned with fever. Infection, she knew. In a way, a blessing. Consciousness was far too horrible.
“Billy?”
Whimpering. Marge squinted in the darkness.
“Mommy?”
She shifted, the pain in her legs causing her to cry out. She unconsciously reached down to touch them, but felt nothing.
They’d eaten her legs last week.
“What’s the matter, Billy? Are you hungry, honey?”
“I made a sacrifice, Mommy.”
He crawled out of the shadows, handing Marge his tiny, dirty foot.
The drool that leaked from her mouth had a mind of its own.

*     *     *


“You…you have to do it, Billy.”
Billy was crying.
“You have to do it for Mommy. Mommy can’t cut off her second arm. I can’t hold the axe.”
“I wish Daddy were here.”
“Daddy!” Marge’s face raged with anger, madness. “Your father did this to us! He got off lucky!”
She stared a her baby boy, legless, pulling himself along on his hands. Damn the world, and damn God, and damn Josh for letting this…
There was a noise coming from the door.
It was a knock! Someone was knocking!
“Billy! Do you hear it! We’re going to be…”
Billy swung the axe.

*     *     *

“This one’s still alive!”
Officer Carlton leaned over the small boy, checking his pulse. He was awful to look at, legless and caked with blood. His mouth was a ruin of ragged flesh.
No-not a ruin. The flesh wasn’t his.
“Jesus.”
His partner, Jones, made a face.
“Looks like the kid ate his mom. There’s another body over here. My guess it’s the homeowner. Why’d they come down here?”
Carlton shrugged. “The father had a history of paranoid behavior. Maybe he convinced them it was a nuclear war.”
He squinted at the father’s corpse. The bones had been broken to get at the marrow inside. Carlton shivered.
“There’s a hidden room back here. Look, the shelf swings away.”
The hinged shelf moved inward, revealing a large pantry, stocked with canned goods. Enough for years.
“Now, Billy!”
Carlton caught the movement and spun around, in time to see the little creature with the axe bring it down on his partner’s head.
Carlton’s jaw dropped. The woman-the gory, limbless torso that they thought was dead-was undulating across the floor towards him like a gigantic worm.
He drew his gun. The axe hit him in the belly.
“We’re saved!” the mother-thing cried.
Her voice was wet with something. Blood?
When she bit into his leg, he realized it was drool.

*     *     *

Marge slithered away from the light. It was too bright outside. There was probably radiation coming in, but she didn’t pay it any mind.
Her only motivation was hunger. And the food was in the hidden room.
Part of her brain recognized the can goods around her, recognized that they contained edible things. But her attention was focused on the police officer, cowering in the corner, holding the pumping wound in his gut.
Her mouth got wet.
She crawled, inch-worm style, up to him.
“Get away, lady!”
Billy crawled past her, faster because he still had arms. The cop screamed, and Billy hacked at his flailing legs like kindling.
A sound mixed in with the screams, and Marge realized it was laughter.
Her son was laughing.
“Billy! Don’t play with your food!”

*     *     *

“You killed Daddy.”
Billy had his mouth full of something purple, and his eyes were far away.
“Yes I did, Billy. I killed him so you could have food. But we have enough food now for weeks. And these men have families, who will come looking for them. We’ll never be hungry again.”
Billy chewed and spit out something hard.
“Daddy is inside me.”
“That’s right.”
“You’re a little inside me, too. Your legs and arms.”
Marge almost smiled at the child’s analogy.
“That’s right. Mommy is a little inside you.”
Billy narrowed his eyes.
“I want all of you inside me.”
Marge watched her son drag himself over to the axe.

*     *     *

Billy opened his eyes. The sheets were soaked with sweat. He turned in bed and shook his wife, who was snoring softly.
“Jill! Wake up!”
Her eyelids fluttered. “What’s wrong, Billy?”
“Get the baby!” Billy rolled over and strapped on his prosthetic legs, snugging the belts tight. “It’s happening!”
Jill sat up. The air raid siren cut through their bedroom like a scream.
“The bombs are dropping, Jill! We have to get down to the shelter! Hurry!”
He hobbled out of the room, Jill joining him on the stairs with their six month old son. The siren was louder in the night air. On the horizon was a horribly bright light, and a pluming cloud in the shape of a mushroom.
He opened the door to the underground shelter, ushering his wife and son down the stairs, frightened and anxious and…salivating.
*     *     *     *    * 
Say Hello to Joe Konrath
J.A. Konrath is the author of seven novels in the Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels thriller series, Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb, and Shaken (coming in October, 2010.)

Under the name Jack Kilborn he wrote the horror novel Afraid. Two more Jack Kilborn novels, Endurance and Trapped, have just been released.

Under the name Joe Kimball, he also writes sci-fi, which is set in 2054 Chicago and features Jack Daniels’ grandson as the hero.

SERIAL, by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch, a free ebook about serial killers, was one of the top Kindle Store downloads of 2009, and SERIAL UNCUT (Extended Edition) is now available in the Kindle Store for $2.99.

Konrath has also released several other books on Amazon Kindle, most of them for just $2.99 each, including:

Truck Stop

– A Jack Daniels novella

The List

– A police technothriller (Jack Daniels makes a cameo)

Shot of Tequila

– A heist thriller (Jack Daniels is a supporting character)

Origin

– A horrific technothriller about Satan

Disturb

– A horror thriller about medical experiments

Planter’s Punch

– A Jack Daniels novella written with Tom Schreck


Floaters

– A Jack Daniels novella written with Henry Perez

Suckers

– A Harry McGalde novella writeen with Jeff Strand

Newbie’s Guide to Publishing

– Over 360,000 words of writing advice

You can visit Joe at www.JAKonrath.com