No need to dress this up as news, but just in case you are interested, here’s today’s latest press release from Amazon:

• Creativity
• Overall appeal
• Likelihood of making viewers want to buy a Kindle or download a free Kindle app

For more information about Kindle, the Kindle Store, and the free Kindle reading apps, go to www.amazon.com/kindle.
To submit an ad, go to www.amazon.com/ykcc.

As you may have noticed, one of the recurring whines from large traditional publishers lately has been that they earn the right to force exorbitant non-discountable ebook prices on readers (through the agency price-fixing model) because of all the value they add in their intermediary role between authors and readers. There’s the editing, the formatting, the holding of authors’ hands, etc.

But one of the really important roles they play is that of the literary gatekeeper, ensuring that our reading sensibilities are not too often tarnished with self-published dreck. They sift through stacks and slush piles of manuscripts and make sure that the only books that are published are the Crème de la Crème, and then they make sure to target their marketing dollars effectively so that works of real distinction rise to the top of the bestseller lists.

We should thank our lucky stars for that, eh?

So I’m pleased to report this morning that HarperCollins will bring out a new official memoir from the multi-platinum selling 16-year-old pop superstar Justin Bieber in October. The tome will tell the behind-the-scenes story of his journey to superstardom, but the really good news is that there are a lot of pictures. Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story includes never-before-seen photos of the Canadian teen. The hardcover book is already available for pre-order at a nice discount from Amazon, but alas, there’s no word on an ebook release. If there is an ebook, this may be a good opportunity for Apple’s iBooks store to build market share.

Update: This is starting to feel a bit like the 1920s when Joyce, Lawrence, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner were all publishing simultaneously, but now there’s word that Lindsay Lohan may also be soon to release a jailhouse memoir!

Here’s a restaurant I would never patronize. The New York Times BITS blogger Nick Bilton had a piece yesterday entitled No E-Books Allowed in This Establishment that tells of his experience he walked into a Manhattan coffee shop for an afternoon cappuccino and sat down with his Kindle while he waited for his order:

“I barely made it a sentence into the e-book I was reading before an employee of the coffee shop came by, stood over me and said, ‘Excuse me sir, but we don’t allow computers in the coffee shop.'”

Same thing happened to him in a Brooklyn sandwich shop. Ugh. It’s enough to ruin your appetite.

• Report: Texas Attorney General Probes Agency Model and Apple

• Is the Agency Model a Clear Case of Price-Fixing Collusion? A Closer Look at the Possibility of Antitrust Action in the Courts

• the agency model, under which publishers mandate a non-discountable fixed price that retailers must charge to sell their ebooks; and
• so-called “most favored nation” (MFN) clauses under which publishers agree, as a condition of being allowed to sell their ebooks through Apple or Amazon, not to allow any competing retailer (including the other of the two just named) to sell any of those ebooks at a lower price than that set for Apple or Amazon.

• As Amazon opens its UK Kindle store, the company has made it clear that there will be no agency model for ebooks in the UK, and the same will probably apply in any other European-based in-country Kindle stores.
• Amazon vice-president for Kindle Ian Freed provided information in a CNET interview published today that may undercut publisher’s hopes that Apple’s iBooks store could drive a serious wedge into Amazon’s market share for ebook content. Freed stated firmly that Amazon’s ebook content market share remains between 70 and 80 percent and suggested that claims of 20 per cent market share by Apple and Barnes and Noble should be subjected to “some more research.”

For more background on ebook pricing, see my recent ebook How to Price eBooks for the Kindle: A Pocket Pricing Guide for Authors and Publishers to Maximize Sales and Royalties with the New 70 Percent Royalty Option.

Today’s new Kindle Store Free Book Alert listings have been a little unsettled with some apparent Kindle database confusion about which books were being listed in which countries, but it seems to have stabilized now with three free, full-length business bestsellers from FT Press ….

But first, a word from … Today’s Sponsor

Meanwhile, today’s sponsor listing has quietly jumped up to where it is #7 in the Kindle Store in war fiction and #671 overall!

“An excellent WWII espionage thriller that transcends the genre, making it a story that you don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy.” — The New Podler Review of Books

The Losing Role

by Steve Anderson

$2.99

In the grim final winter of World War II a failed German actor, Max Kaspar, is forced to join a desperate secret mission in which he must impersonate an enemy American officer. So Max cooks up his own fanatical plan — he’ll use his false identity to escape tyranny and war and flee to the America he’d once abandoned.

Max the performer is hardly a soldier let alone a double-crossing commando, yet in the deadly Battle of the Bulge he has to fool battle-shocked American GIs as well as dodge discovery by his reckless German comrades. Belgium’s Ardennes forest becomes a snowbound hell and the magical America he’d loved is lost to him, replaced by a somber invading juggernaut. In the end, Max’s gambles will lead him to a grim but honest payoff.

Part espionage thriller, part expatriate noir and the first in a series, The Losing Role is based on an actual false flag operation that’s been made infamous in legend but in reality was a doomed farce. In all the tragic details and with some dark humor, this is the story of an aspiring talent who got in over his head and tried to break free. 

Click here to download The Losing Role (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds! Each day’s list is sponsored by one paid title. We encourage you to support our sponsors! Authors, Publishers, Kindle Accessory Manufacturers: Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information: Click here to sponsor a Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert! *     *     *

Free Listings!

Who Can You Trust With Your Money?: Get the Help You Need Now and Avoid Dishonest Advisors

Breakthrough!: How the 10 Greatest Discoveries in Medicine Saved Millions and Changed Our View of the World

Thank God It’s Monday!: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love
 by Emmerich, Roxanne – 3.9 out of 5 stars- (73 customer reviews)

Editor’s Note: This Title was available free early today, was removed from the Kindle Store sometime before 1 p.m. EST, 8/2/2010, and is available and free again as of 2:45 pm EST..

Today’s #1 Secret of Profitability and Performance

“Thank God Roxanne is willing to share her special mix of motivation and proven methods to supercharge your workplace. Readers will move from ‘Thank God It’s Monday’ to ‘I Wish Every Day Could Be Monday.’”

Harvey Mackay, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive

“Thank God It’s Monday! is a mantra all organizations should chant.  This book helps you not only see the joy that work can bring but it gives you ways to bring it to life.  Buy this book only if you truly want to transform your organization.”

John Christensen, creator of the FISH! Philosophy and coauthor of FISH!

“I love this book! Roxanne Emmerich’s ability to transform organizations is nothing short of miraculous. She’s the real deal. Every employer should have this book for every employee, AND any person who wants to be happy at work needs to buy it for themselves.”

Jack Canfield, author of The Success Principles and coauthor of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series

“Roxanne Emmerich provides an important reminder that trust, integrity, accountability, and FUN are the cornerstones of real business results. Changing the culture of your workplace can be challenging but delivers an undeniable return. Given we spend at least a third of our adult lives at work, we should all aim to wake up after the weekend and shout, ‘TGIM!’”

Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chief Marketing Officer, Eastman Kodak Company

“Read Thank God It’s Monday! and let Roxanne Emmerich’s engaging stories and inspiring ideas help you create passion in your organization. The words ‘love’ and ‘work’ can be used in the same sentence!”

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and author of Leading at a Higher Level

Thank God It’s Monday! is about loving what you’re doing and creating massive results. Roxanne Emmerich introduces you to two CEOs: one desperately struggling to stay afloat and another who’s discovered a better route to growth and profitability. As you join them both on their journey, you’ll gain valuable insights for jumpstarting positive change from anywhere in the organization…replacing dysfunctional organizational behaviors with passion and creativity…overcoming setbacks…making vision and values actually work!

Whether you’re on the front line, in an office, or running the show, you’ll see how to: 

     •  Replace dysfunctional behaviors with passion and creativity

     •  Overcome setbacks with a “bring it on” attitude

     •  Breathe results-generating life into vision and values

     •  Think big and make big things happen

 

Sullivan’s Evidence

The Ocean Inside

Venus in Blue Jeans: Konigsburg, Texas Book 1

The Man Who Loved Jane Austen

Click here for an updated list of Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Listings, sorted by category, through August 2

including

Crime and Suspense

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Nonfiction/Leadership/Change/Reference/Essay
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Samples

Memoir, Biography, Personal Story

Click here (or type “kindle nation daily” in your Kindle’s Kindle Store search field) to have Free Book Alerts pushed directly to your Kindle 24/7 with a 14-day free trial to the Kindle edition of Kindle Nation Daily, the #1 bestselling blog in the Kindle Store. “Free” in the Kindle Store refers, for now, to the price for download to US-based Kindles. Amazon may add charges for Kindles based beyond US borders. The best way to find out about these free listings right away, when they occur, is to subscribe to the Kindle edition of Kindle Nation Daily, which pushes Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alerts directly to your Kindle Home screen 24/7. And in the case of many free listings that disappear within a matter of hours or days, “right away” is often just in time. No Kindle Required: Whether you are a long-time Kindle owner or you’ve just acquired an iPad and are filling it with ebooks for the first time or you are reading Kindle books on a PC, Mac, BlackBerry, iPhone or iPad Touch, you can get any and all of these titles absolutely free on your Kindle-compatible device of choice!  Click here to download a free Kindle App for your device

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