Okay, we’re going to take this slowly. And gently. It’s only November 16. There are many, many shopping days left until the year-end holiday of your choice.
But soon it is going to be all around us, so I take seriously the importance of helping Kindle Nation citizens and all Kindle lovers to focus on the best ways to bring about a happy Konfluence of all things Kindle with all things Kringle over the next few weeks.
Here are ten 10 tips to get you started:
1. Think Stocking Stuffers. The Kindle 1 was basically unavailable for the holiday seasons of 2007 and 2008, and the Kindle 2 was still expensive enough and new enough to the general public to be seen as a big-ticket, if small-box, under-the-tree item in December 2009. In 2010, the new latest-gen Kindle (I’ll still call it the Kindle 3) is smaller, lighter, and at $139 to $189, inexpensive enough to think of it as a slightly pricey stocking stuffer. It will fit in those Christmas stockings, and there are very few people on your list who would not love to have one.
2. Protect the Kindles You Give with Kindle Covers. I’ll grant that those Kindle commercials that show Kindles spinning around like hockey pucks are kind of cool, but I still strongly recommend that every Kindle owner protect her Kindle with one of the nifty covers the you can find on the Kindle Accessories page. They range from chic designer covers from Kate Spade and others to my own personal favorite in terms of functionality, the lighted Kindle cover.
3. Protect the Kindles You Give with Kindle Warranties. Ditto with a two-year extended warranty for every Kindle, which is currently priced at $39.99 for the wi-fi only Kindle, $49.99 for the 3G+wi-fi Kindle, and $109 for the Kindle DX.
4. Pre-Load the Kindles You Give with Free Books, Great Indie Fare, and Bestsellers. As long as a new Kindle gift is associated with your account, you can pre-load it — once it has been ordered — with the kind of free books, great indie author books, and bestsellers that you will find at Kindle Nation Daily, either online free or with a Kindle subscription.
5. Give Kindle Gift Cards to Once and Future Kindle Owners Among Your Loved Ones. Although Amazon still has not come up with a way for us to give Kindle books to each other as gifts, they are making it easier and easier to send Kindle gift cards via email, mail, or even through your Facebook account. Check it out, there are a pretty cool array of features including time-release gifts!
6. Check Out the 100 Best Books of the Year. In addition to the great books we alert you to every day at Kindle Nation, it’s also worth taking a look at Kindle owners’ 100 favorite books of the year for 2010 and the 2010 Bestseller Archive to get ideas for books to load onto the Kindles you are giving and the Kindles you own. Don’t be surprised if you find a few authors there that you heard about first at Kindle Nation, like recent Kindle Nation sponsors Elisa Lorello and Vicki Tyley.
7. Black Friday? I Don’t Think So. Your time is valuable, and I don’t recommend that you waste it rooting around for Amazon or other retailers to start discounting the Kindle to some new sub-$100 price point during the waning weeks of 2010. The Kindle is selling very well at $139 and $189, and I’ll be surprised if Amazon sees a need to lower those prices. If I were looking to find a great deal somewhere, I might check out Woot, the off-price website that Amazon acquired earlier this year, for specials on refurbished models or something along those lines.
8. Sell 100 Used Books to Help Fund Your Holiday Giving. Just what it says, really. If you have a Kindle, I have no doubt that you have hundreds of books in your home. Some you will keep forever. Others you could unload via Amazon marketplace or your local used bookstore, and you might well get enough for them to buy somebody a brand new Kindle! You’d also make some space in your home and provide some treats for other avid readers, not all of whom — yet — have Kindles. And you really don’t need a copy of my used bookselling book to do this.
9. If Someone You Love Wants a Tablet Instead of a Kindle (And Your Pockets Are Deep Enough), Get Them a Table with a Built-in Kindle App: the Galaxy Tab with a T-Mobile Carte Blanche 3G Connection. I’m pretty sure I have decided to get one, and I think it is going to be a true competitor for the iPad.
10. Purchase and Download a Great Holiday Song for Yourself and All the Kindles You Give. If you are having a little trouble welcoming the holiday spirit, let me recommend that you spend $1.29 to download Susan Boyle’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah from Amazon, transfer it to your Kindle and share it with everyone you love. I think it will help.