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#amazon beta-testing #ebook #cover Generator
If you’re planning to self-publish an ebook, and don’t have the skills, you’re in luck. Amazon’s experimenting with an automated ebook cover generator (on the lines of CreateSpace’s cover generator. And it’ll be free.) About time, I say.
The Digital Reader has more details on this.
Add #SendToKindle Button on Your Site
From MediaBistro:
Readers often encounter news articles, blog posts and other content on the web that they want to read but don’t have time to do so immediately. The Send to Kindle Button lets people easily send that content to their Kindle so they can it read later. Just send once and read everywhere on any Kindle device or free reading app. No more hunting around for that website or blog that caught your eye – just open your Kindle and all the content you sent is right there. The Send to Kindle Button is also great for readers who want to collect content from the web to use in work projects, school assignments, or hobbies.
Click here for the link to generate the button on Amazon.
Click here for the article in MediaBistro.
KOBO Ups Royalties for The Self-Published
Kobo, the Japanese counterpart to Amazon, is running a limited time promotion. Between September 1 and November 30 all ebooks priced between $1.99 and $12.99 will earn their authors 80 percent royalty (vs. Amazon’s 70%).
If the book is priced outside of this range, the author will earn 45% royalties (vs. Amazon’s 35%).
Kobo, anyone? kobobooks.com/KoboWritingLife
Autographing ebooks
With the rise in popularity of ebooks comes the need for electronic autographs. Kindlegraph’s been around for a bit, but only now do I see enough people using it. For a primer on Kindlegraph, click here.
KDP Select: Damnation or Salvation
Amazon’s KDP Select seems to inflame passions on both sides of the divide. There are authors who hate that Amazon forces on you a 90-day exclusivity clause (you have to have your book down from absolutely everywhere, including your own website), vs. those who’ve built name recognition and moved to the top of the heap.
Check out Carolyn McCray’s experience in Publishing Perspectives. Click here for the article.
Literary Agents Relevant in Digital World? An Agent’s Thoughts
Authors can now publish their own books via Amazon, B&N, Smashwords etc. They even get to keep a larger percentage of their royalties than if they went the traditional literary agent-publisher route.
Are literary agents even relevant anymore? Agent Wendy Lawton has some thoughts about this in her blog post. While I agree with most of her points, authors who can network and market and are generally savvy can manage their own careers quite successfully.
Also, keep in mind, not all agents know what they’re doing, or have good contacts. Plenty of authors have got burnt due to clueless agents. And then there is the huge cut of your earnings the publisher and agent takes. Versus what Amazon et al. pay if you can make the sales. Tough choice.
Here’s Wendy’s post.
Penguin Cites Piracy Concerns in Pulling ebooks Out of Lending Library
Like previous news from Penguin about its subsidy press ‘Book Country’ wasn’t bad enough (see my previous posts), now comes news that Penguin is refusing to participate in ebook lending citing priracy concerns. For more details, refer to this story in mashable.com.
Not a good week for Penguin publicity-wise.
Amazon Launches ebook Lending Library
Amazon has launched a digital book lending library which, as you might imagine, isn’t making the big 6 NY book publishers too happy. The program is called Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. None of the big 6 is participating because they fear a loss in sales, especially from their back lists (ie.e older titles). Only 5000 titles are available at this time, and only to the subscribers of the Amazon Prime program who are also Kindle owners.
Wonder what this’ll mean for indie publishers and the self-published.
Amazon Bestseller in ‘Eastern Drama’: Click On Cover To Buy
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