"Kindle Culture" Now Available

I'm happy to announce that my new book "Kindle Culture" is now available for the Kindle at Amazon.com! Thanks to everyone in the Kindle community who helped out these past few months. Your support has been greatly appreciated. Here's the product description, which has yet to appear on the Amazon page but should soon.

"How influential and/or pervasive can the Kindle become? Does it have what it takes to join that exclusive group populated by the likes of the Hula-Hoop, the VW Bug and the iPhone and become the next bona fide cultural icon? Will the term 'Kindle' become as ubiquitous in describing e-readers in the future as Band-Aid has for adhesive bandages and Kleenex for facial tissue? And just how strong will the Kindle’s built-in marketing segment of evangelists be in counteracting the latest wave of 'Kindle killers' lurking on the horizon? I searched far and wide, from coast to coast of what currently constitutes Kindle Country to the far edges of the globe, to find out in his new book 'Kindle Culture.'

"'Kindle Culture' examines the social and cultural aspects of the Kindle through a series of stories about people whose lives have been changed by the popular e-reader, from a woman whose Kindle let her read again after almost ten years to a full-time business professional whose hobby of making Kindle covers has turned into a cottage industry he can't keep up with. Along the way you'll meet newlyweds, artists, librarians, hackers, bloggers, members of the clergy, anti-ereader groups and Kindle-defending celebrities, all with one thing in common--the Amazon Kindle."

Support a Kindle Author, Win a Gift Card

While Amazon's Digital Text Platform has helped level the playing field for indepedent publishing, getting your work noticed in a sea of titles can present its own challenge.

Author Josh McMains has come up with one of the best ideas I've heard of yet for drawing attention to his 99¢ novel "Uncubicled." On Tuesday, May 5th starting at 10 AM (Eastern), the first 200 people to buy "Uncubicled" for the Kindle or iPhone Kindle App and forward McMains a copy of their e-mail receipt will receive a $5 Amazon gift card, making "a tidy $4.01 profit."

McMains is also promising $20 cards for the first ten purchasers. "My goal is to try to get the book on the Kindle Top 25 downloads list, even if only for one brief, shining moment," he writes on his Uncubicled website. If the title happens to crack the Top 10 on May 5 he plans to double the amount of all the gift cards. "I truly do believe that this novel is something people will enjoy, so I'm putting some skin in the game."

I think McMains is right; based on the sample chapter, "Uncubicled" looks like a good read. And with attention at such a premium in the chaotic, dog-eat-dog world of indie Kindle authors on Amazon, this kind of creative self-promotion is a good example of what it takes to stand above the crowd.

KC Book Review: "Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married"

"Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married"
Marian Keyes
Digital List Price: $10.95
Kindle Price: $8.76
File Size: 415 KB
Print Length: 624 Pages
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books (May 9, 2006)

“Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married” is entertaining, light fare that's a bit reminiscent of “Bridget Jones's Diary.” Our heroine and narrator is a single young woman living in London, drinking and partying with her pals while looking for love in all the wrong places.

I have no problem with that. I liked Bridget Jones and I like Lucy Sullivan. Poor Lucy just can't seem to see through her own obvious patterns and stop creating her own bad news. The supporting characters are interesting as well, if not all quite as likable. Lucy has her work friends, her two roommates, a best friend who happens to be male and a best male gay friend who really doesn't seem to have much of a point in this story. (Would it be so wrong for the heroine not to have a gay male friend?)

Overall, Keyes' writing is very good, though I did find myself skimming a few times when Lucy and whoever she was bouncing her reality off of seemed to be sharing still more info about codependency and who may or may not be an alcoholic.

But I liked the journey that Lucy takes and I like where she ends up. It was hard to be patient with her during those times where she seriously deludes herself, but if she were my friend, I would have forgiven her those times for all the other strengths she has.

The best thing I can say about this book is that I wanted to keep reading. I wanted to get past the bad relationships to what I assumed was going to be a happy ending. I don't want to give it away…you may see it coming and you may not. But it won't matter, because it’s such fun getting there and well worth lingering for just a moment in world of “Lucy Sullivan.”

Kindle Offers Free U.S. News For a Year

With the April 15 release of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on the Kindle, owners can now get a full year of domestic newspaper subscriptions absolutely free.

Granted, cycling through 14-day trial subs of all 26 domestic papers Amazon now offers for the Kindle would certainly require some serious dedication. But the result would be a free education comprised of a broad range of news voices. Besides the old-school stalwarts like the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Washington Post, the fare includes more topic-specific rags like Investor's Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal, plus Politico, which is mostly associated with its online presence and not the free print version that makes the rounds in D.C.

For me, this represents a benchmark of sorts at a time when the newspaper industry finds itself in a life-or-death struggle. As someone who came from a print background, I've lamented the loss of one daily after another with colleagues. But I see a potential for rebirth in devices like the Kindle, which replicate the old model by charging a reasonable fee and "delivering" the paper to your virtual door.

The chance to nab a free year of newspapers might appeal to the freebie-lover in all of us. But I also hope it leads to more people exposing themselves to a (hopefully) higher standard of journalism, and ultimately choosing to support an important industry by picking a favorite and ordering a regular subscription.

Top Ten Kindle Tweets - March 2009

I finally jumped on the Twitter train about a month ago and have really enjoyed reading people's comments about the Kindle. I started saving some of my favorites and thought it might be fun to post them here once a month. That led to an idea for a sort of non-contest; I have tweeted @ messages to these ten folks and the first one who comes to this site and posts a comment will win a free copy of my book "Kindle Culture" when it comes out for the Kindle later this month*. If it goes well, I plan to do this every month. In the meantime, thanks for the entertaining tweets!

*Prize will be awarded in the form of an Amazon gift certificate for the price of "Kindle Culture" on April 21, 2009; recipient will be on his or her honor to actually buy the book! Valid Amazon account e-mail address required.

UPDATE: We have a winner! Congratulations @pvera!

The $8,000 Kindle Book

So you just bought your Kindle 2 and you're looking for a book that will help you get to the heart of ternary alloy systems--you know, phase diagrams, crystallographic data, the whole enchilada. Well thanks to the folks at Materials Science International Team, you can be reading the 500-page "Selected Nuclear Materials and Engineering Systems (Part 4)" on your Kindle in a minute for just $6,431.20--and that's a whopping 20% off the list price of $8,039. (Full disclosure: I will make over $250 if you buy this book through the above link.)

I suppose in the future it won't be uncommon to see more highly specialized manuals and textbooks for sale at all kinds of prices. Springer, the book's publisher, has seven more books listed in the $5,000 and over range. But the rest of us could buy 640 books at the $9.99 price point, or 18 brand new Kindle 2s!

To be fair, the print edition runs the full $8,039, which is even steeper despite FREE Super Saver Shipping. And even if you bought one of the used copies available for just under five grand, you've still got a three-plus pound book to deal with. It might be worth the extra $1,500 to lighten your load to 10 ounces, especially if you can get the boss to pay for it.