How to read ePubs on your Kindle Fire — even DRMed ones!

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Today I learned a wonderful trick: a way to put onto a Kindle Fire an ePub ereader that will read PDFs and ePubs — even Adobe DRMed ebooks — purchased from major retailers such as Kobo, Sony, and B&N, and the myriad of smaller ebook retailers worldwide. Apple ebooks, which use a different DRM, are not transferrable. The principle is this: the Kindle Fire works on top of the Android system, and with a simple click in your settings you can tell the Fire to read Android apps purchased outside Read More …

CreateSpace add European distribution, decrease payment thresholds

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Over the past few weeks CreateSpace have made two important changes: they have decreased their payment threshold from $20/£20/€20 to $10/£10/€10; and they have now added direct distribution to Amazon.co.uk (UK), Amazon.de (Germany), Amazon.fr (France), Amazon.es (Spain), and Amazon.it (Italy). I hesitated to write about this immediately as I wanted to check first what the Amazon catalogue would list as the estimated delivery time for each site. Would it be as with Amazon.com where all CreateSpace titles would be listed as “In Stock” or would it be the same as Read More …

Microsoft buy portion of B&N’s Nook

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Just a few months ago it was rumored that B&N would no longer develop the Nook, and Nook owners were worried about the fate of their devices. Today, it was announced that Microsoft have bought a 17.6% stake in the company, and plans are to integrate the Nook into the Windows operating system. On the surface this seems like exciting news, but with the advance criticism of Microsoft’s Windows 8 already making the rounds, it will be interesting to see how lucrative, if at all, this deal is for B&N. Read More …

If it’s free, it isn’t a bestseller

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On her blog, MsElenaeous Rants and Raves, fellow indie writer Elena DeRosa asks, If a book is free, is it really a bestseller? She concludes that it isn’t. And I agree wholeheartedly. More importantly, while the sudden rush of downloads of one’s free book provides a lift to the author’s ego, the long-term effects may prove a letdown. DeRosa speaks of free books within the context of Amazon’s new lending library. This is the only legitimate way an author can offer their book for free on Amazon. Other free books Read More …

ProseQuest: read the contract then run — don’t walk — away

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A new company called ProseQuest is offering authors the option to sell ePubs directly via the BooksOnBoard website. It is not entirely clear what the relationship between ProseQuest and BooksOnBoard is — that is, whether ProseQuest is a sister company or subsidiary of BooksOnBoard or if this is an affiliate partnership — and this, as you will read, is only the first of many unanswered, and often troubling, questions the ProseQuest website raises. ProseQuest clients are invited to upload their Word manuscripts for free conversion; you can also upload an Read More …

Indie author pays dearly for misunderstanding Kindle terms and conditions

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UPDATED 3 August 2014 It was reported that Amazon have updated their pricing policy and would now be paying 70% for ebooks priced below $2.99 if the price was the result of price-matching a competitor (this is true). An indie author was blogging (read: bragging) how this new policy could be used to trick Amazon into paying a 70% royalty for an ebook normally priced in the 35% royalty category (i.e., books priced below $2.99 or higher than $9.99): the trick, it was suggested, was to price one’s book at Read More …