Tag: Kindle


  • Waterstones mixes apples with pears, The Telegraph adds oranges

    The Telegraph has the weirdest piece on the decline of Kindle at Waterstones book stores.

    This:

    Waterstones has admitted that sales of Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader had “disappeared” after seeing higher demand for physical books.

    And this:

    Kindle sales had “disappeared to all intents and purposes”, Waterstones said.

    Along with a 5% rise in print sales, these things are made out as proof of the ebook’s decline. It’s obviously ridiculous, because they’re talking about sales of Kindle e-readers, not actual books. First of all, you don’t buy a lot of e-readers, do you? Decline in sales doesn’t necessarily mean a thing, especially not from a bookstore where the audience is more likely to buy books, digital or otherwise.

    Second, there’s no doubt a decline in e-readers, in terms of (often e-ink based) dedicated reading devices, is happening. That doesn’t mean a thing, because today your smartphone is an e-reader, and you’ve got Kindle on it in an app. The only thing that the story actually tells us, is that e-readers aren’t selling as much as they used to at bookstores. It has nothing to do with ebooks, and everything to do with a product that’s been marginalized thanks to smartphones.


  • Kindle Voyage, premium reader at a premium price

    Speaking of Kindle Voyage, here’s Jason Snell:

    The Kindle Voyage is a premium reader at a premium price, targeting people who love their Kindles so much that they won’t hesitate to spend $200 for the best Kindle they can buy. It’s a smart decision, I think, and the Voyage is an excellent product.

    That all said, I have to admit that of all the Kindle upgrades I’ve done over the years, this one felt the least significant. The screen is better, but the Paperwhite screen was already quite good. It’s good to have buttons again, but the accidental touches I make on the screen adjacent to the buttons somewhat reduce my enthusiasm for that feature. The typography is unchanged and mediocre.

    Jason’s not too sure about the worth of the upgrade from Paperwhite. I’ll hold off, $199 is pretty steep and, already owning the Paperwhite, I fail to see the immediate need.


  • Scathing Kindle Voyage review

    Marco Arment on Amazon’s new Kindle Voyage:

    I suspect this will be my last Kindle. Amazon doesn’t care about e-ink Kindles anymore. Why should we?

    Scathing. I can see where he’s coming from here, but truth be told I’m pretty happy with my Kindle Paperwhite, the previous version so to speak. Yes, it’s even worse than dumb glass, but it works in sunlight, and that’s a killer feature for a few months every year.


  • My Screens

    My Screens

    Screens are interesting. I’ve got a lot of screens that I interact with. It’s obviously the actual device behind the screen that makes a difference, but I’s still fascinated by screens.

    I’ve got a HDTV (several, in fact). I watch and play stuff on it, but other than that it’s not much of an interaction.

    There’s the retina MacBook Pro too. This screen is gorgeous, a truly impressive piece of technology right there. Having switched to retina iOS devices a long time ago, I now have a hard time using an operating system on a non-retina screen, or equivalent. I love the retina MacBook Pro screen, and I can’t wait to see it on other devices.

    (more…)


  • Kindle Worlds And Fan Fiction

    Amazon’s gotten quite a bit of buzz from its Kindle Worlds announcement. Basically, it’s a way for the company to make money of fan fiction, share some of it with license holders, as well as the actual writers.

    With Kindle Worlds, you can write new stories based on featured Worlds, engage an audience of readers, and earn royalties. Amazon Publishing has secured licenses from Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment for Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries, with licenses for more Worlds on the way.

    Fan fiction gets written no matter what. The people who write fan fiction do so because they’re fans, and thus there are probably no commercial motives. The chance to make a little bit of money by publishing through Amazon’s Kindle Worlds will no doubt appeal to some though, and if Amazon can secure some licenses then this might become a big deal.

    A big deal for Amazon and the licensees, that is. Possibly for some writers as well, but much like self-publishing overall, the vast majority will make very little, if anything at all.

    What’s the problem with that, you might wonder?

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  • The Writer's iPad, One Week Later

    What a week.

    Around this time last week I unleashed The Writer’s iPad upon the world. People seem to like it, although I haven’t been able to follow up on that as much as I would’ve liked. At the very least, I am very happy with getting some nice exposure from the likes of Minimal Mac and Tools & Toys, as well as several nice tweets. There’s been some Swedish pieces about the ebook too, but since most of you won’t understand much of those I’ll let them be for the time being.

    Alexander at Odd Alice did the cover
    Alexander at Odd Alice did the cover

    All and all, I’m really happy with The Writer’s iPad thus far. The project is far from laid to rest though, as I have yet to get the ebook up on iBooks Store. The planned method of getting it there turned out to make the ePub look like crap, and that’s a shame since The Writer’s iPad got the professional layout treatment from my friend and colleague Alexander at Odd Alice. I won’t put a sub-par version up on iBooks Store when there is a perfectly good ePub available in the package that you get when buying The Writer’s iPad from yours truly. This is a priority come next week – The Writer’s iPad will hit the iBooks Store, I promise you that. For now, if you can’t wait, just buy the package from me (for $3,99), the ePub looks and works great in iBooks.

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  • You can't put an ebook on a shelf

    I love books. I love the look and feel of a nice hardcover, I love to sit down in an armchair and read for hours, and I love to see a great book when I pass my bookshelf. Books are an addiction for some, collect your favorite ones (or possibly everything you’ve read, which I find to be a bit much), and display them for all to see, or for your private pleasure.

    Books are part of the interior for a lot of people, and they will continue to be.

    I read a lot, and I probably buy ten books every month. All of them are ebooks these days, with the odd hardcover found in a vintage store.

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  • Pricing digital products

    I love books and music, and every now and then I watch movie. These three types of products belong to markets being disrupted right now, which means there’s a lot of moaning and whining and fear mongering going on, as well as a lot of problems when it comes to adapting.

    Pricing is one of these problems.

    • I buy most of my books from Amazon and almost all of them are Kindle ebooks.
    • I buy music on vinyl and from iTunes, as well as use Spotify for streaming music on a daily basis.
    • I never ever buy movies and you won’t catch me in a cinema if I can help it, but I have been known to rent movies from Headweb.

    The system works then? Nope, because the pricing is way off.

    (more…)


  • Quick notes on the new Kindles

    Amazon finally unveiled its tablet, and it is not an iPad competitor. That doesn’t mean it will fail, on the contrary – I think the $199 Kindle Fire will sell like crazy because there is a market for a cheaper device. At least in the US where Amazon’s various content services are things people actually can swear by, how the company intends to conquer the rest of the world I have no idea, it isn’t happening yet that’s for sure.

    Since I’m in the publishing business, writing books and whatnot, I figured I’d share my thoughts on the new Kindles. (more…)


  • Lendle is a lovely concept

    I have no idea how and if Lendle works, but I love the concept. Lend and borrow Kindle books, preferably mine!


  • I'll write four books this year, see four books published

    If you’re following me on Facebook you saw this a few weeks ago, but I figured I’d put myself under some additional pressure by publishing my book writing goals for 2010 2011 here as well.

    I’m going to write four books this year.

    I’ll also see to it that four books get published this year. (more…)


  • Smashing WordPress Themes now available on Kindle

    I’m happy to report that Smashing WordPress Themes: Making WordPress Beautiful is not only available now in paperback, but also out now for you Kindle platform of choice. I haven’t seen the Kindle version yet, but I bet it rocks…!


  • Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog available for Kindle

    Great news for Kindle owners and WordPress lovers alike! My book, Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, is now available for Kindle as well. Check it out if you prefer to read it that way, link from the Amazon page of course.


  • Och här är Bokus läsplattor…

    Det är synnerligen synkroniserat, läsplattornas utrullande i Sverige. För precis som Adlibris (vilka var de som överraskade med tajmingen) så har Bokus läsplattor på gång. Två stycken faktiskt, Cybook Opus och iRiver story. Den förstnämnda kan inhandlas för 1 995 kr om du är snabb (?), eftersom den 100 första får specialpris – ordinarie pris är nämligen 2 895 kr.

    Dyrt, igen alltså – Letto-plattan kostar 1 495 kr just nu vilket gör den till det billiga alternativet just nu, men senare blir det över 3 000 kr som bekant.

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