Dec 17 2012
Monday News: Algorithm based fiction writing aims for the romance genre; Amazon Select payments decline; Nooks on Sale
Nook HD, HD+ Now on Sale at Staples, Target – Nate from the Digital Reader noticed that several stores are discounting the nook devices. Staples, for example, is selling the Nook HD+ for $200. That’s the device with the 9″ screen. The subtext, Nate suggests, is that these stores are having a hard time moving Nook HDs. The Digital Reader
Amazon Select Payment Drops 20% in November – Morris Rosenthal says that the Kindle Select payments have dropped 20% and under the $2.00 mark which represents a loss for self published authors who ordinarily price their books at $2.99 (to avail themselves of the 70% royalty share). Kindle Select is the program by which authors agree to allow Kindle device owners borrow one book for free a month. Kindle Select then pays out per borrow dividends to authors based upon a pool provided by Amazon divided by the amount of authors participating divided. Kindle Select requires a three month exclusivity deal with Amazon whereby the book cannot be sold at any other venue than Amazon. Rosenthal suspects that the per book payment fell because this was the first month in which International Kindle owners were able to borrow a book. Self Publishing 2.0
Russian YotaPhone aims to reinvent the smartphone with secondary Kindle-like display | The Verge – This is what I call innovation. Russian YotaPhone has released pictures and information about a prototype they hope to introduce into the stream of commerce in the first part of 20014 which will feature two screens. The front screen is an LCD and the back screen is eInk. The benefits of this would be enormous due to the low energy consumption used by an eInk device along with increased visibility outdoors. The eInk portion of the device would be for primarily view only with the input oriented applications taking place on the LCD side. The Verge
Tracking Amazon: The Minimal Effect of New E-book Policies – I’m not sure what PW’s point is here but it argues that removal of agency pricing and the subsequent discounting by retailers have not affected the Amazon bestseller list. This is true because the discounts that Amazon has done to non agency prices are fairly minimal but I suspect that PW is arguing something different.
Patented Book Writing System Creates, Sells Hundreds Of Thousands Of Books On Amazon – Philip M. Parker, Professor of Marketing at INSEAD Business School, aims to have his computer program producing romance books. Although a novel is a work of fiction, it’s no secret that certain genres lend themselves to formulas, such as romance novels. That may not make these works rank high for their literary value, but they certainly do well for their entertainment value. Somewhat suprisingly, romance fiction has the largest share of the consumer book market with revenue of nearly $1.37 billion in 2011. Singularity Hub
Send to Kindle
Dec 17, 2012 @ 08:58:39
Best Buy has the Kindle Fire 8 GB on sale for $139.99. ($20 off) It isn’t available to be shipped, but every store in our area shows availability, so I don’t think it’s difficult to find.
Dec 17, 2012 @ 09:29:45
I saw that PW story and wondered why on earth they thought it proved anything other than from one week to the next the titles on the Amazon best seller lists changed. PW should be ashamed. They’re supposed to cover the industry. When they provide empty and ludicrous “analysis” like this, I wonder why anyone would pay for their content.
Dec 17, 2012 @ 11:51:16
This made me sigh. And not just because the word is “surprisingly.”
Dec 17, 2012 @ 11:52:15
“Although a novel is a work of fiction, it’s no secret that certain genres lend themselves to formulas, such as romance novels. That may not make these works rank high for their literary value, but they certainly do well for their entertainment value. Somewhat suprisingly, romance fiction has the largest share of the consumer book market with revenue of nearly $1.37 billion in 2011.”
Jane, I thought first read that you were saying that yourself. Not quoting the article. I couldn’t figure out why you suddenly found this “somewhat surprising”. :)
I wish I knew what literary value was. You would think that after all those years of graduate study in literature, I would figure it out at some point, but alas…
Dec 17, 2012 @ 11:53:42
@Laura Florand – Whoops. That was an unfortunate missed blockquote/italics.