The longest pre-orders

The longest pre-orders

This is one of those weird things that I just don’t get.

You can pre-order books in the Kindle store. That in itself is a bit strange to me, unless they are free when you order them. You can get a book in sixty seconds, usually…why pre-order it? As I’ve discussed before, I do get the fun in having one show up that don’t even remember ordering. Generally, though, I figured you mostly pre-ordered a paper book so you could get it on the release date…or because you were getting a lower price. With paperbooks, it helped publishers (and retailers) a lot for you to pre-order…they had to figure out how many books to print or to stock: that’s not a factor with e-books. It also helps drive up first day sales, of course, and that helps.

What’s the reasoning, though, when you are waiting for a pre-order for years?

I’ve noticed that sort of thing from time to time in the Kindle store. Once, it was because the book was going to fall into the public domain at that time. So, the future publisher was sort holding the spot for when they could publish it without paying royalties to the author or the author’s estate.

What explains this one, though?

PC Technician Street Smarts: A Real World Guide to CompTIA A+ Skills

?

The pre-order is scheduled to be delivered on October 5, 2021.

Yes…because clearly, what’s relevant in a computer technician’s life will be relevant a decade from now.

The paperback is in stock, published October 5, 2009…twelve years to the day before the Kindle edition is scheduled to be published.

One reasonable hypothesis is that it is just a typo…that Sybex (the publisher) intended to be published October 5, 2011…just typed a two instead of a one.

I’m not sure that a mistake like that helps sell a computer technician book…that field of endeavor doesn’t really favor mistakes.

This one is also weird:

Mistresses of Henry VIII

Here’s the Kindle publication history/schedule:

Kindle Edition, July 27, 2011 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2010 $12.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2010 $9.99
Kindle Edition, February 1, 2000 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2020 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2010 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2010 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2010 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2010 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2020 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2020 $10.00
Kindle Edition, December 26, 2020 $10.00

Several editions scheduled for the same day? Maybe each edition focuses on one mistress? Presumably, Henry the VIII isn’t going to get any more mistresses between now and then…

By the way, the cover image appears to be for a different book: curiouser and curiouser. That same cover image is also used for this book scheduled for December 26, 2020:

Test book

There’s also a whole series of what appear to be kids’ books, called the Shenanigans Series…that are due to be published on September 15, 2020. The paperbacks are available now…maybe they are pre-programming nostalgia?

Anywhere, there are a lot of strange eddies in the Amazon river…this is one of them…

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.

Atavistic geographic tendencies

Atavistic geographic tendencies

I regularly read p-books (paperbooks) for decades, and I’ve been regularly reading e-books not even a tenth of that time.

Still, I feel like I’ve generally made the transition. I don’t look around for a bookmark any more. I never try to reach for the page to turn it.

Recently, though, I did notice one thing that I still do which is a residual of my paperbook days.

In those days, I used to keep at least one book in each room. One room had thousands, and several rooms had…more than twenty. However, as I went from room to room, there was a book there for me to read.

Yes, I tended to read several books at the same time…still do.

So, what am I doing now that’s based on my paper habits?

I went to lunch at a particular cafeteria. I work in a lot of locations, so I may not be in the same cafeteria all that often. I sat down with my tray, woke up my Kindle…and opened a particular blog.

The same blog I read the last time I was in that cafeteria…and the time before that.

I pretty much haven’t read that blog anywhere else.

Just as if had been a magazine or a paperbook I had left in that room.

I thought about it, and realized there is another book I tend to read just in one room.

There is no reason to do that with the Kindle…I have all those books available to me in all those places.

I think that’s just a leftover way of doing things.

What about you? Do you still find yourself doing things the paper way? Feel free to let me know.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.

So many ways to read

So many ways to read

This was just interesting.

Not too long ago, I was on BART, our local subway system.  I, of course, had my Kindle out to read.  I was standing in the back of the car, so it happened that I could see a number of people.

Just to my right was a person writing in a paper composition book…you know, the ones with those cardboard, black and white mottled covers.  I didn’t look at what was being written, of course, but I would guess a diary or some such.  It didn’t seem like notes on something. 

To that person’s right, someone else was reading on a smartphone.  That appeared to be a book.

Immediately to my left, another person had out a big hardback book…I think a novel. 

Not far away was someone reading on a Kindle 2 (I have a K3).

A couple of rows ahead, there was a mass market paperback.

I could also see a laptop, but I’m not sure the person was reading something so much as working on something.

I looked around for a chiseled stone tablet, but didn’t see one. 

Just fun to see…reading, reading, everywhere…

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.