Flash! I try Kindle for Android

Flash! I try Kindle for Android

Not too long ago, I got my first Smartphone…a Samsung Captivate.

Before that, I’d had a Motorola RAZR for quite some time.  I tend to run my gadgets (and other machines) until they break.  I once said I would drive a particular car until it fell apart.  That wasn’t quite true: the whole exhaust pipe thing fell off the car…and then I used duct-tape and a fan-belt I had in the car to drive it for a while more.  😉

Well, my RAZR had pretty much died…I sometimes had to take it apart and play around with how the battery was sitting just to get it to charge.

So, it was time for a new phone. 

I’m with AT&T, and we didn’t want to switch.  I wanted to get a Smartphone…I could really use web-access on the go for some work things (checking Google calendar, for one thing).  I have been using the web access on my Kindle 3 some, but that doesn’t really cut it…certainly not for data entry.

I could have gone with an iPhone.

However, I’m a bit soured on Apple because of the Agency Model (which appears to have been engineered by Apple). 

I’d been hearing good things about Android-powered phones, and did some research before we went to the store.

I knew I’d be able to get Kindle for Android.  I tried out the virtual keyboard: that worked well.

I’m really happy with how the phone is working out.  Yes, it is driving me nuts to pay $25 a month for web access…that’s $300 a year!  That’s more than the phone cost!  No wonder techies are so impressed with the free 3G on the $189 Kindle!

I find the phone intuitive, although I have a lot more to learn. 

One of the first things I downloaded was Kindle for Android…well, Angry Birds was pretty early, too.  😉

How’s the reader app?

Well, it was easy to find…I think it actually was featured as soon as I got to the Marketplace.

One weird thing: they gave me some free books: Pride & Prejudice, Treasure Island, Aesop’s Fables.

I didn’t like that, personally.  I’ll pick my own free books, thank you.  I can understand why they did it…to give people something to read right away, before they figure out the device.

However, those books also aren’t at

http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle

That’s odd…it means I can’t download them to continue reading them on the Kindle if I want.

Would I want to do that?

Yes, probably…I don’t think I’d read much on the little phone screen…too much page advancing.

You can advance by using your finger to slide the page.  I have to admit, I like the feel of that.  I do find I have to clean the screen pretty frequently, though: I’m not convinced that I would want a touch-screen on an EBR (E-Book Reader sized screen).

If I hold my finger on a word, I get a few choices:

• Note
• Highlight
• Search in Book
• Search Wikipedia
• Define with Dictionary.com

That seemed to work. 

I didn’t realize at first that I could highlight more than one word by holding y finger down and then sliding it.  Making a note is much easier than on the Kindle, just because typing is easier. 

When I tap the page generally, I get a location slider at the bottom.  That’s a nice touch…I can quickly slide to another point in the book.

Hitting Menu while I was in a book brought up the following choices:

• Home
• View Options
• Go to
• Back
• Bookmark
• More (Share Progress, Sync, Search)

Share Progress seems strange to me, too. I can share with Bluetooth, Email, Gmail, Messaging, or WordPress.  I suppose that could be good for reporting to a teacher…

The options let me do white letters on a black background.  That’s how I am using it…it’s also how I read on my Kindle for PC.  There are five text sizes…the largest one is nowhere near as large as the largest on the Kindle.

When I hit Menu when I’m on the Homescreen, I get

• Archived Items
• Kindle Store
• Sort By
• Sync
• More (Remove Items, Grid View, Search, Help, Send Feedback, Settings, Info)

I will say, I can practically watch the battery go down while I’m testing these features for you.  That’s clearly an advantage for the Kindle.

I hit the Kindle Store button…it is now a couple of minutes and it hasn’t connected yet. 

I tried it twice with two bars on wi-fi…the second time, it connected…but it took more than a minute. 

Once I got there, it worked okay.  There was a category for free classics…that worked well.  Searching the store was fast. 

Oh, this may seem obvious, but I did have color pictures (they’d have to be i color in the books).  If you have Kindle for PC (or, I presume, Kindle for Mac), you do see the covers in color as well.

I tested downloading CK-12 Life Science, a free textbook in the Kindle store, from my archives.  That’s a fairly large file, and it take longer than it would have on my Kindle (two or three minutes).  One nice feature was the ability to zoom on an image.  That’s not the single “screen width” zoom on the Kindle, but I could continue to zoom.  Interestingly, I didn’t find that right away, because I tried the spreading your fingers thing to increase the size.  That didn’t work…but touch and hold did.

Holding on a book in the homescreen gave e some good choices:

• Go to last page read
• Go to beginning
• Go to location…
• Shelfari book extras
• Remove from device

You might not be familiar with Shelfari.  That’s a literary social site and book tracker (owned by Amazon).  It will give you character descriptions, a “Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis”, reviews, discussions, and more.  It would be nice to have that on the Kindle, although it does require connecting to the internet (which is a battery burner).

Overall, I really don’t expect to use it much.  I’m not likely to be out with my phone and not my Kindle.   I can see how it would be useful for someone who didn’t have a Kindle: a cool app for the phone. 

What do you think?  Have you tried it?  Did I leave out any great features?  Do you read whole books on it and love it?  Feel free to let me know.

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

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Brain Bump & Easy Calculator

Brain Bump & Easy Calculator

Here are a couple of new “active content” titles for Kindles (except the Kindle 1 and not the free reader apps…and, I think, only available in the USA).  One is a game and one’s a utility.

Easy Calculator (ninety-nine cents at time of writing)

Your Kindle already has a simple calculator in it…just go to home and type a calculation, like

2+2=

(on a K3 or KDX, do Alt+W to get started)

and hit Enter.

You’ll see the formula and the result at the top of the screen.

As I mentioned, though, that only works for simple calculations.  Easy Calculator does percentages, square roots, that kind of thing. 

It looks like it shows you key-mapping on the screen, and then you type on the Kindle’s keyboard to match those keys.

This seems like a sort of gimmick some people might want to have.  You may already have a calculator on your phone, but this might be easier to see.

Brain Bump Literature Trivia Game (ninety-nine cents at time of writing)

Why do you need active content to play trivia?  Well, it does keep track of your score…and you can go directly from a question in the game to a related book in the Kindle store.  That could have been done with hyperlinks, but there may be something to the game interface that makes this worth playing….hard to tell from the pictures.

If you try either of these, feel free to leave a comment about what you think of it.

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

Five things the USA can do to help e-books stimulate the economy

Five things the USA can do to help e-books stimulate the economy

Nobody does media like the USA.

Yes, Bollywood releases more movies every year.  Yes, a lot of our TV shows are based on British shows. 

But American media is a huge economic force worldwide. 

It’s even bootlegged where governments try to keep it out.

Books are part of that…and we are leading the way in e-books, the publishing of the future (and increasingly, of the present).

There are challengers in other countries…but we should make sure we seize this opportunity.

What steps can the US take to encourage the growth of this industry and American dominance?

1. Establish orphan book legislation

Right now, the market is hungry for content…and becoming more so, in my opinion.

Books that are in the public domain are getting converted, but those are often made available for free.  That’s not a big plus for the economy, although it can help sell EBRs (E-Book Readers).  People can make money from public domain books, because they can be released with DRM (Digital Right Management). 

The engine, though, is fueled by books that are under copyright.  When paperbook rights are being negotiated now, you can bet that e-book rights are part of it.

The issue is books that are still under copyright…but with whom there is no one to negotiate.  If a book hasn’t fallen into the public domain, you currently can’t publish it without getting permission from the rightsholder.

But what if you can’t contact the rightsholder?  What if the book was published in 1950 and the author has died with no estate?

“Orphan book” legislation would allow a publisher which has done due diligence to try to find someone to publish a book (if it isn’t already in the market) to do so and make a profit from it.  They’d have to pay royalties to somebody who showed up and proved a claim.

It might surprise some of you that I would support that…I didn’t support the Google settlement as originally constructed.

This is something that could be done fairly and get a lot more books into the market.

2. Establish that it is okay to digitize books that you bought for your own use…and encourage development of scanning technology

Right now, many people assume it is okay to scan a book you own in paper and digitize it.  There isn’t anything that says that, although it seems reasonable.  Why would that help?  Wouldn’t that cut down on sales?

It would make sales for those machines!   VCRs were a big deal, and other recording devices have been (like Tivo). 

It would have to be much easier than it is now.  You’d have to be able to stick a paperbook in there and have it end up with a searchable file…without destroying the paperbook.  We’re not close to that as this point.

Developing the machines would also have them used by people digitizing books to sell them…the process of digitizing is probably holding up quite a few backlist books.  An author who owns the rights to a book she or he wrote, and doesn’t have an electronic copy, would be a serious market.

3. Prohibit blocking text-to-speech access

This almost happened this year, but it sounds like the presentation just wasn’t well done.  The precedent is there: the Copyright Office already requires that one version of every e-book have “read aloud”. 

Why would this matter?

Text-to-speech opens the market for those people with print challenges that do not reach the legal level of a disability.  There are a lot of those people!  It also means that people with print disabilities who are now waiting and getting a book free will choose to pay for it.

I wouldn’t require that publishers provide it…just that they don’t block it when someone else provides it (which is the case with the Kindle). 

Would this cut into audiobook sales, making a net loss?

I doubt it.  Even if it did, I think the market provided by text-to-speech would be greater than the audiobook sales it would reduce.  I’m just guessing on that, but I’m pretty confident.

4. End the Agency Model

Competition is good for business, good for sales.  I don’t think eliminating price competition amongst the former rivals is good.  It takes a lot of the spark out of it.  While discounting reduces profit margins, it creates excitement and sales.  I know the argument can be made that having the Wii cost the same everywhere hasn’t hurt it.  However, this is content…that’s a different story.  I don’t mind publishers selling on their own…I don’t mind them having sales agents.  I just don’t like them compelling all of the major sellers to be sales agents. 

5. Straighten out copyright

There are a number of things to be done here.  We need to get more backlist books available.  One thing that holds that up is that we don’t have an online database we can search to see if a book is in the public domain or not.  We have an incomplete one, but we need them all.  The records exist, they just need to get online.

We need to simplify the current copyright laws.  Get rid of the requirements for books prior to 1978 to have had the right copyright statement and to have been renewed.  Go ahead and grandfather editions that are already out there.  It’s ridiculous that Night of the Living Dead fell into the public domain because they put the copyright notice on the title screen, and then the distributor changed the name and they lost the copyright.  If you’ve already put out a book that was in the public domain at the time, fine.  But if you want to do it after the law is changed, you have to pay. 

Work on standardizing international copyright.  It’s time for another international agreement on it.  I don’t like the “Life Plus” scheme, because it makes it too hard to figure out whether a book is in copyright or not.  At the least, require that the Copyright Office be able to tell us when a given book will fall into the public domain.

I’d consider extending copyright terms, making them longer.  That’s a hot potato, though…even though it’s been done several times already.  Since keeping an electronic book “in print” costs very little…so a license could more easily be used for a longer time.  For more thoughts on that, see this earlier post.

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There are five ideas for you, USA.  One thing you may notice I didn’t say: start or increase collecting sales tax on them.  In California, e-books delivered electronically aren’t sales taxed (at least, I know they weren’t last year). 

However, e-books already generate taxes in California.  Author’s royalties are taxed.  Publishers’ and retailers’ profits are taxed.  You don’t have to add sales taxes to make money from e-book sales.

What do you think?  Would ending the Agency Model be a mistake, since it’s raised the prices of bestselling e-books…and they’ve still done phenomenally well?  Is not allowing the blocking of text-to-speech unreasonable…and would it affect so few people it doesn’t matter?   Would more free e-books sell more EBRs…meaning that copyright terms should be shorter, not longer?  Is orphan book legislation unfair to copyright holders?  Feel free to let me know what you think.

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

Freebie flash! n00b, Honeymooning, Sunrise, Child, Warriors

 Freebie flash! n00b, Honeymooning, Sunrise, Child, Warriors

As usual, I don’t vouch for these books, and they come from companies that are not (to my knowledge) blocking text-to-speech. As promotional titles, they may not be free for long. Note: these books are free in the USA: prices in other countries may vary.

Sunrise
by Jacquelyn Cook
published by BelleBooks (a publisher of “Southern Fried Fiction”)

Honeymooning: A Cypress Hollow Yarn Short Story with Bonus Material
by Rachael Herron
published by HarperCollins (a general interest publisher)

Pre-order for February 8, 2011.

A Child al Confino 
by Eric Lamet
published by Adams Media (a non-fiction publisher)

Origins
Spinward Fringe series
by Randolph Lalonde
publisher not listed

The n00b Warriors 
Book One
by Scott Douglas

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

Flash! Mary Worth and e-books

Flash! Mary Worth and e-books

Mary Worth is a decades old comic strip…it’s not the oldest running one (Katzenjammer Kids and Gasoline Alley are older…although we’ve seen Little Orphan Annie and Brenda Starr come to an end recently).

The title character typically dispenses advice  and is the voice of mature wisdom.

Thanks to Josiah Wilson in the Amazon Kindle community for the heads-up that Mary is currently discussing an EBR (Electronic Book Reader):

Mary Worth comic strip

You can go through the strip day by day…the story arc started on January 24th.

While Mary is initially saying she doesn’t think an EBR is for her, I think the strip is even-handed so far.  Her “objections” are perfectly reasonable and what I commonly have heard in the real world.  She is given good responses.

My guess is that the author of the strip, Karen Moy (Joe Giella is the artist), has and loves her own EBR…I’m just guessing, though.

I also expect it will end up with Mary embracing the technology…after all, she is known for making good choices.  😉

Hats off to the strip for keeping current!

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

Amazon’s 4th quarter: e-books outsell paperbacks

Amazon’s 4th quarter: e-books outsell paperbacks

Amazon just announced their 4th quarter 2010 results in this

Press Release

Financial, financial, blah, blah, blah…forget all that, it was huge!  😉

Net sales increased 36%!

How are e-books doing?

They passed paperbacks!  Through the year, for every 100 copies of a paperback they sold, Amazon sold 115 Kindle books.  It’s important to note that they didn’t limit this to mass market paperbacks, or to books that were available in both formats.  They also are excluding free Kindle books in these figures.

They crushed hardbacks!   They sold three times as many Kindle books as hardbacks.  While e-books are somewhere around 10% of the US publishing market (and they may have gone up in December…we haven’t seen that yet), at Amazon e-books are 75% compared to just hardbacks. 

They also said that paperbacks sold more than they had.

That’s important…Amazon continues to grow, which floats all (or at least many) boats at the company. 

They also said millions of K3s were sold. 

I wasn’t able to listen to the webcast live, but it’s worth listening to the recording..  That’s where you’ll get the Q&A…rather than what they had planned to say:

Recorded Webcast for Q4 Amazon

For example, the question was asked if the Agency Model was a drag on sales…and they finessed the answer.  🙂 

Bottom line: things look great, and e-books look better.  😉

Feel free to tell me what you think…

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

Flash! Random House changes its policy on text-to-speech?

Flash! Random House changes its policy on text-to-speech?

The Kindle 2 was a huge step forward in convenient access for those with print disabilities.

It introduced text-to-speech for the Kindle.  I was really pleased.

Then, publishers objected. 

Amazon changed the software for the “comfort” of the rightsholders, to allow them to block text-to-speech.

I honestly thought the publishers wouldn’t do it.  Why would they?  Text-to-speech greatly broadens the market.  People with print challenges and print disabilities (and their friends and family members) would be buying books…instead of waiting for them to be made available free to them (if ever).  People who had given up or cut back on reading could enjoy it again.

For people for whom that wasn’t an issue, it was still a plus for the publishers.  I listen to text-to-speech in the car…meaning I go through books much more quickly than I would have otherwise.

Ostensibly, they objected because they didn’t want to cut into the audiobook market.

That never made much sense to me, as a business decision.  There was no evidence that text-to-speech would hurt audiobook sales…I also thought it was likely to increase them, by accustoming people to listening to books.  Remember, those with print disabilities weren’t necessarily paying for audiobooks anyway. 

So, I was really disappointed when Random House led the way in blocking access.  They have some of my favorite authors, and some great imprints (Ballantine, Del Rey, Bantam). 

This wasn’t just a case of them maybe blocking it on some titles…they made a policy and stated it in their FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions):

“…all of our eBooks have the text-to-speech feature disabled.”

I made a difficult decision for me.  I wrote to Random House and let them know I would not be buying any more of their products while that policy was in place.

It was hard because, well, I’ve always liked Random House.  Yes, I knew who they were…I’m a former bookstore manager, so I actually knew who the different publishing houses were. 

It was also hard because I didn’t want to hurt the authors.  They couldn’t control this…they could complain, but the right had probably already been signed away.  I mean, who knew this would happen?

After a while, some others of the big publishers followed Random House.  I was particularly disappointed with Penguin.  They had been real innovators, and produced quality editions of classics…something I think is important.

So the situation stood.

Then…

I started to notice some Random House books where text-to-speech wasn’t blocked.

In particular, there was

The Grand Design

by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow.

That came out in September of 2010.  It made particular sense to me that Hawking might object to blocking text-to-speech access. 

Print disabilities don’t come just from loss of sight.  People with debilitating conditions (like multiple sclerosis) can find it difficult to hold a paperbook and turn the pages.  Text-to-speech is one answer for that (although there are assistive technologies that can help). 

Hawking has ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).  Blocking text-to-speech disadvantages that group.

I thought maybe they had made an exception.  Hawking’s books have sold really well.

So, I was checking the Random House FAQs to see if they had changed.

Recently, they did.

When I searched for text-to-speech in the Random House FAQs, I didn’t find anything.  The link I’d saved didn’t find anything.

So, I wrote to them…asking if the policy had changed.

I said, in part:

“I’ve noticed Random House e-books being released with text-to-speech enabled.  The former FAQ answer saying that all titles were not enabled appears to be gone.  Does this signal a change in policy?  If so, what
is the current policy?”

I got a response back, that said in part:

“We appreciate your feedback and interest in the text-to-speech functionality of  our eBooks.  If there are works of a particular author you are interested in
seeing in the text-to-speech production, please write to them personally, in care of their publicity department using this address format:
“Author Name”
Random House, Inc.
c/o “Publisher” (e.g. Broadway, Bantam, etc.) Publicity
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019″

I’d heard some authors say before that their publishers had sort of left it up to them.  That didn’t seem to be the case with Random House, since they’d had that blanket policy.

This seems different.

I’ve checked several popular Random House titles and they are blocked.

This makes it sound like I should be writing to these authors care of Random House…and that it would be up to them.

If, and I stress that’s a big if, that is true, I’d go back to buying Random House books if they weren’t blocked.

After all, I didn’t stop buying books from Amazon when they allowed publishers to block text-to-speech.  I felt like they were pressured into it.  Amazon pays independent publishers who use their Kindle Direct Publishing twice the royalty if they follow certain rules…and one is not blocking text-to-speech.

If it’s up to the authors, I’ll feel okay going on a case-by-case basis with Random House.

I do want some more confirmation, though…Random House didn’t exactly say that.

If you are a Random House author (or an author’s agent), I’d appreciate it if you let me know if Random House has explicitly told you it is up to the author.  If you want your response to be private, let me know that in your comment, and I won’t publish it.

I’m going to try going further up the chain at Random House.  What I’d really like is a statement of policy that Random House will not block text-to-speech access in their e-books if the author chooses not to have it blocked.

My guess is that the default is that it is blocked at RH: that the author needs to ask for it not to be blocked.

If I confirm this is a change in policy, I’ll trumpet it from the rooftops…and I’ve got some books to buy.  🙂

For more information on the text-to-speech issue, see this earlier post. 

Feel free to let me know what you think…and again, I’d appreciate it if you are with Random House (as an author/agent/executive) and let me know if this is official.

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

Flash! Kindle Singles are here

Flash! Kindle Singles are here

As I wrote about back in October, Amazon is introducing Kindle Singles. 

These are short pieces…longer than a magazine article, shorter than a book. 

In this

Press Release

Amazon says they are between 5,000 and 30,000 words.  Traditionally, that would be between twenty and 120 pages.

Weirdly, Amazon lists page counts in the press release.  Really?  I was presuming that these were originals that hadn’t been in paper ever.  If that’s the case, there is no page to count…e-books (or e-texts) don’t have pages.

This again makes me want word counts for Kindle store items, right on the product page.  That would be the best indicator of length for me.

Is this going to work?

The prices seem like they might be too high…

Let’s take this an example:

Homo Evolutis 
by Juan Enriquez, Steve Gullans

This sounds like something I would want to read.  It’s one of the first TEDBooks.  TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is a fascinating conference, and there have been some really important lectures. 

http://www.ted.com/

Check out some of the lectures on YouTube.

This work is about how Homo sapiens is changing, due to a number of factors.

Actually, I just looked: this is 721KB, and a typical Kindle novel is 800kb.  That actually sounds pretty good (depending on how many graphics there are).

I got a sample…it was 213 locations, with quite a few images (each image is a location, as are, apparently, 128 characters including invisible formatting characters).

So, is $2.99 reasonable?

It’s competing with 191,045 items in the Kindle store that are $2.99 or lower (including free). 

Hmm…for a non-fiction title like this, I could see it.

How about three short fiction pieces from Jodi Picoult?

Leaving Home

I think that’s problematic…there are a lot of novels in that range (although not necessarily by authors as well-known).

It will be interesting to watch.  I have no doubt that some of them will jump to the best-selling titles for the next couple of days…then, after people try the idea, we’ll see how it goes.

You can see the list here:

Kindle Singles

I’ll be interested in your feedback…if you get one, let me know if you think it was worth the cost.

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

Random Tips #1

Random Tips #1

I like to cover a subject in-depth, like I do in the Frequent Asked Kindle Questions category.  However, that can be a lot to swallow at one time.  I like giving you the big picture, the whys and wherefores.  Sometimes, though, you just want to hear something cool and self-contained.  🙂  So, this time, I’m just going to give you little random tips.  After all, you can search the blog to find things…even if they are in a patchwork quilt post.  Let me know if you like this, and I’ll think about doing it again

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Want to know what time it is?  Hit the Menu button and look at the top of your screen (unless you have a K1…then it’s Alt+T).

Want to add a bookmark?  Alt+B

Want to skip to the next song?  Alt+F

Want to build a list of words you learn on the Kindle?  As you look up a word, hit Enter.  That opens the dictionary…highlight the word just like you would in any book

Want to see how much memory you have left on your Kindle?  Hit the Menu key, it’s in your top left corner of the screen

Want to put your contact information on your Kindle?  Home-Menu-Settings, page next, page next, edit Personal Info

Want to change which Kindle is the default when you buy something?  Rename it…the list is alphabetical

Want to see the book description of a book you are reading?  Menu-Book Description (you’ll need Whispernet on)

Want to pause text-to-speech?  Spacebar

Want to cancel a subscription?  http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle

Want to use your Kindle for sound effects or sound clips?  Put the files in the Audible folder

Want to e-mail your clippings from Kindle store books?  Go to http://kindle.amazon.com, copy and paste

Want to see what books are free in the Kindle store right now?  http://www.ereaderiq.com/free/

Want to borrow and lend Kindle books with strangers for free?  http://www.kindlelendingclub.com

Want to refresh your Kindle screen?  Alt+G

Want to “return” a Kindle store book within seven days for a refund?  Go to http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport and click the Contact Us button.  I’d suggest you call them or have them call you.

Want to connect your Kindle to an external sound system that has an Aux jack (that might be your car)?  Get a 3.5mm to 3.5mm male to male cable

Want to see the cover of your Kindle book on your Kindle 3?  Menu-Go To…-Cover

Want to change to Landscape mode (wide rather than tall)?  Aa

Want to make a website bigger?  Aa, choose a zoom percentage

Want to look up a phrase in Wikipedia?  Highlight the phrase, hit spacebar, use your 5-way to get to Wikipedia.

Want to start your music playing without using the menus?  Alt+Spacebar

Want to share the highlight you just made on Twitter or Facebook?  Alt+Enter

Want to get to a website without using the Menu key?  Home, type in the basic name, use your 5-way to look it up in Google.

Want to switch to a different wireless provider on a K3?  Home-Menu-Settings, Alt_E, Alt+Q, Alt+Q (311).  That may improve reception.

Not sure what you want to do?  Try the Menu key.

===

Whew!  Feel free to share any tips you have…or ask any questions.

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

Freebie flash! Goodness Gracious Green, 6 from FT

 Freebie flash! Goodness Gracious Green, 6 from FT

As usual, I don’t vouch for these books, and they come from companies that are not (to my knowledge) blocking text-to-speech. As promotional titles, they may not be free for long. Note: these books are free in the USA: prices in other countries may vary.

Goodness Gracious Green
by Judy Christie
Green #2
published by Abingdon Press (a faith-based publisher)

How to Make Money Marketing Your Business on LinkedIn
by Jamie Turner
published by FT Press (a business publisher)

How the Saints Went Kicking In
by Jeff Duncan
published by FT Press (a business publisher)

Business and Competitive Analysis Methods
by Craig S. Fleisher, Babette E. Bensoussan
published by FT Press (a business publisher)

Antibiotic Resistance: Understanding and Responding to an Emerging Crisis
by Karl S. Drlica, David Perlin
published by FT Press (a business publisher)

Middleshift: More Power, More Purpose, and More Success for Managers Reader
by Vince Thompson
published by FT Press (a business publisher)

The Truth About Perfecting Your Presentation Skills (Collection)
by Michael Solomon, James O’Rourke, Natalie Canavor
published by FT Press (a business publisher)

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