Shangri-La at a bargain price

Shangri-La at a bargain price

1939 was an incredible year in pop culture. I once hosted a 1939 movies party (everybody came as a character from 1939 movie…I gave them a list of titles to help out, but nobody had any problems picking something). It is often cited as the “best year” in films.

However, its pop cultural importance goes far beyond that (I may write a book about it some day…I’ve started making notes).

Certainly, publishing was transformed with Pocket Books #1 (and the other first titles in that series).

Pocket Books wasn’t the first company to publish paperbacks…Penguin was already doing it, and there was Albatross Books in Germany.

What it did do was create the “mass market” paperback edition. It took books that were available and desirable as expensive hardbacks (as opposed to dime novels and penny dreadfuls) and made them available to the masses.

It was a very important step in the democratization of literature.

One can see a parallel with e-books now, especially free public domain ones. Once you get past the barrier of needing something on which to read them, e-books are making the great literature even more available…and supplanting mass market paperbacks in the marketplace.

Pocket Books #1 was Lost Horizon by James Hilton, which is one of today’s Kindle Daily Deals. (for $1.99…as always, check the price before you click or tap that Buy button).

Hilton was big in 1939, in part because of the movie version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (with Robert Donat). That hit book had gotten readers to take another look at Lost Horizon…and that earlier book also became a lasting part of pop culture.

I think that even today, many people have heard the term “Shangri-La” as meaning a place of idyllic splendor.

Just as it was important for Amazon to get Stephen King involved early on with the Kindle (to give it legitimacy), it was important for Pocket Books to have a big name author on board.

There are a couple of things I want to note about this sale:

First, Amazon has it as the “Teens Daily Deal”. That’s a headscratcher for me…I have a hard time seeing it as a book specifically for today’s teens. It doesn’t have a teen protagonist, it’s not particularly connected to issues that affect teenagers. Although it has a connection to a war in Afghanistan (as does Sherlock Holmes…Watson was injured during service in the 2nd Afghan war), and we are still talking about issues in Tibet, I don’t see where it takes a teen-oriented perspective on those things. It’s also not classified as for teens or children by the publisher. I think they probably put it here by mistake. 🙂

Second, this edition is published by Open Road Media. I found it particularly ironic that Lost Horizon was one of the books for which they secured the rights. Open Road came about, in part, because the traditional publishers weren’t bothering to secure e-book rights in the early post-Kindle-launch period. Here was a book which had transformed publishing, and the publishers were letting it wander about as a “free agent”. 😉

I do think it’s worth reading, although it might be a…quiet story for those who might be used to a lot of sex, violence, and profanity. 😉 It’s much more philosophical in nature.

The 1937 movie, with Ronald Colman, is worthwhile, although it’s undeniably different from the book. The 1973 musical movie was derided at the time, but does have its adherents today.

The idea that money even enters into a discussion of Shangri-La amuses me…but the digital list price is $14.99, so this is quite a savings. Maybe if you take the $13 you save and throw it out the window it will help… 😉

LostHorizon.org fansite

Enjoy!

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

Save on Kindles, accessories

Save on Kindles, accessories

Well, now I’m starting to feel like Amazon is adjusting inventory to get ready for an announcement of new Kindle hardware.

First, for a “limited time”, you can get the

Kindle Fire HD 7″, Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi

for $159.

That’s the HD for the same price as the non-HD!

You’ll save $40.

It would be quite a surprise if this wasn’t a model  superseded by a newer version in the next couple of months.

They also have the PowerFast charger on sale for $14.99…$5 off.

Then, there are some offers from AmazonLocal:

• 20% off Certified Refurbished Kindle Fire tablets
• 50% off select Kindle accessories (you can get covers, headphones, a stylus)
• $1 each for select Kindle books

You can see all of those offers here:

http://local.amazon.com/seattle/deals/kindle?cid=site_ann?ref_=site_ann_kindle

You’ll need an AmazonLocal account, but that doesn’t cost anything to get.

The deal on the refurbs (which have the same warranty as new) particularly intrigues me.

Certified Refurbished Kindles

You could get the non-HD model for 20% off $129: $103.20, so close to $100.

As always, check the prices before you click the Buy button, and do check out the restrictions at Amazon Local (you’ll have to ask for the voucher by a certain time, and redeem it by a certain time).

These are good deals…do they mean that we’ll get an announcement about new hardware soon?

Many people guess September…I think we could hear something in August, but we’ll see.

Enjoy!

Update: Bonus deal: one of today’s Kindle Daily Deals is twenty-one Sherrilyn Kenyon novels for $1.99 each. These are from the Dark-Hunter and Dream-Hunter series, although they don’t include the first Dark-Hunter novel, Fantasy Lover, which is currently $5.99.

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

Why it doesn’t make sense for Amazon to “bait and switch” e-books

Why it doesn’t make sense for Amazon to “bait and switch” e-books

There are people who are really anxious to find bad in the world.

Not, by the way, so they can do anything about it necessarily…it’s more like they want to show that they are smarter than other people because they “aren’t falling for it”.

I’ve seen that sort of attitude before. Have you ever noticed how much quicker people are to accept the accusation of a fraud about something unusual than they are to accept an unusual report?

That’s not necessarily because a fraud is more likely than something unusual happening.

True scientists would test both the accusation of the fraud and the claim of the unusual with the same dispassionate and rigorous challenge. That pretty much defines science for me. It isn’t about how you feel about something, it’s about making an observation, coming up with a prediction, and testing it.

If you dismiss something without testing it, that’s as unscientific as accepting something without testing it.

I may have digressed here a bit. 🙂

My point is that some people will toss an accusation of nefarious deception (and sometimes, criminal activity) out into the world, without always thinking it through or testing it.

If you are going to say something bad about someone or some organization, I would always recommend that you look for reasons why it might not be true.

Accuse someone of doing bad when it turns out they aren’t, and you make the world a darker, unhappier place for no good reason.

Say that someone has done something good when they haven’t, and you make the world a brighter, happier place…again, for no reason.

I know which way I’d rather go. 🙂

Actually, I’d rather be accurate, and that requires thinking about what you say.

I recently saw someone complaining that Amazon was using a “bait and switch” by having books on the

Top 100 Free Kindle Books

list that weren’t free.

They used the term “bait and switch”.

Before I address that, let me say that some people were surprised when other people were offended by the term. Do they not think that it is an accusation? I wrote about that “offense blindness” (a condition with which people can’t see that they are being offensive) in How to get help in an online forum.

“Bait and switch” is clearly an accusation of wrongdoing. The term means that you promise one thing to get entice peole to do something (you are “baiting” them), and then you switch it to something else which is less desirable.

Well, if Amazon is ever using “bait and switch” on customers for e-books, it is also doing “catch and release”. 😉

It’s very easy to remedy it if you buy an e-book from Amazon and it doesn’t turn out to be what you thought it was going to be (and that includes the price).

Within seven days of purchase, you can go to

http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle

click or tap

Actions…

and return it for a refund.

So, it doesn’t make much sense for them to fool you with a different price…when you can just get a refund so easily.

Giving you the refund also costs Amazon. It costs them some small amount of money to process it, but it also costs them your goodwill, if you think they tried to fool you…and that’s very valuable for them. Remember, they don’t make much of a margin on e-books (they probably often lose money). If they lose you as a customer over a $2.99 e-book charge, you aren’t going to buy those “diapers and windshield wipers” from them, where I think the real money is.

It simply doesn’t make sense.

Oh, sure, there may be some people who don’t check their e-mail for over a week after ordering, and don’t realize that they were charged for it…but I think that’s going to be  a small number. Amazon can’t make a return policy that covers every contingency: I think that expecting you to look at the price before you click the Buy button and/or checking your e-mail within a week is more than reasonable. Last time I checked, neither Sony, Barnes & Noble, nor Kobo allowed e-book returns at any time for any reason.

The reason the accusation happened is that, yes, sometimes, there are books on the free list that aren’t free.

Amazon explains why that is…the list is updated hourly, and the prices can change any time. So, a book that was free at 12:01 will stay on the list until 1:00 (assuming they are updated on the hour), but the price might change as 12:30.

It’s not like Amazon says they have 100 free books and don’t…they have over 50,000 free books.

They even direct you to free books from other sources.

Now, let me be clear: I’m not saying that I’m scientifically proving that Amazon is not trying to use bait and switch.

What  I’m saying is that it wouldn’t make much sense for them to do so, since they give you such an easy remedy.

It would be like robbing somebody, and then asking them if they want you to give them their money back…and then doing it. 🙂

Oh, and then asking them if they want to shop in your store… 😉

It just doesn’t makes sense to me.

My recommendation?

If you are mad because you think someone has an evil motivation, try to come up with every possible way that you could be wrong about that…make a game out of it.

Believe me, life will be more fun that way. 🙂

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

DoJ proposes Apple punishment…and it’s a doozy

DoJ proposes Apple punishment…and it’s a doozy

It’s not approved yet, and Apple will appeal…but the Department of Justice (DoJ) is definitely looking to have Apple punished for their behavior in the e-book pricing conspiracy…and it goes way beyond just addressing specific consumer losses.

The

DoJ press release

gives you the highlights…and some of them will certainly affect some of my readers.

One interesting one: Apple would be prohibited from stopping Amazon (and others) from having links to buy books in their apps (for two years).  That’s a biggie: right now, if you are using Amazon’s Kindle for iPad app, you can’t buy books directly from it…you have to leave it and use a browser. There was a lot of talk about that when that prohibition was put into the Apple Appstore (I wrote about it in Bye-bye, Buy: Apple changes app policy? more than two years ago).

The proposed rules would also go beyond e-books, affecting music and movies in specific ways.

Here are some of the proposals:

• Apple would have to terminate its contracts with the five publisher co-defendants (who all settled before it was in court). Terminating contracts can cost you big money, since negotiations begin again…and who doesn’t think Apple would be more constrained in negotiating this time?
• For five years, Apple can’t enter into e-book distribution contracts which would “constrain it from competing on price”…I would think this means no “most favored nation” contracts (“you can’t sell it for less somewhere else), and possibly no Agency Model
• Apple can’t serve as a conduit of information between publishers. That means they can’t say, “We have three on board with our deal already”, for example. Again, that hurts negotiations
• Apple can’t retaliate against publishers that don’t adopt an Agency Model (maybe they are okay…I need to read the actual proposal, and we need to see what the court approves)
• I’m going to quote this one: “Apple will also be prohibited from entering into agreements with suppliers of e-books, music, movies, television shows or other content that are likely to increase the prices at which Apple’s competitor retailers may sell that content.” I doubt Apple expected videos to get pulled into this court case
• A full-time external compliance monitor would be hired…and Apple would have to pay all of the salary and expenses? I assume somebody like that makes six figures. I was also amused by this part of it: “The antitrust compliance officer will be responsible for training Apple’s senior executives and other employees about the antitrust laws and ensuring that Apple abides by the relief ordered by the court.” Like they didn’t already know the rules…I couldn’t help but be reminded of being sentenced to Traffic School 😉

Again, this is not final, and Apple will almost certainly fight it.

It feels a little to me like the DoJ is trying to seize on a rare legal victory over Apple…like putting Al Capone in Alcatraz for tax evasion. 😉

We’ll keep an eye on it (this one might even affect Apple stock), but feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

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

Whispercast: $50 service charge for each book?

Whispercast: $50 service charge for each book?

I’ve been writing for years now about the hope (and belief) that Amazon will work out some kind of user profiles within an account.

In other words, a family has an account. A parent has access to some books, a child has access to others.

That can be done now (see my post, Parental controls and your Kindle), but it doesn’t have the sort of simplicity many people would like to see with different archives available, and knowing which books have been sent to which devices.

When Amazon introduced Whispercast

Amazon revolutionizes mass distribution with Whispercast

an enterprise type account for Kindles, it seemed like the answer might be here.

It allows you to put 100 (or more) Kindles on an account, and divide them into groups. You can buy the book* once, and say it should be sent to everybody in one particular group…that’s simple.

However…

I recently wanted to confirm something with them, and, well, the information is not good.

Typically, when you buy a book on a regular account, you can have it on up to six devices registered to your account at a time (and there is no limit to the number of devices you can have registered to an account).

That’s the default number of “simultaneous device licenses” (SDLs): unless it says otherwise on a book’s Amazon product page, you get six SDLs for one price.

How many do you get under Whispercast?

One.

Period.

Simply, that means that my investigating Whispercast for my own use doesn’t make any sense…and I don’t see it making sense for most large organizations.

Let’s say I buy a book for $9.99 on a regular account. Six of us on the account can read it at the same time. That’s about $1.66 per person.

Buy the same $9.99 book for six users on Whispercast, and pay $59.94…about fifty dollars more (and $9.99 per person).

Have 100 employees?

You could have one Whispercast account, and pay $999.99 to put a $9.99 book on their 100 Kindles.

Alternatively, you could open 17 Amazon accounts, and pay $169.83…a savings of $830.16 for each title.

Let’s say it takes a minute to buy the book on each account…and you have a $25 an hour employee doing it (those are not best case scenario numbers, certainly). It costs you about $7.08 for that employee to save you $830.16…sounds worth it to me.

I looked online for something about companies saying they were using Whispercast….while I did find it for a school, I didn’t find it for companies at first glance.

Here are my e-mails with Whispercast Customer Service. It’s legal for me to share them, unless the other person tells you they are private (as I understand it), but I am going to excerpt them a bit (no reason for you to have the representatives’ names, for example):

===

Bufo:

“Let’s say that I have 100 Kindles owned by an organization on a Whispercast account.

I want to put the same book, priced $9.99 (and with the typical six simultaneous device licenses) on those devices, and have it be accessible to all the devices at the same time.

Is that possible, or is it only available to six of the devices at a time?

If it is available to the 100, what is the pricing on that? Would it be $166.50 (100/6 ((to account for the SDLs)) * $9.99?”

—

Amazon:

“Hello Bufo,

Whispercast is a self-service tool to help organizations manage the distribution of content to their Kindle devices and Kindle reading applications. Using Whispercast, organizations can create and register user accounts, create user groups, and can quickly purchase and distribute documents, apps, and Kindle content to their user groups.

You can learn more about Whispercast and sign up at: https://whispercast.amazon.com/

If you had 100 users in Whispercast, you would be purchasing the same book 100 times. The total of the purchase would be $999.00.

Thanks for your interest in Whispercast.”

—

Bufo:

“Just need the response to my question about Whispercast to be very clear for me. Every book purchased through Whispercast only has one simultaneous device license, even though all devices are registered to the same account? If I buy a typical $9.99 book not in Whispercast, I can have it on up to six devices on the same account at a time for that $9.99. According to the answer I received, it would cost me $9.99 per device on my account that licensed it, under Whispercast. I’m questioning that, because it makes Whispercast relatively very expensive…typically, six times more expensive than it would be to purchase it outside of Whispercast. That seems to negate any savings there would be from efficiency.”

—

Amazon:

“Hello Bufo,

Yes it is one book per Kindle. Multiple license availability is set up to be used on regular Amazon.com accounts, family accounts, to allow for a user to be able to read their content know matter where they are or what device or app they are using. Not all content has six licenses for it and licenses are based on what the publisher allows.”

—

===

I do want to compliment Amazon for having such accessible Customer Service. I was able to get this answer quickly, and get it confirmed quickly. There aren’t a lot of companies where I think that would be the case.

This is considerably disappointing about Whispercast, though.

Oh, and it is clear that the Kindle store license that we get with multiple SDLs isn’t just for one person using the book on multiple devices, but for multiple people on the same account. One of many things that makes that clear is the Kindle FreeTime app…that exists to manage multiple user profiles.

Does this mean we won’t get better account management in our personal accounts?

I still expect that to happen.

Netflix is rolling out over the couple of weeks user profiles. Our adult kid and I both use the same Netflix account (although I don’t use it very much), and I really don’t need to see what my kid has watched recently, or particularly want to see recommendations for movies in the multiple languages our kid speaks. 😉

I’ll be very interested to see that implementation. I suspect the new profiles will each have a learning curve as to what we like, but that’s fine with me. I’m generally more likely to just pick my videos myself, or from Recent Additions or Popular on Netflix, that kind of thing, which won’t change if it forgets what I’ve personally watched.

I think we’ll get there on our Kindle accounts eventually. I buy books my Significant Other would never read, and having them show up as available for download on my SO’s Kindle Fire Carousel is just an inconvenience.

If any of you are actually using Whispercast, I’d like to hear about your experience with it, positive or otherwise. You can let me and my readers know what you think by commenting on this post.

* When you “buy a book” in the Kindle store, you are actually buying a license. You own the license as much as you would own a copy of a paperbook, but it works differently. For more information, see my post, How an e-book is like a treadmill at the gym

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

Snapshot: August 1 2013

Snapshot: August 1 2013

I generally run this information through eReaderIQ.com (it’s just easier than Amazon), and there are some vagaries in the searches (both there and on Amazon). I do try to run it the same way every time, so unless Amazon changes something, it should give you a pretty good idea.  NOTE: I’ve changed this explanation from saying “Jungle-Search.com” to “eReaderIQ.com”. It’s the same people and I assume the results are the same. eReaderIQ is just for the Kindle, Jungle-Search does Amazon generally. eReaderIQ has a slightly better interface for the searches.

Titles in Kindle Store

August 1, 2013:  2,060,431
July 1, 2013: 1,998,705
June 1, 2013: 1,972,277
May 1, 2013: 1,940,274
April 1, 2013: 1,924,138
March 1, 2013: 1,913,164
February 1, 2013: 1,849,479
January 1, 2013: 1,805,001
December 1, 2012: 1,742,991
November 1, 2012: 1,641,362
October 1, 2012: 1,579,329
September 1, 2012: 1,531,069
August 1, 2012: 1,486,649
July 1, 2012: 1,451,504
June 1, 2012: 1,407,210
May 1, 2012: 1,358,922
April 1, 2012: 1,315,927
March 1, 2012: 1,265,632
February 1, 2012: 1,207,522
January 1, 2012: 1,165,654
December 1, 2011: 1,112,876
November 1, 2011: 1,058,635
October 1, 2011: 1,033,611
September 1, 2011: 995,265 (roughly 40,000 removed one day: PLR?)
August 1, 2011: 1,015,056
July 1, 2011: 980,434
June 1, 2011: 974,841
May 1, 2011: 937,831
April 1, 2011: 897,663
March 1, 2011: 868,351
February 1, 2011: 828,708
January 1, 2011: 796,131
December 1, 2010: 768,865
November 1, 2010: 743,692
October 1, 2010: 714, 663
September 1, 2010: 687,246
August 1, 2010: 659,479
July 1 2010: 627,343
June 1 2010: 596,300
May 1 2010: 509,229
April 1 2010: 476,653
March 1 2010: 450,625
February 1 2010: 415,100
January 1 2010: 401,773
December 1 2009: 385,484
November 1 2009: 368,813
October 1 2009: 342,865
September 21 2009: 355,805
July 28 2009: 332,813
May 16 2009: 284,491

Approximate average of titles added per day:

August 1, 2013: 1,991
July 1, 2013: 881
June 1, 2013: 1,032
May 1, 2013: 538
April 1, 2013: 354
March 1, 2013: 2,274
February 1, 2013: 1,435
January 1, 2013: 2,000
December 1, 2012: 3,388
November 1, 2012: 2,001
October 1, 2012: 1,609
September 1, 2012: 1,433
August 1, 2012: 1,134
July 1, 2012: 1,476
June 1, 2012: 1,558
May 1, 2012: 1,433
April 1, 2012: 1,622
March 1, 2012: 2,004
February 1, 2012: 1,351
January 1, 2012: 1,703
December 1, 2011: 1,808
November 1, 2011: 807
October 1, 2011: 1,278
September 1, 2011: -638
August 1, 2011: 1,117
July 1, 2011: 186
June 1, 2011: 1,194
May 1, 2011: 1,339
April 1, 2011: 946
March 1, 2011: 1,416 (corrected from last post)
February 1, 2011: 1,051
Taken January 1, 2011: 880 (average for December 2010)
December: 839
November:  968
October: 914
September: 896
August: 1,037
July: 1,035
May: 2,809 (may be affected by Penguin return)
April: 1,086
March: 840
February: 1,146
January: 430 (may be impacted by Macmillan removal)
December 2009: 525
November: 556
October: 837

Magazines:

August 1, 2013: 628
July 1, 2013: 628
June 1, 2013: 626
May 1, 2013: 620
April 1, 2013: 609
March 1, 2013: 605
February 1, 2013: 601
January 1, 2013: 586
December 1, 2012: 573
November 1, 2012: 567
October 1, 2012: 558
September 1, 2012: 547
August 1, 2012: 510
July 1, 2012: 497
June 1, 2012: 476
May 1, 2012: 469
April 1, 2012: 453
March 1, 2012: 430
February 1, 2012: 409
January 1, 2012: 370
December 1, 2011: 340
November 1, 2011: 132
October 1, 2011: 129
September 1, 2011: 127
August 1, 2011: 119
July 1, 2011: 115
June 1, 2011: 110
May 1, 2011: 93
April 1, 2011: 86
March 1, 2011: 81
February 1, 2011:  80
January 1, 2011: 74
December 1, 2010:  83
November 1, 2010: 84
October 1, 2010: 80
September 1. 2010: 70
August 1, 2010: 64
July 1, 2010: 61
June 1, 2010: 60
May 1, 2010: 58
April 1, 2010: 53
March 1, 2010: 50
February 1, 2010: 46
January 1, 2010: 43
December 1, 2009: 40
November 1, 2009: 38

Newspapers:

August 1, 2013: 181
July 1, 2013: 179
June 1, 2013: 180
May 1, 2013: 185
April 1, 2013: 181
March 1, 2013: 198
February 1, 2013: 201
January 1, 2013: 200
December 1, 2012: 198
November 1, 2012: 202
October 1, 2012: 200
September 1, 2012: 201
August 1, 2012: 204
July 1, 2012: 201
June 1, 2012: 199
May 1, 2012: 195
April 1, 2012: 194
March 1, 2012: 193
February 1, 2012: 190
January 1, 2012: 188
December 1, 2011: 211
November 1, 2011: 191
October 1, 2011: 184
September 1, 2011: 177
August 1, 2011: 176
July 1, 2011: 176
June 1, 2011: 169
May 1, 2011: 167
April 1, 2011: 164
March 1, 2011: 161
February 1, 2011:  156
January 1, 2011: 153
December 1, 2010: 148
November 1, 2010: 145
October 1, 2010: 144
September 1, 2010: 138
August 1, 2010: 135
July 1, 2010: 136
June 1, 2010: 133
May 1, 2010: 128
April 1, 2010: 118
March 1, 2010: 107
February 1, 2010: 93
January 1, 2010: 89
December 1, 2009: 76
November 1, 2009: 58

Blogs:

August 1, 2013: 14,555
July 1, 2013: 14,432
June 1, 2013: 14,157
May 1, 2013: 14,552
April 1, 2013: 14,234
March 1, 2013: 13,870
February 1, 2013: 13,461
January 1, 2013: 13,110
December 1, 2012: 13,559
November 1, 2012: 13,178
October 1, 2012: 12,908
September 1, 2012: 12,417
August 1, 2012: 12,087
July 1, 2012: 12,759
June 1, 2012: 12,680
May 1, 2012: 12,914
April 1, 2012: 13,295
March 1, 2012: 13,038
February 1, 2012: 13,984
January 1, 2012: 13,571
December 1, 2011: 13,178
November 1, 2011: 14,286
October 1, 2011: 15,116
September 1, 2011: 14,801
August 1, 2011: 14,477
July 1, 2011: 14,053
June 1, 2011: 13,616
May 1, 2011: 12,901
April 1, 2011: 12,502
March 1, 2011: 12,080
February 1, 2011: 11,355
January 1, 2011: 11,087
December 1, 2010: 10,585
November 1, 2010: 10,255
October 1, 2010: 10,056
September 1, 2010: 10,036
August 1, 2010: 9,716
July 1, 2010: 9,429
June 1, 2010: 9,228
May 1, 2010: 9,094
April 1, 2010: 8,944
March 1, 2010: 8,754
February 1, 2010: 8,651
January 1, 2010: 7992
December 1, 2009: 7589
November 1, 2009: 7365

Percentage of books priced from one penny to $50 that are under ten dollars

July (taken August 1, 2013): 87.9 (1,681,162 of 1,913,454)
June (taken July 1, 2013): 87.7% (1,627,666 of 1,855,614)
May (taken June 1, 2013): 87.8% (1,605,912 of 1,828,577)
April (taken May 1, 2013): 87.8% (1,582,685 of 1,801,844)
March (taken April 1, 2013): 88.1% (1,573,845 of 1,785,986)
February (taken March 1, 2013): 88.4% (1,564,429 of 1,770,452)
January (taken February 1, 2013): 89.6% (1,534,604 of 1,713,256)
December (taken January 1, 2013): 89.9% (1,502,267 of 1,671,220)
November (taken December 1): 89.8% (1,451,437 of 1,615,716)
October (taken November 1): 90.0% (1,371,227 of 1,522,810)
September (taken October 1): 90.1% (1,322,272 of 1,466,890)
August (taken September 1): 90.0% (1,278,733 of 1,421,168)
July (taken August 1): 89.9% (1,240,642 of 1,379,399)
June (taken (July 1): 89.7% (1,204,888 of 1,343,776)
May (taken June 1): 89.8% (1,1174,668 of 1,308,331)
April (taken May 1): 89.9% (1,113,793 of 1,261,606)
March (taken April 1): 89.6% (1,089,619 of 1,215,625)
February (taken March 1): 89.7% (1,044,889 of 1,165,368)
January (taken February 1): 89.4% (994,448 of 1,112,467)
December (taken January 1): 89.0% (955,187 of 1,073,539)
November (taken December 1): 88.8% (907,647 of 1,021,647)
October (taken November 1): 88.7% (859,492 of 968,948)
September (taken October 1): 88.6% (835,590 of 943,545)
August (taken September 1): 88.4% (803,271 of 908,602)
July (taken August 1): 89.1% (829,823 of 931,713)
June (taken July 1): 89.2% (801,631 of 898,735)
May (taken June 1): 89.4% (799,845 of 895,091)
April (taken May 1): 89.2% (769,798 of 862,970)
March (taken April 1): 88.9% (739,192 of 831,867)
February (taken March 1): 92.4% (752,043 of 814,009)
January (taken February 1): 88.9% (692,840 of 779,683)
December (taken January 1): 88.8% (663,315 of 746,963)
November (taken December 1): 88.8% (639,676 of 720,179)
October: (taken November 1): 88.8% (617,133 of 695,278)
September (taken October 1): 93.0% (589,877 of 634,375)
August: 88.2% (565,260 of 640,936)
July: 87.7% (522,046 of 595,370)
June: 87.1% (479,793 of 563,436)
May: 86.8% (462,359 of 532,646)
April: 84.8% (377,624 of 445,421)
March: 83.9% (413,302 of 346,665)
February: 84.2% (328,597 of 390,178)
January: 83.4% (295,634 of 354,499)
December: 83.1% (283,497 of 341,112)
November: 82.8% (268,366 of 324,230)
October: 82.2% (252,511 of 307,241)
September: 82.0% (239,666 of 292318)
August: 83.2% (245,524 of 295,210)

Percentage of books with a publication date of the previous month priced from one penny to $50 that are under ten dollars

Books for July: 93.7% (55,648 of 59,365)
Books for June: 93.6% (52,745 of 56,323)
Books for May: 92.3% (51,237 of 55,482)
Books for April: 93.3% (53,929 of 57,818)
Books for March: 94.5% (53,632 of 56,758)
Books for February: 94.0% (48,876 of 52,015)
Books for January: 93.8% (50,100 of 53,418)
Books for December: 95.7% (49,147 of 51,337)
Books for November:  93.3% (47,702 of 51,103)
Books for October: 93.5% (48,869 of 52,243)
Books for September: 95.0% (52,571 of 49,491)
Books for August: 94.9% (45,180 of 47,593)
Books for July: 95.2% (46,712 of 49,072)
Books for June: 90.8% (50,056 of 55,143)
Books for May: 93.8% (44,463 of 47,396)
Books for April: 96.6% (45,211 of 46,800)
Books for March: 95.6% (48,578 of 50,788)
Books for February: 97.1% (51,180 of 52,734)
Books for January 2012: 96.9% (49,134 of 50,703)
Books for December: 96.8% (46,619 or 48,151)
Books for November: 96.0% (41,067 of 42,678)
Books for October: 96.2% (37,305 of 38,792)
Books for September 96.1% (33,889 of 35,254)
Books for August: 95.8% (37,440 of 39,100)
Books for July: 96.7% (42,922 of 44,400)
Books for June: 96.4% (45,332 of 47,018)
Books for May: 96.9% (51,840 of 53,484)
Books for April: 96.2% (42,795 of 44,464)
Books for March: 96.1% (38,961 of 40,558)
Books for February: 94.7% (32,379 of 34,206)
Books for January: 95.9% (29,010 of 30,260)
Books for December, 2010: 95.2% (23,419 of 24,593)
Books for November: 96.4% (28,189 of 29.251)
Books for October: 94.6% (22,005 of 23,268)
Books for September: 94.7% (22,338 of 23,592)
Books for August: 95.6% (24,514 of 25,638)
Books for July: 95.3% (24,375 of 25,579)
Books for June: 94.9% (21,774 of 22,945)
Books for May: 94.9% (24,436 of 25,737)
Books for April: 95.9% (23,695 of 24,714)
Books for March: 96.0% (23,703 of 24,699)
Books for February: 96.5% (26,850 of 27,815)
Books for January: 93.3% (11,857 of 12,704)
Books for December: 90.6% (8,948 of 9,879)
Books for November: 94.1% (11,520 of 12,239)
Books for October: 91.2% (6,789 of 7,445)
Books for September: 91.0% (5,104 of 5,608)
Books for August: 96.4% (20,239 of 21,079)

Books in the Seventy Percent Royalty Range ($2.99 – $9.99)

August 1, 2013: 64.4% (1,327,280 of 2,060,431)
July 1, 2013: 64.5% (1,288,838 of 1,998,705)
June 1, 2013: 65.0% (1,282,211 of  1,972,277)
May 1, 2013: 65.0% (1,261,991 of 1,940,274)
April 1, 2013: 65.7% (1,264,685 of 1,924,138)
March 1, 2013: 66.2% (1,265,680 of 1,913,164)
February 1, 2013: 67.4% (1,247,401 of 1,849,479)
January 1, 2013: 67.8% (1,224,368 of 1,805,001)
December 1, 2012: 67.9% (1,183,346 of 1,742,991)
November 1, 2012: 64.7% (1,061,871 of 1,641,362)
October 1, 2012: 61.4% (969,791 of 1,579,329)
September 1, 2012: 60.4% (924,771 of 1,531,069)
August 1, 2012: 59.4% (883,612 of 1,486,649)
July 1: 61.3% (890,148 of 1,451,504)
June 1:  62.1% (874,145 of 1,407,210)
May 1: 62.6% (850,030 of  1,358,922)
April 1: 66.8% (812,423 of 1,215,625)
March 1: 61.1% (773,783 of 1,265,632)
February 1: 60.5% (731,051 of 1,207,522)
January 1, 2012: 61.6% (718,191 of 1,165,654)
December 1: 62.5% (694,766 of 1,112,876)
November 1: 61.8% (653,971 of 1,058,635)
October 1: 64.6% (667,521 of 1,033,611)
September 1: 65.8% (654,521 of 995,265)
August 1: 66.8% (677,646 of 1,015,056)
July 1: 63.5% (622,648 of 980,434)
June 1: 65.8% (641,867 of 974,841)
May 1: 67.4% (631,871 of 937,831)
April 1: 67.5% (606,223 of 897,663)
March 1: 68.2% (592,077 of 868,351)
February 1: 67.7% (561,035 of 828,708)
January 1: 66.8% (532,092 of 796,131)
December 1, 2010: 66.9% (514,086 of 768,865)
November 1: 66.7% (493,644 of 743,692)
October 1: 68.2% (487,833 of 714,863)
September 1:  66% (453,408 of 687,246)
August 1: 58% (382,691 of 659,479)
July 1: 57.3% (359,361 of 627,343)
June 1: 57.1% (340,379 of 596,300)
May 1: 51.4% (261,869 of 509,229)
April 1: 51.1% (243,718 of 476,653)
March 1: 52.5% (236,418 of 450,625)
February 1: 50.8% (210,978 of 415,100)

Books from one penny to $2.98

August 1, 2013: 17.5% (361,079 of 2,060,431)
July 1, 2013: 17.3% (346,301 of 1,998,705)
June 1, 2013: 16.8% (330,723 of 1,972,277)
May 1, 2013: 16.9% (326,947 of 1,940,274)
April 1, 2013: 16.4% (315,280 of 1,924,138)
March 1, 2013: 15.9% (304,800 of 1,913,164)
February 1, 2013: 15.8% (293,041 of 1,849,479)
January 1, 2013: 15.7% (283,545 of 1,805,001)
December 1, 2012: 15.5% (270,520 of 1,742,991)
November 1, 2012: 19.2% (315,137 of 1,641,362)
October 1, 2012: 22.7% (358,015 of 1,579,329)
September 1, 2012: 23.5% (359,257 of 1,531,069)
August 1, 2012: 24.3% (361,675 of 1,486,649)
July 1: 22.0% (319,951 of 1,451,504)
June 1:  21.7% (305,794 of 1,407,210)
May 1: 21.3% (288,796 of  1,368,922)
April 1: 23.2% (282,254 of 1,215,625)
March 1: 21.8% (275,556 of 1,265,632)
February 1: 22.2% (268,203 of 1,207,522)
January 1, 2012: 20.7% (241,553 of 1,165,654)
December 1: 19.5% (217,026 of 1,112,876)
November 1: 19.8% (209,435 of 1,058,635)
October 1: 16.7% (172,745 of 1,033,611)
September 1: 15.5% (153,891 of 995,265)
August 1: 15.6% (158,010 of 1,015,056)
July 1: 18.9% (185,041 of 980,434)
June 1: 17.0% (165,687 of 974,841)
May 1: 15.6% (146,540 of 937,831)
April 1: 16.2% (145,638 of 897,863)
March 1: 16.9% (147,076 of 868,351)
February 1: 18.1% (149,809 of 828,708)
January 1: 18.7% (148,681 of 796,131)
December 1, 2010: 18.5%  (142,549 of 768,865)
November 1: 18.4% (136,964 of 743,692)
October 1: 17.9% (127,830 of 714,863)
September 1: 18.5% (127,165 of 687,246)
August 1: 21.1% (139,277 of 659,479)
July 1: 21% (131,432 of 627,343)
June 1: 20.5% (121,981 of 596,300)
May 1: 22.7% (115,756 of 509,229)
April 1: 21.6% (102,948 of 476,653)
March 1: 20.5% (92,180 of 450,625)
February 1: 20.4% (84,721 of 415,100)

Price Point Analysis of New York Times Hardback Fiction Equivalents

August 1, 2013:

11.99 12.99 9.99 12.99 11.99 10.99 9.99 12.99 9.99 9.99

12.99 12.99 11.04 12.99 8.52 12.99 14.99 10.91 11.04 11.84

Average: $11.71

July 1, 2013:

7.99 12.99 11.04 12.99 12.99 11.04 11.04 7.99 11.04 11.04

12.99 12.99 7.99 7.49 11.04 14.99 7.49 12.99 10.99 12.74

Average: $11.09

June 1, 2013:

12.99 12.99 12.99 11.99 8.99 12.99 13.99 12.99 12.99 9.00

14.99 12.99 9.99 9.99 10.99 14.99 10.99 12.80 9.68 12.99

Average: $12.12

May 1, 2013:

12.99 10.99 12.74 12.99 7.99 12.99 10.99 12.99 12.99 12.99
12.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 10.99 10.99 12.99 7.49 14.99 12.59

Average: $12.23

April 1, 2013:

12.74 12.99 11.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 9.45
11.99 14.99 14.99 9.68 12.99 12.99 12.99 9.78 11.04 10.67

Average: $12.36

March 1, 2013:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 N/A 10.99 12.99 12.99 11.99 12.99
12.74 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99

Average: $12.92

February 1, 2013:

N/A 12.99 12.74 12.99 9.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 11.04 12.99

9.99 8.00 12.99 11.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 13.59

Average: $12.38

January 1, 2013:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 11.04 11.04 12.74 11.43 12.74 12.99

11.99 9.99 12.99 7.50 12.99 8.00 19.99 13.49 13.99 14.99

Average: 12.49

December 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 11.99

12.99 12.99 19.99 9.50 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

Average: $13.22

November 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 19.99 12.99 9.50 12.99

11.99 12.99 12.99 11.99 12.99 13.99 14.99 12.80 11.99 12.99

Average: $13.26

October 1, 2012:

19.99 12.99 12.99 9.50 12.99 12.99 9.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

12.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 11.99 9.45 12.99 11.99 12.99 12.99

Average: $12.84

September 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 11.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

12.99 12.99 12.99 11.99 12.99 12.99 9.99 14.99 12.99 14.99 1.99

Average: $12.49

August 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 12.99

12.99 12.99 12.99 11.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

Average: $13.04

July 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

12.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 14.99 12.99 12.99

Average: 13.29

June 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 11.99

12.99 9.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 11.99 12.99 14.99

Average: $12.94

May 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 11.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

Average: $13.04

April 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

14.99* 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 11.9912.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

Average: $13.14

March 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99* 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

9.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

$13.04

February 1, 2012:

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99* 12.99 9.99 12.99 12.99

12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 12.99

Average: $13.04

* There was also an enhanced audio/visual version of this book for $16.99. I chose to enter it here only in the standard version, since that most closely represents the comparison between paper and e-book versions. It isn’t necessary to pay $16.99: it’s an additional payment for more features

January 1, 2012

Average: $13.14

December 1, 2011

Average: $12.40

November 1, 2011:

Average: $12.45

October 1, 2011:

Avg: $13.09

September 1, 2011:

Avg: 12.99

August 1, 2011:

Avg $13.29

July 1, 2011

Avg $13.09

June 1, 2011

Avg: $12.81

May 1, 2011

Average: $12.84

April 1, 2011

Average: $12.69

March 1, 2011

Average: $12.83

February 1, 2011

Average: $12.25
Agency Model average: $12.86
Non-Agency Model average: $9.99

January 1, 2011

Average: $12.52

Agency Model: $12.99

Non-Agency: $9.99

December 1, 2010:

Average: $12.78
Agency Model average: $13.52
Non-Agency Model average: $9.99

November 1, 2010:

Average: $12.83
Agency Model average: $13.59
Non-Agency Model average: $9.99

October 1, 2010:

Average: $12.38
Agency Model average: $12.79
Non-Agency Model average: $10.87

September 1, 2010:

Average: $12.52
Agency Model average $12.99
Non-Agency Model average $9.99

Textbooks in the Kindle Store

August 1, 2013: 29,956
July 1, 2013: 29,070
June 1, 2013: 28,194
May 1, 2013: 27,110
April 1, 2013: 26,35
March 1, 2013: 26,100
February 1, 2013: 25,000
January 1, 2013: 23,256
December 1, 2012: 21,507
November 1, 2012: 19,796
October 1, 2012: 19,095
September 1, 2012: 18,369
August 1, 2012: 17,756
July 1, 2012: 24,629
June 1, 2012: 15,581
May 1, 2012: 14,868
April 1, 2012: 16,509
March 1, 2012: 15,434
February 1, 2012: 14,827
January 1, 2012: 13,828
December 1, 2011: 13,396
November 1, 2011: 13,131
October 1, 2011: 12,788
September 1, 2011: 11,966
August 1, 2011: 10,316
July 1, 2011: 9,852
June 1, 2011: 9,442
May 1, 2011: 9,193
April 1, 2011:  8,952
March 1, 2011: 8,633
February 1, 2011: 8,342
January 1, 2011: 7,926
December 1, 2010: 7,637
November 1, 2010: 7,355
October 1, 2010: 7, 162
September 1, 2010: 6,831
August 1, 2010: 6,661
July 1, 2010: 6,481
June 1, 2010: 6,249
May 1, 2010: 6,117
April 1, 2010: 5,973
March 1, 2010: 5,728
February 1, 2010: 5,673
January 1, 2010: 5,549
December 1, 2009: 4,892
November 1, 2009: 4,768
October 1, 2009: 4,633
September 24, 2009: 4,678
August 11, 2009: 4,381

Free books (including public domain)

August 1, 2013: 56,113
July 1, 2013: 55,068
June 1, 2013: 55,811
May 1, 2013: 54,033
April 1, 2013: 55,670
March 1, 2013: 54,946
February 1, 2013: 54,567
January 1, 2013: 54,538
December 1, 2012: 50,869
November 1, 2012: 50,938
October 1, 2012: 50,982
September 1, 2012: 52,601
August 1, 2012: 51,680
July 1: 53,728
June 1: 50,470
May 1: 48,904
April 1: 49,826
March 1: 51,860
February 1: 48,207
January 1, 2012: 46,201
December 1: 43,757
November 1: 42,657
October 1, 2011: 42,710
September 1, 2011: 39,540
August 1, 2011: 38,936
July 1, 2011: 38,627
June 1, 2011: 37,415
May 1, 2011: 36,481
April 1, 2011: 33,469
March 1, 2011: 15,931
February 1, 2011: 15,947
January 1, 2011: 16,758
December 1, 2010: 16,708
November 1, 2010: 16,703
October 1, 2010: 16,702
September 1, 2010: 16,726
August 1, 2010: 20,634
July 1, 2010: 20,628
June 1, 2010: 20,590
May 1, 2010: 20,601
April 1, 2010: 20,619
March 1, 2010: 20,143
February 1, 2010: 19788
January 1, 2010: 19,802
December 1, 2009: 19,895
November 1, 2009: 18,547
October 1, 2009: 7,428
February 28, 2009: 7,401

Free books (without public domain)

August 1, 2013: 9,816
July 1, 2013: 8,921
June 1, 2013: 9,582
May 1, 2013: 7,807
April 1, 2013: 7,761
March 1, 2013: 7,710
February 1, 2013: 7,404
January 1, 2013: 7,261
December 1, 2012: 7,089
November 1, 2012: 7,186
October 1, 2012: 7,259
September 1, 2012: 8,701
August 1, 2012: 7,829
July 1, 2012: 9,660
June 1, 2012: 6,715
May 1, 2012: 5,195
April 1, 2012: 5,622
March 1, 2012: 8,356
February 1, 2012: 6,109
January 1, 2012: 4,102
December 1, 2011: 2,007
November 1, 2011: 1,681
October 1, 2011: 1,449
September 1, 2011: 1,283
August 1, 2011: 1,046
July 1, 2011: 883
June 1, 2011: 707
May 1, 2011: 20,984
April 1, 2011: 17,832
March 1, 2011: 241
February 1, 2011: 240
January 1, 2011: 230
December 1, 2010: 183
November 1, 2010: 171
October 1, 2010: 161
September 1, 2010: 143
August 1, 2010: 621 (125 without Amazon Breakthrough nominees)
July 1, 2010: 599 (102 without Amazon Breakthrough nominees)
June 1, 2010: 559 (63 without Amazon Breakthrough nominees)
May 1, 2010: 556 (57 without Amazon Breakthrough nominees)
April 1, 2010: 560 (59 without Amazon Breakthrough nominees)
March 1, 2010: 67
February 1, 2010: 52
January 1, 2010: 53
December 1, 2009: 84
November 1, 2009: 64
October 1, 2009: 67

Spanish edition books*

August 1, 2013: 71,335
July 1, 2013: 68,643
June 1, 2013: 66,070
May 1, 2013: 63,842
April 1, 2013: 61,264
March 1, 2013: 54,839
February 1, 2013: 52,638
January 1, 2013: 51,302
December 1, 2012: 48,905
November 1, 2012: 46,790
October 1, 2012: 44,232
September 1, 2012: 41,659
August 1, 2012: 40,214
July 1, 2012: 38,684
June 1, 2012: 36,891
May 1, 2012: 34,308
April 1, 2012: 32,157
March 1, 2012: 29,480
February 1, 2012: 22,834
January 1, 2012: 22,492
December 1, 2011: 19,928
November 1, 2011: 15,758
October 1, 2011: 16,874
September 1, 2011: 14,805
August 1, 2011: 11,383
July 1, 2011: 10,552
June 1, 2011: 9,917
May 1, 2011: 9,251
April 1, 2011: 8,362
March 1, 2011: 9,244
February 1, 2011: 8,608
January 1, 2011: 8.045
December 1, 2010: 5,839
November 1, 2010: 5,286
October 1, 2010: 4,982
September 1, 2010: 4,723
August 1, 2010: 4,623
July 1, 2010: 4,398
June 1, 2010: 4,078
May 1, 2010: 3,735
April 1, 2010: 3,383
March 1, 2010: 2,841
February 1, 2010: 2,548
January 1, 2010: 2,363
December 1, 2009: 3,483

Books in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL)

August 1, 2013: 389,380 (18.9%)
July 1, 2013: 369,622 (18.5%)
June 1, 2013: 352,649 (17.1%)
May 1, 2013: 336,351 (17.3%)
April 1, 2013: 319,676 (16.6%)
March 1, 2013: 302,080 (15.8%)
February 1, 2013: 283,641 (15.3%)
January 1, 2013: 264,444
December 1, 2012: 242,716
November 1, 2012: 235,957
October 1, 2012: 216,873
September 1, 2012: 198,009
August 1, 2012: 180,133
July 1, 2012: 168,440
June 1, 2012: 159,937
May 1, 2012: 146,182
April 1, 2012: 131,110
March 1, 2012: 117,652
February 1, 2012: 95,020
January 1, 2012: 69,850 (new measurement)

Price Point Analysis

April 1, 2010 was “Agency Day”, when the pricing system for some of the largest trade publishers in the US changed. I’ve started tracking price points, to see how that is affecting things. These are not ranges: it’s how many books are at a specific price point.

	4/1/2010
Total	476653
Prime	413032
Under $10	346665
	83.9%
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$ 0.99	43,993	9.17%	0.01%
$ 1.99	7,704	1.61%	0.00%
$ 2.99	14,560	3.03%	0.00%
$ 3.99	17,390	3.62%	-0.02%
$ 4.99	9,758	2.03%	-0.01%
$ 5.99	2,691	0.56%	0.00%
$ 6.99	1,800	0.38%	0.00%
$ 7.99	10,927	2.28%	-0.25%
$ 8.99	1,312	0.27%	0.00%
$ 9.99	51,857	10.80%	-0.26%
$ 10.99	191	0.04%	0.00%
$ 11.99	196	0.04%	0.00%
$ 12.99	308	0.06%	0.00%
$ 13.99	93	0.02%	0.00%
$ 14.99	806	0.17%	0.00%
$ 15.99	114	0.02%	0.00%
$ 16.99	67	0.01%	0.00%
$ 17.99	43	0.01%	0.00%
$ 18.99	21	0.00%	0.00%
$ 19.99	201	0.04%	0.00%
$ 20.99	11	0.00%	0.00%
$ 21.99	11	0.00%	0.00%
$ 22.99	21	0.00%	0.00%
$ 23.99	5	0.00%	0.00%
$ 24.99	50	0.01%	0.00%

—

4/1/2011
Total	897,663
Prime	831,867
Under $10	739192
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	71,036	7.91%	-0.84%
$    1.99	15,994	1.78%	0.06%
$    2.99	50,033	5.57%	0.30%
$    3.99	23,986	2.67%	0.24%
$    4.99	20,374	2.27%	0.48%
$    5.99	10,560	1.18%	0.16%
$    6.99	7,422	0.83%	0.07%
$    7.99	18,354	2.04%	0.20%
$    8.99	4,436	0.49%	-0.04%
$    9.99	96,211	10.72%	0.88%
$   10.99	766	0.09%	0.02%
$   11.99	1,383	0.15%	-0.01%
$   12.99	2,122	0.24%	0.01%
$   13.99	506	0.06%	0.00%
$   14.99	1,519	0.17%	-0.01%
$   15.99	172	0.02%	0.01%
$   16.99	225	0.03%	0.00%
$   17.99	403	0.04%	0.02%
$   18.99	199	0.02%	0.01%
$   19.99	568	0.06%	-0.01%
$   20.99	45	0.01%	0.00%
$   21.99	152	0.02%	0.00%
$   22.99	21	0.00%	0.00%
$   23.99	22	0.00%	0.00%
$   24.99	104	0.01%	-0.04%

—

5/1/2011
Total	937,831
Prime	862,970
Under $10	769,798
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	74,929	7.99%	0.08%
$        1.99	16,497	1.76%	-0.02%
$        2.99	56,878	6.06%	0.49%
$        3.99	22,937	2.45%	-0.23%
$        4.99	24,880	2.65%	0.38%
$        5.99	13,387	1.43%	0.25%
$        6.99	5,215	0.56%	-0.27%
$        7.99	18,992	2.03%	-0.02%
$        8.99	5,053	0.54%	0.04%
$        9.99	103,463	11.03%	0.31%
$      10.99	865	0.09%	0.01%
$      11.99	1,412	0.15%	0.00%
$      12.99	2,271	0.24%	0.01%
$      13.99	490	0.05%	0.00%
$      14.99	1,577	0.17%	0.00%
$      15.99	134	0.01%	0.00%
$      16.99	235	0.03%	0.00%
$      17.99	471	0.05%	0.01%
$      18.99	207	0.02%	0.00%
$      19.99	465	0.05%	-0.01%
$      20.99	29	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	172	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	34	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	79	0.01%	0.01%
$      24.99	110	0.01%	0.00%

—

6/1/2011
Total	974,841
Prime	895,091
Under $10	799,845
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	81,095	8.32%	0.33%
$        1.99	16,628	1.71%	-0.05%
$        2.99	54,630	5.60%	-0.46%
$        3.99	22,026	2.26%	-0.19%
$        4.99	18,976	1.95%	-0.71%
$        5.99	10,685	1.10%	-0.33%
$        6.99	7,039	0.72%	0.17%
$        7.99	15,841	1.62%	-0.40%
$        8.99	4,226	0.43%	-0.11%
$        9.99	90,005	9.23%	-1.80%
$      10.99	619	0.06%	-0.03%
$      11.99	1,481	0.15%	0.00%
$      12.99	2,112	0.22%	-0.03%
$      13.99	571	0.06%	0.01%
$      14.99	1,720	0.18%	0.01%
$      15.99	176	0.02%	0.00%
$      16.99	230	0.02%	0.00%
$      17.99	251	0.03%	-0.02%
$      18.99	178	0.02%	0.00%
$      19.99	468	0.05%	0.00%
$      20.99	25	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	200	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	29	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	59	0.01%	0.00%
$      24.99	121	0.01%	0.00%

—

July 1, 2011

7/1/2011
Total	980,434
Prime	898,735
Under $10	801,631
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	73,957	7.54%	-0.78%
$        1.99	18,207	1.86%	0.15%
$        2.99	34,414	3.51%	-2.09%
$        3.99	26,942	2.75%	0.49%
$        4.99	8,926	0.91%	-1.04%
$        5.99	5,117	0.52%	-0.57%
$        6.99	3,725	0.38%	-0.34%
$        7.99	14,537	1.48%	-0.14%
$        8.99	2,009	0.20%	-0.23%
$        9.99	79,377	8.10%	-1.14%
$      10.99	491	0.05%	-0.01%
$      11.99	1,574	0.16%	0.01%
$      12.99	1,863	0.19%	-0.03%
$      13.99	509	0.05%	-0.01%
$      14.99	1,555	0.16%	-0.02%
$      15.99	453	0.05%	0.03%
$      16.99	201	0.02%	0.00%
$      17.99	138	0.01%	-0.01%
$      18.99	118	0.01%	-0.01%
$      19.99	271	0.03%	-0.02%
$      20.99	18	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	186	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	32	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	111	0.01%	0.01%
$      24.99	125	0.01%	0.00%

—

August 1, 2011

8/1/2011
Total	1,015,056
Prime	931,713
Under $10	829,823
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	76,233	7.51%	-0.03%
$    1.99	17,083	1.68%	-0.17%
$    2.99	66,967	6.60%	3.09%
$    3.99	12,921	1.27%	-1.48%
$    4.99	27,893	2.75%	1.84%
$    5.99	12,894	1.27%	0.75%
$    6.99	2,715	0.27%	-0.11%
$    7.99	18,431	1.82%	0.33%
$    8.99	5,638	0.56%	0.35%
$    9.99	111,705	11.00%	2.91%
$   10.99	473	0.05%	0.00%
$   11.99	1,691	0.17%	0.01%
$   12.99	2,129	0.21%	0.02%
$   13.99	576	0.06%	0.00%
$   14.99	1,768	0.17%	0.02%
$   15.99	252	0.02%	-0.02%
$   16.99	230	0.02%	0.00%
$   17.99	128	0.01%	0.00%
$   18.99	249	0.02%	0.01%
$   19.99	468	0.05%	0.02%
$   20.99	46	0.00%	0.00%
$   21.99	166	0.02%	0.00%
$   22.99	64	0.01%	0.00%
$   23.99	90	0.01%	0.00%
$   24.99	59	0.01%	-0.01%

September 1, 2011

9/1/2011
Total	995,265
Prime	908,602
Under $10	803,271
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	77,793	7.82%	0.31%
$    1.99	16,614	1.67%	-0.01%
$    2.99	56,503	5.68%	-0.92%
$    3.99	21,995	2.21%	0.94%
$    4.99	21,595	2.17%	-0.58%
$    5.99	11,312	1.14%	-0.13%
$    6.99	7,477	0.75%	0.48%
$    7.99	16,948	1.70%	-0.11%
$    8.99	14,883	1.50%	0.94%
$    9.99	102,626	10.31%	-0.69%
$   10.99	485	0.05%	0.00%
$   11.99	983	0.10%	-0.07%
$   12.99	1,374	0.14%	-0.07%
$   13.99	316	0.03%	-0.02%
$   14.99	1,501	0.15%	-0.02%
$   15.99	160	0.02%	-0.01%
$   16.99	159	0.02%	-0.01%
$   17.99	285	0.03%	0.02%
$   18.99	165	0.02%	-0.01%
$   19.99	446	0.04%	0.00%
$   20.99	50	0.01%	0.00%
$   21.99	171	0.02%	0.00%
$   22.99	41	0.00%	0.00%
$   23.99	33	0.00%	-0.01%
$   24.99	109	0.01%	0.01%

—

10/1/2011
Total	1,033,611
Prime	943,545
Under $10	835,590
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	81,946	7.93%	0.11%
$        1.99	16,172	1.56%	-0.10%
$        2.99	48,287	4.67%	-1.01%
$        3.99	16,808	1.63%	-0.58%
$        4.99	17,389	1.68%	-0.49%
$        5.99	8,259	0.80%	-0.34%
$        6.99	5,300	0.51%	-0.24%
$        7.99	10,833	1.05%	-0.65%
$        8.99	12,478	1.21%	-0.29%
$        9.99	89,175	8.63%	-1.68%
$      10.99	395	0.04%	-0.01%
$      11.99	804	0.08%	-0.02%
$      12.99	1,285	0.12%	-0.01%
$      13.99	302	0.03%	0.00%
$      14.99	1,386	0.13%	-0.02%
$      15.99	146	0.01%	0.00%
$      16.99	151	0.01%	0.00%
$      17.99	144	0.01%	-0.01%
$      18.99	75	0.01%	-0.01%
$      19.99	368	0.04%	-0.01%
$      20.99	22	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	150	0.01%	0.00%
$      22.99	26	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	35	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	66	0.01%	0.00%

—

11/1/2011
Total	1,058,635
Prime	968,948
Under $10	859,492
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	84,612	7.99%	0.06%
$    1.99	7,659	0.72%	-0.84%
$    2.99	19,157	1.81%	-2.86%
$    3.99	10,245	0.97%	-0.66%
$    4.99	7,451	0.70%	-0.98%
$    5.99	3,026	0.29%	-0.51%
$    6.99	2,533	0.24%	-0.27%
$    7.99	8,414	0.79%	-0.25%
$    8.99	11,882	1.12%	-0.08%
$    9.99	70,312	6.64%	-1.99%
$   10.99	348	0.03%	-0.01%
$   11.99	1,144	0.11%	0.03%
$   12.99	1,068	0.10%	-0.02%
$   13.99	280	0.03%	0.00%
$   14.99	1,171	0.11%	-0.02%
$   15.99	69	0.01%	-0.01%
$   16.99	118	0.01%	0.00%
$   17.99	116	0.01%	0.00%
$   18.99	59	0.01%	0.00%
$   19.99	234	0.02%	-0.01%
$   20.99	33	0.00%	0.00%
$   21.99	153	0.01%	0.00%
$   22.99	29	0.00%	0.00%
$   23.99	28	0.00%	0.00%
$   24.99	89	0.01%	0.00%

—

12/1/2011
Total	1,112,876
Prime	1021677
Under $10	907,647
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	90,203	8.11%	0.11%
$    1.99	17,711	1.59%	0.87%
$    2.99	29,634	2.66%	0.85%
$    3.99	23,617	2.12%	1.15%
$    4.99	23,320	2.10%	1.39%
$    5.99	4,606	0.41%	0.13%
$    6.99	4,887	0.44%	0.20%
$    7.99	13,241	1.19%	0.40%
$    8.99	10,646	0.96%	-0.17%
$    9.99	71,709	6.44%	-0.20%
$   10.99	466	0.04%	0.01%
$   11.99	598	0.05%	-0.05%
$   12.99	1,038	0.09%	-0.01%
$   13.99	317	0.03%	0.00%
$   14.99	1,234	0.11%	0.00%
$   15.99	78	0.01%	0.00%
$   16.99	109	0.01%	0.00%
$   17.99	132	0.01%	0.00%
$   18.99	50	0.00%	0.00%
$   19.99	278	0.02%	0.00%
$   20.99	25	0.00%	0.00%
$   21.99	168	0.02%	0.00%
$   22.99	31	0.00%	0.00%
$   23.99	25	0.00%	0.00%
$   24.99	104	0.01%	0.00%

—

1/1/2012
Total	1,165,654
Prime	1073539
Under $10	955,187
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	99,225	8.51%	0.41%
$        1.99	16,088	1.38%	-0.21%
$        2.99	38,295	3.29%	0.62%
$        3.99	24,602	2.11%	-0.01%
$        4.99	18,289	1.57%	-0.53%
$        5.99	4,438	0.38%	-0.03%
$        6.99	5,002	0.43%	-0.01%
$        7.99	11,495	0.99%	-0.20%
$        8.99	12,412	1.06%	0.11%
$        9.99	68,467	5.87%	-0.57%
$      10.99	421	0.04%	-0.01%
$      11.99	549	0.05%	-0.01%
$      12.99	1,010	0.09%	-0.01%
$      13.99	270	0.02%	-0.01%
$      14.99	1,272	0.11%	0.00%
$      15.99	142	0.01%	0.01%
$      16.99	102	0.01%	0.00%
$      17.99	192	0.02%	0.00%
$      18.99	44	0.00%	0.00%
$      19.99	279	0.02%	0.00%
$      20.99	19	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	134	0.01%	0.00%
$      22.99	30	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	36	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	108	0.01%	0.00%

—

2/1/2012
Total	1,207,522
Prime	1,112,467
Under $10	994,448
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	107,238	8.88%	0.37%
$        1.99	8,528	0.71%	-0.67%
$        2.99	28,515	2.36%	-0.92%
$        3.99	7,463	0.62%	-1.49%
$        4.99	6,509	0.54%	-1.03%
$        5.99	2,761	0.23%	-0.15%
$        6.99	2,740	0.23%	-0.20%
$        7.99	7,571	0.63%	-0.36%
$        8.99	13,377	1.11%	0.04%
$        9.99	58,244	4.82%	-1.05%
$      10.99	331	0.03%	-0.01%
$      11.99	476	0.04%	-0.01%
$      12.99	914	0.08%	-0.01%
$      13.99	186	0.02%	-0.01%
$      14.99	988	0.08%	-0.03%
$      15.99	82	0.01%	-0.01%
$      16.99	98	0.01%	0.00%
$      17.99	194	0.02%	0.00%
$      18.99	59	0.00%	0.00%
$      19.99	167	0.01%	-0.01%
$      20.99	15	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	163	0.01%	0.00%
$      22.99	20	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	19	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	58	0.00%	0.00%

—

3/1/2012
Total	1,265,632
Prime	1,165,368
Under $10	1,044,889
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	113,150	8.94%	0.06%
$        1.99	10,638	0.84%	0.13%
$        2.99	43,320	3.42%	1.06%
$        3.99	18,776	1.48%	0.87%
$        4.99	8,565	0.68%	0.14%
$        5.99	3,879	0.31%	0.08%
$        6.99	3,591	0.28%	0.06%
$        7.99	8,164	0.65%	0.02%
$        8.99	14,825	1.17%	0.06%
$        9.99	62,009	4.90%	0.08%
$      10.99	375	0.03%	0.00%
$      11.99	673	0.05%	0.01%
$      12.99	936	0.07%	0.00%
$      13.99	249	0.02%	0.00%
$      14.99	1,005	0.08%	0.00%
$      15.99	117	0.01%	0.00%
$      16.99	102	0.01%	0.00%
$      17.99	210	0.02%	0.00%
$      18.99	55	0.00%	0.00%
$      19.99	213	0.02%	0.00%
$      20.99	12	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	170	0.01%	0.00%
$      22.99	26	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	20	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	73	0.01%	0.00%

—

4/1/2012
Total	1,315,927
Prime	1,215,625
Under $10	1,089,619
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	118,411	9.00%	0.06%
$        1.99	12,440	0.95%	0.10%
$        2.99	53,686	4.08%	0.66%
$        3.99	30,997	2.36%	0.87%
$        4.99	10,786	0.82%	0.14%
$        5.99	5,026	0.38%	0.08%
$        6.99	4,705	0.36%	0.07%
$        7.99	8,988	0.68%	0.04%
$        8.99	5,461	0.41%	-0.76%
$        9.99	71,568	5.44%	0.54%
$      10.99	654	0.05%	0.02%
$      11.99	1,281	0.10%	0.04%
$      12.99	1,835	0.14%	0.07%
$      13.99	438	0.03%	0.01%
$      14.99	1,739	0.13%	0.05%
$      15.99	323	0.02%	0.02%
$      16.99	236	0.02%	0.01%
$      17.99	86	0.01%	-0.01%
$      18.99	118	0.01%	0.00%
$      19.99	395	0.03%	0.01%
$      20.99	25	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	272	0.02%	0.01%
$      22.99	34	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	17	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	96	0.01%	0.00%

—

5/1/2012
Total	1,358,922
Prime	1,261,606
Under $10	1,133,793
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	122,040	9.27%	0.28%
$        1.99	13,124	1.00%	0.05%
$        2.99	64,106	4.87%	0.79%
$        3.99	37,072	2.82%	0.46%
$        4.99	12,631	0.96%	0.14%
$        5.99	6,288	0.48%	0.10%
$        6.99	4,897	0.37%	0.01%
$        7.99	10,145	0.77%	0.09%
$        8.99	3,156	0.24%	-0.18%
$        9.99	76,063	5.78%	0.34%
$      10.99	809	0.06%	0.01%
$      11.99	1,816	0.14%	0.04%
$      12.99	2,159	0.16%	0.02%
$      13.99	565	0.04%	0.01%
$      14.99	2,010	0.15%	0.02%
$      15.99	140	0.01%	-0.01%
$      16.99	306	0.02%	0.01%
$      17.99	78	0.01%	0.00%
$      18.99	91	0.01%	0.00%
$      19.99	471	0.04%	0.01%
$      20.99	24	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	283	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	34	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	27	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	150	0.01%	0.00%

—

5/1/2012
Total	1,407,210
Prime	1,308,331
Under $10	1,174,668
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	125,811	9.56%	0.29%
$        1.99	13,076	0.99%	0.00%
$        2.99	66,685	5.07%	0.20%
$        3.99	36,204	2.75%	-0.07%
$        4.99	11,225	0.85%	-0.11%
$        5.99	5,903	0.45%	-0.03%
$        6.99	4,569	0.35%	-0.02%
$        7.99	10,524	0.80%	0.03%
$        8.99	2,717	0.21%	-0.03%
$        9.99	71,733	5.45%	-0.33%
$      10.99	885	0.07%	0.01%
$      11.99	1,818	0.14%	0.00%
$      12.99	2,140	0.16%	0.00%
$      13.99	684	0.05%	0.01%
$      14.99	2,042	0.16%	0.00%
$      15.99	182	0.01%	0.00%
$      16.99	302	0.02%	0.00%
$      17.99	73	0.01%	0.00%
$      18.99	108	0.01%	0.00%
$      19.99	513	0.04%	0.00%
$      20.99	29	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	251	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	35	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	29	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	97	0.01%	0.00%

—

7/1/2012
Total	1,451,504
Prime	1,343,776
Under $10	1,204,888
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	129,323	8.91%	-0.65%
$        1.99	12,780	0.88%	-0.11%
$        2.99	64,315	4.43%	-0.64%
$        3.99	27,128	1.87%	-0.88%
$        4.99	12,335	0.85%	0.00%
$        5.99	6,307	0.43%	-0.01%
$        6.99	5,118	0.35%	0.01%
$        7.99	10,689	0.74%	-0.06%
$        8.99	2,871	0.20%	-0.01%
$        9.99	78,303	5.39%	-0.06%
$      10.99	875	0.06%	-0.01%
$      11.99	1,804	0.12%	-0.01%
$      12.99	2,291	0.16%	0.00%
$      13.99	688	0.05%	0.00%
$      14.99	2,225	0.15%	0.00%
$      15.99	218	0.02%	0.00%
$      16.99	332	0.02%	0.00%
$      17.99	79	0.01%	0.00%
$      18.99	104	0.01%	0.00%
$      19.99	443	0.03%	-0.01%
$      20.99	26	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	319	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	44	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	30	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	109	0.01%	0.00%

—

8/1/2012
Total	1,486,649
Prime	1,379,399
Under $10	1,240,062
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	137,876	9.27%	0.36%
$        1.99	9,880	0.66%	-0.22%
$        2.99	46,971	3.16%	-1.27%
$        3.99	12,096	0.81%	-1.06%
$        4.99	8,445	0.57%	-0.28%
$        5.99	4,956	0.33%	-0.10%
$        6.99	3,180	0.21%	-0.14%
$        7.99	10,781	0.73%	-0.01%
$        8.99	2,877	0.19%	0.00%
$        9.99	70,140	4.72%	-0.68%
$      10.99	962	0.06%	0.00%
$      11.99	1,910	0.13%	0.00%
$      12.99	2,371	0.16%	0.00%
$      13.99	636	0.04%	0.00%
$      14.99	2,056	0.14%	-0.01%
$      15.99	192	0.01%	0.00%
$      16.99	357	0.02%	0.00%
$      17.99	121	0.01%	0.00%
$      18.99	82	0.01%	0.00%
$      19.99	337	0.02%	-0.01%
$      20.99	35	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	364	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	38	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	24	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	86	0.01%	0.00%

—

9/1/2012
Total	1,531,069
Prime	1,421,168
Under $10	1,278,733
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	144,288	9.42%	0.15%
$        1.99	13,399	0.88%	0.21%
$        2.99	68,395	4.47%	1.31%
$        3.99	14,760	0.96%	0.15%
$        4.99	11,627	0.76%	0.19%
$        5.99	6,456	0.42%	0.09%
$        6.99	5,407	0.35%	0.14%
$        7.99	11,697	0.76%	0.04%
$        8.99	3,050	0.20%	0.01%
$        9.99	74,605	4.87%	0.15%
$      10.99	955	0.06%	0.00%
$      11.99	1,973	0.13%	0.00%
$      12.99	2,119	0.14%	-0.02%
$      13.99	582	0.04%	0.00%
$      14.99	2,039	0.13%	-0.01%
$      15.99	212	0.01%	0.00%
$      16.99	347	0.02%	0.00%
$      17.99	127	0.01%	0.00%
$      18.99	81	0.01%	0.00%
$      19.99	385	0.03%	0.00%
$      20.99	19	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	313	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	38	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	26	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	99	0.01%	0.00%

—

10/1/2012
Total	1,579,329
Prime	1,466,890
Under $10	1,322,272
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	147,931	9.37%	-0.06%
$        1.99	16,053	1.02%	0.14%
$        2.99	87,788	5.56%	1.09%
$        3.99	20,853	1.32%	0.36%
$        4.99	14,656	0.93%	0.17%
$        5.99	7,558	0.48%	0.06%
$        6.99	6,642	0.42%	0.07%
$        7.99	13,807	0.87%	0.11%
$        8.99	3,256	0.21%	0.01%
$        9.99	84,003	5.32%	0.45%
$      10.99	972	0.06%	0.00%
$      11.99	2,052	0.13%	0.00%
$      12.99	2,189	0.14%	0.00%
$      13.99	587	0.04%	0.00%
$      14.99	2,123	0.13%	0.00%
$      15.99	216	0.01%	0.00%
$      16.99	339	0.02%	0.00%
$      17.99	109	0.01%	0.00%
$      18.99	117	0.01%	0.00%
$      19.99	509	0.03%	0.01%
$      20.99	32	0.00%	0.00%
$      21.99	371	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	38	0.00%	0.00%
$      23.99	32	0.00%	0.00%
$      24.99	109	0.01%	0.00%

—

Total	1,641,362
Prime	1,522,810
Under $10	1,371,227
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	155,732	9.49%	0.12%
$    1.99	24,777	1.51%	0.49%
$    2.99	134,461	8.19%	2.63%
$    3.99	49,221	3.00%	1.68%
$    4.99	29,671	1.81%	0.88%
$    5.99	15,629	0.95%	0.47%
$    6.99	12,969	0.79%	0.37%
$    7.99	22,527	1.37%	0.50%
$    8.99	6,642	0.40%	0.20%
$    9.99	134,811	8.21%	2.89%
$   10.99	1,576	0.10%	0.03%
$   11.99	2,986	0.18%	0.05%
$   12.99	3,292	0.20%	0.06%
$   13.99	894	0.05%	0.02%
$   14.99	2,717	0.17%	0.03%
$   15.99	319	0.02%	0.01%
$   16.99	481	0.03%	0.01%
$   17.99	235	0.01%	0.01%
$   18.99	237	0.01%	0.01%
$   19.99	902	0.05%	0.02%
$   20.99	68	0.00%	0.00%
$   21.99	431	0.03%	0.00%
$   22.99	87	0.01%	0.00%
$   23.99	86	0.01%	0.00%
$   24.99	218	0.01%	0.01%

—

12/1/2012
Total	1,742,991
Prime	1,615,716
Under $10	1,451,437
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	163,634	9.97%	0.48%
$        1.99	40,111	2.44%	0.93%
$        2.99	192,449	11.72%	3.53%
$        3.99	122,419	7.46%	4.46%
$        4.99	50,073	3.05%	1.24%
$        5.99	27,780	1.69%	0.74%
$        6.99	20,681	1.26%	0.47%
$        7.99	40,348	2.46%	1.09%
$        8.99	10,692	0.65%	0.25%
$        9.99	236,101	14.38%	6.17%
$      10.99	2,423	0.15%	0.05%
$      11.99	4,346	0.26%	0.08%
$      12.99	4,614	0.28%	0.08%
$      13.99	1,299	0.08%	0.02%
$      14.99	3,439	0.21%	0.04%
$      15.99	840	0.05%	0.03%
$      16.99	595	0.04%	0.01%
$      17.99	354	0.02%	0.01%
$      18.99	495	0.03%	0.02%
$      19.99	1,498	0.09%	0.04%
$      20.99	120	0.01%	0.00%
$      21.99	383	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	153	0.01%	0.00%
$      23.99	136	0.01%	0.00%
$      24.99	370	0.02%	0.01%

—

1/1/2013
Total	1,805,001
Prime	1,671,220
Under $10	1,502,267
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	172,149	10.49%	0.52%
$    1.99	42,262	2.57%	0.13%
$    2.99	206,531	12.58%	0.86%
$    3.99	126,369	7.70%	0.24%
$    4.99	52,158	3.18%	0.13%
$    5.99	29,128	1.77%	0.08%
$    6.99	20,656	1.26%	0.00%
$    7.99	41,417	2.52%	0.07%
$    8.99	10,775	0.66%	0.01%
$    9.99	235,662	14.36%	-0.03%
$   10.99	2,195	0.13%	-0.01%
$   11.99	4,123	0.25%	-0.01%
$   12.99	4,319	0.26%	-0.02%
$   13.99	1,207	0.07%	-0.01%
$   14.99	3,600	0.22%	0.01%
$   15.99	966	0.06%	0.01%
$   16.99	581	0.04%	0.00%
$   17.99	377	0.02%	0.00%
$   18.99	547	0.03%	0.00%
$   19.99	3,087	0.19%	0.10%
$   20.99	105	0.01%	0.00%
$   21.99	418	0.03%	0.00%
$   22.99	144	0.01%	0.00%
$   23.99	136	0.01%	0.00%
$   24.99	359	0.02%	0.00%

—

Percentages for February 1, 2013 were corrected on March 1, 2013

2/1/2013
Total	1,849,479
Prime	1,713,256
Under $10	1,534,604
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	178,913	9.67%	-0.81%
$    1.99	45,121	2.44%	-0.14%
$    2.99	214,748	11.61%	-0.97%
$    3.99	130,320	7.05%	-0.65%
$    4.99	54,653	2.96%	-0.22%
$    5.99	31,434	1.70%	-0.08%
$    6.99	21,941	1.19%	-0.07%
$    7.99	42,620	2.30%	-0.22%
$    8.99	10,835	0.59%	-0.07%
$    9.99	230,800	12.48%	-1.88%
$   10.99	2,463	0.13%	0.00%
$   11.99	4,593	0.25%	0.00%
$   12.99	4,563	0.25%	-0.02%
$   13.99	1,304	0.07%	0.00%
$   14.99	3,703	0.20%	-0.02%
$   15.99	1,004	0.05%	0.00%
$   16.99	659	0.04%	0.00%
$   17.99	435	0.02%	0.00%
$   18.99	598	0.03%	0.00%
$   19.99	5,276	0.29%	0.10%
$   20.99	116	0.01%	0.00%
$   21.99	458	0.02%	0.00%
$   22.99	178	0.01%	0.00%
$   23.99	154	0.01%	0.00%
$   24.99	395	0.02%	0.00%

—

3/1/2013
Total	1,913,164
Prime	1,770,452
Under $10	1,564,429
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	187,353	9.79%	0.12%
$        1.99	49,309	2.58%	0.14%
$        2.99	227,956	11.92%	0.30%
$        3.99	133,323	6.97%	-0.08%
$        4.99	58,386	3.05%	0.10%
$        5.99	35,339	1.85%	0.15%
$        6.99	25,102	1.31%	0.13%
$        7.99	45,755	2.39%	0.09%
$        8.99	12,282	0.64%	0.06%
$        9.99	224,082	11.71%	-0.77%
$      10.99	3,590	0.19%	0.05%
$      11.99	7,838	0.41%	0.16%
$      12.99	6,533	0.34%	0.09%
$      13.99	2,318	0.12%	0.05%
$      14.99	4,760	0.25%	0.05%
$      15.99	1,341	0.07%	0.02%
$      16.99	1,129	0.06%	0.02%
$      17.99	719	0.04%	0.01%
$      18.99	920	0.05%	0.02%
$      19.99	5,711	0.30%	0.01%
$      20.99	303	0.02%	0.01%
$      21.99	280	0.01%	-0.01%
$      22.99	359	0.02%	0.01%
$      23.99	250	0.01%	0.00%
$      24.99	482	0.03%	0.00%

—

4/1/2013
Total	1,924,138
Prime	1,785,986
Under $10	1,573,845
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	193,771	10.07%	0.28%
$        1.99	50,993	2.65%	0.07%
$        2.99	240,734	12.51%	0.60%
$        3.99	138,910	7.22%	0.25%
$        4.99	60,568	3.15%	0.10%
$        5.99	37,409	1.94%	0.10%
$        6.99	25,863	1.34%	0.03%
$        7.99	47,298	2.46%	0.07%
$        8.99	12,791	0.66%	0.02%
$        9.99	235,041	12.22%	0.50%
$      10.99	3,781	0.20%	0.01%
$      11.99	9,716	0.50%	0.10%
$      12.99	6,538	0.34%	0.00%
$      13.99	2,325	0.12%	0.00%
$      14.99	4,848	0.25%	0.00%
$      15.99	1,403	0.07%	0.00%
$      16.99	1,182	0.06%	0.00%
$      17.99	759	0.04%	0.00%
$      18.99	922	0.05%	0.00%
$      19.99	5,772	0.30%	0.00%
$      20.99	249	0.01%	0.00%
$      21.99	277	0.01%	0.00%
$      22.99	3,212	0.17%	0.15%
$      23.99	281	0.01%	0.00%
$      24.99	519	0.03%	0.00%

—

5/1/2013
Total	1,940,274
Prime	1,801,844
Under $10	1,582,685
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	201,240	10.37%	0.30%
$    1.99	52,243	2.69%	0.04%
$    2.99	251,311	12.95%	0.44%
$    3.99	141,835	7.31%	0.09%
$    4.99	62,839	3.24%	0.09%
$    5.99	37,835	1.95%	0.01%
$    6.99	25,567	1.32%	-0.03%
$    7.99	42,663	2.20%	-0.26%
$    8.99	13,147	0.68%	0.01%
$    9.99	237,096	12.22%	0.00%
$   10.99	3,738	0.19%	0.00%
$   11.99	9,891	0.51%	0.00%
$   12.99	7,097	0.37%	0.03%
$   13.99	2,922	0.15%	0.03%
$   14.99	5,166	0.27%	0.01%
$   15.99	1,523	0.08%	0.01%
$   16.99	1,263	0.07%	0.00%
$   17.99	795	0.04%	0.00%
$   18.99	992	0.05%	0.00%
$   19.99	5,704	0.29%	-0.01%
$   20.99	403	0.02%	0.01%
$   21.99	282	0.01%	0.00%
$   22.99	325	0.02%	-0.15%
$   23.99	278	0.01%	0.00%
$   24.99	513	0.03%	0.00%

—

6/1/2013
Total	1,972,277
Prime	1,828,577
Under $10	1,605,912
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	203,653	10.33%	-0.05%
$    1.99	59,583	3.02%	0.33%
$    2.99	269,149	13.65%	0.69%
$    3.99	177,673	9.01%	1.70%
$    4.99	64,192	3.25%	0.02%
$    5.99	39,122	1.98%	0.03%
$    6.99	26,506	1.34%	0.03%
$    7.99	44,572	2.26%	0.06%
$    8.99	13,388	0.68%	0.00%
$    9.99	246,384	12.49%	0.27%
$   10.99	3,809	0.19%	0.00%
$   11.99	10,090	0.51%	0.00%
$   12.99	7,409	0.38%	0.01%
$   13.99	3,008	0.15%	0.00%
$   14.99	5,322	0.27%	0.00%
$   15.99	1,560	0.08%	0.00%
$   16.99	1,298	0.07%	0.00%
$   17.99	772	0.04%	0.00%
$   18.99	970	0.05%	0.00%
$   19.99	5,749	0.29%	0.00%
$   20.99	239	0.01%	-0.01%
$   21.99	287	0.01%	0.00%
$   22.99	307	0.02%	0.00%
$   23.99	238	0.01%	0.00%
$   24.99	513	0.03%	0.00%

—

7/1/2013
Total	1,998,705
Prime	1,855,614
Under $10	1,627,666
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$        0.99	213,310	10.67%	0.35%
$        1.99	62,342	3.12%	0.10%
$        2.99	278,848	13.95%	0.30%
$        3.99	193,610	9.69%	0.68%
$        4.99	66,074	3.31%	0.05%
$        5.99	40,374	2.02%	0.04%
$        6.99	27,288	1.37%	0.02%
$        7.99	45,103	2.26%	0.00%
$        8.99	13,847	0.69%	0.01%
$        9.99	284,366	14.23%	1.74%
$      10.99	4,009	0.20%	0.01%
$      11.99	10,950	0.55%	0.04%
$      12.99	7,321	0.37%	-0.01%
$      13.99	3,474	0.17%	0.02%
$      14.99	5,331	0.27%	0.00%
$      15.99	1,596	0.08%	0.00%
$      16.99	1,391	0.07%	0.00%
$      17.99	791	0.04%	0.00%
$      18.99	997	0.05%	0.00%
$      19.99	5,888	0.29%	0.00%
$      20.99	427	0.02%	0.01%
$      21.99	316	0.02%	0.00%
$      22.99	315	0.02%	0.00%
$      23.99	303	0.02%	0.00%
$      24.99	536	0.03%	0.00%

—

8/1/2013
Total	2,060,431
Prime	1,913,454
Under $10	1,681,162
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$    0.99	222,737	10.81%	0.14%
$    1.99	64,606	3.14%	0.02%
$    2.99	291,135	14.13%	0.18%
$    3.99	198,365	9.63%	-0.06%
$    4.99	68,727	3.34%	0.03%
$    5.99	41,493	2.01%	-0.01%
$    6.99	26,838	1.30%	-0.06%
$    7.99	43,276	2.10%	-0.16%
$    8.99	14,083	0.68%	-0.01%
$    9.99	250,215	12.14%	-2.08%
$   10.99	4,366	0.21%	0.01%
$   11.99	10,785	0.52%	-0.02%
$   12.99	5,311	0.26%	-0.11%
$   13.99	5,063	0.25%	0.07%
$   14.99	5,243	0.25%	-0.01%
$   15.99	1,700	0.08%	0.00%
$   16.99	1,496	0.07%	0.00%
$   17.99	884	0.04%	0.00%
$   18.99	1,112	0.05%	0.00%
$   19.99	6,138	0.30%	0.00%
$   20.99	525	0.03%	0.00%
$   21.99	452	0.02%	0.01%
$   22.99	1,217	0.06%	0.04%
$   23.99	492	0.02%	0.01%
$   24.99	603	0.03%	0.00%

Summary

Good month! The number of books added per day was up…a lot. This is also the first Snapshot where the total for the USA store is over two million. The percentage of books priced one penny to fifty dollars that were under ten dollars reversed a recent trend and rose…to 87.9%. The price of New York Times bestseller hardback fiction equivalents also rose, but last month was likely affected significantly by a price matching situation. There were more of just about all content types (magazines stayed the same), including about a thousand more non-public domain free books. We’re getting towards where we will see seasonal effects that may drive prices down more…holiday sales (not quite yet, but we’ll see some things starting in September, perhaps for pre-orders), and possible new hardware announcements (which they may want to pump up with bargains).

Data were drawn using http://www.ereaderiq.com. There are a number of possible sources of errors (eRi, Amazon, me), but these are probably pretty good.  The same people now do eReaderIQ.com, and I may switch to that eventually.  However, I’m reluctant to change my methods in order to maintain consistency.

• The free books referenced here are from the Kindle store: there are many other sources for free books
• My search for textbooks definitely has false positives (books that aren’t really textbooks). I search for -domain (to eliminate public domain titles, which would be older books, generall) textbook. That would find a bookabout textbooks, for example
• I searched for “Spanish edition” to find Spanish language books. That has some false positives as well
• I look at price percentages of books in the range of one penny to fifty dollars, to eliminate freebies and limit textbooks
• The price point analysis is for books at that specific price: it does not represent a range of prices
• I compared the percentage of price points in the Price Point Analysis when I showed the difference…not the number of books
• This information is based on what a United States customer sees

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

Want to write Slaughterhouse-Six? Kindle Worlds licenses Kurt Vonnegut

Want to write Slaughterhouse-Six? Kindle Worlds licenses Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut was one of the unique voices in American literature.

Want to try to imitate it?

Well, you don’t have to try to write in the same style…heck, if you want to make Kilgore Trout (Vonnegut’s fictional science fiction author) into a hard-boiled detective or a kid-friendly cartoon character, go for it.

In a

press release

which Amazon sent me, they have announced having licensed the works of Kurt Vonnegut for Kindle Worlds, their “authorized fanfic” platform (although that’s an imprecise term).

That means, without first getting approval for a specific story, anybody can write a story set in the universe of Kurt Vonnegut’s works and put it up for sale in the Kindle store (provided it follows certain guidelines).

This is extraordinary.

It definitely broadens Kindle Worlds far beyond current pop culture, and I think it’s a good thing…although many will find it controversial.

One person who might have? Kurt Vonnegut.

As I recall, Vonnegut expressed considerable displeasure to Philip José Farmer about the latter having published a novel, Venus on the Half-Shell, under the name of Kilgore Trout.

That’s one of the fascinating things about this story for me.

With whom did Amazon negotiate?

RosettaBooks

They famously won against Random House in court, when the latter tried to claim to have licensed e-book rights for their authors…basically, before e-books were even a consideration.

RosettaBooks, like Open Road Media, recognized the potential of the e-book market before the Big Six US publishers, and made the moves to get those rights.

It’s intriguing to me that whatever they licensed is giving them the right to negotiate for derivative works.

I’m guessing Amazon paid a pretty penny for the Kindle Worlds license for Vonnegut…although spending money does seem like an area of expertise for the e-tailer. 😉

This is likely to help convince other publishers to do the same, but let’s take a quick look at other RosettaBooks properties in the Kindle store (since they might also be candidates for licensing):

RosettaBooks in the Kindle store

• Arthur C. Clarke
• Aldous Huxley
• Richard Matheson (I Am Legend…could definitely make a good Kindle World)
• Who Goes There? by John W, Campbell (the basis for The Thing…another good bet)
• Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind…absolutely)
• Marion Chesney and M.C. Beaton (romance fanfic is big, and could work here…more Poor Relation?)
• Robert B. Parker (Spenser)
• Edward Abbey
• Ed McBain (Fuzz)
• A Passage to India
• Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison (the basis for Soylent Green…a potentially interesting world)
• Ben Bova (Mars)
• Sherryl Woods (Molly DeWitt)
• Harry Kemelmen (Rabbi Small)

Note that I’m just listing a few…and just because RosettaBooks has the rights to one book by an author doesn’t mean they have the rights to all of the books.

I expect to hear about massive pushback on this in the next couple of days…I’m looking at you, John Scalzi. 😉

However, I also think authors will try it. I think a lot of it might not be good…and a small portion of it might be brilliant.

What do you think? Are you a writer who would want to attempt Vonnegut’s worlds? Are you a reader who would be intrigued to see what would be written…or appalled at the rights being licensed? Feel free to tell me and your readers what you think by commenting on this post. Actually, I think this is worth a poll:

Note: there is a band named Slaughterhouse 6. When I conceived the headline, I was unaware of that, and no connection between my suggesting a fictional fiction with the title Slaughterhouse-Six (spelled out) is intended

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

Round up #193: Borders is back, the new journalism

Round up #193: Borders is back, the new journalism

The ILMK Round ups are short pieces which may or may not be expanded later.

The New Journalism

Is there anything that has to do with words that Amazon isn’t going to reinvent? 😉

I was sent a press release today about something that seemed truly extraordinary.

The President spoke yesterday at an Amazon facility…it was a speech, and had to do with jobs (and Amazon has recently added 7,000 jobs).

The amazing thing is that the next day, Amazon published

President Barack Obama: The Kindle Singles Interview (Kindle Single)

an interview with the President conducted by David Blum (the journalist who coined the term “The Brat Pack”, and is the head of Amazon’s Kindle Singles program)…the day before.

They made it available for free.

That’s right: Blum interviewed the President at the event, and published the interview for free the next day.

That’s the new written word journalism!

Of course, Amazon doesn’t need to make money on that one…they’ve got their own broad strategy that allows for not making money on some things.

I read the interview at lunch (it was a good length for that), having downloaded it in a Whole Foods.

I think it’s worth reading, with some interesting statements about how the President feels, even if (for obvious reasons), it wasn’t particularly in depth. I thought it was well proofread, by the way.

Zits on brick-and-mortar bookstores

No, no, that doesn’t mean they have pimples on the walls. 😉

Regular reader and commenter Lady Galaxy nicely pointed me to the online version of the comic strip Zits (by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman):

Zits at Arcamax

It’s a series of three days worth (might keep going) of a storyline about visiting a bookstore…I thought it was worth reading.

Thanks, Lady Galaxy!

Just when you thought it was safe not to go into the Borders…

Borders is reopening!

No, really.

Okay, just in Singapore…but still, it is the return of the brand.

Yahoo!News article by Sia Ling Xin

Somebody bought the brand there, and they are going to open Borders bookstores again.

Gee, next time you are in Singapore, maybe you can see if they’ll take those old Borders gift cards. 😉

“Amazon is worse than Walmart”

Sigh.

Salon.com article by Daniel D’Addario

It’s pretty simple…Amazon has been great for books.

More people are reading in more formats.

It is easier for people with print challenges to read.

Authors can get their books out there like never before.

More books are being published.

You can find used paperbacks more easily, often inexpensively.

You can get and read great works of world literature…for free…without leaving your couch.

That’s why a description like this makes me shake my head: “The company’s war on bookstores and book culture…”

War on bookstores? Well, I would say “competition with other bookstores”. After all, Amazon is a bookstore. And, as a former brick-and-mortar manager, I can tell you…they weren’t exactly a united front before Amazon. 😉

“Book culture”?

Perhaps if you want to define book culture as belonging only to the elites (which is arguably how it was before the 1920s or so…not counting penny dreadfuls and dime novels and such), then perhaps.

You want to make it so that you can only buy Dickens in a leather-bound volume for $50…if you have the mobility to get to a bookstore, that is? If that’s book culture, then yes, Amazon is out-competing it.

You want to have it so only a small group of people in New York and London decide what you get to read? If that’s book culture than yes, Amazon is weakening that.

If you define book culture as reading books, Amazon has only been positive, in my opinion.

See? It wasn’t about the money

J.K. Rowling has money, and I really don’t think it’s a driving factor in a lot of the author’s decisions any more.

Not doing books in e-book form for so long? There were these weird conspiracy theories that it was to build up demand, or some such, when what it really did was multiply the amount of piracy…and does anyone really think they sold more books or made more money through Pottermore than they would have having it available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble years earlier?

The more recent thing is this pseudonymous publication, which I’ve written about before:

What’s in a pen name? Jo Rowling and the Monicker of Male

There was this idea that releasing it under a fake name was just a publicity stunt so Rowling could make more money when the story came out.

That didn’t make much sense to me. It’s not like the book wouldn’t have done better being released first as by Rowling…or that it wouldn’t have had publicity.

However, evidence against the hypothesis is presented in this

Los Angeles Times article by Elisabeth Donnelly

First, Rowling sued the law firm that led to the reveal of the pseudonym…not very likely if it was planned from the beginning, in my opinion.

Second, royalties are going to charity.

That’s the net profits from the book for three years, going to The Soldiers’ Charity.

The settlement Rowling got from the law firm (wow, they move quickly in English courts!) also involves a donation to that charity.

A tip of the sorting hat to J.K. Rowling!

I really do think the use of the name Robert Galbraith for The Cuckoo’s Calling was an artistic choice.

If it hadn’t been for the fraudulent (fraud is a misrepresentation intended to unfairly make you money, and that’s how that bio seemed to me…it has since been removed) character bio, I think I would have been okay with it.

Australian Government may ban geo-blocking

Thanks to MobileRead.com

for the heads up on this

The Age article by Adam Turner

This is absolutely astonishing to me, and could have serious unintended consequences, if actually carried out.

Essentially, a report recommends ways for the Australian government to deal with companies that limit electronic distribution in Australia…and as a last resort, to ban the practice.

Well, to me, the obvious response to that would be, “Then we just can’t deal with Australia, so you get nothing.”

No e-books, no movies, no music.

That would seem extreme, of course, but the consequences for a company not making a good faith effort to stay within their legal agreements can be huge.

If a company (say, Netflix or Amazon) allows the works for which a company has only licensed North American rights to be sold in Australia, the rightsholder (and someone who may have bought the Australian rights) can seriously sue the publisher.

I can tell you right now, I do not think banning geo-blocking is going to happen.

What will happen, and has been increasingly happening, is that rightsholders will sell global rights (even though it may cost them more money) so these issues go away (except for countries where governments block things).

What do you think? Would you like to see the Borders brand return to the USA? How would you solve the geo-blocking issue (and yes, many people’s answer is piracy, which I don’t endorse)? Are instant publications the new journalism? Has Amazon been good or bad for reading? Feel free to let me and my readers know what you think by commenting on this post.

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

The Author Game

The Author Game

Sparky: “Whatcha got there, Brain?”

Brain: “It’s a new boardgame I just bought. It’s called The Author Game. Want to play?”

Sparky: “Sure…how about you, Oddball?”

Oddball: “Can I make up my own rules?”

Sparky: “Maybe next time…let’s try it with the official rules first.”

Oddball: “Okay. I want to play with my eyes closed.”

Brain: “You can’t–“

Sparky: “Sure, that’s fine. We’ll tell you what’s on the cards. It has cards, right, Brain?”

Brain: “Yes.”

Sparky: “What happens next?”

Brain: “You two are Authors, and I’m going to be the Publisher.”

Oddball: “What does that mean?”

Brain: “It’s like being the banker in Monopoly. I control all the money.”

Oddball: “Cool. I hate money.”

Sparky: “So, what do we do?”

Brain: “First, you have to decide if you want to be an independent author or a traditionally published author.”

Oddball: “What’s the difference?”

Brain: “If you choose to be an indie, you have this short path here. If you choose to be a traditionally published author, you go on this spiral path around the outside until you end up in the middle of the board.”

Sparky: “I’ll go first. I want to be an indie.”

Oddball: “I’ll be Short Round! Dahduhdundah! Dundundun! Dahduhduhdah! DundunDUNDUNDUN!”

Brain: (sighs): “Okay, Sparky. Pick a card.”

Sparky: “Do I have to write a book first?”

Brain: “That’s not important to this part. What’s the card say?”

Sparky: “Pay $100 to a proofreader and $50 to a cover artist, or roll the dice and go directly on the web…I guess I’ll go on the web.”

Brain: “Now it’s my turn. I’m going to use my piece to block you getting on TV and in the newspapers.”

Sparky: “How am I supposed to get to the readers?”

Brain: “It doesn’t say. Oh, wait, you can write a blog.”

Sparky: “How do I do that?”

Brain: “You roll the dice. If you get a twelve, somebody buys your book.”

Sparky: “Can I just pick another card?”

Brain: “Sure…what does it say?”

Sparky: “Mow the lawn. Lose one turn.”

Brain: “That means it’s my turn again.”

Sparky: “Doesn’t Oddball get a turn?”

Brain: “Not until I say so. I play my lawyer card to make you go back to the beginning.”

Sparky: “You mean I’m not even on the web any more?”

Brain: “Nope.”

Sparky: “How many lawyer cards do you have?”

Brain: “As many as I need.”

Sparky: “Hey, Oddball…do you want to buy my book?”

Oddball: “Sure! Release the Booken!”

Sparky: “Great! I made…ninety-nine cents! How much have you made, Brain?”

Brain: “I would have made money, but I had to pay my lawyers.”

Sparky: “So I’m winning? Yay! How about giving Oddball a turn?”

Oddball: “Excelsior!”

Sparky: “Oddball, do you want to be an indie or traditionally published?”

Oddball: “Untraditionally published!”

Sparky: “That’s as close to a choice as we are going to get, Brain. Oddball wants to be traditionally published. What happens next?”

Brain: “Oddball, roll the dice one hundred times.”

Oddball: “Roll the dice, roll the dice, eat beans and rice, find genes to splice!”

Sparky: “Oddball got a six. What does that mean?”

Brain: “It means there are ninety-nine more rolls to go.”

Sparky: “No cards? No moving?”

Brain: “Negative. As far as I can tell, Oddball just rolls the dice forever, and nothing happens.”

Sparky: “Well, gee, Brain, thanks for letting us play your new game! Oddball, what do you want to do?”

Oddball: “Let’s play The Two Musketeers!”

Sparky: “Don’t you mean The Three Musketeers?”

Brain: “Or four…if you count d’Artagnan.”

Oddball: “Pistachio!”

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

Round up #192: Big Fall Books preview, e-commerce and unemployment

Round up #192: Big Fall Books preview, e-commerce and unemployment

The ILMK Round ups are short pieces which may or may not be expanded later.

Amazon employs more people than Barnes & Noble

You sometimes get stories from people who are worried that commerce moving on to the internet will mean increased unemployment. After all, there is one Amazon, and perhaps thousands of brick-and-mortar bookstores, right?

Well, in today’s

press release

Amazon (not unreasonably, in my opinion) touted that it is adding 5,000 jobs in its USA fulfillment centers.

Those jobs pay 30% more (based on median pay) than jobs in traditional retail…not counting the stock grants the e-tailer also gives full-time employees (which raises it considerably).

Amazon’s own

Inside Amazon page

says that they have more than 88,400 employees worldwide. From news reports I’m seeing, this doesn’t include the 5,000 new jobs, so they have over 90,000.

This

New York Times article by Nick Wingfield

compares that to Apple (Amazon has more), Microsoft (about the same), and IBM (Amazon has fewer jobs).

However, I was curious about Amazon versus Barnes & Noble. Would a centralized internet company have more or fewer employees than a brick-and-mortar with hundreds of stores?

According to

Barnes & Noble’s FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page

the brick-and-mortar had about 35,000 employees in April of 2012…so Amazon has close to three times as many.

Of course, that isn’t a pure comparison between an internet store and a Main Street store: Amazon is much more than an online bookstore, and Barnes & Noble also has a digital presence. Still, that seems to me to say that the internet (and perhaps by extension, high tech) isn’t leading to higher unemployment.

It’s important to note that many of these are “blue collar” jobs. You also have that idea out there: sure, Amazon employs people, but just those with higher level degrees and specialized tech knowledge. That simply isn’t the case.

The “geeks only” stereotype doesn’t fit the jobs at the fulfillment centers, or in Customer Service (where Amazon is also hiring 2,000 people).

Customer Service even has “work from home” jobs.

If you know someone who is looking for work, Amazon might be one of the best opportunities out there to get something. You can direct them to

www.workatamazonfulfillment.com for fulfillment center jobs

and/or

www.amazon.com/csjobs for Customer Service jobs

although don’t be surprised if it’s hard to get on those websites today.

There has been a lot of controversy about those fulfillment center jobs, especially in Europe. Clearly, it’s a lot of hard work, and the conditions may not always be optimal (to put it lightly, according to allegations).

I wonder if people will be happier when Amazon starts making fuller use of its robot company purchase (as I wrote about in I, Amazon: the e-tailer buys a robot company), and starts needing fewer employees in the centers…

Resetting the Fire’s predictive keyboard

I wrote recently about why I don’t use Amazon’s Silk browser.

One of the reasons has to do with the lack of a private/stealth browsing mode.

I like the idea that my device doesn’t keep track of where I’ve been on the internet, even if the places where I went know I was there (and that Amazon and the government might know as well).

There’s another thing that was bothering me about my Fire.

When I go use my onboard keyboard to type in search terms, the device remembers it and starts suggesting words I’ve used.

That can be a good thing, sure. I’m a vegetarian, and I end up searching for products from Morningstar Farms in MyFitnessPal, an app (which I recommend) that I use to track my food intake and exercise. It’s nice that when I start typing it Morningstar, it guesses after the first few letters…and then suggests “Farms” as the next word.

However, I’ve seen a lot of people ask about turning that off. Suppose, oh, you worked in a place with a very mainstream viewpoint, and you liked My Little Pony. When someone borrowed your Kindle Fire to look up something about Mack trucks, typed the M and saw “My”, then hit a space and saw “Little”…well, you might not want them to get to “Pony”. 😉

You might be allowed to go to websites on your device at work, but still not want your boss to know that one of the ones you visit most frequently is Break.com (which includes some definitely NSFW…Not Safe For Work…materials).

I’ve also seen it memorize my e-mail addresses (although not my passwords…it seems to be smart enough for that), and I don’t want those readily available.

I e-mailed Kindle Support to ask them how to reset the keyboard.

I think Amazon Customer Service is typically very, very good, and it is highly rated.

Sometimes, though, I ask them something in an e-mail, and get what seems to me to be a sort of desperate response asking me to contact them by phone to discuss it farther.

I suspect that e-mail only works well for machine parsable questions…ones that software can address without human intervention. Anything beyond that gets pushed over to a person.

I could have had them call me, but I wanted to play around with it myself.

Well, I found the solution!

Swipe down – More – Applications – Installed Applications

Scroll down until you get to the Swype app (I use Swype on the Kindle Fire…it comes with now, and you can slide your finger over the letters of a word to enter it: that can be a lot easier on a touchscreen than touching each one separately).

Then, clear the data.

Now, to be clear, this will clear all of the data…it won’t suggest words that you’ve typed before until it builds up a history again. It forgot which language keyboard was my preference: interestingly, I think it set it to Japanese as the default.

Here’s the next trick. 🙂

Use the English (United States) keyboard usually…if that’s what you would normally use (I have readers from around the world).

When you want to “stealth” something, switch the keyboard to a similar language …English (Canada) might be good.

Swipe down – More – Language & Keyboard – Keyboard – tap the first choice to change the language

Just remember to switch it back to the standard after your secret search…and you can always wipe out the data again if it gets to that point.

Amazon announces Big Fall Book Preview

We’re coming into what is usually the biggest book season of the year. After all, books make great gifts, and that’s definitely part of it. An Amazon press release points people to their

Big Fall Books Preview

which has not only 20 big blockbusters, but under-the-radar editors’ picks, graphic novels, and so on.

I like the Editors’ Picks: they would make a great window display in a brick-and-mortar (I’m a former manager). They’ve picked strikingly different and attractive books. That addresses another misconception about the internet versus Main Street. Some people think of internet retailers and just zeros and ones, without the love of books and personal attention that a brick-and-mortar would have. There’s no inherent reason for that to be the case: e-tailers may be distracted by the technology, but no more than brick-and-mortars are distracted by shoplifting and merchandising, I think.

What do you think? Will robots taking over jobs which are difficult for humans to do be good or bad? Are there books you are especially anticipating for this holiday season? Do you wish I didn’t just mention the holidays when we are only in July? 😉 Have your “digital footprints” ever embarrassed you when someone else used on of your devices? Feel free to let me and my readers know what you think by commenting on this post.

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