How to surprise someone on your account with a Kindle book

How to surprise someone on your account with a Kindle book

I love to get books as gifts…and I love to give books as gifts!

Back in the pre-digital days 😉 , I used to always buy used copies of the first Doc Savage book, The Man of Bronze, so I could gift them to people (and not worry about getting back my copy). I usually had a few of them around…they were popular in the 1960s, so there were often copies available for under $1.

When we first got the Kindle, more than ten years ago, one of the biggest complaints was that you couldn’t gift Kindle books.

We’ve been able to do that for a long time, since November 19 of 2010, and I’ve done it many times.

My family members do gift lists: several do Amazon ones, others do more of a narrative…but I think they all address books, and we do give them…a lot.

However, there is a challenge if you want to give a Kindle book as a gift to someone who is on your same account (such as me gifting a book to my Significant Other).

When you buy a Kindle store book, it shows up on your device…whether you sent it to that device or not. That’s particularly true on a (Kindle) Fire tablet, where it appears on the “Carousel”. If it hasn’t been sent to that device, when you tap it, it will want to download.

So, if I buy a book for my SO, the way we usually do, my SO would see it before the gift-giving occasion.

I could just wait until that time, of course, but book prices vary wildly. Take a look at today’s

Kindle Daily Deal (at AmazonSmile…benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

for example. Those “page turning reads” are up to 80% off…today.

Also, today’s

12 Days of Deals (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

which is the 8th day, focuses on music lovers, avid readers, and film buffs (and there are particular e-book deals).

The trick is to buy the book as a gift…but have the gift e-mailed to you, rather than e-mailed to the other person.

That’s a specific choice: you don’t just put your e-mail into the top slot as the giftee.

Then, you get an e-mail, which you can print to give. In that situation, while today’s price is preserved, it does not show up in your account (and on your devices) until you enter a code in the e-mail into an Amazon account.

There you go! You can take advantage of sales, and still surprise people on your account!

Happy giving!

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You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

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Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Round up #166: YouTube, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon device deals

Round up #166: YouTube, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon device deals

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

There are still great deals for the holidays at Amazon

I’m quite impressed with the deals this year at Amazon! It doesn’t feel like there is as much luck to it…while the “competition” is fun, it’s also good not to feel like you have to keep hovering over that Buy button. 😉

We are in Day 4 of

Amazon’s 12 Days of Deals (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

They do theme it (today is “For busy little elves of all ages”), but there are always deals in many categories. At time of writing, there are 167 pages of deals.

For Amazon devices, they are doing some interesting things with refurbs (you can get an Echo “tower”, the big tall one, for $69.99, which they say is 58% off). They are also doing bundles: today, you could do a basic Kindle and a Fire 7 for just $94.99! You can get a Fire TV Stick and an Echo Dot for $59.98 (33% off).

You can sort the deals, not only by price high to low or low to high, but by discount. The highest discount I’m seeing right now? 95%…

Toodle-loo, YouTube

Well, I’ll miss ya, YouTube.

It’s not that YouTube is going out of business, but Google is currently blocking YouTube viewing on the

Echo Show (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

(by the way, I was just speaking with someone at work yesterday, and we agree: the Show is our favorite Alexa device at this point), which they’ve done before. When I tried it just now, I got a message saying that YouTube was not available on that device…even though the Amazon piece of it seemed to launch.

While I did sometimes use the Show to watch YouTube, that’s still probably not that big a market for YouTube.

More important for me, and probably for many people, is that YouTube will not be available on the

Fire TV family (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

starting January 1st, 2018.

That means, pretty much, that I’ll never watch YouTube again…at least while this situation persists.

A Fire TV and a Fire TV Stick are our sources of TV…we have one in the family room, one in the bedroom, and that’s it.

I was watching YouTube quite often in the bedroom (getting ready in the morning), but that will be done.

Oh, wait! I need to rethink this a bit…there are (at this point) some YouTube videos I really want to watch. There are some great creators whose work is available on YouTube. For that matter, one of our dogs has a video on YouTube (“Treadmill, Elf!” at YouTube). I will still have a place I might watch YouTube: in virtual reality on my Samsung Gear. I usually watch Netflix or Hulu (I’m partway through season six catching up on The Walking Dead, for example), but if I heard about a YouTube video I really wanted to see, I could see it there. Random discovery, though? Done.

So, there’s a question here: will people not buy a Fire TV device because it doesn’t have YouTube, or will they stop watching YouTube because it isn’t on Fire TV?

The answer is probably neither.

People will watch YouTube on phones and tablets (hm…will YouTube continue to work on Fire tablets? Stopping that would be hard…the Fire TV needs an app, a tablet doesn’t), and they’ll still buy the relatively inexpensive Fire TVs.

That’s my opinion…here’s another take on it:

The Verge article by Chris Welch

Amazon is also “delisting” new Nest thermostats from Google, and they stopped carrying the Chromecast some time ago.

As some of my readers can guess from how I felt about brick-and-mortar bookstores (I’m a former manager of one) not carrying Amazon published books, I don’t think it’s a good play (on either of their parts). It’s worse on Google’s part, I think…they are choosing not to let their product be available to people, as opposed to Amazon making someone else’s product not available, but it all results in diminishing your customers’ (or potential customers’) experiences.

Barnes & Noble announces financials…and the stock market responds

According to this

Money.CNN.com graph

Barnes & Noble is down almost 14% in the past five days.

Not coincidentally, that’s since they released their second quarter financial results:

press release

Comparable store sales are down (which they blame in part on no Harry Potter book this year), but perhaps more troubling for their strategy is that non-book categories were also down.

Is this stock market drop a short-term response to a bad quarter because there wasn’t a Potter book?

Um…the stock is down more than 40% year to date, so that’s a no.

Alexa lists have really improved

We use the Alexa lists, and I was very pleased to see really significant improvements to them recently. In one case, they did what I asked (but I’m not saying they did it because I asked it). It’s a simple thing, but they moved the button that deletes all of your completed items. It used to be in the same place as the button that took you to your completed items (so you could, with one tap, put them on the active list again)…therefore, if you tapped twice because you didn’t think it responded the first time, you could accidentally wipe out your history (we did it a couple of times). The new arrangement is much better.

The other thing is that you can create your own lists! We used to just have a shopping list and a to-do list, but I added a separate pharmacy/vet(erinarian) list. My Significant Other really likes having an empty list, and when I put on there a pet med we didn’t need for a month, that wasn’t happening.

The other list we are using right now is a list of “giftees” for the holiday. While we don’t record in it what we got for whom (we do that in a Google doc), it lets us know for whom we still need to shop.

“How’s the book coming, Bufo?”

I am still working on “Because of the Kindle”, and I do intend to finish it…but I’m not quite sure when. I originally wanted it out by the 10th anniversary of the Kindle (back in November), and then I was thinking by December 25th, but it honestly will probably be into next year. It’s just a much bigger project than I originally envisioned…and I started doing some daily things which really take up some time.

I have the Bookish Birthdays, and it can take a half an hour easily to do one. Once I’ve been doing it for a year, that won’t be true, though. 😉 I do get positive response to them.

The other public one is “On this date in geeky history”. That’s tied into  The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip. It definitely is building that, which is good, but again, that takes some serious time.

I also have something I’m currently doing just for work (although I do it on my own time), and that may eventually become public, but that takes some time, too.

I totally understand how those have started taking up my time: I teach time management, I’ve taught project management, and I’ve completed my work for a certification as an “Associate Improvement Adviser”. I can objectively say I’m good at it: I can see the results I get when I train other people in it, and measurement is part of all this. However, it reminds me of a quote which is in my book

The Mind Boggles: A Unique Book of Quotations (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

“Another romantic lunacy. We assume that a personality problem can be liquidated merely through an understanding of it–as though a man could lift a ,mountain once he admitted it was heavy.”
–Dr. Charles “Doc Bedside” Bedecker
Chthon
written by Piers Anthony

🙂

I’m not saying that this a problem. I suppose that’s one of the advantages of not having a traditional publisher: I’m not being pressured to meet a deadline, and therefore put out an dramatically incomplete work.

My apologies to those of you have wonderfully contributed thoughts for the book that it isn’t out as soon as you thought…and that does mean there is still time to share your thoughts with me for possible publication.

The book is in my plans, though!

Would you watch a video on Amazon for a discount?

This

Quartz article by Helen and Dave Edwards

talks about a new patent by Amazon.

The basic idea is that you get to an Amazon product page, and if you watch an advertising video, you get a discount on it.

I think that makes a lot of sense.

People do a form of that now with

Amazon Giveaways (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

One way you can do a giveaway is to have people watch a video (or at least part of it) before they can enter. I’ve done that one myself, so I can tell you for sure that people do it.

Of course, based on an earlier story in this round up, it might not be a YouTube video… 😉

 

I finally did it…

I’ve never cracked a smartphone screen before, but I finally did it with my Galaxy S7 Edge. We were at the dog park, I was wearing gloves, and I dropped it…face down on to rocks. I can still use it, but I do have hairline cracks when I’m watching VR. We’ll need to replace my SO’s phone soon, due to a life change, but we will instead be replacing two phones. 🙂 Fortunately, there are two for one deals around. It’s also possible I’ll try to replace the screen myself…there are kits for about $40, and while I’m better with software than hardware, I can do some of that. Just don’t ask me to put oil in your car…I literally put washer fluid in the oil once.

What do you think? What is Barnes & Noble’s future? Does the YouTube thing matter to you? How long will it last? Can Amazon develop an alternative to YouTube…or would it be more like Amazon’s traditional publishing, where it has a market niche, but doesn’t threaten the tradpubs (traditional publishers)…or do you think Amazon publishing does threaten them? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.

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You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

---

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Monthly Kindle Deals up to 80% off: December 2017

Monthly Kindle Deals up to 80% off: December 2017 

Amazon does the Kindle Daily Deal (at AmazonSmile…benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*), which used to discount four books a day (often general fiction, a romance, a science fiction/fantasy book, and a kids’ book). Now, it seems like it is generally more books than that, and not categorized…and in the past week or so, it’s been pages and pages of them.

They also do Monthly Kindle Book Deals up to 80% off (at AmazonSmile*). There used to be about 100 of them, but there are many times that now: 790 at the time of writing…50 fewer than last month.

Those prices only apply to the USA, and one weird thing is that sometimes some of the books seem to sell out at that price (or become unavailable for some other reason).

Another thing is that 210 of them (61 more than last month) are available through

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

Amazon lists that information prominently…and it’s now commonly a filter in search results. If they are, then you need to consider whether it is worth buying them…even at these low prices. While they are in KU, you can, if you are a subscriber (and there’s a free month available right now), read them at no additional cost. There are, of course, advantages to owning books, especially if you want to re-read them. A book could move out of KU at any time. Even if you think you want to own it, if you are a KU member, you could always read it first to make sure. 😉 I will mark them with KU.

By the way, in the new version of the

eReaderIQ advanced search

you can make KU a filter. So, you can search for books by an author, a keyword, an average customer review which you can read as part of your KU membership…nice! I’m not associated with eReaderIQ except as a user (we have had some correspondence), but I do think it is the most valuable website for Kindleers.

In terms of which ones are

Prime Reading (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

eligible, which is Amazon’s new benefit for Prime members, a rotating list of books you can borrow each month, this month there are 31, which is 24 more than last month’s 7…more than quadrupling the number. I can see an argument that not discounting (as much?) a book which is available to borrow for free makes that look like more of an advantage.

I’m going to list some of the books in this sale that caught my eye…I’m not necessarily recommending them, but I do think they are interesting.

The ones I link (if I actually link to specific books) also don’t block text-to-speech access…but I recently wrote that I think that may have ended:

Has blocking text-to-speech access ended?

I’ve checked other books, and so far (virtual fingers crossed), that does seem to be the case.

Okay, books!

• The Hangman’s Daughter (A Hangman’s Daughter Tale Book 1) by Oliver Pötzsch and Lee Chadeayne | 4.1 stars out of 5 | 4,828 customer reviews at time of writing | $1.99 (KU)
• The Saturday Evening Girls Club by Jane Healey | 4.4 stars | 606 reviews (KU)
• The Banished of Muirwood (Covenant of Muirwood Book 1) by Jeff Wheeler (KU)
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (KU)
• Hour of Need (Scarlet Falls Book 1) by Melinda Leigh (KU)
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D. (KU)
• Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell
• Secret Shores by Ella Carey
• The Boy Who Knew Too Much: An Astounding True Story of a Young Boy’s Past-Life Memories by Cathy Byrd
• The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ by Roger Stone and Mike Colapietro | 4.4 stars | 1,273 reviews
• The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
• Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz
• Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping – Now Revised and Updated by Robert M. Sapolsky
• The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election by Malcolm Nance
• Swipe Right: The Life-and-Death Power of Sex and Romance] by Levi Lusko
• Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and It’s All Small Stuff: Simple Ways To Keep The Little Things From Taking Over Your Life by Richard CarlsonA Thief of Time (A Leaphorn and Chee Novel Book 8)Oct 6, 2009 | Kindle eBook
  by Tony Hillerman
• Fatal  by John Lescroart
• When Christmas Comes by Debbie Macomber
• Fever Dream (Pendergast Series Book 10) by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston
• A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Vol. 1: The Birth of Britain by Winston S. Churchill
• The Healthiest Diet on the Planet: Why the Foods You Love – Pizza, Pancakes, Potatoes, Pasta, and More – Are the Solution to Preventing Disease and Looking and Feeling Your Best by John McDougall
• An Unkindness of Ravens (Inspector Wexford Book 13) by Ruth Rendell
• Weekend Warriors (Sisterhood Book 1) by Fern Michaels
• An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power: Your Action Handbook to Learn the Science, Find Your Voice, and Help Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore
• From Deep Space with Love: A Conversation about Consciousness, the Universe, and Building a Better World by Mike Dooley and Tracy Farquhar
• A Thief of Time (A Leaphorn and Chee Novel Book 8) by Tony Hillerman
• The Intruders: A Jake Grafton Novel by Stephen Coonts
• Clouds of Witness (The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries Book 2) by Dorothy L. Sayers
• Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

Remember that you can buy them now as gifts and delay the delivery for the appropriate gift-giving occasion, or print them out and wrap them for whenever you want.

It makes a lot of sense to have so many series starters, but I should also mention that there may be other books in the series in the group…I didn’t list two book in the same series.

If there were others you’d like to mention for me and my readers, please comment on this post.

Prime members, don’t forget to pick up your

Kindle First books (at AmazonSmile* )

It’s worth noting that they have rebranded this to “amazon first reads” (sic) which also allows you to get the hardback (up to ten copies) for a really significant discount. There are also two KU short reads listed on that page…one is The Sign of the Beast by Joyce Carol Oates, which they say is a 66-minute read.

You can get one of the six (same as last month) books to own (not borrow) for free…these are books which will be actually released next month. This line was at the bottom of the listings this time (I changed the link): “Please note: Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) subscribers can borrow these Kindle First books when they are officially released next month”. The choices this month are:

• A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishakawa (memoir)
• Don’t Forget Dexter by Lindsay Ward (children’s)
• Only the Rain by Randall Silvis (suspense)
• Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K. Runyan (historical fiction)
• Halsey Street by Naima Coster (literary)
• Pretty Girls Dancing by Kylie Bryant (thriller)

People like to know which one I pick…I decided to go with the Ishakawa book. My Significant Other probably won’t read it (not a fan of non-fiction, generally), but it sounds interesting.

Enjoy!

===

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You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

---

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Snapshot: December 1, 2017

Snapshot: December 1, 2017

Note: thanks to reader feedback, especially from Edward Boyhan, I moved the older data (generally, more than two years old) to a page (Historical Snapshot) rather than a post. However, it appears I have to re-think this again, because apparently, even this version is too big. I’ll reconsider what I’ll do.

Summary:

Well, honestly, only one thing stands out to me this time: ILMK really dropped in the ranks, maybe the lowest it’s ever been. 🙂 I mean, it’s still one of the most popular blogs…I don’t have to change my description or anything, but it was a bit…disappointing. Maybe a fluke, we’ll see. Otherwise, things are pretty much like they were last month.

Titles in Kindle Store

December 1, 2017: 5,856,598
November 1, 2017: 5,758,762
October 1, 2017: 5,608,214
September 1, 2017: 5,526,342
August 1, 2017: 5,454,920
July 1, 2017: 5,347,117
June 1, 2017: 5,256,676
May 1, 2017: 5,191,246
April 1, 2017: 5,129,972
March 1, 2017: 5,081,365
February 1, 2017: 5,030,914
January 1, 2017: 4,972,110
December 1, 2016: 4,908,904
November 1, 2016: 4,861,264
October 1, 2016: 4,790,218
September 1, 2016: number unavailable (Amazon has changed their search results): Update 4,742,587
August 1, 2016: 4,673,290
July 1, 2016: 4,606,532
June 1, 2016: 4,535,673
May 1, 2016: 4,466,976
April 1, 2016: 4,433,082
March 1, 2016: 4,356,852
February 1, 2016: 4,260,301
January 1, 2016: 4,168,071
December 1, 2015: 4,046,825 (note: as I projected, the USA Kindle store broke 4 million titles)
November 1, 2015: 3,961,896
October 1, 2015: 3,875,694
September 1, 2015: 3,799,009
August 1, 2015: 3,714,509
July 1, 2015: 3,636,269
June 1, 2015: 3,530,378
May 1, 2015: 3,457,009
April 1, 2015: 3,378,436
March 1, 2015: 3,288,124
February 1, 2015: 3,178,962
January 1, 2015: 3,104,677
December 1, 2014: 3,027,234
November 1, 2014: 2,958,430
October 1, 2014: 2,888,225
September 1, 2014: 2,801,221
August 1, 2014: 2,724,012
July 1, 2014: 2,655,727
June 1, 2014: 2,596,747 (2,597,112 for second run)
May 1, 2014: 2,576,453
May 16 2009: 284,491

Approximate average of titles added per day:

December 1, 2017: 3,261
November 1, 2017: 4,856
October 1, 2017: 2,729
September 1, 2017: 2,304
August 1, 2017: 3,478
July 1, 2017: 2,917
June 1, 2017: 2,111
May 1, 2017: 2,042
April 1, 2017: 1,568
March 1, 2017: 1,627
February 1, 2017: 1,897
January 1, 2017: 2,039
December 1, 2016: 1,537
November 1, 2016: 2,292
October 1, 2016: 1,536
September 1, 2016: number unavailable (Amazon has changed their search results) Update: 2,235
August 1, 2016: 2,153
July 1, 2016: 2,286
June 1, 2016: 2,216
May 1, 2016: 1,130
April 1, 2016: 2,459
March 1, 2016: 3,329
February 1, 2016: 2,975
January 1, 2016: 3,911
December 1, 2015: 2,831
November 1, 2015: 2,873
October 1, 2015: 2,556
September 1, 2015: 2,726
August 1, 2015: 2,524
July 1, 2015: 3,530
June 1, 2015: 2,446
May 1, 2015: 2,619
April 1, 2015: 3,225
March 1, 2015: 3,899
February 1, 2015: 2,396
January 1, 2015: 2,581
December 1, 2014: 2,293
November 1, 2014: 2,265
October 1, 2014: 2,900
September 1, 2014: 2,491
August 1, 2014: 2,276
July 1, 2014: 1954
June 1, 2014: 655 (2nd run: 689)
May 1, 2014: 2,131

Newsstand: 

December 1, 2017: 2,294 (-22)
November 1, 2017: 2,316 (+37)
October 1, 2017: 2,279 (+15)
September 1, 2017: 2,264 (-6)
August 1, 2017: 2,270 (+12)
July 1, 2017: 2,258 (-31)
June 1, 2017: 2,289 (+40)
May 1, 2017: 2,249 (+79)
April 1, 2017: 2,170 (+160)
March 1, 2017: 2,010 (for March 1, 2017, Amazon combined Magazines & Newspapers into Newsstand) (+120)

February 1st: Magazines=1,732+Newspapers=158 for a total of 1,890

Magazines:

March 1, 2017: combined into Newsstand
February 1, 2017: 1,732 (+354!)
January 1, 2017: 1,378 (+97)
December 1, 2016: 1,281 (+106)
November 1, 2016: 1,175
October 1, 2016: 1,172
September 1, 2016: number unavailable (Amazon has changed their search results) Update: 975
August 1, 2016: 788
July 1, 2016: 758
June 1, 2016: 741
May 1, 2016: 714
April 1, 2016: 711
March 1, 2016: 699
February 1, 2016: 685
January 1, 2016: 684
December 1, 2015: 667
November 1, 2015: 646
October 1, 2015: 632
September 1, 2015: 638
August 1, 2015: 636
July 1, 2015: 632
June 1, 2015: 631
May 1, 2015: 630
April 1, 2015: 643
March 1, 2015: 647
February 1, 2015: 638
January 1, 2015: 638
December 1, 2014: 643
November 1, 2014: 646
October 1, 2014: 652
September 1, 2014: 652
August 1, 2014: 649
July 1, 2014: 650
June 1, 2014: 668
May 1, 2014: 671

Newspapers:

March 1, 2017: combined into Newsstand
February 1, 2017: 158
January 1, 2017: 158
December 1, 2016: 157
November 1, 2016: 158
October 1, 2016: 158
September 1, 2016: 159
August 1, 2016: 160
July 1, 2016: 166
June 1, 2016: 167
May 1, 2016: 168
April 1, 2016: 168
March 1, 2016: 172
February 1, 2016: 172
January 1, 2016: 169
December 1, 2015: 168
November 1, 2015: 168
October 1, 2015: 168
September 1, 2015: 172
August 1, 2015: 173
July 1, 2015: 173
June 1, 2015: 173
May 1, 2015: 172
April 1, 2015: 173
March 1, 2015: 172
February 1, 2015: 170
January 1, 2015: 175
December 1, 2014: 174
November 1, 2014: 174
October 1, 2014: 174
September 1, 2014: 175
August 1, 2014: 174
July 1, 2014: 175
June 1, 2014: 177
May 1, 2014: 178

Blogs:

December 1, 2017: 16,378 (ILMK rank #26…by far, the lowest it’s been since I’ve been tracking)
November 1, 2017: 16,360 (ILMK rank #7)
October 1, 2017: ILMK rank #12
September 1, 2017: ILMK rank #9
August 1, 2017: 16,217 (nice to see the numbers back!) (ILMK rank #10)
July 1, 2017: ILMK rank #9
June 1, 2017: ILMK rank #9 (blogs no longer appear separately in Newsstand…and searching for one of my own blogs, it did find it, but it said there were no results in the Kindle store)
May 1, 2017: I wasn’t able to find a number this time (ILMK rank #8)
April 1, 2017: 16,046 (ILMK rank #12) (+34)
March 1, 2017: 16,012 (ILMK rank: #8) (+19)
February 1, 2017: 15,993 (ILMK rank: #8)
January 1, 2017: 15,969 (ILMK rank: #11)
December 1, 2016: 15,942 (ILMK rank: #11)
November 1, 2016: 15,883 (ILMK rank: #10)
October 1, 2016: 15,864 (ILMK rank: #16)
September 1, 2016: number unavailable (Amazon has changed their search results) (ILMK rank: #10) Update 15,850
August 1, 2016: 15,792 (ILMK rank: #9)
July 1, 2016: 15,746 (ILMK rank: #8)
June 1, 2016: 15,708 (ILMK rank: #8)
May 1, 2016: 15,669 (ILMK rank: #14)
April 1, 2016: 15,351 (ILMK rank: I could not find a ranking for bestselling blogs)
March 1, 2016: 15,144 (ILMK rank: #9)
February 1, 2016: 15,156 (ILMK rank: #10)
January 1, 2016: 15,122 (ILMK rank: #8)
December 1, 2015: 15,071 (ILMK rank: #8)
November 1, 2015: 15,030 (ILMK rank: #8)
October 1, 2015: 14,983 (ILMK rank: #8)
September 1, 2015: 14,923 (ILMK rank: #8)
August 1, 2015: 14,883 (ILMK rank: #8)
July 1, 2015: 14,837 (ILMK rank:#8)
June 1, 2015: 14,768 (ILMK rank: #8)
May 1, 2015: 14,679 (ILMK rank: #8)
April 1, 2015: 14,648 (ILMK rank: #9)
March 1, 2015: 14,588 (ILMK rank: #8)
February 1, 2015: 14,419 (ILMK rank: #8)
January 1, 2015: 14,392 (ILMK rank: #10)
December 1, 2014: 14,337 (ILMK rank: #14)
November 1, 2014: 14,267
October 1, 2014: 14,189 (ILMK rank: #11)
September 1, 2014: 14,151 (ILMK rank: #12)
August 1, 2014: 14,089 (ILMK rank: #13)
July 1, 2014: 13,985 (ILMK rank: #13)
June 1, 2014: 13,924 (ILMK rank: #8)
May 1, 2014: 13,811 (ILMK rank: #10)

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

November 2017 (taken December 1, 2017): 85.8% (4,744,510 of 5,526,510)
October 2017 (taken November 1, 2017): 86.1% (4,665,896 of 5,421,097)
September 2017 (taken October 1, 2017): 86.3% (4,555,617 of 5,278,582)
August 2017 (taken September 1, 2017): 86.5% (4,505,672 of 5,208,707)
July 2017 (taken August 1, 2017): 86.5% (4,444,889 of 5,454,920)
June 2017 (taken July 1, 2017): 86.6% (4,363,029 of 5,041,034)
May 2017 (taken June 1, 2017): 86.7% (4,313,259 of 4,973,278)
April 2017 (taken May 1, 2017): 86.7% (4,250,404 of 4,901,506)
March 2017 (taken April 1, 2017): 86.6% (4,196,608 of 4,843,952)
February 2017 (taken March 1, 2017): 86.6% (4,144,877 of 4,784,032)
January 2017 (taken February 1, 2017): 86.7% (4,099,841 of 4,731,096)
December 2016 (taken January 1, 2017): 86.9% (4,109,227 of 4,730,019)
November 2016 (taken December 1, 2016): 86.6% (4,603,953 of 3,989,241)
October 2016 (taken November 1, 2016): 86.3% (3,940,811 of 4,567,105)
September 2016,(taken October 1, 2016): 86.2% (3,881,084 of 4,499,991)
August 2016, (taken September 1, 2016): number unavailable Update: $0.01 to $50=4,470,630 | $0.01 to $9.99=3,853,639 | 86.2%
July 2016, (taken August 1, 2016): 85.6% (3,800,960 of 4,441,416)
June, 2016 (taken July 1, 2016): 86.1% (3,747,972 of 4,606,532)
May 2016, (taken June 1, 2016): 85.6% (4,26,357 of 3,678,86)
April, 2016 (taken May 1, 2016): 85.2% (3,598,659 of 4,225,884)
March, 2016 (taken April 1, 2016): 85.4% (3,587,825 of 4,203,311)
February, 2016 (taken March 1, 2016): 85.2% (3,522,742 of 4,133,304)
January, 2016 (taken February 1, 2016): 85.2% (3,440,910 of 4,038,776)
December, 2016 (taken January 1, 2016): 85.0% (3,350,232 of 3,490,070)
November, 2015 (taken December 1, 2015): 84.9% (3,242,119 of 3,818,499)
October, 2015 (taken November 1, 2015): 84.7% (3,166,691 of 3,736,839)
September, 2015 (taken October 1, 2015): 84.8% (3,096,037 of 3,652,166)
August, 2015: (taken September 1, 2015): 85.3% (3,048,620 of 3,575,587)
July, 2015 (taken August 1, 2015): 85.3% (2,969,714 of 3,482,960)
June, 2015 (taken July 1, 2015: 83.9% (2,893,481 of 3,408,090)
May, 2015 (taken June 1, 2015): 84.7% (2,800,318 of 3,306,054)
April, 2015 (taken May 1, 2015): 84.6% (2,736,106 of 3,232,290)
March, 2015 (taken April 1, 2015): 88.4% (2,802,470 of 3,171,379)
February, 2015 (taken March 1, 2015): 88.3% (2,721,649 of 3,083,344)
January, 2015 (taken February 1, 2015): 88.4% (2,630,162 of 2,976,291)
December, 2014 (taken January 1, 2015): 88.3% (2,567,412 of 2,907,638)
November, 2014 (taken December 1, 2014):88.3% (2,506,715 of 2,838,606)
October, 2014 (taken November 1, 2014): 88.4% (2,451,370 of 2,774,474)
September, 2014: (taken October 1, 2014): 88.2% (2,387,727 of 2,707,622)
August, 2014: (taken September 1, 2014): 87.9% (2,304,717 of 2,621,516)
July, 2014 (taken August 1, 2014): 87.7% (2,232,131 of 2,544,623)
June, 2014 (taken July 1, 2014): 87.7% (2,172,079 of 2,477,343)
May, 2014 (taken June 1, 2014): 74.6% (294,759 of 395,137) | Second run (to account for possible Amazon glitching): 87.6% (2,121,022 of 2,422,630)

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

Books for October, 2017: 90.1% (101,434 of 112,539)
Books for July, 2017: 89.7% (95,336 of 106,241)
Books for June, 2017: 91.7% (88,860 of 96,928)
Books for May, 2017: 90.6% (83,527 of 92,179)
Books for April, 2017: 92.5% (79,847 of 86,318)
Books for March, 2017: 92.0% (85,450 of 92,905)
Books for February, 2017: 92.7% (78,288 of 84,493)
Books for January, 2017: 92.3% (81,965 of 88,810)
Books for December, 2016: 90.4% (78,386 of 86,689)
Books for November, 2016: 92.3% (80,218 of 86,941)
Books for October, 2016: 87.1% (80,417 of 92,350)
Books for September, 2016: 84.8% (77,656 of 91,542)
Books for August, 2016: 85.6% (83,972 or 98,113)
Books for July, 2016: 88.6% (81,803 of 92,207)
Books for June, 2016: 93.2% (82,227 of 88,180)
Books for May, 2016: 93.1% (82,022 of 88,070)
Books for April, 2016: 92.2% (80,910 of 87,717)
Books for March, 2016: 94.% (95,732 of 101,747)
Books for February 2016: 95.4% (112,307 of 117,729)
Books for January, 2016: 94.2% (87,774 of 93,160)
Books for December, 2016: 94.9% (96,092 of 101,225)
Books for November, 2015: 92.6% (79,061 of 85,397)
Books for October, 2015: 92.2% (76,789 of 83,244)
Books for September, 2015: 92.7% (78,419 of 84,314)
Books for August, 2015: 94.2% (83,159 of 88,243)
Books for July, 2015: 94.3% (81,843 of 86,827)
Books for June, 2015: 94.0% (80,396 of 85,535)
Books for May, 2015: 93.5% (74,211 of 79,388)
Books for April, 2015: 93.3% (76,455 of 81,914)
Books for March, 2015: 93.6% (85,581 of 91,471)
Books for February, 2015: 94.7% (74,806 of 78,979)
Books for January, 2015: 94.6% (73,166 of 77,329)
Books for December, 2014: 95.1% (72,247 of 77,048)
Books for November, 2014: 93.2% (72,264 of 77,550)
Books for October, 2014: 94.0% (72,051 of 76,646)
Books for September, 2014: 95.0% (77,730 of 81,864)
Books for August, 2014: 95.8% (72,127 of 75,293)
Books for July, 2014: 95.8% (72,543 of 75,750)
Books for June, 2014: 94.4% (63,104 of 66,856)
Books for May, 2014: 81.4% (3,177 of 3,905) | 2nd run to account for Amazon possibly glitching: 94.7% (65,080 of 68,713)

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

December 1, 2017: 61.0% (3,571,987 of 5,856,598)
November 1, 2017: 61.3% (3,529,710 of 5,758,762)
October 1, 2017: 61.2% (3,432,265 of 5,608,214)
September 1, 2017: 61.4% (3,396,287 of 5,526,342)
August 1, 2017: 61.3% (3,341,491 of 5,454,920)
July 1, 2017: 61.2% (3,273,547 of 5,347,117)
June 1, 2017: 61.5% (3,234,390 of 5,256,676)
May 1, 2017: 61.3% (3,184,293 of 5,191,246)
April 1, 2017: 61.3% (3,143,297 of 5,129,972)
March 1, 2017: 61.2% (3,108,757 of 5,081,365)
February 1, 2017: 61.1% (3,073,787 of 5,030,914)
January 1, 2017: 60.9% (3,030,096 of 4,972,110)
December 1, 2016: 60.8% (2,987,081 of 4,908,984)
November 1, 2016: 60.8% (2,956,217 of 4,861,264)
October 1, 2016: 60.6% (2,902,687 of 4,790,218)
September 1, 2016: number unavailable (Amazon has changed their search results) | Update on 9/3: 61.1% (2,897,126 of 4,742,587)
August 1, 2016: 61.2% (2,860,965 of 4,673,290)
July 1, 2016: 61.3% (2,821,664 of 4,606,532)
June 1, 2016: 61.0% (2,767,757 of 4,535,673)
May 1, 2016: 60.5% (2,704,477 of 4,466,976)
April 1, 2016: 61.1% (2,707,775 of 4,433,082)
March 1, 2016: 60.8% (2,647,699 of 4,356,852)
February 1, 2016: 60.7% (2,587,810 of 4,20,301)
January 1, 2016: 60.2% (2,507,452 of 4,168,071)
December 1, 2015: 60.5% (2,447,446 of 4,046,825)
November 1, 2015: 60.5% (2,398,461 of 3,961,896)
October 1, 2015: 60.3% (2,338,287 of 3,75,694)
September 1, 2015: 60.7% (2,306,295 of 3,799,099)
August 1, 2015: 60.6% (2,251,364 of 3,714,509)
July 1, 2015: 60.4% (2,195,452 of 3,636,269)
June 1, 2015: 60.5% (2,134,639 of 3,530,378)
May 1, 2015: 60.4% (2,088,376 of 3,457,009)
April 1, 2015: 64.1% (2,164,454 of 3,378,436)
March 1, 2015: 64.2% (2,111,025 of 3,288,124)
February 1, 2015: 64.3% (2,043,564 of 3,178,962)
January 1, 2015: 64.2% (1,992,162 of 3,104,677)
December 1, 2014: 64.2% (1,943,782 of 3,027,234)
November 1, 2014: 64.6% (1,909,982 of 2,958,430)
October 1, 2014: 64.3% (1,857,411 of 2,888,225)
September 1, 2014: 63.9% (1,778,889 of 2,801,221)
August 1, 2014: 63.6% (1,731,841 of 2,724,012)
July 1, 2014: 63.4% (1,684,876 of 2,655,727)
June 1, 2014: 8.7% (225,848 of 2,597,747) | second run to account for Amazon possibly glitching 63.4% (1,647,127 of 2,597,112)
May 1, 2014: 63.8% (1,644,029 of 2,576,453)

Books from one penny to $2.98

December 1, 2017: 20.9% (1,225,185 of 5,856,598)
November 1, 2017: 20.6% (1,187,320 of 5,758,762)
October 1, 2017: 20.9% (1,173,540 of 5,608,214)
September 1, 2017: 20.9% (1,157,324 of 5,526,342)
August 1, 2017: 20.8% (1,151,510 of 5,526,342)
July 1, 2017: 21.2% (1,136,108 of 5,347,117)
June 1, 2017: 21.4% (1,125,075 or 5,256,676)
May 1, 2017: 21.4% (1,111,527 of 5,191,246)
April 1, 2017: 21.4% (1,0975,88 of 5,129,972)
March 1, 2017: 21.2% (1,078,862 of 5,081,365)
February 1, 2017: 21.2% (1,067,995 of 5,030,914)
January 1, 2017: 21.3% (1,057,373 of 4,972,110)
December 1, 2016: 21.2% (1,042,980 of 4,908,984)
November 1, 2016: 21.1% (1,024,995 of 4,861,264)
October 1, 2016: 21.3% (1,018,083 of 4,790,218)
September 1, 2016: number unavailable (Amazon has changed their search results) Update 9/3: 21.1% (999,067 of 4,742,587)
August 1, 2016: 20.9% (977,901 of 4,673,290)
July 1, 2016: 20.9% (963,039 of 4,606,532)
June 1, 2016: 20.9% (947,387 of 4,535,673)
May 1, 2016: 20.8% (929,532 of 4,466,976)
April 1, 2016: 20.6% (914,517 of 4,433,082)
March 1, 2016: 20.8% (907,912 of 4,356,852)
February 1, 2016: 20.8% (884,290 of 4,260,301)
January 1, 2016: 20.8% (868,268 of 4,168,071)
December 1, 2015: 20.3% (819,885 of 4,046,825)
November 1, 2015: 20.0% (791,777 of 3,961,896)
October 1, 2015: 20.1% (780,371 of 3,875,694)
September 1, 2015: 20.1% (764,280 of 3,799,009)
August 1, 2015: 19.9% (739,684 of 3,714,509)
July 1, 2015: 19.8% (718,584 of 3,636,269)
June 1, 2015: 20.5% (685,609 of 3,350,378)
May 1, 2015: 19.3% (6,671,179 of 3,457,009)
April 1, 2015: 19.5% (657,728 of 3,378,436)
March 1, 2015: 21.3% (699,221 of 3,288,124)
February 1, 2015: 19.0% (603,638 of 3,178,962)
January 1, 2015: 19.1% (591,610 of 3,104,677)
December 1, 2014: 19.1% (579,121 of 3,027,234)
November 1, 2014: 18.8% (556,881 of 2,958,430)
October 1, 2014: 18.9% (545,350 of 2,888,225)
September 1, 2014: 18.9% (529,976 of 2,801,221)
August 1, 2014: 18.9% (513,541 of 2,724,012)
July 1, 2014: 18.8% (499,756 of 2,655,727)
June 1, 2014: 2.7% (70,679 of 2,596,747) | second run to account for Amazon possibly glitching: 18.7% (485,799 of 2,597,112)
May 1, 2014: 18.4% (474,202 of 2,576,453)

Price Point Analysis of New York Times Hardback Fiction Equivalents

December 1, 2017

16.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 14.99
14.99 12.99 14.99 16.99 14.99 15.99 10.99

Average: $14.79 (+$0.07) 0 titles under $10

November 1, 2017

14.99 14.99 14.99 16.99 14.99 15.99 14.99
14.99 13.99 11.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 12.99

Average: $14.72 (+$0.20) 0 titles under $10

October 1, 2017

15.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 12.99
14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 12.99 13.99 13.99

Average: $14.52 (+$0.66) 0 titles under $10

September 1, 2017

14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 12.99 13.99
13.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 13.99 13.99 12.99

Average: $13.86 (-$0.49) 0 titles under $10

August 1, 2017

14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 12.99 14.99 14.99
13.99 N/A 14.99 14.99 11.99 14.99 12.99 13.99

Average: $14.35 (+$0.03) 0 titles under $10 (first time in a long time a title hasn’t been available in Kindle format)

July 1, 2017

14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 12.99 13.99 14.99
14.99 14.99 17.99 13.99 14.99 7.99 12.99

Average: $14.32 (+$0.53) 1 title under $10

June 1, 2017

14.99 13.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 6.99 14.99
14.99 12.99 13.99 14.99 13.99 11.99 13.99

Average: $13.79 (+$0.31) 1 title under $10

May 1, 2017

14.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 13.99 9.32 12.99
12.99 14.99 12.99 13.99 13.99 12.99 12.99

Average: $13.48 (+$0.03) 1 title under $10

April 1, 2017

14.99 14.99 9.32 12.99 12.99 9.45 13.99 13.99
12.99 13.99 14.99 12.99 14.99 13.99 14.99

Average: $13.44 (-0.68) 2 titles under $10

March 1, 2017

13.99 12.98 12.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 14.99
13.99 13.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 14.99

Average: $14.12 (-0.60) 0 titles under $10

February 1, 2017:

14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99
14.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 14.99

Average: $14.72 (+0.28) 0 titles under $10 ($1.28 higher than one year ago)

January 1, 2017:

14.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 13.99
14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 9.99

Average: $14.44 (+.05) 1 title under $10

December 1, 2016:

14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 10.99 14.99 14.99
12.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 12.99

Average: $14.39 (+0.50) 0 titles under $10

November 1, 2016

14.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 12.99 13.99 13.99 13.99 13.99
13.99 13.99 14.99 11.99 13.99 9.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 12.99

Average: $13.89 (-.04) 1 title under $10

October 1, 2016

13.99 14.99 12.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 12.99 14.99 14.99 13.99
12.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 12.99 12.99 9.99 12.99 14.99 16.86

Average: $13.93 (+0.29) 1 title under $10

September 1, 2016

13.99 12.99 13.99 13.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99
13.99 14.99 9.99 14.99 13.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 13.99 12.99

Average: $13.64 (-0.10) 1 title under $10

August 1, 2016

14.99 9.99 13.99 10.99 14.99 9.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 13.99
14.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 11.99 13.99

Average: $13.54 (-0.30) 2 titles under $10

July 1, 2016

14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 13.99 14.99 14.99
14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 13.99 12.99 9.99

Average: $13.84 (+0.45) 1 title under $10

June 1, 2016

14.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 10.99
13.99 12.99 14.99 9.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 13.99 12.99 8.99

Average: $13.39 (-0.10) 2 titles under $10

May 1, 2016:

14.99 12.99 13.99 13.99 12.99 9.99 13.99 13.99 12.99 12.99
13.99 13.99 12.99 $12.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 13.99 13.99 13.99

Average: $13.49 (+0.01) 1 title under $10

April 1, 2016

14.99 14.99 13.99 9.99 13.99 12.99 13.99 14.99 13.99 14.99
13.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 13.99 10.99 12.99 14.74 11.99

Average: $13.48 (+0.04) 1 title under $10

March 1, 2016

12.99 13.99 12.99 9.99 13.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99
13.99 12.99 13.99 10.99 14.99 14.99 12.99 13.99 14.99 13.99

Average: $13.44 (+0.17) 1 title under $10

February 1, 2016

12.99 13.99 12.99 13.99 13.99 9.99 12.99 N/A 12.99 12.99
12.99 13.99 14.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 N/A 12.99 11.99 13.99

Average: $13.27 (-.52) 1 title under $10

January 1, 2016

12.99 13.99 12.99 14.99 14.99 11.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 14.99
9.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 14.99 12.99 14.99 12.99

Average: $13.79 (+.70) 1 title under $10

December 1, 2015

13.99 14.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 14.99 13.99 14.99 10.99 12.99
13.99 9.99 11.99 13.99 4.99 14.99 11.99 13.99 14.99 12.99

Average: $13.09 (-.50) 2 titles under $10

November 1, 2015

12.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 12.99 11.99 14.99
13.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 14.99 9.99 12.99 13.99 12.99

Average: $13.59 (+.03) 1 title under $10

October 1, 2015

14.99 13.99 13.99 14.99 13.99 7.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 13.99
12.99 9.45 12.99 14.99 13.99 13.99 13.99 13.99 13.99 14.99

Average: $13.56 (+$0.72) 2 titles under $10

September 1, 2015

13.99 7.99 13.99 12.99 14.99 14.99 13.99 12.99 12.99 8.99
11.99 12.99 14.99 12.99 14.99 9.99 12.99 12.99 11.99 12.99

Average: $12.84 (+$1.33) 3 titles under $10

August 1, 2015

13.99 6.99 13.99 9.99 14.99 9.99 10.99 8.99 8.99 11.43
9.99 11.99 14.99 10.99 10.99 10.99 12.99 10.99 12.99 12.99

Average; $11.51 (-$0.62) 6 titles under $10

July 1, 2015

13.99 6.99 8.99 14.99 10.99 11.99 8.99 9.99 12.99 16.99
11.84 12.99 13.99 11.99 9.99 14.99 14.99 10.99 12.99 10.99

Average: $12.13 (+$0.16) 5 titles under $10

June 1, 2015

6.99 13.99 16.99 9.99 9.99 12.99 10.99 8.99 12.99 12.99
11.43 11.99 12.99 12.99 9.99 12.99 11.84 12.31 14.99 10.99

Average: $11.97 (+$1.69) 5 titles under $10

May 1, 2015

6.99 12.31 8.99 8.99 8.97 8.99 12.99 11.84 10.99 11.84
12.99 6.99 11.84 9.99 12.99 12.99 5.99 9.10 12.99 6.86

Average: $10.28 (-$1.40) 10 titles under $10

April 1, 2015

6.99 12.99 9.99 13.59 10.99 10.99 10.99 12.99 11.99 10.99
12.99 12.99 11.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 12.99 9.99 9.19 11.99

Average: $11.68 (+$0.57) 4 titles under $10

March 1, 2015

8.99 11.99 10.49 10.99 12.99 14.99 9.99 9.99 9.99 11.99
12.99 11.99 9.79 11.99 11.99 10.99 9.99 10.99 5.99 12.99

Average: $11.11 (+$1.34) 7 titles under $10

February 1, 2015

8.99 11.99 9.79 12.99 9.79 9.99 11.99 7.99 9.99 3.99
12.99 11.99 8.99 5.99 3.99 10.99 6.99 10.99 12.99 11.99

Average: $9.77 (+$0.11) 11 titles under $10

January 1, 2015

9.99 7.69 9.99 7.19 10.99 11.99 10.99 3.99 11.99 7.49
10.99 11.89 6.99 10.99 9.99 10.99 10.99 5.99 10.99 10.99

Average: $9.66 (+$0.09) 9 titles under $10

December 1, 2014

10.99 12.74 3.25 9.78 4.99 10.99 12.99 6.99 11.84 10.99
10.99 5.00 9.99 9.78 9.09 10.99 10.99 10.99 6.99 10.99

Average: $9.57 (-$0.65) 9 titles under $10

November 1, 2014

10.99 9.99 11.99 6.50 10.99 10.99 6.99 10.99 10.99 10.99
10.99 6.99 10.99 10.99 10.99 11.99 10.99 10.99 7.99 9.99

Average: $10.22 (-$0.86) 6 titles under $10

October 1, 2014

10.99 10.99 11.99 10.99 12.99 10.99 11.99 12.74 11.99 9.99
10.99 10.99 8.99 6.99 10.99 11.99 10.99 12.99 7.99 12.99

Average: $11.08 (-$0.43) 4 titles under $10

September 1, 2014

9.99 10.99 13.99 10.99 6.99 13.99 10.99 10.99 12.99 11.99
10.99 14.99 11.84 11.99 9.99 11.84 8.99 11.99 12.74 10.99

Average: $11.51 (+$0.56) 4 titles under $10

August 1, 2014

8.99 8.99 10.99 11.99 11.84 6.99 11.99 10.99 10.99 10.99
10.99 8.52 12.99 14.99 10.99 N/A 12.74 10.99 10.99 9.99

Average: $10.95 (+$0.30) 5 titles under $10

July 1, 2014

11.84 8.99 11.99 11.99 10.99 6.99 11.99 11.84 12.99 10.49
10.99 7.99 11.99 10.99 7.99 11.99 5.99 11.84 12.99 9.99

Average: $10.64 (+$0.22) 6 titles under $10

June 1, 2014

8.99 7.50 8.99 8.99 12.99 10.99 10.99 9.99 10.99 14.44
10.99 10.99 9.99 11.84 10.99 8.99 11.84 10.99 5.99 10.99

Average: $10.42 (-$0.16) 8 titles under $10

May 1, 2014

10.99 11.04 10.99 7.50 8.99 10.99 10.99 10.99 12.99 12.99
11.04 5.99 10.99 9.10 12.99 8.55 10.99 13.99 9.99 9.45

Average: $10.58 (-$0.27) 7 titles under $10

Textbooks in the Kindle Store

December 1, 2017: 61,275 (+10,105)
November 1, 2017: 57,170 (+2,908)
October 1, 2017: 54,262 (+1,005)
September 1, 2017: 53,257 (+661)
August 1, 2017: 52,596 (+1,089)
July 1, 2017: 51,507 (+930)
June 1, 2017: 50,577 (+603)
May 1, 2017: 49,974 (+375)
April 1, 2017: 49,599
March 1, 2017: 48,854
February 1, 2017: 48,037
January 1, 2017: 47,568
December 1, 2016: 47,079
November 1, 2016: 59,790
October 1, 2016: 58,158
September 1, 2016: number unavailable (Amazon has changed its search results)| 9/3: 58,033
August 1, 2016: 64,027
July 1, 2016: 63,869
June 1, 2016: 63,301
May 1, 2016: 62,577
April 1, 2016: 61,867
March 1, 2016: 61,532
February 1, 2016: 60,985
January 1, 2016: 59,826
December 1, 2015: 59,953
November 1, 2015: 58,582
October 1, 2015: 58,203
September 1, 2015: 48,650
August 1, 2015: 48,063
July 1, 2015: 47,977
June 1, 2015: 47,388
May 1, 2015: 46,799
April 1, 2015: 46,482
March 1, 2015: 46,145
February 1, 2015: 46,265
January 1, 2015: 45,345
December 1, 2014: 44,787
November 1, 2014: 44,250
October 1, 2014: 43,910
September 1, 2014: 43,385
August 1, 2014: 42,643
July 1, 2014: 42,114
June 1, 2014: 40,810
May 1, 2014: 39,687

Free books (including public domain)

December 1, 2017: 95,789 (+1%)
November 1, 2017: 94,515 (+3%)
October 1, 2017: 91,931 (-2%)
September 1, 2017: 93,748 (+2%)
August 1, 2017: 92,344 (-2%)
July 1, 2017: 94,294 (+2%)
June 1, 2017: 92,274 (+1%)
May 1, 2017: 91,043 (-2%)
April 1, 2017: 92,489 (+3%)
March 1, 2017: 90,113 (+0%)
February 1, 2017: 89,546 (-1%)
January 1, 2017: 90,706 (+0%)
December 1, 2016: 90,637 (+1%)
November 1, 2016: 88,973 (-1%)
October 1, 2016: 90,005 (-0%)
September 1, 2016: number not available (Amazon has changed its search results) 9/3: 90,180 (+3%)
August 1, 2016: 87,789 (-2%)
July 1, 2016: 89,564 (+5%)
June 1, 2016: 85,502 (-0%)
May 1, 2016: 85,895 (+3%)
April 1, 2016: 83,725 (-1%)
March 1, 2016: 84,422 (+2%)
February 1, 2016: 82,583 (-0%)
January 1, 2016: 82,656 (+2%)
December 1, 2015: 81,264 (+1%)
November 1, 2015: 80,629 (+1%)
October 1, 2015: 79,676 (+2%)
September 1, 2015: 77,976 (-1%)
August 1, 2015: 78,922 (+1%)
July 1, 2015: 77,735 (+1%)
June 1, 2015: 76,688 (-1%)
May 1, 2015: 77,248 (+3%)
April 1, 2015: 74,974 (-0%)
March 1, 2015: 75,030 (+2%)
February 1, 2015: 73,489 (+0%)
January 1, 2015: 73,041 (+13%)
December 1, 2014: 64,805
November 1, 2014: 63,897
October 1, 2014: 61,828
September 1, 2014: 61,787
August 1, 2014: 61,381
July 1, 2014: 60,103
June 1, 2014: 59,848
May 1, 2014: 59,957

Free books (without public domain)

December 1, 2017: 50,784 (+3%)
November 1, 2017: 49,454 (+3%)
October 1, 2017: 47,796 (-4%)
September 1, 2017: 49,646 (+3%)
August 1, 2017: 48,155 (-4%)
July 1, 2017: 50,095 (+4%)
June 1, 2017: 48,021 (+3%)
May 1, 2017: 46,786 (-3%)
April 1, 2017: 48,235 (+5%)
March 1, 2017: 45,836 (+1%)
February 1, 2017: 45,278 (-2%)
January 1, 2017: 46,345 (-1%)
December 1, 2016: 46,627 (+4%)
November 1, 2016: 44,710 (-2%)
October 1, 2016: 45,792 (-0%)
September 1, 2016: number not available (Amazon has changed its search results) | 9/3: 45,975 (+5%)
August 1, 2016: 43,638 (-5%)
July 1, 2016: 45,814 (+11%)
June 1, 2016: 41,428
May 1, 2016: 41,755
April 1, 2016: 39,760
March 1, 2016: 41,277
February 1, 2016: 38,516 (-0%)
January 1, 2016: 38,550 (+4%)
December 1, 2015: 37,191 (+55%)
November 1, 2015: 23,872 (+2%)
October 1, 2015: 23,307 (+8%)
September 1, 2015: 21,575 (-3%)
August 1, 2015: 22,154 (+3%)
July 1, 2015: 21,572 (+4%)
June 1, 2015: 20,740 (-3%)
May 1, 2015: 21,362 (+9%)
April 1, 2015: 19,508 (+1%)
March 1, 2015: 19,232 (+4%)
February 1, 2015: 18,489 (+3%)
January 1, 2015: 17,983 (+5%)
December 1, 2014: 17,160
November 1, 2014: 16,735
October 1, 2014: 15,099
September 1, 2014: 15,190
August 1, 2014: 14,717
July 1, 2014: 13,300
June 1, 2014: 12,490
May 1, 2014: 13,191

Spanish edition books*

December 1, 2017: 253,282 (+2%)
November 1, 2017: 248,577 (+2%)
October 1, 2017: 244,297 (+1%)
September 1, 2017: 241,358 (+2%)
August 1, 2017: 236,925 (+2%)
July 1, 2017: 233,077 (+2%)
June 1, 2017: 229,099 (+2%)
May 1, 2017: 225,114 (+2%)
April 1, 2017: 221,410 (+2%)
March 1, 2017: 217,055 (+2%)
February 1, 2017: 212,667 (+2%)
January 1, 2017: 208,843 (+2%)
December 1, 2016: 204,709 (+2%)
November 1, 2016: 201,195
October 1, 2016: 197,286 (+1)
September 1, 2016: number not available (Amazon has changed its search results) | 9/3: 194,747 (+0%)
August 1, 2016: 193,784 (+2%)
July 1, 2016: 190,183 (+2%)
June 1, 2016: 186,750 (+2%)
May 1, 2016: 183,132 (+1)
April 1, 2016: 180,538 (+2%)
March 1, 2016: 176,351 (+3%)
February 1, 2016: 172,246 (+5%)
January 1, 2016: 168,253 (+3%)
December 1, 2015: 163,218 (+2%)
November 1, 2015: 160,225 (+3%)
October 1, 2015: 156,158 (+2%)
September 1, 2015: 152,538 (+3%)
August 1, 2015: 148,388 (+4%)
July 1, 2015: 143,665 (+3%)
June 1, 2015: 139,519 (+2%)
May 1, 2015: 137,022 (+3%)
April 1, 2015: 132,496 (+3%)
March 1, 2015: 128,918 (+3%)
February 1, 2015: 125,505 (+2%)
January 1, 2015: 123,171 (+3%)
December 1, 2014: 119,963
November 1, 2014: 116,680
October 1, 2014: 113,491
September 1, 2014: 109,395
August 1, 2014: 101,643
July 1, 2014: 98,048
June 1, 2014: 95,632
May 1, 2014: 92,954

Books in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL)

December 1, 2017: 1,775,667 (30.3%)
November 1, 2017: 1,731,745 (30.1%)
October 1, 2017: 1,699,485 (30.3%)
September 1, 2017: 1,657,169 (30.0%)
August 1, 2017: 1,624,853 (31.6%)
July 1, 2017: 1,585,197 (29.6%)
June 1, 2017: 1,543,502 (29.3%)
May 1, 2017: 1,515,616 (29%)
April 1, 2017: 1,489,789 (29.0%)
March 1, 2017: 1,470,956 (28.9%)
February 1, 2017: 1,462,182 (29.1%)
January 1, 2017: 1,444,685 (29.1%)
December 1, 2016: 1,429,581 (29.1%)
November 1, 2016: 1,396,901 (28.7%)
October 1, 2016: 1,377,307 (+0%)
September 1, 2016: number not available (Amazon has changed its search results) | 9/3: 1,371,701 (+2%)
August 1, 2016: 1,338,554 (29.6%)
July 1, 2016: 1,340,583 (29.1%)
June 1, 2016: 1,298,473 (28.1%)
May 1, 2016: 1,262,989 (28.3%)
April 1, 2016: 1,277,964 (28.8%)
March 1, 2016: 1,250,894
February 1, 2016: 1,199,281 (26%)
January 1, 2016: 1,168,736 (28.0%)
December 1, 2015: 1,132,942 (28.0%)
November 1, 2015: 1,109,339 (28.0%)
October 1, 2015: 1,084,779 (27.9%)
September 1, 2015: 1,057,291 (27.9%)
August 1, 2015: 1,022,270 (27.5%)
July 1, 2015: 995,047 (27.4%)
June 1, 2015: 957,481 (27.1%)
May 1, 2015: 920,564 (26.6%)
April 1, 2015: 890,629 (24.3%)
March 1, 2015: 853,036 (25.9%)
February 1, 2015: 823,258 (25.9%)
January 1, 2015: 794,093 (25.6%)
December 1, 2014: 764,249 (25.2%)
November 1, 2014: 724,218 (25.1%)
October 1, 2014: 710,979 (24.6%)
September 1, 2014: 673,206 (24.0%)
August 1, 2014: 638,545 (23.4%)
July 1, 2014: 604,950 (22.8%)
June 1, 2014: 586,812 (22.6%)
May 1, 2014: 566,893 (22.0%)

Books in Kindle Unlimited

December 1, 2017: 1,814,364 (31.0% of total)
November 1, 2017: 1,769,959 (30.1% of total)
October 1, 2017: 1,737,958 (30.9% of total)
September 1, 2017: 1,696,181 (30.7% of total)
August 1, 2017: 1,663,861 (32.4% of total)
July 1, 2017: 1,624,927 (30.3% of total)
June 1, 2017: 1,582,899 (30.1% of total)
May 1, 2017: 1,554,536 (29.9% of total)
April 1, 2017: 1,528,441 (29.8% of total)
March 1, 2017: 1,510,746 (29.7% of total)
February 1, 2017: 1,499,100 (29.8% of total)
January 1, 2017: 1,476,314 (29.7% of total)
December 1, 2016: 1,460,545 (29.8% of the total)
November 1, 2016: 1,423,511
October 1, 2016: 1,404,125 (29.3% of the total)
September 1, 2016: 1,387,593
August 1, 2016: 1,361,620
July 1, 2016: 1,340,737 (29.1% of total)
June 1, 2016: 1,311,185
May 1, 2016: 1,282,695 (28.7% of total)
April 1, 2016: 1,295,483 (29.2% of total)
March 1, 2016: 1,268,842 (29.1% of total)
February 1, 2016: 1,217,059 (28.5% of total)
January 1, 2016: 1,189,911 (28.5% of total)
December 1, 2015: 1,156,686 (28.6% of total)
November 1, 2015: 1,133,293 (28.6% of total)
October 1, 2015: 1,108,762 +2%) (28.6% of total)
September 1, 2015: 1,084,510 (+3%) (28.5% of total)
August 1, 2015: 1,050,688 (+3%) (28.3% of total)
July 1, 2015: 1,023,395 (+4%) (28.1% of total)
June 1, 2015: 984,701 (+4%) (27.9% of total)
May 1, 2015: 948,638 (+3%) (27.4% of total)
April 1, 2015: 918,839 (+4%) (27.2% of total)
March 1, 2015: 880,916 (+4%)
February 1, 2015: 850,027 (+4%)
January 1, 2015: 820,865 (+4%)
December 1, 2014: 791,011 (+3%)
November 1, 2014: 765,236 (+4%)
October 1, 2014: 733,167 (+5%)
September 1, 2014: 696,171 (+5%)
August 1, 2014: 661,111 (new measurement)

Books in Prime Reading

December 1, 2017: 1,037 (-2)
November 1, 2017: 1,039 (+60)
October 1, 2017: 979 (-56)
September 1, 2017: 1,035 (+9)
August 1, 2017: 1,026 (-5)
July 1, 2017: 1,031 (-50)
June 1, 2017: 1,081 (+36)
May 1, 2017: 1,045 (-61)
April 1, 2017: 1,106 (+20)
March 1, 2017: 1,086 (+106)
February 1, 2017: 980 (-552)
January 1, 2017: 1,532 (+504)
December 1, 2016: 1,028
November 1, 2016: 1,013 (new measurement)

Books in the Kindle Matchbook program

December 1, 2017: 72,351(-164)
November 1, 2017: 72,515 (-177)
October 1, 2017: 72,692 (-80)
September 1, 2017: 72,889 (-145)
August 1, 2017: 73,034 (-214)
July 1, 2017: 73,248 (-121)
June 1, 2017: 73,369 (-177)
May 1, 2017: 73,546 (-246)
April 1, 2017: 73,792 (-236)
March 1, 2017: 74,028
February 1, 2017: 74,252
January 1, 2017: 74,441
December 1, 2016: 74,452
November 1, 2016: 74,747
October 1, 2016: 75,067
September 1, 2016: number not available (Amazon has changed its search results) | 9/3: 75,242
August 1, 2016: 75,478
July 1, 2016: 75,794 (-0%)
June 1, 2016: 75,937
May 1, 2016: 76,194 (-0%)
April 1, 2016: 76,497 (-1%)
March 1, 2016: 77,175 (-1%)
February 1, 2016: 77,613 (-0%)
January 1, 2016: 77,877 (-0%)
December 1, 2015: 78,148 (-0%)
November 1, 2015: 78,422 (-0%)
October 1, 2015: 78,677 (-0%)
September 1, 2015: 78,940 (-0%)
August 1, 2015: 79,174 (-1%)
July 1, 2015: 79,656 (-0%)
June 1, 2015: 79,917 (-0%)
May 1, 2015: 80,311 (-0%)
April 1, 2015: 80,594 (-1%)
March 1, 2015: 81,045 (-0%)
February 1, 2015: 81,515 (-0%)
January 1, 2015: 82,228 (-1%)
December 1, 2014: 82,643 (+1%)
November 1, 2014: 81,969 (+81%)
October 1, 2014: 45,267 (-39%)
September 1, 2014: 73,820 (+8%)
August 1, 2014: 68,453 (+1%)
July 1, 2014: 67,466 (-1%)
June 1, 2014: 67,787 (-1%)
May 1, 2014: 68,240 (-16%)

Price Point Analysis

xxy

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.

12/1/2017
Total	5,856,598
Prime	5,525,510
Under $10	4,744,105
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	670,289	11.45%	-0.26%
$1.99	252,805	4.32%	-0.33%
$2.99	1,063,441	18.16%	-0.30%
$3.99	422,691	7.22%	-0.26%
$4.99	310,057	5.29%	-0.37%
$5.99	172,205	2.94%	-0.12%
$6.99	126,376	2.16%	0.16%
$7.99	131,857	2.25%	-0.19%
$8.99	74,230	1.27%	-0.04%
$9.99	399,014	6.81%	-0.69%
$10.99	57,222	0.98%	0.01%
$11.99	52,302	0.89%	-0.02%
$12.99	37,221	0.64%	-0.05%
$13.99	23,291	0.40%	-0.01%
$14.99	47,136	0.80%	-0.04%
$15.99	18,285	0.31%	-0.01%
$16.99	19,881	0.34%	0.03%
$17.99	10,601	0.18%	-0.03%
$18.99	10,788	0.18%	-0.01%
$19.99	18,574	0.32%	-0.03%
$20.99	4,524	0.08%	0.01%
$21.99	5,969	0.10%	0.00%
$22.99	5,393	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	5,533	0.09%	-0.01%
$24.99	4,838	0.08%	-0.02%

11/1/2017
Total	5,758,762
Prime	5,421,097
Under $10	4,665,896
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	673,957	11.70%	-0.20%
$1.99	267,364	4.64%	-0.06%
$2.99	1,063,057	18.46%	-0.18%
$3.99	430,340	7.47%	0.32%
$4.99	326,172	5.66%	0.02%
$5.99	176,288	3.06%	0.02%
$6.99	115,086	2.00%	-0.02%
$7.99	140,358	2.44%	-0.05%
$8.99	75,328	1.31%	0.03%
$9.99	432,237	7.51%	0.08%
$10.99	55,584	0.97%	0.11%
$11.99	52,586	0.91%	0.05%
$12.99	39,547	0.69%	0.02%
$13.99	23,406	0.41%	0.00%
$14.99	48,522	0.84%	0.06%
$15.99	18,513	0.32%	0.02%
$16.99	17,604	0.31%	0.02%
$17.99	11,986	0.21%	0.02%
$18.99	11,167	0.19%	-0.01%
$19.99	19,782	0.34%	-0.01%
$20.99	4,143	0.07%	0.00%
$21.99	5,847	0.10%	0.01%
$22.99	5,459	0.09%	0.01%
$23.99	6,010	0.10%	0.01%
$24.99	5,961	0.10%	0.01%

10/1/2017
Total	5,608,214
Prime	5,278,582
Under $10	4,555,617
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	667,669	11.91%	-0.42%
$1.99	263,786	4.70%	0.30%
$2.99	1,045,456	18.64%	-0.14%
$3.99	401,284	7.16%	-0.27%
$4.99	316,560	5.64%	0.02%
$5.99	170,480	3.04%	0.01%
$6.99	112,985	2.01%	-0.04%
$7.99	139,580	2.49%	-0.10%
$8.99	71,840	1.28%	-0.06%
$9.99	416,188	7.42%	0.33%
$10.99	48,065	0.86%	0.02%
$11.99	48,596	0.87%	0.01%
$12.99	37,477	0.67%	-0.02%
$13.99	22,961	0.41%	0.00%
$14.99	44,160	0.79%	-0.01%
$15.99	16,946	0.30%	-0.01%
$16.99	15,865	0.28%	0.00%
$17.99	10,314	0.18%	0.02%
$18.99	11,284	0.20%	-0.02%
$19.99	19,653	0.35%	0.01%
$20.99	3,842	0.07%	0.00%
$21.99	4,978	0.09%	0.01%
$22.99	4,763	0.08%	0.00%
$23.99	5,547	0.10%	0.00%
$24.99	5,517	0.10%	-0.01%

—

9/1/2017
Total	5,526,342
Prime	5,208,707
Under $10	4,505,672
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	681,140	12.33%	-0.47%
$1.99	243,337	4.40%	-0.70%
$2.99	1,038,037	18.78%	-1.08%
$3.99	410,417	7.43%	-0.44%
$4.99	310,821	5.62%	-0.32%
$5.99	167,636	3.03%	-0.15%
$6.99	113,466	2.05%	-0.05%
$7.99	143,045	2.59%	-0.21%
$8.99	74,161	1.34%	-0.08%
$9.99	392,039	7.09%	-0.49%
$10.99	46,380	0.84%	-0.02%
$11.99	47,356	0.86%	-0.06%
$12.99	37,788	0.68%	0.00%
$13.99	22,531	0.41%	-0.03%
$14.99	44,136	0.80%	-0.06%
$15.99	17,317	0.31%	-0.02%
$16.99	15,601	0.28%	-0.01%
$17.99	8,801	0.16%	-0.02%
$18.99	12,032	0.22%	0.00%
$19.99	18,579	0.34%	-0.03%
$20.99	3,574	0.06%	0.00%
$21.99	4,570	0.08%	0.00%
$22.99	4,714	0.09%	-0.01%
$23.99	5,455	0.10%	-0.01%
$24.99	5,794	0.10%	0.00%

—

8/1/2017
Total	5,137,014
Prime	4,444,889
Under $10	3,341,191
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	657,304	12.80%	0.64%
$1.99	261,901	5.10%	0.31%
$2.99	1,020,409	19.86%	1.18%
$3.99	404,288	7.87%	0.46%
$4.99	305,470	5.95%	0.36%
$5.99	163,729	3.19%	0.19%
$6.99	108,245	2.11%	0.13%
$7.99	143,562	2.79%	0.19%
$8.99	73,269	1.43%	0.08%
$9.99	389,717	7.59%	0.44%
$10.99	44,246	0.86%	0.08%
$11.99	47,249	0.92%	0.03%
$12.99	35,184	0.68%	0.03%
$13.99	22,466	0.44%	0.02%
$14.99	43,930	0.86%	0.05%
$15.99	17,103	0.33%	0.03%
$16.99	15,181	0.30%	0.02%
$17.99	9,085	0.18%	0.02%
$18.99	11,243	0.22%	0.02%
$19.99	19,035	0.37%	0.02%
$20.99	3,408	0.07%	0.01%
$21.99	4,310	0.08%	0.00%
$22.99	4,943	0.10%	0.01%
$23.99	5,341	0.10%	0.01%
$24.99	5,543	0.11%	0.01%

---

7/1/2017
Total	5,347,117
Prime	5,041,034
Under $10	4,363,029
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	649,839	12.15%	-0.05%
$1.99	255,881	4.79%	-0.03%
$2.99	998,962	18.68%	0.00%
$3.99	395,977	7.41%	0.02%
$4.99	298,607	5.58%	-0.04%
$5.99	160,294	3.00%	-0.01%
$6.99	105,569	1.97%	0.02%
$7.99	139,279	2.60%	-0.08%
$8.99	72,150	1.35%	0.02%
$9.99	382,278	7.15%	-0.09%
$10.99	41,910	0.78%	0.10%
$11.99	47,782	0.89%	0.01%
$12.99	35,168	0.66%	-0.01%
$13.99	22,222	0.42%	0.02%
$14.99	43,122	0.81%	0.00%
$15.99	16,120	0.30%	0.02%
$16.99	14,511	0.27%	-0.01%
$17.99	8,158	0.15%	0.01%
$18.99	10,812	0.20%	0.03%
$19.99	18,716	0.35%	0.00%
$20.99	3,245	0.06%	0.01%
$21.99	4,247	0.08%	0.01%
$22.99	4,751	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	4,827	0.09%	0.01%
$24.99	5,478	0.10%	0.00%

—

6/1/2017
Total	5,256,676
Prime	4,973,278
Under $10	4,313,259
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	641,542	12.20%	-0.16%
$1.99	253,102	4.81%	-0.13%
$2.99	981,919	18.68%	-0.15%
$3.99	388,319	7.39%	-0.11%
$4.99	295,549	5.62%	-0.08%
$5.99	158,218	3.01%	-0.03%
$6.99	102,680	1.95%	-0.03%
$7.99	141,208	2.69%	0.02%
$8.99	69,623	1.32%	-0.01%
$9.99	380,448	7.24%	-0.14%
$10.99	35,989	0.68%	0.00%
$11.99	46,244	0.88%	0.16%
$12.99	35,259	0.67%	-0.01%
$13.99	20,850	0.40%	-0.01%
$14.99	42,542	0.81%	-0.03%
$15.99	15,030	0.29%	-0.01%
$16.99	14,549	0.28%	-0.01%
$17.99	7,706	0.15%	0.00%
$18.99	9,201	0.18%	0.00%
$19.99	18,160	0.35%	0.00%
$20.99	2,907	0.06%	0.00%
$21.99	3,595	0.07%	0.00%
$22.99	4,762	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	4,430	0.08%	0.00%
$24.99	5,539	0.11%	0.00%

—

5/1/2017
Total	5,191,246
Prime	4,901,506
Under $10	4,250,404
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	634,147	12.36%	0.16%
$1.99	253,490	4.94%	0.06%
$2.99	966,086	18.83%	0.20%
$3.99	384,583	7.50%	0.07%
$4.99	292,331	5.70%	0.12%
$5.99	156,102	3.04%	0.09%
$6.99	101,960	1.99%	0.03%
$7.99	136,778	2.67%	0.05%
$8.99	68,397	1.33%	-0.07%
$9.99	378,484	7.38%	0.08%
$10.99	35,343	0.69%	0.00%
$11.99	36,934	0.72%	-0.16%
$12.99	34,747	0.68%	0.00%
$13.99	21,019	0.41%	-0.03%
$14.99	43,118	0.84%	-0.02%
$15.99	15,028	0.29%	0.00%
$16.99	14,506	0.28%	0.00%
$17.99	7,763	0.15%	-0.01%
$18.99	9,026	0.18%	0.01%
$19.99	17,894	0.35%	0.00%
$20.99	2,858	0.06%	0.00%
$21.99	3,470	0.07%	0.00%
$22.99	4,802	0.09%	0.01%
$23.99	4,343	0.08%	-0.01%
$24.99	5,552	0.11%	0.00%

—

4/1/2017
Total	5,129,972
Prime	4,843,952
Under $10	4,196,608
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	626,052	12.20%	0.06%
$1.99	250,240	4.88%	0.01%
$2.99	955,627	18.63%	0.06%
$3.99	380,806	7.42%	0.01%
$4.99	286,425	5.58%	0.06%
$5.99	151,245	2.95%	0.03%
$6.99	100,324	1.96%	0.00%
$7.99	134,358	2.62%	-0.01%
$8.99	71,961	1.40%	-0.08%
$9.99	374,414	7.30%	-0.10%
$10.99	35,249	0.69%	-0.05%
$11.99	45,245	0.88%	-0.02%
$12.99	34,679	0.68%	-0.02%
$13.99	22,418	0.44%	-0.02%
$14.99	44,099	0.86%	-0.01%
$15.99	14,892	0.29%	-0.02%
$16.99	14,294	0.28%	-0.01%
$17.99	8,020	0.16%	-0.02%
$18.99	8,340	0.16%	0.00%
$19.99	17,957	0.35%	-0.02%
$20.99	2,701	0.05%	0.00%
$21.99	3,320	0.06%	0.00%
$22.99	4,479	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	4,935	0.10%	-0.02%
$24.99	5,548	0.11%	-0.01%

—

3/1/2017
Total	5,081,365
Prime	4,784,032
Under $10	4,144,877
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	617,306	12.15%	0.01%
$1.99	247,218	4.87%	0.00%
$2.99	943,631	18.57%	0.01%
$3.99	376,521	7.41%	0.01%
$4.99	280,748	5.53%	0.01%
$5.99	148,511	2.92%	0.01%
$6.99	99,129	1.95%	0.02%
$7.99	133,567	2.63%	0.02%
$8.99	75,480	1.49%	0.02%
$9.99	375,725	7.39%	-0.05%
$10.99	37,504	0.74%	0.01%
$11.99	45,652	0.90%	-0.02%
$12.99	35,121	0.69%	-0.01%
$13.99	23,266	0.46%	0.00%
$14.99	44,376	0.87%	0.01%
$15.99	15,580	0.31%	0.00%
$16.99	14,691	0.29%	0.00%
$17.99	8,707	0.17%	0.00%
$18.99	8,076	0.16%	0.00%
$19.99	18,962	0.37%	0.00%
$20.99	2,830	0.06%	0.00%
$21.99	3,388	0.07%	0.00%
$22.99	4,593	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	5,754	0.11%	0.00%
$24.99	5,847	0.12%	0.00%

—

2/1/2017
Total	5,030,914
Prime	4,731,096
Under $10	4,099,841
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	610,715	12.14%	-0.19%
$1.99	244,770	4.87%	0.15%
$2.99	933,874	18.56%	0.14%
$3.99	372,344	7.40%	0.06%
$4.99	277,330	5.51%	-0.09%
$5.99	146,309	2.91%	0.01%
$6.99	97,252	1.93%	0.00%
$7.99	131,445	2.61%	-0.01%
$8.99	73,745	1.47%	0.01%
$9.99	374,666	7.45%	0.07%
$10.99	36,565	0.73%	0.03%
$11.99	45,970	0.91%	0.00%
$12.99	35,339	0.70%	-0.01%
$13.99	23,191	0.46%	-0.01%
$14.99	43,217	0.86%	0.00%
$15.99	15,411	0.31%	-0.02%
$16.99	14,441	0.29%	0.00%
$17.99	8,561	0.17%	0.01%
$18.99	7,952	0.16%	0.00%
$19.99	18,595	0.37%	0.01%
$20.99	2,757	0.05%	0.00%
$21.99	3,335	0.07%	0.01%
$22.99	4,439	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	5,540	0.11%	0.00%
$24.99	5,655	0.11%	0.00%

---

1/1/2017
Total	4,972,110
Prime	4,730,019
Under $10	4,109,227
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	613,271	12.33%	0.12%
$1.99	234,236	4.71%	-0.11%
$2.99	916,038	18.42%	0.04%
$3.99	365,034	7.34%	-0.01%
$4.99	278,443	5.60%	0.01%
$5.99	143,880	2.89%	0.00%
$6.99	95,969	1.93%	0.02%
$7.99	130,308	2.62%	0.03%
$8.99	72,331	1.45%	-0.02%
$9.99	366,584	7.37%	-0.01%
$10.99	34,861	0.70%	0.00%
$11.99	45,242	0.91%	-0.01%
$12.99	35,454	0.71%	0.00%
$13.99	23,493	0.47%	-0.01%
$14.99	42,874	0.86%	0.02%
$15.99	16,195	0.33%	0.01%
$16.99	14,327	0.29%	-0.02%
$17.99	7,821	0.16%	0.00%
$18.99	7,838	0.16%	-0.01%
$19.99	17,748	0.36%	0.00%
$20.99	2,714	0.05%	0.00%
$21.99	3,034	0.06%	0.00%
$22.99	4,382	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	5,445	0.11%	0.00%
$24.99	5,764	0.12%	0.00%

---

12/1/2016
Total	4,908,984
Prime	4,603,953
Under $10	3,989,241
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	599,433	12.21%	0.06%
$1.99	236,600	4.82%	0.08%
$2.99	902,330	18.38%	0.03%
$3.99	361,037	7.35%	-0.09%
$4.99	274,351	5.59%	0.04%
$5.99	142,254	2.90%	0.02%
$6.99	93,552	1.91%	0.04%
$7.99	126,945	2.59%	0.00%
$8.99	72,556	1.48%	0.00%
$9.99	362,520	7.38%	0.05%
$10.99	34,569	0.70%	0.03%
$11.99	44,997	0.92%	0.02%
$12.99	34,970	0.71%	0.02%
$13.99	23,786	0.48%	0.01%
$14.99	41,442	0.84%	0.02%
$15.99	15,552	0.32%	0.01%
$16.99	15,113	0.31%	0.00%
$17.99	7,573	0.15%	0.00%
$18.99	8,235	0.17%	0.00%
$19.99	17,422	0.35%	0.00%
$20.99	2,742	0.06%	0.00%
$21.99	3,044	0.06%	0.00%
$22.99	4,368	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	5,291	0.11%	0.00%
$24.99	5,563	0.11%	-0.11%

—

11/2/2016
Total	4,863,729
Prime	4,569,483
Under $10	3,942,697
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	590,896	12.15%	-0.14%
$1.99	230,668	4.74%	0.05%
$2.99	892,564	18.35%	0.08%
$3.99	362,196	7.45%	0.06%
$4.99	270,058	5.55%	0.00%
$5.99	139,806	2.87%	0.04%
$6.99	90,844	1.87%	0.00%
$7.99	126,013	2.59%	0.00%
$8.99	71,962	1.48%	0.01%
$9.99	356,843	7.34%	-0.02%
$10.99	33,001	0.68%	0.02%
$11.99	43,725	0.90%	0.00%
$12.99	33,898	0.70%	0.00%
$13.99	23,073	0.47%	0.01%
$14.99	40,183	0.83%	0.00%
$15.99	15,048	0.31%	0.00%
$16.99	15,156	0.31%	0.00%
$17.99	7,379	0.15%	0.01%
$18.99	8,059	0.17%	0.00%
$19.99	17,232	0.35%	0.00%
$20.99	2,665	0.05%	0.00%
$21.99	2,927	0.06%	0.00%
$22.99	4,260	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	5,211	0.11%	0.00%
$24.99	11,000	0.23%	0.00%

—

10/1/2016
Total	4,790,218
Prime	4,499,991
Under $10	3,881,084
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	588,648	12.29%	-0.18%
$1.99	224,653	4.69%	0.33%
$2.99	875,028	18.27%	-0.32%
$3.99	354,048	7.39%	-0.13%
$4.99	266,028	5.55%	-0.01%
$5.99	135,815	2.84%	-0.09%
$6.99	89,542	1.87%	0.01%
$7.99	123,897	2.59%	0.00%
$8.99	70,532	1.47%	0.01%
$9.99	352,365	7.36%	0.00%
$10.99	31,758	0.66%	0.00%
$11.99	42,922	0.90%	-0.01%
$12.99	33,394	0.70%	0.03%
$13.99	22,477	0.47%	0.01%
$14.99	39,529	0.83%	0.02%
$15.99	14,933	0.31%	0.01%
$16.99	14,867	0.31%	0.00%
$17.99	7,003	0.15%	0.00%
$18.99	7,829	0.16%	0.01%
$19.99	16,983	0.35%	0.01%
$20.99	2,639	0.06%	0.00%
$21.99	2,752	0.06%	0.00%
$22.99	4,276	0.09%	0.00%
$23.99	5,206	0.11%	0.01%
$24.99	10,825	0.23%	0.00%

—

8/1/2016
Total 4,673,290
Prime 4,441,416
Under $10 3,800,960

Price Point Count Percentage Diff
$0.99 564,512 12.08% 0.03%
$1.99 215,983 4.62% 0.03%
$2.99 865,582 18.52% 0.02%
$3.99 357,735 7.65% 0.02%
$4.99 258,868 5.54% 0.02%
$5.99 143,549 3.07% 0.02%
$6.99 86,956 1.86% 0.01%
$7.99 120,791 2.58% -0.03%
$8.99 67,036 1.43% 0.11%
$9.99 340,609 7.29% -0.01%
$10.99 31,839 0.68% -0.01%
$11.99 43,170 0.92% 0.10%
$12.99 28,881 0.62% 0.01%
$13.99 20,411 0.44% 0.03%
$14.99 38,284 0.82% -0.10%
$15.99 13,228 0.28% 0.02%
$16.99 14,674 0.31% -0.01%
$17.99 6,244 0.13% 0.01%
$18.99 7,055 0.15% 0.00%
$19.99 16,322 0.35% 0.02%
$20.99 2,484 0.05% 0.00%
$21.99 2,610 0.06% 0.01%
$22.99 4,466 0.10% 0.02%
$23.99 4,107 0.09% 0.00%
$24.99 10,627 0.23% 0.01%

---

9/1/2016
Total 4,742,587
Prime 4,470,630
Under $10 3,853,639

Price Point Count Percentage Diff
$0.99 591,306 12.47% 0.39%
$1.99 206,770 4.36% -0.26%
$2.99 881,283 18.58% 0.06%
$3.99 356,645 7.52% -0.13%
$4.99 263,638 5.56% 0.02%
$5.99 138,830 2.93% -0.14%
$6.99 88,366 1.86% 0.00%
$7.99 122,765 2.59% 0.00%
$8.99 69,196 1.46% 0.02%
$9.99 349,005 7.36% 0.07%
$10.99 31,536 0.66% -0.02%
$11.99 43,107 0.91% -0.01%
$12.99 31,596 0.67% 0.05%
$13.99 21,668 0.46% 0.02%
$14.99 38,116 0.80% -0.02%
$15.99 14,109 0.30% 0.01%
$16.99 14,584 0.31% -0.01%
$17.99 6,818 0.14% 0.01%
$18.99 7,355 0.16% 0.00%
$19.99 16,289 0.34% -0.01%
$20.99 2,559 0.05% 0.00%
$21.99 2,710 0.06% 0.00%
$22.99 4,298 0.09% 0.00%
$23.99 4,791 0.10% 0.01%
$24.99 10,719 0.23% 0.00%

8/1/2016
Total	4,606,532
Prime	4,361,423
Under $10	3,747,972
Price Point	Count	Percentage	Diff
$0.99	555,258	12.05%	0.04%
$1.99	211,667	4.59%	0.02%
$2.99	852,080	18.50%	-0.02%
$3.99	351,616	7.63%	0.04%
$4.99	254,338	5.52%	-0.02%
$5.99	140,421	3.05%	0.01%
$6.99	85,088	1.85%	-0.06%
$7.99	120,451	2.61%	0.10%
$8.99	61,016	1.32%	0.02%
$9.99	336,093	7.30%	-0.05%
$10.99	31,772	0.69%	-0.04%
$11.99	37,888	0.82%	0.00%
$12.99	28,219	0.61%	0.01%
$13.99	18,732	0.41%	0.00%
$14.99	42,554	0.92%	0.15%
$15.99	12,223	0.27%	0.00%
$16.99	15,085	0.33%	0.02%
$17.99	5,735	0.12%	0.00%
$18.99	6,838	0.15%	0.02%
$19.99	15,340	0.33%	-0.03%
$20.99	2,270	0.05%	0.00%
$21.99	2,272	0.05%	-0.01%
$22.99	3,487	0.08%	0.00%
$23.99	3,984	0.09%	0.00%
$24.99	9,788	0.21%	-0.01%

—

6/1/2016
Total	4,535,673
Prime	4,296,347
Under $10	3,678,896
Price Point	Count	Percentage
$0.99	544,905	12.01%
$1.99	207,658	4.58%
$2.99	839,809	18.52%
$3.99	344,572	7.60%
$4.99	251,410	5.54%
$5.99	137,958	3.04%
$6.99	86,573	1.91%
$7.99	114,012	2.51%
$8.99	59,121	1.30%
$9.99	333,073	7.34%
$10.99	32,897	0.73%
$11.99	37,424	0.83%
$12.99	27,483	0.61%
$13.99	18,472	0.41%
$14.99	35,286	0.78%
$15.99	12,056	0.27%
$16.99	13,744	0.30%
$17.99	5,738	0.13%
$18.99	5,941	0.13%
$19.99	16,299	0.36%
$20.99	2,239	0.05%
$21.99	2,661	0.06%
$22.99	3,561	0.08%
$23.99	4,103	0.09%
$24.99	9,940	0.22%

Older data were drawn using http://www.jungle-search.com, newer data with http://www.ereaderiq.com (from the same people). There are a number of possible sources of errors (eRi, Amazon, me), but these are probably pretty good.

• 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, generally) textbook. That would find a book about 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

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* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

December 2017 Kindle book releases

December 2017 Kindle book releases

While I don’t generally pre-order Kindle store books myself, I know many of you do.

I understand the fun of just having the book show up, but I figure I’ll order when I want it…since I could have it within a minute, usually.…

However, it’s worth noting that pre-ordering at a low price will tend to preserve that price. Back when the Agency Model was solidly in place, Amazon couldn’t guarantee that books sold by the publishers using that structure wouldn’t go up in price after you pre-ordered them. It wasn’t likely, it was just that Amazon couldn’t control it. We have largely returned to the Agency Model, but Amazon is allowed to discount in some circumstances

These aren’t necessarily the most popular of the pre-orders…I’m just going to list ones that catch my eye. Since we might not agree on that, here’s a link to the 7,532 titles listed as being released in the USA Kindle Store in December 2017 (that’s 333 more than last month):

December 2017 USA Kindle store releases (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

Of those, by the way, 1,671(339 more than last time) are in

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

As usual, I won’t be deliberately linking to books which block text-to-speech access blocked**.

We’ve gone back and forth recently on whether the top four were the

Kindle First (at AmazonSmile)

picks for this month. Amazon doesn’t do these by popularity any more, they do them by featured…and this month, they are on top again…marking four months in a row. I’ve alerted Amazon about it) that people are confused: they think they are pre-ordering a KU borrow, when they are actually pre-ordering a purchase. In other words, they may be thinking they’ll get the book at no additional cost, and actually be charged for it. Amazon has confirmed for me: you can not pre-order a borrow from KU.

December is also a big month for “brand name authors”. People buy books as gifts, even people who don’t read much themselves. If someone is not very familiar with books, they often want something they can recognize. Some of the very bestsellers of the year will be released in December.

Okay, books!

•  Fast-Track Triathlete: Balancing a Big Life with Big Performance in Long-Course Triathlon by Dixon Matt
• The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2018 by Sarah Janssen
• Curlee Girlee by Atara Twersky and Karen Wolcott
• The Demon Crown: A Sigma Force Novel (Sigma Force Novels) by James Rollins
• Dawning Ascent (The Pearson Prophecy Book 1) by Jen L. Grey
• Curious George Makes a Valentine (CGTV) by H. A. Rey
• When the Servant Becomes the Master: A Comprehensive Addiction Guide by Jason Z.W. Powers
• Year One: Chronicles of the One, Book 1 by Nora Roberts
• Moonlight Over Manhattan (From Manhattan with Love) by Sarah Morgan
• Natural Disaster by Ginger Zee
• The How Not to Die Cookbook: 100+ Recipes to Help Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger M.D. and Gene Stone
• Persepolis Rising (The Expanse) by James S. A. Corey
• Enchantress of Numbers: A Novel of Ada Lovelace by Jennifer Chiaverini
• Death at Nuremberg (A Clandestine Operations Novel) by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth
• No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin and Karen Joy Fowler
• Beau Death (A Detective Peter Diamond Mystery) by Peter Lovesey
• The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg
• Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
• Bryant & May: Wild Chamber: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler
• The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
• Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
• Spy of the First Person by Sam Shepard
• Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard
• A Murder for the Books: A Blue Ridge Library Mystery by Victoria Gilbert

That’s only a small fraction, and just ones that caught my eye. If you have other books being released to the USA Kindle store in December 2017 to suggest for me and my readers, you can do so by commenting on this post. If you are directly connected to the book (the author, the publisher) that’s okay…just identify yourself as such and make your comment in your own words (not as an ad).

Enjoy!

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You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

---

 

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

** A Kindle with text-to-speech can read any text downloaded to it…unless that access is blocked by the publisher inserting code into the file to prevent it. That’s why you can have the device read personal documents to you (I’ve done that). I believe that this sort of access blocking disproportionately disadvantages the disabled, although I also believe it is legal (provided that there is at least one accessible version of each e-book available, however, that one can require a certification of disability). For that reason, I don’t deliberately link to books which block TTS access here (although it may happen accidentally, particularly if the access is blocked after I’ve linked it). I do believe this is a personal decision, and there  are legitimate arguments for purchasing those books.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Has blocking text-to-speech access ended?

Has blocking text-to-speech access ended?

This is great news if it’s what has really happened!

Regular readers know I’ve been writing about the issue of publishers blocking text-to-speech access for many years. This post

The Disabled Deserve to Read

from 2009, explains it in depth.

Basically, when Amazon introduced the Kindle 2, it included “text-to-speech”, software which reads the book out loud to you.

I was quite wrong 🙂 when I thought publishers would embrace that.

It costs the publishers nothing, and it meant that people would consume books more quickly. I typically listen to text-to-speech for hours every week in the car, meaning that I need more things to read more often, since driving is no longer “wasted non-reading time”, as I like to say.

The publishers, apparently concerned that text-to-speech access would cut into audiobook sales (I don’t think it does), got Amazon to allow them to insert code into the book files to prevent the access.

I made the decision not to purchase books with TTS blocked…and not to link to them on this blog. I did write the publishers and let them know what I was doing and why. I started out not mentioning the books at all, but I understand that it’s a personal decision as to whether or not you are going to buy those books, and it’s quite complicated. I decided that if I listed them but didn’t link to them, I wasn’t helping sell them directly, and that worked for me.

That has certainly meant, though, that I haven’t read some books I would like to read, and haven’t promoted some books to you I thought you would like.

Yesterday, I was looking at the great

Kindle Daily Deal (at AmazonSmile…benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

(there’s another good one for series starters today)

and happened to notice that

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (at AmazonSmile*)

no longer had TTS blocked!

That was good to see! I’ve wanted to read it since it was released, but it’s always (at least when I’ve looked at it) had TTS blocked. It has 4.6 stars out of 5 with 5,744 customer ratings at time of writing, which is very high.

That book is from a publisher which at one point was blocking all their books by policy, but it hasn’t been consistent.

I have seen books released without the TTS block get it later, so I wanted to check a book which both my Significant Other and I really enjoyed (that doesn’t always happen). I was going to suggest it to you, but after we’d read it, the text-to-speech was blocked. I even wrote the author to raise the issue (so the author could raise it…they aren’t the ones who directly decide in a traditional publishing situation, usually).

Well, when I checked

The Rosie Project by Grant Simsion (at AmazonSmile*)

it also no longer had TTS blocked! This one is 4.4 stars, but with 10,299 customer reviews.

I started checking other titles.

All the text titles I checked said that the text-to-speech was “enabled”. I’ve always found that a bit misleading: nothing needs to be done to “enable” TTS access…that’s why I can use it with personal documents, even simple text files.

Now, I did some sophisticated searching and did find some titles which said they were “not enabled”, but those were graphic novels. TTS can’t read the words in word balloons, for example, because they aren’t text in the way it needs it…they are images.

I haven’t tested enough to know that TTS-blocking code is no longer being used…but things are looking good so far.

Why the change?

One possible factor is that Amazon has started listing whether or not books are accessible to screen readers.

Screen readers do text-to-speech, but they also do more. One big thing they can do is read the “ALT text” which can be provided to describe images for people with print challenges. I do that with some of the images I insert…I try to do it with all of the ones I import. All screen readers do text-to-speech, but text-to-speech doesn’t do everything that screen readers do…like all cats are mammals, but not all mammals are cats. 😉

For more information, see this

Accessibility for Kindle help page (at AmazonSmile*)

Update: the most important thing about the listing of screen reader accessibility is that screen readers are unaffected by the code which blocks stand-alone text-to-speech. If a publisher blocks TTS, a screen reader can still read the book out loud…at least, that’s my understanding.

One thing I don’t know at this point is what happens if you bought a book with text-to-speech blocked. When we bought books (like The Rosie Project) where it wasn’t blocked, and then they blocked it later, it still wasn’t blocked for us. I was kind of figuring that was because you got what you bought…they could have updated the file on the cloud, which would have affected us (if you allow automatic updates, that is…that’s an option). They wouldn’t have reached into people’s Kindles and changed downloaded copies (they learned their lesson on that years ago, when they removed 1984 from Kindles when it was apparently accidentally sold outside of the intended market).

I’m really excited about this! Even if it hasn’t been an issue for you, it will simplify what you read in ILMK, if it’s true and not temporary…

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You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

---

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

 

“Today only – The biggest Kindle Daily Deal of the year, up to 85% off”+KU up to 40% off (for some people)

“Today only – The biggest Kindle Daily Deal of the year, up to 85% off”+KU up to 40% off (for some people)

Today’s

Kindle Daily Deal (at AmazonSmile…benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

is being advertised as the biggest one of the year…and at the time of writing, there are 452 (!) titles in it.

I’m not going to have time to get through all of them before I get to work, but I am seeing these authors with at least one book and I’ll list some titles:

• Daniel Silva
• Nora Roberts
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
• Game of Thrones (#1) by George R.R. Martin…for $1.99

They are also advertising

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

for up to 40% off…but when I try to buy it (as an existing member), it says I’m not eligible.

This looks like the deal I reported a couple of days ago…which disappeared before one of my readers got to it:

Today: up to 40% off Kindle Unlimited (and other deals)

I suggested to that reader that maybe what I saw was a mistake for something that should have been a Cyber Monday deal…and that appears to have been the case.

The deal might not apply in your country, of course…check before you buy.

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You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

---

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

 

Kids are growing up with talktech being normal

Kids are growing up with talktech being normal

We’ve gotten way beyond kids just being “digital natives” (growing up with digital technology) now. 😉

In this

Washington Post article by Hayley Tsukayama via L.A. Times**

they cite the example of Yana Welinder’s kid trying to say, “Alexa”…before being able to say, “Mama”.

That really gave me a smile, because something like that happened in my house (and it was my “fault”).

I have a sibling who is eight years younger than I am. Before my baby sib could talk, I would flick a light switch on and off, carefully enunciating the words “On” and “Off”.

The result of that was that my sibling’s first word was “On”.

My parents weren’t particularly amused, even though it was used contextually (often with a pointing finger).

I recommend the article, which goes more into depth (but not very deep) on some of the possible concerns.

What will it mean as kids grow up with lots of devices in their homes, and devices which perform essential functions, that respond to spoken requests (and with spoken responses in many cases)?

Will they feel like they are being slighted when other devices don’t respond? Will the assumption be that everything is able to talk, and some things just choose not to do that?

On the other hand, they almost certainly will treat

Alexa devices (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

(which, at time of writing, are on sale for as low as under $30) as “social actors”. In other words, they will consider the device’s feelings, and have a sense of intent in what it does.

Many (probably most) adults do that with technology now. I strongly recommend

The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What We Can Learn About Ourselves from Our Machines (at AmazonSmile*)

by Clifford Nass and Corina Yen, which uses that principle to delve into human interpersonal dynamics…I read a lot of books on that sort of thing, and this has one of the best explanation of how you build teams that I’ve ever seen.

I understand that there can be an issue with soldiers and law enforcement officers anthropomorphizing anti-bomb robots…and wanting to save the robots when they are in “danger”.

Today is the 31st anniversary of the release of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in the USA, and the article pointed to a scene in that movie…although that scene also has occurred to me independently around these issues.

This is really just a short gag and doesn’t affect the plot, but I’ll still give you a minor

SPOILER ALERT

The Enterprise crew are in 1986 (that’s on the posters), and Scotty (and McCoy) are trying to work with a computer of the era.

This scene shows Scotty trying first to address the computer verbally:

YouTube video

Of course, I could also just say to our Echo Show, “Alexa, play ‘Star Trek Hello Computer from YouTube'”…and I did to test it. 🙂 Oh, the Echo Show does have YouTube videos back, by the way, but they don’t show full screen…that’s what Google didn’t like, because it took away advertising and recommending other videos, I think.

END SPOILER

I think I’ve also mentioned this on the blog before, but I have often pointed out to people how the original Star Trek series was way ahead of us in transportation (the warp drive, the transporter), ahead of us in healthcare (but we are catching up), but way behind us in computers (at least, the standard computer on the Enterprise).

When Captain Kirk would ask a simple question, it would take the computer a few seconds to answer it…and you could actually hear relays closing!

Yes, there were some super intelligent computers, but they weren’t standard. In one episode (Tomorrow Is Yesterday), the computer is much smoother and has a definite personality…but that was anomalous, and wasn’t desired.

I don’t see the ability to talk to our devices going away for the next decade at least. As long as verbal communication remains one of our main ways to communicate our desires (it would take a lot to change that…just texting isn’t going to do that, although brain-machine-interfaces, which could effectively result in technological telepathy…techepathy(?) might), we’ll want to do speak with our tech…besides just chastising a computer or car.

I would expect that within the next five years, we’ll be able to speak as smoothly and successfully with our main personal devices as we can with most humans. That will require:

• • • Better “artificial empathy”. We are getting that now…devices understanding how we feel. I love a free app from Microsoft, Seeing AI (currently only available for iOS, so I use t on my work iPhone. It’s designed for those with visual impairments, but its also just fun (and has significant benefit for people who have difficulty determining emotions in others, as some people with autism can have). I can take a picture of a person, and it will guess their gender and age (it’s almost always been within four years for me), and will tell me if they look “happy”, “neutral”, and so. Our talktech will be able to tell if we are angry or happy (maybe not with 100% accuracy…but humans don’t hit 100%, either), and adjust the responses accordingly
    • This has started, but they are beginning to recognize us as individuals. That’s obviously something we do with humans…and our talktech needs to be able to do this more reliably
    • It will also need to figure out context…is the voice generating person right next to them? Yelling from another room? On a recording? Something I really want is that, if I whisper to my Alexa device, it whispers back. 🙂 I’m sometimes talking to our Echo when my Significant Other is asleep. I can whisper and it understands me…but “Okay” is quite loud!
    • It will also need more languages and slang…it’s pretty facile with accents, in my experience, but it will become much more cosmopolitan and culturally diverse. I once heard of a doctor who told a patient that the patient would need to find another doctor…because the first doctor couldn’t understand the patient’s (English) slang!

If that gets too sophisticated, that could make for an interesting situation…it’s possible your child and your talktech will be develop their own language…which you won’t be able to understand…

Update: I forgot to address something I’ve mentioned previously in the blog, that we are donating an unopened Echo Dot to a children’s center (I’m hoping to drop off that donation, which includes other things, tomorrow). I think it’s important that possibly disadvantaged children also get exposed to this technology. I will include instructions on how to turn off voice purchasing (Menu-Settings-Voice Purchasing). They’ll also want to be careful about which experiences are enabled. I don’t think they can, through software, stop requests which include explicit music…that might require monitoring.

What do you think? Feel free to tell me and my readers by commenting on this post.

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You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

---

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

** Thanks to a reader who sent me a link to this story in a private communication…always appreciated! By the way, I linked to the L.A. Times instead of the (Jeff Bezos’ owned) Washington Post because the WaPo limits you to three free articles a day…and I didn’t want you to use one up unnecessarily…the world of paywalls! That one does seem like one possible strategy…

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Today: up to 40% off Kindle Unlimited (and other deals)

Up to 40% off Kindle Unlimited (and other deals)

I watch for this one!

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

is 40% right now…specifically, a 24 month subscription is $143.86 (just about $6 a month). A 12 month subscription is 33% off: $80.32.

You can do this if you already have a subscription…this is the way it has been in the past. There is a restriction if you have “…purchased multiple prepaid plans that are currently associated with their Amazon accounts”, although I’ve never figured out exactly what that means. I think you have to have two plans at the same time.

You can also gift this, and we have done that as well. $80.32 for 12 months for a family gift is not much. You can have up to ten books at a time, and typically, each book can be on six devices at the same time…so that can work well with a family of four, for example.

We’ve been happy members of KU since it was introduced, and even though are finances are changing, we are going to continue this (I’ll get the 24 month subscription today). It’s true that

Prime Reading (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

which is included in

Amazon Prime (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

has about 1,000 (currently 1,037) titles, KU has 1,809,900 (!) at time of writing!

I would be surprised if you couldn’t find ten books a month to read that you thought were worth it…that doesn’t mean you’d like every book, but the same is true if you were piece buying one book at a time.

While they won’t usually be the current New York Times bestsellers, there will be books of current interest (The Handmaid’s Tale, for example) as well as older (The Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings) titles, and lesser known ones.

I just recently read and really enjoyed

Space on My Hands by Fredric Brown (at AmazonSmile*)

after I had mentioned Fredric Brown in the

Bookish Birthdays

category, and one of my regular readers and commenters, Lady Galaxy, mentioned that book was available.

I hadn’t read it: it’s a collection of Brown short stories, and each one would have made a good classic Twilight Zone episode. 🙂 My only problem with the book was…it was too short. 😉

I also liked

The Naturalist (Theo Cray #1) by Andrew Mayne (at AmazonSmile*)

kind of like The Rosie Project meets Stephanie Plum.

That’s just one of today’s deals! This is Black Friday – Cyber Monday weekend, after all. 😉

The

Amazon Device Deals (at AmazonSmile*)

are amazing today!

You can get the 7″ Fire tablet for $29.99, and so is the Echo Dot. The Fire TV Stick is $24.99. The Kindle Paperwhite is $30 off at $89.99.

Other daily deals include:

• Tegu magnetic wooden blocks 40% off
• 30% off select Bowflex fitness products
• Up to 30% off some radio-control toys and drones…including live video drone

Lots of deals! It won’t be the end of discounts after Monday, but I think you are taking a big risk if you think that anything which is at least 30% off today is going to get lower in the next month. It’s possible, but I would think they’ll be “lightning deals” or part of bundles if they do happen.

Oh, I wanted to mention one more product recently introduced (and therefore not no sale) by Amazon!

Echo Buttons (at AmazonSmile*)

This would be a great gift for someone who already has an Alexa device (and who likes social games)…they can’t already have them, unless they ordered them just recently. In my family, we don’t buy things for ourselves when we get close to the holidays, if they are potential gifts. 🙂

For $19.99, you get a two-pack of what are basically wireless “buzzers”…you can “buzz in” to answer a question (asked by your Alexa device during a game). They work with many Echo devices (including first generation), and you can have up to four working with a device at once. They require batteries but they do come with them, so you’ll be able to play right away.

Going on my wish list. 😉

---

You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

---

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.

Black Friday’s KDD: 103 bestsellers

Black Friday’s KDD: 103 bestsellers

Today’s

Kindle Daily Deal (at AmazonSmile…benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

is a Black Friday deal…yes, I know I’m getting this out late in the day, but, you know, family traditions. 🙂

It’s 103 (!) titles…and I’ll list some which caught my eye:

• Echoes in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel (In Death, Book 44) by J. D. Robb | 4.8 stars out of 5 | 1,624 customer reviews at time of writing | $3.99 | it was also released this year
• Swink (Landry Family Series Book 5) by Adriana Locke | also available from Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) at no additional charge
• Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush
• Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance | 4.7 stars | 2,243 reviews
• The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore
• Distortion (Moonlighters Series Book 2) by Terri Blackstock
• Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson | 4.6 stars | 1,947 reviews
• Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon | NYT bestselling horror novel | Bram Stoker Award winner
• Harvest Moon (A Virgin River Novel Book 15) by Robyn Carr
• Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse Book 1) by James S. A. Corey
• The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone
• The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown
• These Old Shades (Alastair-Audley Book 1) by Georgette Heyer
• Churchill: A Life by Martin Gilbert
• Moonlight Cove (A Chesapeake Shores Novel) by Sherryl Woods
• The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals—and Other Forgotten Skills by Tristan Gooley
• Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
• The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana B. Henriques
• Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist) by Min Jin Lee
• The White Album: Essays by Joan Didion
• Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks
• World History: Ancient History, United States History, European, Native American, Russian, Chinese, Asian, African, Indian and Australian History, Wars including World War 1 and 2 [3rd Edition] by Adam Brown (KU)
• Julian Fellowes’s Belgravia by Julian Fellowes
• The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty
• Trap Line by Carl Hiaasen and Bill Montalbano
• Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Remember that you can buy these today that this discounted price, and either delay the delivery for the appropriate gift-giving occasion, or send it to yourself to print out and give whenever you want (even wrapped, perhaps).

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You can be part of my next book, Because of the Kindle!

---

Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!

All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get.  Shop ’til you help!  

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy  Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.