Happy bookish birthdays (November 8) to…

Happy bookish birthdays (November 8) to…

• Bram Stoker (Dracula) (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
• Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind) (at AmazonSmile*)
• Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day) (at AmazonSmile*)
• Sarah Fielding (The Governess, or The Little Female Academy) (at AmazonSmile*)
• Cedric Belfrage (Seeds of Destruction) (at AmazonSmile*)
• Martha Gellhorn (The Face of War) (at AmazonSmile*)
• Ben Bova (Grand Tour series) (at AmazonSmile*)
• Timothy Egan (The Worst Hard Time) (at AmazonSmile*)
• Jeffrey Ford (The Well-Built City trilogy) (at AmazonSmile*)
• Joshua Ferris (Then We Came to an End) (at AmazonSmile*)

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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.

Share your opinion: one week to go!

Share your opinion: one week to go!

What do you think has happened (to you and the world) “Because of the Kindle”? Let me know by Sunday, November 12th, and you may be in my next book, “Because of the Kindle” when I publish it for the November 19th tenth anniversary of the Kindle. I’ve written about it before, and I’ve gotten some great thoughts from readers (thanks, readers!):

• You can be part of my new book, “Because of the Kindle”
• Because of the Kindle page

I’d definitely like more, though, and your opinions and insights may be different from everybody else’s. Even if they aren’t it’s not bad if two or more people reinforce the same thought.

I’m making progress, although there is a long way to go. I’ve been deferring some other things until I get it done…and that has to be in the next two weeks. 🙂

I have Monday, November 13th off from my “day job” (because I’m working on Saturday the 18th). That’s the day I’ll get it ready for publication, so I’ll insert the BotK comments I’ve gotten from other people then.

I decided to do the book largely chronologically, so it’s going to include the ILMK E-Books timeline, and then I’m inserting articles from the blog where they go chronologically. Not all of them: just ones that…tie into the impact of the Kindle, or that mark Kindle changes, at least in my opinion. I had been working on a “best of the first five years” of this blog that I never got done, and this will replace that.

I’m also writing new opinion pieces, now that I have hindsight. 😉

I don’t quite know what that mix will be, how much will be old, and how much will be new. It depends on how wordy I get on the new stuff…

I sort of randomly figured I’d like about 20 percent of the book to be other people’s ideas. Despite the fact that I’ve started almost every paragraph in this post with “I” 😉 , I really don’t think I have all the answers. This blog is so much stronger because of all the great commenters I have, and that would also be true of the book.

I don’t expect this to be a big hit book or anything…it’ll be a ninety-nine center, and I do think it will get read. It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s read by some “influencers”. What you say could make a difference in how things go from here…

Share a memory, or think about what will get people thinking…make predictions, or reflect on the past, up to you. Just complete the thought, “Because of the Kindle…” Make it a one-liner or a treatise. Give me several, of you like.

You’ll continue to have all rights to use what you’ve written wherever you want. I’ll have the right to publish it in the book, and in other ILMK (I Love My Kindle) collections and writings. We won’t have to ask each other permission ahead of time. 🙂

It will be done without compensation, but I’m happy to link to a website that is yours and related in some way…either entirely a personal site, or one that covers related topics. I’ll have to make the call about whether to do the link or not…I just don’t want it to be used for, say, political purposes.

I plan to use 20% of any royalties I earn to do giveaways on ILMK. 🙂 Might not be much, but you never know.

So, what do you think? “Because of the Kindle…”

You can comment on this post, if you like…that will work.

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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.

 

 

 

Monthly Kindle Deals up to 80% off: November 2017

Monthly Kindle Deals up to 80% off: November 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…although they have been doing themes this year as well.

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: 840 at the time of writing…263 fewer than last month, which there were 1,324 in August, so if the trend of the past few months continues, we’re getting down to half as many. That’s interesting, in part because there are so many more books in the USA Kindle store, so the percentage of books in this deal is dropping. December may see a big uptick, though, for the holidays.

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 149 of them (161 fewer 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 7, which is 2 more than last month. 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 think blocking has become pretty unusual.

Okay, books!

• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon | 4.7 stars out of 5 | 3,509 customer reviews | $1.99 | (KU)
• Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody Book 1) by Elizabeth Peters (book 1 of 19) | 4.5 stars | 580 reviews | $2.99
• The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee and David John | 4.8 stars | 1,571 reviews
• Little Boy Lost by J. D. Trafford | 4.2 stars | 2,167 reviews
• Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny by Holly Madison
• Secondborn (Secondborn Series Book 1) by Amy A. Bartol | 4.1 stars | 2,997 reviews…I read this one, which I got free as a Kindle First. I did enjoy it…there were some strong characters, although I wasn’t in love with the world. I would say it was worth reading
• The Other Side of the Sun by Madeleine L’Engle
• Fatal Charm: The Shocking True Story of Serial Wife Killer Randy Roth by Carlton Smith
• A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang | 4.2 stars | 1,683 reviews
• The Devil’s Star: A Novel (Harry Hole series Book 5)J by Jo Nesbo and Don Bartlett
• Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence by Esther Perel
• The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking
• Daughter of Fortune: A Novel by Isabel Allende and Margaret Sayers Peden | 4.1 stars | 547 reviews
• Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson and the Opening by Stephen E. Ambrose
• The Exorcist: 40th Anniversary Edition by William Peter Blatty
• How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority by Clay Scroggins and Andy Stanley
• Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim | 4.6 stars | 12,696 reviews | (KU) | My Significant Other and I both read this one…and both liked it! That doesn’t always happen…I recommend this one
• The Last Girl (The Dominion Trilogy Book 1) by Joe Hart
• The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor
• On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Dave Grossman
• Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase to Catch Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
• Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Albright
• Serve No Master: How to Escape the 9-5, Start up an Online Business, Fire Your Boss and Become a Lifestyle Entrepreneur or Digital Nomad by Jonathan Green and S.J. Scott
• How to Work a Room, 25th Anniversary Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections–In Person and Online by Susan RoAne
• Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World by Andrew Breitbart

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*)

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 on December 1, 2017″. The choices this month are:

• The Good Samaritan by John Marrs (thriller)
• What Remains True by Janis Thomas (family drama)
• The Silver Music Box by Mina Baites (translated by Alison Layland) (war fiction)
• The Unkillable Kitty O’Kane by Colin Falconer (historical fiction)
• The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves by James Han Mattson (literary fiction)
• The Night of the Moths by Riccardo Bruni (translated by Anne Milano Appel) (suspense)

People like to know which one I pick…and in this case, I looked at them quite a bit, and discussed it with my Significant Other (we are on the same account). I was tempted by The Unkillable Kitty Kane, but the reviews weren’t convincing to me. That’s an advantage of waiting until later in the month…more reviews. I ended up going with The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves…partially because I did like the reviews. 🙂

Enjoy!

Bonus deal: there has been an evolution in  the Kindle Daily Deal (at AmazonSmile…benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) in November. It used to be that they were all pretty inexpensive…under $5. Recently, there have been more expensive books (but still discounted)…for example, Scythe by Neal Shusterman is $10.99 and Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham is $13.30. I’m not sure how I feel about that…I liked the idea that it really felt like a bargain bin/remainders, and that’s not the case now.

That said, there are a couple today I wanted to mention which are on the lower price end:

• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke for $2.49 (also available through KU)
• The Toughest Indian in the World by Sherman Alexie for $2.99
• Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard (this was a big NYT bestseller back in the day…and a poorly reviewed movie) for $1.99 (KU)
• A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford $2.49 (KU)

===

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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.

The new Amazon Books opened in Walnut Creek California today…and I was there!

The new Amazon Books opened in Walnut Creek California today…and I was there!

Someone I knew was nice enough to alert me to the fact that the new Amazon Books opened today in Walnut Creek, California. That’s near where I live…it’s across the Bay and then some from San Francisco. This store is in Broadway Plaza: an upscale, open air “mall”…the kind of place with both a Nordstrom and a Soulcycle. 🙂

I knew it was going to open, but I didn’t know when…I think they were a bit surprised that a blogger was there the first day, although stories about it had appeared locally.

I’ll describe it, but I should mention that I’m a former brick-and-mortar bookstore manager myself, so I was looking at it with a more professional eye than many would. I also did introduce myself right away, but I don’t think that changed the service much. I chatted with the Manager more than I think most people would do…but I also saw that same Manager helping other people for extended periods.

I just thought it was fair for them to know I was there and taking pictures. 🙂 I won’t identify anybody there by name, and I didn’t ask for any “trade secrets”…I just went through the store as a customer would.

Let’s start out with general impressions. It was bright and airy, clean and well merchandised (I only saw a few things customers might not have put quite back in the right place…very minor). The floor looked like it was wood, and there were generous windows in the front. There was gentle music (not Muzak, but not intrusive). The ceiling was high, and painted black…sort of faux industrial, but in a modern, aesthetically pleasing way.

There were no boxes of books on the floor: that’s common in bookstores. All of the books were “faced” (you didn’t see their spines), and they all had cards explaining them underneath (typically with a quotation from a customer).

I would say four different people came up to me, and we chatted. They were clearly book people, like I might have hired. 🙂 I asked one to name me a favorite bookstore which was no longer around: the answer was a great one for people from the area…Bonanza Books in Walnut Creek, where I had spent many an hour.

It’s not an old-fashioned bookstore : there are toys, and a lot of devices, and other sundry…all also on the Amazon website. They weren’t all made by Amazon, either:

There are also Amazon specific elements…while you still go through a check-out (unlike the Amazon Go stores with which they are experimenting), you can pay for your purchases with the Amazon App on your phone! That’s right, you don’t need a credit card or cash. I’ve said before that if I could pay for everything I buy through Amazon, I would happily do so…this gets me closer.

Also, there are two price tiers, at least on books (not on everything). If you are a Prime member, you pay the price that’s on Amazon right then (you can scan the book to find out). If you aren’t, you pay the list price (the price the publisher puts on the book on the book).

The selection was attractive, including local interest books and magazines.

I especially liked that there was a whole kids’ section, a bit angled off from the main area:

Yep, that’s a kid size table…with Fire tablets and toys. 😉

Naturally, I looked to see if my sibling’s book

One Murder More (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

was there…it was featured in the first Amazon Books store in Seattle. It wasn’t, but a helpful person informed me I could get it online. 🙂

A few other notes:

• There were comfortable chairs available
• There was a full Peet’s Coffee
• There were magazines…quite a few, actually
• There was a section for “page turners”, that Kindle readers had finished in three days…for a while, we Kindleers called those “button mashers” 😉
• Other sections had to do with popularity at Amazon…oh, and as in the other Amazon Books, you see the star ratings for the books
• There were a lot of ways to buy Amazon gift cards…you could buy them in nice little packages

Overall, I was very pleased! It was a pleasant shopping experience, and would be convenient. It’s not like being in a giant bookstore, but that’s a good thing. The staff seemed well prepared, professional, and friendly. There were devices and toys…but I would say a smaller percentage of the store was toys than would be true at a Barnes & Noble, and the small items they had were more like what you would see at a Half Price Books.

If you have questions, let me know. If you’ve been there (or to another Amazon Books), feel free to let me and my readers know 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.

Snapshot: November 1, 2017

Snapshot: November 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:

The standout this month is the big jump up in the number of titles added…it’s about 1,000 higher than it’s been in years. That’s nice to see. Prices looked like they edged up a bit, but there were more free options also. That’s what we may see: more content, more freebies, and somewhat higher prices…the last one might help to power the first two. We don’t have enough data to really project that trend, though. 🙂

Titles in Kindle Store

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:

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: 

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:

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

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)

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

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

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

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)

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)

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*

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)

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

* 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.

The new Fire TV removed one of my favorite features: Display Mirroring

The new Fire TV removed one of my favorite features: Display Mirroring

I’m glad I hadn’t written about this yet!

I got the new version of the Fire TV:

Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD and Alexa Voice Remote (New Pendant Form Factor) | Streaming Media Player (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

There were a couple of things I liked about it right away. It’s my favorite packaging probably since the first Kindle. 🙂 I know that’s a little thing, but the package was cool:

I like the way the actual device hangs behind the TV. Our TV isn’t mounted on the wall, but it is an inexpensive flat screen style, and the device is not deeper than the electronics on the back. It does need to be plugged into power, but so does the TV…if you can mask the TV power cord (you might have an outlet directly behind the TV, you should be able to hide the Fire TV power cord.

One reason I was excited to get it is that, since Hulu recently updated their app, it’s been crashing…a lot. We’ll be watching a show, and it just goes back to home…probably at least once an hour. The FTV3 does seem to have fixed that issue: it is more powerful.

This may be subjective, but the image does look sharper to me.

Set up was okay. It did still ask me for my wi-fi password (although that’s supposedly stored at Amazon for me now), and I did need to sign into apps (even though they said they were working on “single sign-on” for a number of apps).

It suggested some popular streaming apps, which included Hulu…but not Netflix. No problem, I installed that, too.

It still had one issue for me: if I voice search for a TV show and it finds it, say, in Hulu, it will start watching it at season 1 episode 1…even if I’ve already seen a bunch of episodes. That’s a wash with how it was before, so that’s fine.

It also, amusingly, still tells me that Hulu has live programming…but it rhymes “live” with “give”, not “five”. In also pronounced CNNGO as “See-Enn-Enn-Gee-Oh” instead of “See-Enn-Enn-Go”…and CNNGO was its name, oh! 😉

The first day, it seemed like it had fixed a major problem, and other things were pretty much status quo, until…

Our now adult kid took pictures at a Halloween event yesterday, and posted them to Facebook. My Significant Other isn’t on Facebook (I’m only on it for this sort of thing), so we got all set to do what I usually do: open Facebook on my Galaxy S7 and mirror it to the Fire TV.

“Mirroring” means that whatever is on my phone’s screen appears (wirelessly) on the Fire TV’s screen.

I use that quite often…not just for pictures, but for websites and apps on my phone which don’t have Fire TV apps.

Amazon really promoted it with the first gen Fire TV, and it’s been present on subsequent gens/devices (the FTV2, the Fire TV Stick)…until now.

I went to where it normally was in Settings, and it wasn’t there.

I looked around for it (with my SO waiting to see the pictures), and couldn’t find it…so I want to Amazon Help:

Use Display Mirroring on Amazon Fire TV (at AmazonSmile*)

It was explicit:

“Fire TV (3rd Generation) does not support display mirroring.”

That was a disappointment! Maybe they had to take some necessary component out to make the device smaller, but that seems unlikely to me.

I went to the device’s Amazon product page…and I couldn’t help but notice right away the low ratings average: 2.6 stars out of 5 with 282 customer reviews at time of writing, and the plurality (38%) were one-star. I think that’s the lowest I’ve seen for an Amazon device, at least with that many reviews.

One of the reviews mentioning having mirrored on it…it seemed like that might have been with an app, so I checked the apps.

Nothing had good reviews, and most casting apps seemed to be for iOS (I have an Android). Most also weren’t free, and at least one was pretty expensive. I’ll look into it more…

If it can be done through a third-party app, it probably wasn’t a hardware reason. I noticed that the Alexa-enabled TV also doesn’t mirror. Why would Amazon make that change? On the TV, that would actually disqualify us from using them at work, since we mirror to TVs for presentations some times.

• Do they think people don’t want to mirror? Seems unlikely
• Do they not want people to mirror, in order to channel (so to speak) what they watch? Maybe, but that feels conspiratorial to me, especially since they allow direct competitors like Netflix and Hulu
• Do they think there’s some other way to do it, like when Apple eliminated the headphone jack? If so, I don’t know what it is…at least, something that isn’t a direct competitor
• Could it be that they don’t want you to mirror because they want to track what you are watching? That one seems possible. If you watch something on Hulu or Netflix on a Fire TV, the device presumably knows what you watched (it fetched it, after all), although I suppose the app itself could wall off that information. When you mirror, it seems unlikely to me that the receiver knows what you sent.

If I had realized ahead of time it wouldn’t have mirroring, I would have been more reluctant to get it. I’m not going to return it: having Hulu not crash is worth quite a bit. I may actually run them both: we’d watch the the FTV3 most of the time, and have the FTV2 for mirroring.

What do you think? Do you ever mirror to a screen? Do you mirror for pleasure, for work, or for both? Do you know of a free FTV3 compatible casting app you’d recommend? 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!

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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.

‘

 

 

Groups, Scenes, and Routines now available in Alexa

Groups, Scenes, and Routines now available in Alexa

I love that Amazon keeps giving us new features for free…but I still think they could explain them better. It may be that they are going to do a video for this one (they’ve been doing videos a lot lately), and that I’m just ahead of the curve on exploring it (a reader sent me a private e-mail alerting me to their arrival).

When I typed “Routines” into Amazon Help, it took me to the right place, the Alexa page…but then there was nothing there about it. 🙂

I’ve been playing with it for an hour or so, and I do really like what I’ve gotten it to do…I can turn on lights in a given room just by saying, “Alexa, lights on”, and it only affects that room. I don’t have to remember the names of the lights.

Let’s take a look at it:

First, I was doing this in the Alexa app on my phone (a Galaxy S7 Edge, but that shouldn’t really matter with the Alexa app).

There are two places in the menu (accessible from the Home screen, probably in your top left…three horizontal lines, what some people call a “hamburger”) involved with this. One says “Routines” and the other one says “Smart Home”. Even though Routines comes first in the menu, I’m going to Smart Home first, which I think makes the most sense. That might be different if you already have things set up in another Smart Hub.

There are three sections in Smart Home: Devices, Groups, and Scenes.

Devices

I should mention first that we currently control lights in our home with a Wink hub and we have a Harmony hub and remote (but that’s for the TV and those devices). One of the main reasons I use Alexa devices is to control those Smart Devices. I also have a Samsung Smart Hub, but I’ve never configured it.

My Smart Lights did show up on the Devices tab, and there was an option to add a device. There is a Help button (a question mark in a circle) in my top right corner, which is contextual. It gives me help for the tab I’m on now.

Tapping that, it let me connect Smart Home device via skills (I’m already using the Wink skill). You could also connect those devices (at least, Zigbee compatible ones) directly to an

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

I have one on pre-order…estimated to arrive November 3rd to November 7th. Interestingly, sending it to an Amazon Locker seemed to mean it might be later than if I had sent it to our home (which isn’t safe to do). On the other hand, I just needed to order a cable, and it will arrive at the locker faster since it will be delivered on a Sunday.

I’m looking forward to testing out the Echo Plus in the next week or ten days.

Since Alexa already knows all of our Smart Devices, let’s look at

Groups

Here’s the idea of a group: you take one or more devices (usually more than one) and create one name which refers to all of them…sort of like a distribution list for e-mail. If you have five lights in the Family Room, you can create a Family Room group, and then assign those five lights to it.

You then associate one of your Alexa devices with that group. For example, our

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

is in the family room, so I associated the Family Room group with that it.

Note: you can’t have a single device and a Group with the exact same name…I had a light named Family Room, so I couldn’t use the same name for both.

I should also mention that I had previously created groups in the older version of the Alexa app, and those appeared here.

If you tap “Add Group”, you’ll get a choice between “Smart Home Group” and “Amazon Multi-Room Music Group”. The latter is so that you could have the same music (or podcast, or…) playing on several Alexa devices at the same time.

When you tap the “Smart Home Group”, you are given the choice of creating a custom name, or picking some “Common Names” (Backyard, Basement, Bathroom, Den, Dining Room, Downstairs, Hallway, Kitchen, Lounge, Office, or Upstairs). I wonder if the Common Names are actually common, being drawn (perhaps dynamically) from choices Amazon users are entering in Custom Name.

Once you do that, you are then asked to select an Alexa device to associate with that group. Note that you can only associate an Alexa device with a single Group.

Next, you can choose devices to put into that Group and Scenes…I think my Scenes came from my Harmony, but there were some that definitely didn’t (like “IAmBack”).

Once you’ve done that, you save.

Now you can just say, “Alexa, lights on”, and that device will only turn the lights on in its group.

Note that you don’t need to set up an Alexa Device to control the lights (or other devices) physically closest to it.

I do see this as a big improvement. While I like remembering lots of names, my Significant Other doesn’t. It’s easier to just be able to say, “Alexa, lights off”, than “Alexa, turn off the Family Room”.

The Scenes are less clear to me, but in speaking with a relative who uses them in other contexts, the key difference seems to be that a scene can have diverse states: with a Group, you can only turn all of the lights on or off. With a Scene, you could have it turn two lights on and two lights off. I can see the value of that. I haven’t tested it yet, though.

What about Routines (remember, that’s a separate Menu entry)?

This adds a couple of dimensions. One is that you can have it happen either on command or at a certain time.

The other is that it can do some Alexa actions.

The first option shown is

“When this happens”

That is commonly called a “trigger”…it’s what makes an action happen. You can either give it a custom statement you say verbally, or you can pick a time and a recurrence pattern (when it repeats). Your recurrence pattern defaults to Every Day, but you can change it to “Weekdays”, “Weekends”, or select a single specific day.

You could use this for an alarm for work. “At 6:00 AM, turn on my bedroom and family room lights, start the coffee, and give me my Flash Briefing”. You would set that as happening on weekdays (if you work Monday-Friday).

When you choose “Add Action”, your choices are:

• News (your Flash Briefing)
• Smart Home (either “Control device or “Turn on scene”)
• Traffic (Alexa will give you the traffic report)
• Weather (Alexa will report the weather)

Once you’ve added one, you can tap “Add Action” again to add another.

I can really see the value to this one, too…as one example, we could set the lights and such to come on at a certain time every day when we were on vacation…and set another Routine to turn them off. That would make it seem like we were home.

I will say, I think this is a lot of work for the average person. A hobbyist would do it, but it seems like a lot of steps.

Here are my suggestions for two other ways they could do this which would be easier:

“Match Now”: you would set up your devices the way you want (lights on or off, etc.) then tell Alexa to remember that as a scene.

“Copy Me”: Alexa starts a recorder, then you do actions which it subsequently remembers…like a macro recorder.

All in all, this is a great improvement…but I think most people won’t use it because it will be too hard without them seeing the potential advantages. Amazon should set up some more scenarios, maybe through video.

A few more thoughts:

• having durations would be a nice improvement for the future…not just turning a light on at 6:00 AM, but turning it on at 6:00 AM for one hour
• Alexa could suggest saving patterns it detects. If you normally turn on the bedroom light at 6:00 AM, and then turn on the Family Room TV and the Family Room Light twenty minutes later for an hour, and then turn everything off and lock the door, Alexa could suggest saving that as a Routine after you’ve done it a few times in a row
• The Echo Show (and Echo Spot) could do this gesturally…you flip your index finger up and it turns the light on in that room. That could be great fun, especially if you could use custom gestures! Yeah, yeah, I know…not that finger. 😉 I’m thinking more like “magic hand waves” to do things in your house

Hope that helps! I’ll be interested in hearing what you think! Feel free to let me and my readers know by commenting on this post.

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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.

 

 

Amazon Q3: they mention e-books, and the stock goes up ;)

Amazon Q3: they mention e-books, and the stock goes up 😉

Regular readers know, I don’t claim to have any special expertise in predicting the stock market, and especially in how investors will react to an Amazon financial call. The stock often goes down when Amazon produces results which are very much what I would expect them to do.

Yesterday, Amazon did one of their financial results call (this one for Q3 2017). Sales were up 34%.

They mentioned the growth of subsers (subscription services), specifically mentioning e-books. That means

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

They also mentioned how big

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

was, and how sales were apparently affected by it throughout the month.

However, I went back to my thoughts on the last report:

Amazon’s Q2 2017 Financials: Okay, investors, I get it this time

and they mentioned both of those last time, too!

AWS (Amazon Web Services) was way up, but that’s not anomalous either.

It’s probably because they did better than expected, but it’s always a bit odd to me that investors reward a company because the investors guessed wrong. 😉

The Q&A (Question and Answer) is always the most interesting part to me, and that was true this time, too. I will say that it felt quite relaxed, and the focus was where I, as a customer, would like it to be. It was about subsers, and Whole Foods, and Alexa, and investing in Prime Video (without an intent to add ads to it).

Investors liked it. According to this

CNN Money graph

the stock price went up 8.76% on Thursday. It’s up over 40%(!) overall this year.

I’ll be interested in hear what some of my more stock savvy readers have to say (which they can do by commenting on this post…I welcome comments), but I will say something.

Remember when Amazon was a bookstore that sold individual books to people?

What people see as Amazon’s strengths now really don’t have to do with that…and they are innovations, risks, and expensive investments. Web service, subsers, Whole Foods, and talktech…none of that connects to the kind of bookselling I did when I managed a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Amazon brick-and-mortar bookstores, while probably performing largely performing as expected, are not positioned as a profit engine.

That’s one of the thing that gives me confidence in Amazon (knock virtual wood). At least under Jeff Bezos, its success is not dependent on a single product or even a single market. It’s the philosophy of the company that makes it work, and that’s always been true.

•  Webcast
• Seeking Alpha transcript of the call
• Google news search for “Amazon”

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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.

Amazon updates quotesharing…and it’s nice!

Amazon updates quotesharing…and it’s nice!

I’m a big fan of quotations. For a very short period of time, my book of quotations,

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

was the number one book of quotations in any format at Amazon.

Sharing from Kindle e-books, though, has been…limited. It’s been possible, but you had to connect to your social networks, and you only had a couple of choices.

With the recent updates to the Kindle reading apps, it’s greatly improved!

I want to point out that I tested this on an Android device (a Galaxy s7)…so we don’t have all the fancy sharing which the update to Apple devices has (although those are coming to Android later).

I highlighted a quotation in The Mind Boggles, and I had four color highlight choices, Note, Share, Copy, Search, and Translate as options (for me, the last three were reached by tapping a chevron >).

Tapping Share, I had all these options:

• Message
• Email
• Facebook
• Messenger
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Hangouts
• Skype

and then by tapping “More”, all the sharing options I normally have on my device. For me, for example, that included Flipboard, Samsung Connect, and many more.

For the second day in a row (I’m not saying I’ll do this every day), I’m tweeting a quotation from The Mind Boggles.

The quotations are more than Twitter’s 140 character limit, but that’s fine. You see the beginning of the quotation, and a link…and it includes the cover of The Mind Boggles. When you tap the link, you see the full quotation, and the beginning of the book. You can “Start Reading” the book…even with no Kindle app installed, people can read a sample of the book! There is also an option to buy the book. Additionally, people can share the book (the information about the book, not the whole contents) with others.

When I tweet, I have the choice of a Direct Message (essentially, a private one-on-one communication) or a public tweet.

When you tweet, you can add more text, a GIF, a picture, and so on. I had 26 characters left.

Oh, and I can dynamically switch accounts! I have two Twitter feeds: one for me, which is where I do most things (@bufocalvin) and one specifically for The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip (@TMCGTT). I’ve been tweeting “On This Date in Geeky History” every day on that one. 🙂

Authors and publishers, I think this is potentially a great way to promote your books! I don’t know what the conversion rate is going to be, but I think it’s an easy way to show the value of your book.

It can also be used for simple social sharing, or to communicate something to a public figure.

It’s worth noting that this is as open as the internet: it’s not limited to

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

members, or Amazon shoppers, or the USA.

For my readers who are Amazon Associates, there wasn’t a way using this tool to include a referrer link, and I don’t think that works from Twitter anyway.

It’s simple, it’s social, it’s low friction…overall, I’m impressed! Well done, Amazon!

Oh, I also just checked it on my now discontinued Kindle Fire HDX: it’s similar, but without as many options (but I don’t have as many apps). I tried it on my work iPhone 5s (they let us use things like the Kindle app on our work phones)…there were some sharing options, but I suspect it would be smoother on a more recent generation.

What do you think? Have you tried it? Is sharing quotations something you do? Do you ever send a quotation to a public figure? What other apps would you use for sharing…would you e-mail a quotation? Text one? Feel free to let me and my readers know 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.

 

 

Hello, future! So many Amazon announcements!

Hello, future! So many Amazon announcements!

Every once in a while, Amazon just has a flurry of press releases, a proliferation of innovation, a multiplication of celebration and exuberation! 😉

Just this week, Amazon has announced a number of updates and new directions.

I’m going to include links to older press releases in my next book, Because of the Kindle. I’m really hoping to get your opinions on that for inclusion:

You can be part of my new book, “Because of the Kindle”

I also looked at

Kindle press releases “through the ages”

back in 2011…but rarely have we seen so many initiatives touted in so short a period of time.

Let’s take a look (I’ll comment on the ones most relevant to this blog):

Monday, 10/23/2017

Your One-Stop Shop for Handcrafted Gifts: Amazon Handmade Launches the Handmade Gift Shop

Amazon’s Fall 2017 Half-Hour Pilot Season Premieres on November 10 on Amazon Prime Video

This certainly has some direct impact on Fire tablet users, among others. Unfortunately, the biggest news around Amazon Video lately has been the number of executives leaving. That, in itself, can be seen as a sign of innovation, or at least, reinvention. We don’t know yet what it will mean in the long run, but Amazon is certainly always willing to make changes.

Tuesday, 10/24/2017

Amazon Announces All-New Kindle App—Easier Than Ever to Read and Connect with Friends

The

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

have been a big part of the Kindleer community for a long time now (the Kindle apps for the iPhone and iPod touch were announced on March 4, 2009). It wouldn’t surprise me if more e-books are read in the apps (if we include tablets, certainly) than on Kindle EBRs (E-Book Readers).

This update is largely focused on social elements…but only if you have an Apple device (for now). Those features are coming to Android as well.

Amazon is really, really trying to socialize their business…they do quite well with business to business, and with consumers. Nowadays, though, you also need to be part of your customers’ lives even when they aren’t shopping or consuming content. Alexa has done a lot of that: I interact with Amazon devices throughout the day, when I’m not shopping.

I haven’t had time to explore it much yet, but I will say, the recommendations seem much better. they listed Fritz Leiber, Robert Silverberg, and John Brunner books I didn’t know were in

Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile*)

for example.

This is far from Amazon’s first attempt at socialization; will this be the one that really catches on? We’ll see, but it is always good to see Amazon making an effort.

Amazon Celebrates 10 Years in Arizona; Employs 6,000 People in the Copper State

Amazon Business Launches Business Prime Shipping in the United States and Germany

Basically, this is Amazon Prime in bulk for businesses. It can be a huge savings: Up to 100 users are $1,299 dollars a year…that’s only $12.99 per person, potentially. There is a $499 level for up to 10 people, and $10,099 for more than 100.

I think this is a very smart move, and will really make Amazon an indispensable part of the infrastructure for many mid to large size businesses.

Qualifying businesses can get a thirty-day free trial at

Business Prime Shipping (at AmazonSmile*)

AWS Announces General Availability for Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL

Wednesday, 10/25/2017

Introducing Amazon Key, a New Level of Delivery Convenience for Prime Members

We had buzzing about this…I wrote a short fiction incorporating the idea ten days ago in this post:

Regular Delivery

The actual implementation is quite fascinating!

Amazon Key (at AmazonSmile*)

It’s only available to Amazon Prime members, first off.

You buy a kit which has a SmartLock and a camera. If you are handy (we aren’t) you can install it yourself, or you can schedule free installation.

It’s a lot more robust than just a simple lockbox and key. You can watch deliveries (live or recorded). You can unlock it remotely to let guests enter. “Happiness” is guaranteed.

There are some limitations as to what can be delivered (fifty pound limit, for one).

It’s initially available in these areas (although you can check your zip code on the page:

Eligible for in-home delivery*

Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Baltimore, MD
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Jacksonville, FL
Kansas City, KS
Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
Louisville, KY
Miami, FL
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN
Nashville, TN
Newark, NJ
Orlando, FL
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Richmond, VA
Sacramento, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Antonio, TX
San Diego, CA
San Francisco Bay area, CA
Sarasota, FL
Seattle and Eastside, WA
St. Louis, MO
Tampa, FL
Washington, DC metro area
*In-home delivery is currently only available in select areas, requires an Amazon Key In-Home Kit, and is exclusive to Prime members.

We definitely want this (we’ve had Amazon items stolen), but it is a lot of money in our current circumstances. We’ll think about it. The Amazon Locker isn’t far away from where we work or live…although this is more convenient, and has those other advantages.

There will be a lot of questions…our now adult kid brought up hackability…but I can’t imagine it’s easier to hack this than to kick in a door (which we’ve had happen…well, we don’t know if it was a kick, but a door on the side of the house was broken to gain entry). Still, this is a big deal! I also wonder if law enforcement and first responders will have access…that could be literally lifesaving, but many might object depending on the parameters.

Introducing Amazon Cloud Cam—An Intelligent Security Camera that Works with Alexa for Only $119.99

This is about buying the Amazon Cloud Cam separately from Amazon Key (it’s included, otherwise).

Well, that’s a lot of future in one week! 🙂 Worth mentioning that it isn’t even 8:00 in the morning yet in Seattle…maybe more to come! I also expect more from Amazon this year…

What do you think? I’m sure I’ll write more about these topics going forward, but feel free to ask/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!

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My current Amazon giveaway:

Beyond Curie: Four women in physics and their remarkable discoveries 1903 to 1963 (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

Giveaway:

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/b139e577ee333624

• Winner:Randomly selected after Giveaway has ended, up to 1 winners.
  Requirements for participation:
• Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia
• 18+ years of age (or legal age)
• Follow Scott Calvin on Amazon

Start:Sep 25, 2017 5:46 AM PDT

End:Oct 25, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

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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.