Book discoveries of the serendipitous kind

Book discoveries of the serendipitous kind

Finding your next book to read isn’t a walk in the park…except when it literally is! 😉

I’ve written quite a bit about book “discovery”. We have so many options as a result of e-publishing having decentralized distribution. The hard part is choosing which book goes on your TBR (To Be Read) list.

There are many ways people find e-books, from blogs to Twitter to browsing Amazon to more.

This weekend, I had one of those basically random moments.

We were walking in the dog park, which we do a lot. I got into a conversation with somebody…that happens a lot, too. Reading came up (again, not uncommon), and it turned out that my conversation partner was an author!

I violated an unspoken bit of etiquette: I asked the human’s name. 🙂

Asking humans’ names at the dog park is sort of like being in jail and asking somebody, “What are you in for?” You can ask what the dog’s name is, and people can volunteer their names, but asking just isn’t done.

However, I was concerned there might be more than one book in the Kindle store titled

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

There was, but this was the one by Dutton (I said, “Like the publisher?”).

That enabled me to find it…while we were still there, I added it to a Wish List. Why didn’t I just buy it? I use Smile.Amazon to benefit non-profits, and I wanted to order it that way…so I did that when we got home.

I think that’s one of the best ways to find a book…to actually run into the author at random! I’m not very far into it yet, but I’m enjoying it so far.

That chance meeting over a book has changed because of e-books…people can’t see the cover of the book you are reading. That can be a good thing, of course, but I remember discussions early on with the Kindle that some people would like it if the cover of the book they were currently reading optionally showed up on the back of the Kindle (or the case).

I had a great example of the impact it can have when someone can see what you are reading. It was many years ago, and I was reading a specialty-interest magazine in a local park (not a dog park, that time). A stranger came up, a tad trepidatiously, and started talking to me about that topic. Well, one thing led to another, and I ended up as the Education Director of a 501(c)3 organization.

One option nowadays is to have a case or skin that reveals a general area of interest…not the same as a specific book, though, and I read a pretty eclectic set of books…so I’d have a tough time selecting some kind of communicative cover.

I’m curious: have you ever run into an author at a non-book related event and then bought the book? I’d be interested in hearing about it, and I’m sure my readers would be as well. Feel free to let me and readers know what you think by commenting on this post.

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Bufo’s Alexa Skills

* 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. 

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Google’s new “Talk to Books”

Google’s new “Talk to Books”

I’m always looking for innovative ways to discover books to read. I’m also interested in artificial intelligence and talktec…conversational technology, like Amazon’s Alexa.

Google just introduced a really interesting new tool, called

Talk to Books

The idea is simple.

You ask a question, using natural language (phrasing your question like you would for a human being).

It answers (quickly) with snippets from books (and connects you to those books).

The first question I asked I won’t reproduce here, because it was too philosophical and potentially controversial. However, I was very impressed with the answers it gave me!

My next question was,

“What makes a character interesting?”

It gave me several passages…the first couple just seemed to parrot my question back to me, but I liked this response:

“Where you most need backstory information is in the areas of a character’s past that can’t safely be assumed. These are often, if not always, the areas that make the character interesting or unique. Why won’t Rick stick his neck out for anyone in Casablanca, even his long-lost love?”
—How to Build a Great Screenplay by David Howard (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

I seemed to just be getting answers from non-fiction books, which makes some sense, but I wanted to check on an in-universe answer for a fiction series.

So I asked, “Where does Glinda live?”

One answer came from Wicked, but didn’t really answer the question. I’m not sure why the others appeared…they weren’t related, exactly. This was an interesting one:

“Mrs. Beery continues regarding her ancestor “John.” She lives about 18 miles from the old Judy homestead in Clark County, Ohio, a big old brick house with fireplaces in each end. At the time she wrote, May, 1928, she said the house was still standing…”
–Genealogies of Virginia Families

My guess here is that it may have connected Judy with Judy Garland and Judy Garland with the Wizard of Oz and Glinda with that.

I asked, “What is Stephen King’s best book?”

and a couple of the passages clearly understood the question (although I’m not sure I’d agree with Pet Sematary as the answer).

This is all just in beta, but it’s quite impressive.

If they put this into Google Assistant, it will give it a quantum quality increase.

It will also be interesting if someone can build an Alexa skill to take advantage of it. 😉

You can let me and my readers know what you think about it 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.

 

A random Prime Reading book (February 2018): The Revised Vault of Walt: Unofficial Disney Stories Never Told (The Vault of Walt Book 1)

A random Prime Reading book (February 2018): The Revised Vault of Walt: Unofficial Disney Stories Never Told (The Vault of Walt Book 1)

Since Amazon fuzzied up their search results, I can’t do the monthly Snapshots I’ve been doing for years. I wanted to think of something else I could do each month (not necessarily on the first).

I decided to pick a random book out of the

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

books for the month.

Well, when I asked it to show me the catalog, it was still fuzzy, showing me that only that there were “over 1,000”. However, I could see that there were 72 pages of results!

So, I first asked Alexa to give me a random number from 1-72. It was twenty. Then, I counted the books on that page…there were 16 (that’s pretty standard, but the last page, for example, may not be 16). I had Alexa give me a random number from 1-16, and it was eight. This was based on the default sort.

That gave me the book. 🙂

The Revised Vault of Walt: Unofficial Disney Stories Never Told (The Vault of Walt Book 1) by Jim Korkis (foreword by Diane Disney Miller) (at AmazonSmile*)

4.3 stars out of 5 | 103 customer reviews | purchase price $5.99

I’m a Disney fan, and really enjoy going to the parks. My plan in picking a random book was to read it…even though I think I have read this one. 🙂

If you have Amazon Prime, you can read this at no additional cost.

From past polling of my readers, I don’t think that this blog is the right place to have “book club” posts, but this one a month is probably okay. Then, if (staring in March…to give people a chance to read it), you want to comment on the book on this post, I’m down with that. 🙂 Oh, and if they aren’t spoilery, of course you can post before that…

Let me know if you like the idea of this. I always like to experiment with new features. 🙂

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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.

Recently added to my Wish List…but please don’t buy them for me (#1)

Recently added to my Wish List…but please don’t buy them for me (#1)

Amazon’s

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

are great ways to let people know what you might want…and to keep track of books (and other things) for other reasons.

Ever since Amazon enabled gifting of e-books back on November 19, 2010 (about three years after announcing the Kindle…and after Barnes & Noble had done it), I’ve put e-books on my “Bufo for the Holidays” list for my family.

Prior to that, my Significant Other always considered it a great victory when they could buy me a book I would like which I didn’t already have. 😉 I’m a former brick-and-mortar bookstore manager, and suffice it to say, I have a lot of books. I also bought books pretty often.

Now, I rarely buy books for myself.

I don’t read less…it’s just that there are so many free books, and we are happy members of

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

Amazon’s subser (subscription service), an “all you can read” service for typically about $10 a month (although I usually am able to buy it on sale on “Prime Day”), that I don’t “piece buy” as many for myself.

For example, I recently finished

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

which we got for free as part of

Kindle First books (at AmazonSmile*)

and I quite enjoyed. 4.6 out of 5 stars with 2,342 customer reviews at time of writing, I wasn’t the only one. I would say this is the book I’ve most enjoyed so far traditionally published by Amazon…I said to someone it was a bit like The Rosie Project meets Stephanie Plum, although not as cartoony as the latter (not that there is anything wrong with cartoons…or Stephanie Plum). It’s somewhat violent, but not grotesquely so…if you can handle Criminal Minds, you can handle this. I’m looking forward to the second book when it is published next year.

It is currently available through KU, and I would expect that to continue to be the case.

However, even though I don’t buy them for myself, I love hearing and reading about new books! That may happen when I flip articles into the free

ILMK magazine at Flipboard

or on the radio, TV, or in a magazine…or just talking to someone.

I’m excited to have them on my list…and my family is excited to be able to get me something I really want!

They also know that, at least when I put the books on the list, the publishers haven’t blocked text-to-speech access**. My family understands my position on that, but it isn’t always obvious to spot, and this way, they can shop without thinking about it.

They sort of feel like looking at my Wish List is like shopping in the exclusive “Bufo Store”. 😉

So, that’s one reason why I really don’t want you to buy the books for me (even though I know many of you are generous)…I want a nice full “store” for my relatives. 🙂

Recently, I’ve been hearing about some books which I thought would interest my readers (both for themselves and as gifts), and realized an easy way to share that would be to tell you about books I’ve added to my Wish List.

Oh, one thing to note: some of these are more than $10, and some of my readers may draw the line there. Just check the price before you click or tap that Buy button…in addition, these books may not be available in your country (I have readers around the world, which I always think is cool!).

World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech by Franklin Foer (at AmazonSmile*)

As regular readers know, I’m a technoptimist (just compressing the term “techno-optimist”…you know how I like coining neologisms). 😉 I generally think tech is making things better in the world, especially for people of lesser means and those with various challenges. E-books have meant that people in remote areas where delivering p-books is hard have been able to get them (Worldreader.org is a non-profit which does that). People with print challenges have been able to read more easily again.

This book takes the opposite position, from what I can tell…and I love to read opinions which are different from mine, when they are done respectfully (that may not be the case here, based on the product page, but I don’t know). 3.9 stars with 14 customer reviews.

The Animals Among Us: How Pets Make Us Human by John Bradshaw (at AmazonSmile*)

I do love non-human animals, pretty much all kinds. Our dogs will soon have an Instagram account (Butterscotch Chaos [and friends]), and I take an inordinate number of pictures of lizards. I’m also very interested in how people and other species interact. This one sounds interesting…

It’s a pre-order for October 31, 2017, and already has 4.4 stars with 11 customer reviews.

Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks by Annie Spence (at AmazonSmile*)

A librarian writing letters to books as though they were people? Yes, please! 4.2 stars, 18 reviews

Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, Ella Morton (at AmazonSmile*)

I like “weird stuff”, and have for a very long time. Altas Obscura is a great website which shows you places which are…beyond the norm. That doesn’t mean just paranormal locations, it can be things which are just entertainingly odd. I was hoping to be in VR (Virtual Reality) on my last plane flight with Altas Obscura’s experience (that’s what apps are called in VAM [Virtual/Augmented/Mixed/Merged Reality space]), but I couldn’t get it to run on my Samsung Gear 1st gen. The book won’t have that problem… 4.7 stars, 671 reviews

The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin (at AmazonSmile*)

The author of the hit book, The Happiness Project, continues looking at how humans think (and feel). That’s another focus of mine…my “day job” is as a trainer (I do more than that…workflow analysis, too), and it’s really necessary there to understand people. People, even business leadership, often confuse training and education. Education can be part of training, but education is teaching somebody something…training is changing their behavior. I’ve explained it this way: “You haven’t trained a dog to sit if it just knows what the word means”. 😉 Obviously, training people is different from training dogs…being of the same species, even though both are social species, we perceive each other in a very complex way. Anything that can help us understand each other can help us interact with each other. I don’t think any one system will be the answer to that, so reading more systems gives me a broader range of tools and perspectives. 4.7 stars, 86 reviews

Well, those are the five most recently added books to my Wish List! That was fun for me to do, and it’s the first time I’ve done it like this. Let me know if this is something you’d like to see it again (I wouldn’t do it for a while)…I do think one of the things I can do on this blog is to help you with discovery, which is one of the big challenges for readers now, when there are so many options.

What do you think? Were you considering any of these books? Were they new to you? Have you added anything interesting to your Wish List lately? How do you use Amazon Wish Lists? 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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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

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

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

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

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

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

Amazon Spark: a new social network (and product discovery) for iOS

Amazon Spark: a new social network (and product discovery) for iOS

I have these bizarre mixed ideas of what product/service development at Amazon is like.

There are times when I see it as super high tech, like something Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne would have in their basements.

There are others when it feels like a mad scientist’s laboratory, in a castle on a imposing mountain with lightning crashing in the background, and mood lighting by Strickfaden (and, of course, controlled by Alexa).

Then there are times when it seems like the Invention Exchange segments on Mystery Science Theater 3000. 😉

I’m not quite sure where

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

falls yet.

The very basic idea, of being able to share how you feel about an Amazon product, makes sense. Of course, we can write reviews on Amazon, but I don’t think most people discover your comments that way. Not everything is a review, either…it might just be a comment or a question.

However…

This implementation is quite limited, at least at this point.

It only works through the Amazon Shopping App, and right now, only on iOS (Apple).

My concern there isn’t just that it isn’t available for Android: it’s that it can only be seen through the app, and that I can’t add things when I’m shopping on my computer.

That isn’t really very social for a social network. 😉

It makes it feel more like an attempt to lock people into using the app.

If that’s the case, I don’t think it’s going to get people to add one more social network into their day. I already don’t do Facebook much myself, because I don’t feel like I have the social energy/capital to spend on it. If I was active on Facebook, I can see how I would spend an hour a day, and I just don’t have that in terms of my creative priorities.

That’s going to be the case with Spark as well, although I did just post something to test it.

It took a while bouncing around to even get it to show up. It’s supposed to be in the menu under Programs and Features, but it wasn’t there for me at first.

The interface is not really intuitive, but it works okay. There isn’t enough discovery in the discovery yet.

It could work, but this one doesn’t seem like one of Amazon’s home runs to me. It’s like the posting we used to do in Kindle books…that eventually faded, even though it was an interesting idea.

I’ll be interested in your opinion on it, if you try it. Hm…somebody did just smile on my post, so it is already working. Maybe I’ll be wrong about this, which would be great!

In the mean time, I’ll keep waiting for Amazon to burst into the VAM (Virtual/Augmented/Merged/Mixed Reality) space, which I expect to happen later this year. 🙂

Feel free to let me know what you think by commenting on this post.

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!

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 you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help! 🙂 

Amazon’s Best Books of the Year So Far

Amazon’s Best Books of the Year So Far

Amazon was born from the womb of the computer age, employs and releases cutting edge technology, but is, and has always been, at it heart…human.

That statement may surprise some people. Sure, you may have gotten an e-mail response which didn’t seem to understand your question, or you got recommendations for things you already own.

However, it’s clear that humans make most of the important creative decisions. Titles are featured, not through algorithms, but through feeling.

There is a team (and that’s different from a group) of Amazon editors. In the recently announced

Best Books of the Year So Far (at AmazonSmile:benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

they describe a bit of the process: “Then we face off in a monthly Best Books selection meeting to champion the books we think will resonate most with readers.”

Sounds like fun. 🙂

It also sounds like one of those things that would be great to do once…for charity…as long as nothing went wrong. You know, like being an auctioneer or a starship captain. 😉

Reading for work has to be different from reading for fun. There have to be times when something you support just doesn’t get the same reaction from your team or higher ups.

That said, it still must be a great job!

In my day job, I’m a trainer, and I like to tell people that trainers wake up in the morning and say, “Oh boy, I get to go to work today!” That’s really true…a day I work is a good day. I suspect that’s true for the Amazon Editors, too.

So, what have these oh so human beings chosen as the Best Books of the Year So Far?

They have a general category of the top twenty, and then twenty more each in additional categories:

• Amazon Editors’ Top 20
• Biographies & Memoirs
• Business & Leadership
• Children’s Books
• Comics & Graphic Novels
• Cookbooks, Food & Wine
• History
• Humor & Entertainment
• Literature & Fiction
• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
• Nonfiction
• Romance
• Science Fiction & Fantasy
• Teens & Young Adults

When I’m looking at lists like this, what do I hope they’ll do for me?

Discovery.

I hope I’ll read about some book I didn’t know existed which really appeals to me.

I also want context and insight. While I’m careful to separate

The art and the artist

there can be more to a book than just the words. Is it unique, or at least a fresh approach? How does it tie into what already exists? Are there circumstances of its creation which inform it in such a way that there is more meaning “between the lines”?

Looking at their top 20…

They are generally what I call “People Magazine” books, books you would have seen mentioned in that magazine. Almost all of them are priced over $9.99 (some well over: one is $17.99 at time of writing, and another is $17.99). A notable exception is The Impossible Fortress** by Jason Rekulak which is only $2.99 at time of writing.

They also all look like they are selling pretty well, or have done so.

That doesn’t feel like a lot of discovery to me.

Now, let me be clear: for me, popular doesn’t equal less worthy. 🙂 I consume mainstream movies, TV shows, and books…although I also certainly like indies (independently published books or released video, and so on). Is it likely to me that all of the best books are mainstream? No, not really…but I would expect that some of them are. 😉

Those are just the featured choices, though.

I would expect that the categories would give me more discovery, and that they would also tend to champion more of the outsider…and that does seem to be the case.

Here’s an example from science fiction (a category where I have a bit more expertise than most, even though I knew it a lot better decades ago):

Battle Hill Bolero (Bone Street Rumba) from Daniel José Older (at AmazonSmile*)

Older is a New York Times bestselling author, but I would guess the average reader probably doesn’t know it.

There are only twelve reviews (with a 4.7 average).

It’s the third book out of three, but appearing on this list will perhaps encourage people to read Older who might not otherwise have done so, which is one of the real values of a list like this.

I do recommend that you look at the

Best nonfiction of 2017 so far (at AmazonSmile*)

That’s where you are more likely to have discovery. While non-fiction books can certainly be bestsellers and get media coverage, they have to break through before that happens. More fiction seems to get more coverage. There is a lot of variety here: space, cowboys, the future, murders, and dictionaries.

Now, I know some of you don’t read non-fiction, and that’s up to you. I get that reading can be escapism, and the relationship with a book is so intimate that encountering something there which you might encounter without that safe distancing can be particularly…unnerving. However, for me, not reading non-fiction would be like saying I’m only going to be friends with characters on my TV. 😉

As always, a fascinating list! I appreciate that Amazon lets their human employees have their say. 😉

What do you think? Any books on this you’d particularly recommend? Any books not on this list which you would say are some of the best of 2017 so far? Feel free to let me and my readers know by commenting on this post.

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!  

** I didn’t link to this book because the publisher, Simon & Schuster, has chosen to block text-to-speech access. I think purchasing books where that decision has been made is a personal choice, but I choose not to link to them mysef.

 

Amazon and bibliodiversity

Amazon and bibliodiversity

Bibliodiversity is the idea (perhaps originated in Chile as bibliodiversidad) which parallels the concept of biodiversity. The argument is that having greater variety available is beneficial.

That seems simple, and there is evidence to support it in biodiversity. If you have a population with relatively little genetic variation, and if there are few species available in an environment, there is great risk if something changes (a disease arises, a natural disaster, climate change…). A recent example would be DFTD (Devil Facial Tumor Disease). I’ve been saddened to read about it: Tasmanian devils (yes, they are real animals, not just a cartoon) bite each other on the face socially. They are able to transmit what becomes cancerous tumors (I was surprised to see a contagious cancer, even if that isn’t exactly what’s happening) which prove fatal.

 It’s been devastating to the wild population: I’ve seen estimates of a 90% total loss, and many populations have reportedly been completely lost. This has happened in just a couple of decades.

Some devils, though, have shown resistance…very few, but they do seem to be genetically different.

If these marsupial predators were all the same, it would probably have been over already. Thanks to diversity within the population, it’s possible the species will survive in the wild.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_facial_tumour_disease

I’ve read a couple of articles recently citing Amazon as significantly reducing bibliodiversity, with the implication that they could be the cause of a least a massive die-off in publishing.

One concern was about Amazon changing the way the Buy button works, where a small publisher might not find that its own book is the first option for buyers (it might be a third-party seller). I wrote about that one about three weeks ago here:

HuffPo article: Amazon is “potentially terrorizing”

The other one is another

HuffPo article

by Maddie Crum.

Here’s the title: “Amazon’s Grip On The Book World Could Silence The Stories That Matter”.

This one focuses on one of Amazon’s new brick-and-mortar bookstores, and how the store use rankings from the Amazon website, in part, to determine which books appear in the store.

The article is correct, in my experience, that classic literature tends to be lower rated than now, popular books. Most people just don’t go back and rate a book they read years ago.

That, in turn, Crum suggests could lead to a concentration of titles.

My opinion?

Nobody else has done more to increase bibliodiversity in the past ten years than Amazon.

E-books existed in a minor way before the Kindle launched in 2007, but they exploded after that.

Amazon introduced its own digital publishing platform, and thousands of people have published books to it on all kinds of topics. It’s hard to imagine that readers have ever had more options and had the ability to hear more voices. The barrier to entry is so much lower.

There are well over FIVE MILLION titles in the USA Kindle store…no physical bookstore comes close that.

No, authors and bibliodiversity are doing fine.

What is being hurt? Traditional publishing of paperbooks, especially by small publishers.

When you needed a book factory to get a book to readers, and when physical bookstores needed to carry you (I’m a former brick-and-mortar bookstore manager), authors needed the publishers to crack the market.

Now, that’s not necessary…which reduces the need for publishers, so some extent.

There may be less…um…publishersity, I guess.

Publishers have definitely added value. They’ve discovered authors, nurtured them, promoted them, and improve the quality of the books themselves, through editing, lay-out, proof-reading, and promotion.

Some of what publishers traditionally did will shift to other places, including agencies which will edit..and artificial intelligence may eventually play a role.

It may also be that some people won’t be able to  make a living as an author who could do so before…and that arguably could mean fewer books…as could the loss of some publishers.

However, that will be more than offset by authors who can make a living as indies (independently published authors).

Look at who is quoted in articles decrying Amazon’s practices…they will tend to be people who are in the space between authors and readers. That’s what Amazon really threatens, and it will seriously remold the experience of discovery and cash flow.

Fewer books and less diversity, though? That seems unlikely to me.

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

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My current Amazon Giveaways—

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

the award-winning, highly-rated mystery by my sibling, Kris Calvin!

Giveaway: https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/398897583537603c

• 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 Kris Calvin on Amazon (to my knowledge, all that you’ll get is a notification when Kris publishes a new book in the Kindle store, although I don’t know that for sure…that’s all I’ve ever seen for authors I follow, I think. Kris is working on the second book in the Maren Kane mystery series.

Start:May 20, 2017 5:20 AM PDT

End:May 27, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

Thanks to the hundreds of people who have entered my previous giveaways for a chance to win Kris’ book! I don’t benefit directly from Kris’ book, although we have had a lot of conversations about it. 🙂

—

Amazon Giveaway for And Then There Were None!

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/3e6a60b4814649a3

Winner:Randomly selected after Giveaway has ended, up to 1 winner.
Requirements for participation:
Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia
Follow @TMCGTT on twitter
18+ years of age (or legal age)

Start:May 12, 2017 6:24 PM PDT
End:Jun 11, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

===

Star Wars Day through 40 years of Star Wars!

Giveaway by Bufo Calvin

Prize: Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn (at AmazonSmile*)

• 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
  • Follow @TMCGTT on twitter
  • 18+ years of age (or legal age)

Giveaway:
https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/0ce7b24b32a4a670

Start:May 4, 2017 6:32 AM PDT
End:Jun 3, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

It’s going on that long in part so that it covers the actual 40th anniversary of Star Wars (of the release in the USA) on May 25th 2017. Also, this book, which has good reviews and is new, is $14.99 in the Kindle edition…which is a lot for me for a giveaway. 🙂

Good luck, and may the Force be with you!

—

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

All aboard our new 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!  

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon Charts: reinventing the “bestseller” list

Amazon Charts: reinventing the “bestseller” list

Amazon is always innovating!

I loved the press release they sent me this morning  about their new feature

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

This is about the top twenty books…but not just the top 20 fiction and non-fiction books sold, but about the most read!

Some people think of Amazon as being tight-lipped with their data, and that can certainly be true (actual sales figures for Amazon devices, for example). However, we also know they have a lot of data…a lot, lot, lot of data. 😉

As the

press release

explains, there are two lists for each category of fiction and non-fiction (so, 40 books a week).

The one for bestselling is already innovative, because it is including borrows, which I think are increasingly significant. That should include

• Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) (Amazon’s paid  subser…you pay per month to borrow from more than a million titles)
• Prime Reading (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) (included for Prime members in the USA…borrow from about 1,000 titles)
• Kindle Owners Lending Library (at AmazonSmile*) (an older program which requires owning a hardware Kindle, not just a Kindle reading app)

Actually, I’m not sure on the last one, since it says it counts subscription services (what I call subsers), and the KOLL isn’t really that. I think Prime Reading does count, because Prime is a subscription service. It would not count peer-to-peer loans, presumably, where you loan a book to someone you know. Interestingly, “bulk purchases” count as a single buy for this. Also, a borrow has to get to the minimum reimbursement level…about the length of a sample, according to Amazon.

Most read counts borrows and purchases read (or heard…Audible counts).

This is huge new information!

It will be informative to compare the two lists…suppose a book is widely purchased, but not widely read? What if the opposite is true? Could being on the “most read list” mean that the publisher (which may be just the author) can raise the price? Will the “read” ranking start showing up on Amazon product pages?

I’ll need to dig into this more, but I’m interested in what you think. Feel free to tell me and my readers by commenting on this post.

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My current Amazon Giveaways—

Amazon Giveaway for And Then There Were None!

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/3e6a60b4814649a3

Winner:Randomly selected after Giveaway has ended, up to 1 winner.
Requirements for participation:
Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia
Follow @TMCGTT on twitter
18+ years of age (or legal age)

Start:May 12, 2017 6:24 PM PDT
End:Jun 11, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

===

Star Wars Day through 40 years of Star Wars!

Giveaway by Bufo Calvin

Prize: Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn (at AmazonSmile*)

• 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
  • Follow @TMCGTT on twitter
  • 18+ years of age (or legal age)

Giveaway:
https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/0ce7b24b32a4a670

Start:May 4, 2017 6:32 AM PDT
End:Jun 3, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

It’s going on that long in part so that it covers the actual 40th anniversary of Star Wars (of the release in the USA) on May 25th 2017. Also, this book, which has good reviews and is new, is $14.99 in the Kindle edition…which is a lot for me for a giveaway. 🙂

Good luck, and may the Force be with you!

—

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

All aboard our new 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 Giveaways: so fun I’m running four (update: 5!) right now :)

Amazon Giveaways: so fun I’m running four (update: 5!) right now 🙂

It’s been a bit over two years since Amazon introduced

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

The idea is simple. You can give something away through Amazon. Amazon handles everything…determining the winner (according to your choice of method), taking the payment, and delivering the prize(s). If you already buy things from Amazon, it’s pretty painless…in fact, I’ve just done my first real ones and I’m finding it really fun!

Why would you give something away to a stranger?

Mostly, it’s going to be for marketing purposes. However, think of marketing very loosely…you could just be supporting a cause, or even celebrating a birthday (it’s up to you whether or not Amazon lists the giveaway publicly…you could have it be just for people to whom you give a link).

My guess is that quite a few of you would also enjoy doing this…especially authors who might be marketing their own books, but it could be anything. I’m going to give you some information on it first, then I’ll list the four I’m running now.

Amazon “how it works” page for Giveaways (at AmazonSmile*)

Amazon Giveaways FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) (at AmazonSmile*)

So, breaking this down…

You go to the Amazon product page of something you want to giveaway. It seems like most things are eligible: I’m doing e-books, but I’m also doing an electronics item. I think it probably parallels what you can give as gifts for specific people: that would mean no apps or subscription items, which is what I find when I check.

There will be a link at the bottom of the page to set up a giveaway…you can search on the page for “giveaway”. 😉

Then, there will be some decisions to make:

How many of the item do you want to giveaway? You can do from one up to fifty (although that may be affected by the type of item). Remember that you’ll be charged for each one. With e-books, you won’t get a refund if they aren’t all claimed. You can either continue the sweepstakes (if that’s what you choose), or gift certificate you can giveaway.

Then you choose a giveaway type:

• Sweepstakes (at the end of the sweepstakes)
• Random Instant Win (3 in 9, for example)
• Lucky Number Instant Win (every third, for example)
• First-come, First-served

You don’t have to make a requirement for people to enter, but if you do…

• Follow author on Amazon
• Follow you (or someone) on Twitter
• Tweet a message you specify
• Watch a Video Short (hosted at Amazon)
• Watch a YouTube Video (can enter after watching for two minutes)
• Answer a poll

You can see the possibilities here.

I’ve done two follow the authors, one watch a YouTube video, and one follow me on Twitter. 🙂

Then you’ll pick a duration…that is clearly impacted by the item. I’ve seen different durations, I think from up to fifteen days to up to thirty.

The last big choice is whether you want it to be public or not…whether you want Amazon to list it for anybody.

Why wouldn’t you do that?

You could do the giveaway for a party, or for an incentive for people at your work. In that case, you don’t want somebody not involved to get it.

After that, you need to write an intro message, a “thanks for entering” message, and a winner’s message…I think you are required to do all three, although I’m not sure. You also name the giveaway, but in your name (I’ve seen organizational names there), and you can put up an image.

Those parts are creative, so they can be some work.

Once you are finished, it takes a little while for it to go live (oh, and you need to pay for it, of course). The e-books happened quite quickly, the electronics item took a bit longer.

Amazon sends you a link you can share, and it will appear on the

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

page if you said it could be public. Amazon may also alert people through an e-mail to which people can subscribe.

I’ve been astonished at how well it has worked! One of them has been averaging about 500 entries a day!

Here are the ones I’m running right now. I think I’m going to start listing them at the end of all my posts I’m not sure yet if I’m going to do giveaways all the time…they do cost money. I’ll have a better sense if they are justified or not after these first few finish.

The Fourth Transformation (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)

by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

Two winners

Giveaway: https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/b079fbab9711319a

Start: Apr 8, 2017 11:39 AM PDT
End: Apr 16, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

• Requirements for participation:
  • Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia
  • 18+ years of age (or legal age)
  • Follow Robert Scoble on Amazon

Entrants at time of writing: 163

---

Blitzwolf VR Headset (at AmazonSmile*)

in honor of “Virtually Mike & Nora”

One winner

Giveaway: https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/0ab8bc9943c50e4f

Start:Apr 8, 2017 1:25 PM PDT
End:Apr 15, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

• Requirements for participation:
• Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia
• Watch a YouTube video (on the giveaway page)
• 18+ years of age (or legal age)

Entrants at time of writing: 163

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

by my sibling, Kris Calvin

Ten winners

Giveaway: https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/e39ec1bca3592757

Start:Apr 8, 2017 12:05 PM PDT
End:Apr 23, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

• Requirements for participation:
  • Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia
  • 18+ years of age (or legal age)
  • Follow Kris Calvin on Amazon (I like that it is Amazon and not Twitter…probably less intrusive for most people)

Entrants at time of writing: 1

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Oh Myyy! – There Goes The Internet (Life, the Internet and Everything Book 1) (at AmazonSmile*)

by George Takei (in honor of the actor’s 80th birthday on April 20, 2017)

1 winner

Giveaway: https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/0a55a7230ccfd4aa

Start:Apr 11, 2017 3:56 PM PDT
End:Apr 21, 2017 11:59 PM PDT

Requirements for participation:
Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia
Follow @TMCGTT on twitter (that’s the Twitter account for my  The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project
18+ years of age (or legal age)

Entrants at time of writing: 64

===

Update: I’m also giving away Beverly Cleary’s The Mouse and the Motorcycle in honor of the beloved children’s author’s 101st birthday 4/12/2017!

Happy 101st birthday, Beverly Cleary! (and a giveaway)

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If you enter, good luck! I figure I won’t be told who wins, but if you do, I’d love to hear about it! Feel free to promote them…and if you are doing a giveaway that relates to the topics of this blog (e-books, Amazon media devices…I’ll make the call), you can mention it in a comment on this post. If you have other thoughts or questions, you can also do that with a comment. 🙂

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

All aboard our new 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.

“I found it through ILMK” 2016

“I found it through ILMK” 2016

There is no longer a challenge in having enough to read.

The issue is in having things that you want to read.

One of the things I want for this blog, I Love My Kindle (ILMK), is for it to help people with discovery. That’s discovery both of books and of devices. It could be that it is a book of which you’ve never heard, or (and I would guess this is more common) a sale on a book.

The interchange I have with commenters on this blog is one of my favorite things about it…that covers a wide range of topics, but I do especially like it when someone says I helped them find something!

I thought this year, for the first time, I’d go back through the comments and share some where ILMK readers said they found something through it. That may help others. It might help you find gifts or items for yourself. Note that prices mentioned may certainly not be the same for you now. The commenters may be responding to a one-day sale I reported, or the item may have the same price in your country (and indeed, may not be available there). Discovery just leads you to the encounter…what you do there is up to you. 🙂

“Got my iClever speaker today and as you said, it works great. Thanks for that tip!”
—Karen Salmons, December 4
Item: iClever BoostSound Portable IP65 Waterproof Outdoor/Shower Bluetooth Speaker with 12hr Playtime (at AmazonSmile*)

“Thanks for the heads up. I’ve been meaning to read “The Fireman” By Joe Hill. I was pleasantly surprised to see it in the list. Grabbed it.”
–Genre Book Reviews, November 28
Item: The Fireman (at Amazonsmile*)

“One of the books I picked up about a month ago was “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a family and Culture in Crisis” which had been on my wish list for awhile. You featured it when Amazon had a daily deal for memoirs. I can really identify with the family history of having grandparents move out of Appalachia to a factory town. While telling the story of his life, he gives insight to what has happened to our country as the economy has shifted away from factory jobs leaving behind many, many towns where no comparable paying jobs moved in to replace them. It is currently in the running for best memoir & autobiography at Goodreads.”
–Lady Galaxy, November 22
Item: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (at AmazonSmile*)

“Well, I just ordered “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big” by Scott Adams, which you listed above, so that’s one! I’m sure there were others.”
–rogerknights, November 20
Item: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big (at AmazonSmile*)

“Have to say, among most reviews I went through online, yours is detailed and well explained. Thank you so much! Paperwhite it is for me!🙂”
–JC, October 16
Item: All-New Kindle Paperwhite, 6″ High-Resolution Display (300 ppi) with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers (at AmazonSmile*)

• “I passed on the Dot the last time it was offered, and am getting one this time They are preparing for construction next door, and are digging constantly, so we have to keep the windows shut, air conditioning running, and two air purifiers running, and I notice my SO turning up living room Echo super loud probably to listen from our bedroom, so this is an affordable way to add Alexa to our bedroom, if he finds the sound too tinny for the small amounts of time he would listen in there, I will invest in a speaker.”
  –Zebras, November 15
• “Although I recently sold my Dot I still quickly ordered a 6 pack of the 2nd gen Dot’s. I am giving them away for Christmas to our adult kids and one Grandchild. That is only four total but since I could use four why not just get a six pack. I’m not really sure what I’ll do with the other two. I love the speaker you linked above. Is the sound good? I might order that and keep one of the new Dot’s myself for the sole purpose of listening to music or audiobooks while in the shower in the mornings.”
  –Phink, November 15
  Item: All-New Echo Dot (2nd Generation) – White (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
  Item: iClever BoostSound Portable IP65 Waterproof Outdoor/Shower Bluetooth Speaker with 12hr Playtime (at AmazonSmile*)

• “I did already buy a copy, so I don’t need a copy for myself. If you have extras, I would certainly gift a copy to a friend who’s a passionate reader of mysteries on kindle, and this book seems right up her alley. I’m very happy for your sibling’s impressive awards.”
  –Amy, August 26
• “Bufo, thank you and your sister Kris. I received my link to Amazon, downloaded “One Murder More” and have been eagerly devouring it. As I read, I find myself trying to “figure it out” which to me indicates a high degree of involvement. The book is very enjoyable and I look forward to many more in this series and/or written by Kris. In addition to the plot, characters and descriptive language, I really appreciate the quality of the writing. A book with language errors really annoys me. This one is very well written, extra enjoyable. [Okay, yes, I confess. I was a teacher. But mostly French. Writing and lit my last six years.]”
  –Barbara Berry, August 16
• “I already have the book and enjoyed reading it very much, so I just want to say “congratulations!””
  –Lady Galaxy, August 16
• “Kris, I loved the book! Can’t wait to see wbat Maren is up to in the next novel.”
  –Jennifer Martin, July 3

Item: One Murder More (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*) [This is worth explaining a bit. My sibling wrote a first novel, and I mentioned it, and then we did a giveaway when it won a major award. I’m assuming anybody who wrote about it heard about it through ILMK. 🙂 I should point out that it’s sold pretty well, so that may not be the case. I’m also not including people who hadn’t indicated that they had already read it).

“Thanks to you, I just bought “The Mystery Monsters” ($1.27 used paperback). I has only one review, titled, “You haven’t lived until you’ve read this.”

“The Mystery Monsters” is $196, used hardback.”
–rogerknights, July 2
Item: The Mystery Monsters (at AmazonSmile*)

• “I wanted to thank you for the heads up regarding the sale of books from McFarland Publishing. As a result I have purchased a few of their e-books: “Television Horror Movie Hosts”, “Universal Horror, The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946”, “Keep Watching the Skies!, American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties”, “A History of the Doc Savage Adventures”, “Encyclopedia of Television Pilots, 1937 to 2012”, and “The Heritage of Heinlein, A Critical Reading of the Fiction”. Good reading ahead🙂”
  –John Aga, June 10
• “OH this is awesome. Thanks for the heads-up! These are texts that can be priced to the point that they may not be affordable at all, not in any great quantity.$3.99 is shockingly low for some of these books. Good for gifts, as you note, although I agree with you that these are generally best for tablets, not a general e-reader.The first book that caught my attention is: Oscar Wilde in Quotation: 3,100 Insults, Anecdotes and Aphorisms, Topically Arranged with Attributions I will definitely be getting this one for myself.In your list, the one on Heinlein caught my attention; I’m going to take a look and see if that’s for me.I am now off to comb through these pages. Thank you!”

Item: There are a bunch here. 🙂 This was a big sale on McFarland publishing books, and I also bought several of them myself

Thanks to my readers for letting me know that I helped them find books/devices!

I also appreciate it when readers recommend books/items…I’ve read some great things myself that way.

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

All aboard our new 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.