Kindle’s 10 Most Wanted August 25 2010
Since the US Kindle store first opened in 2007, users of Amazon’s electronic book reading device have always wanted more.
More books, that is.
They’ve gotten it: in not even three years, the store has grown from fewer than 100,000 titles to over 650,000 titles.
That’s not enough, though. 🙂
While there is a wide variety of books, people want specific ones. Many readers want to convert their paper libraries to e-book form. Who wouldn’t want your favorite book with you to read again, wherever and whenever you wanted?
So, what are the Kindle’s 10 Most Wanted?
Based on on-line forums, we can identify a few of the buzziest: the Harry Potter books; To Kill a Mockingbird;and Fahrenheit 451. In all three of these cases, the lack of availability appears to be a specific choice. While there recently appears to be some hope in the case of J.K. Rowling, Ray Bradbury has made public statements (repeatedly) that he doesn’t like e-books.
Outside of those, though, how do we know which books people most want?
KindleIQ.com, a relatively new website resource for Kindle owners, has a “New to Kindle” notification service. Readers can put in a book title, and receive a free e-mail when that book has been “Kindleized”.
In the ten days or so the service has been available, over one thousand tracking requests have been made.
The most wanted titles are shown here:
Kindle’s 10* Most Wanted
#10 Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina
by Robert Graves
last paper edition released in 1989
This is the sequel to I, Claudius…which is also not in the Kindle store.
#9 And Ladies of the Club
by Helen Hooven Santmeyer
last paper edition released in 2000
This is a #1 bestseller…and none of her books have been Kindleized.
#8 The Great Book of Amber
by Roger Zelazny
last paper edition released in 1999
This one is all ten of the Amber Chronicles books. That would obviously be a lot more convenient to have in an e-book edition. At 1,184 pages, it’s hefty.
#7 Sarum: The Novel of England
by Edward Rutheford
last paper edition released in 1997
It’s fiction that takes you through the history of England…starting in pre-history. Again, a large book at 912 pages.
#6 Nine Coaches Waiting
by Mary Stewart
last paper edition released in 2006
Mary Stewart’s first two Merlin books are available in a combined edition in the Kindle store…but not this one.
#5 Night Train to Memphis
by Elizabeth Peters
last paper edition released in 1995
Quite a few of Peters’ mysteries were recently added to the Kindle (quite a few under $9.99), but the fans want more.
#4 Here Be Dragons
by Sharon Kay Penman
last paper edition issued in 2008
This one has the unusual circumstances of having been available in the Kindle store, but having been withdrawn. That’s often temporary (sometimes to make fixes), and some of her other books are available.
#3 Crimes Against Liberty: an Indictment of President Barack Obama
by David Limbaugh
published August 23 2010
This one just came out in paper, and the publisher does have books in the Kindle store, so I’d expect people to get those e-mail alerts pretty soon.
#2 When Christ and His Saints Slept
by Sharon Kay Penman
last paper edition published in 1996
Another hefty book (but only 784 pages) 😉 , this one is an historical novel about 12th Century England. This is the second book by Penman on the list.
#1 The Time Traveler’s Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
last paper edition released in 2004
People have been asking about this one since the Kindle was first released…no surprise to see it as number one. This is a case of author concern about the format, apparently. On her website, Nifffenegger says,
“I am not opposed to the existence of e-books; I know lots of people are wildly enthusiastic about them. But I have spent my life working with books as an art form and I am devoted to physical books.”
and
“I don’t know when or if my books will become e-books. Writing me hostile e-mail about this will not hasten my desire.”
Essentially, she seems to be waiting for the format to improve.
I expect this to be a fluid list until more people are using it. It may be different by the time you read this. I plan to return to this regularly, and I expect with a month or so, it will have settled down. We can reasonably say that publishers are losing sales right now on these titles by not having them in e-book form.
*NOTE: I have not included books which have not yet been released in paper. It’s very common for there to be a pre-order of a paper edition, and no Kindle edition listed. That doesn’t mean that a Kindle edition won’t be available by the time the paperbook is published. If I included those, #2 would have been Treachery in Death by J.R. Robb (due February 22, 2011, #4 would have been The Confession by John Grisham (due October 26, 2010), #5 would have been Wolfsbane by Patricia Briggs (due November 2, 2010), and #8 would have been Briggs’ Masques (due September 28, 2010).
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
I Love My Kindle 