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BB eBooks Newsletter – September 20, 2013
Dear Friend,
While Amazon introduced Kindle MatchBook for their customers to buy the eBook version of the paperback, it seems Smashwords has upped their game for the right reason to bring new excitement to their authors with Series Manager and access to Oyster. Apart from major vendors’ new offer, Oyster concretizes monthly subscription service for avid readers. With 100,000 eBooks, readers will find reading much more interesting and effortless. So far though, Oyster is only available for iPhone users (an iPad app is supposedly forthcoming). The post about Frank Schaeffer is a testimonial how self-publishing is favored even among traditional publishers; he states all the 5 reasons. Last but not least, for geeks who are interested in new technology, this year’s upgrade of eReaders, tablets, smart watch, and possibly E-Ink promises a better reading experience and smarter energy management.
Whatever the eReading devices you choose, please check out our latest addition at the Substance B platform. We have recently added burning-hot Romance novels (Monica Burns, Skye Turner, Silver James) and 38 comics (Ronald Ledwell) from our best-selling and award-winning authors. Also, Katherine Logan’s The Last MacKlenna is now available on Amazon for historical romance fans.
Mark Down Your Kindle eBook Price
After a string of promotional programs, Kindle MatchBook is the latest addition that might jazz up the sales of your paperback books. What it will do is slash your Kindle edition price 50% lower than the print version to make sure readers will get hold of the two versions or for those who have bought the print books before. Officially starting in October, the Kindle MatchBook page now shows a growing list of print books (e.g. Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much is True, Jodi Picoult’s The Pact, Jo Nesbo’s The Devil’s Star). The price range is comparatively low starting from $2.99.
To be eligible for the program, you need an Amazon account to log into your bookshelf and select the book that has a paperback edition. If you have joined the KDP program before, you can directly log in from there. Based on our experiment, we managed to enroll our Managing Director’s book—The Sentinel in Sector 5—in the program.
All-You-Can-Read Oyster
If you are a voracious reader, will you be interested to pay $9.95/month for an all-you-can-read plan? Oyster claims that they have 100,000 books on their virtual shelf. Oyster just launched the monthly subscription service for iPhone users to read on their phone. Several sources claim its similarity to Netflix and Spotify that build the virtual library for their users. Apart from browsing their catalog, the more Oyster’s subscribers use the service, the smarter its recommendation engine will generate the statistics and recommend the book to their users and friends. The collaboration with big-name publishers will be announced soon and thus guarantee the inclusion of best-selling titles to entice curious readers.
Smashwords seizes this very opportunity to announce on their company’s blog a distribution agreement with Oyster. The said deal will allow Smashwords authors to earn more if the users read more than a sample of their book. Authors are split into two camps: supporters and skeptical believers. Since there is no updated information about the exact date the deal will be implemented, we will have to wait and see how many authors will opt into the program. According to Kyle W. Bell, he cites Netflix’ successful formula: how it has provided a greater choice for consumers and wider distribution for producers. Still, there are several authors who are concerned whether the subscription model will cut deep into their income and they will not get the fair share.
Series Manager
Smashwords made the headlines again when it announced Series Manager for authors who write their books in series. Unlike its competitor, Amazon, there is no need to write the series information in the book title. Smashwords’ algorithm will allow the series sequence to be shown utilizing metadata instead. Why is this beneficial at all? While customers have to browse individual books in the series separately on Amazon, Smashwords makes it easy for them to view all the books in the series in one page.
Allison Jewell, author of ‘Shine On’ and ‘Rise and Shine’, is an early adopter who has already used the series manager to show the sequence her books in the series. If you type in her name, the search result will normally show the two books. Looking closely at the metadata, you will notice the name of the series as a clickable link. The series page will show the sequence of how the book is categorized. For Allison’s books, ‘Shine On’ appears on top of her second book, ‘Rise and Shine’, for readers to read in an order so they can enjoy the story chronologically.
DIY Your Books
Although switching from traditionally published route to indie might be nothing new, Frank Schaeffer shares all the five reasons why author need to self-publish. First, he is not used to dealing with newly recruited people at the publishing company where he used to call “home.” Second, it is undeniable that the old tradition of promotion does not work any longer, especially when reviews are sent to dated publications. Also, it is the duty of the author to promote their book anyway. Third, publishers want to lessen their risk of stocking the physical book less and choose a POD option. Fourth, Amazon is author-friendly enough for one to study and explore with or without external help. Lastly, self-publishing gains better acceptance. Turning away from publishers, Jim Carrey decided to self-publish his children’s book. He wants to express his idea from its raw creativity. “Things that seem to be in place get changed a lot. With the idea of Roland, I wanted the book to be exactly from its original source. I didn’t want other people to influence it, which is just the way of the world,” he said. With a wealth of publicly available resources, authors can accomplish all the tasks that may sound daunting at first while being able to control their production budget more efficiently.
Inner Geekdom
It is an exciting time for tech-savvy readers to anticipate new gadgets to help them read anytime and anywhere. For those who like eReaders, this year’s upgrade of eReaders from Amazon, Kobo, and Sony will promise better screen quality and faster response to touch so they can browse their eBook more conveniently. For those who prefer a multi-tasking device, new products from Amazon, Asus, and possibly Apple this year will bring relief to those who crave for horsepower and better integration with eReading apps. Apart from the eReaders and tablets, we begin to see the new prototypes of a smart watch, flexible display, and E-Ink cover for Alcatel smartphone coming into production. These smart gadgets are built so that consumers can control their devices better. Who knows? We might be able to read your eBook on 12” foldable screen on one side and browse the website on the other side in the near future.
Yours sincerely,
The BB eBooks Team
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