After Friday Night Lights
Remember how I linked to the Kindle Single follow-up to Friday Night Lights? Yeah, it’s not on Amazon anymore Why? Because most people doing business on the internet are kind of dumb. (It should be back on Amazon sometime tomorrow.)
Mr. Bissinger wrote the e-book for Byliner.com, one of a number of fledgling companies trying to make a go of it by publishing long-form works — not as long as a traditional book, but longer than most magazine articles — for digital readers. Mr. Bissinger thought the e-book, priced at $2.99, would be a great way to pay tribute to the relationship while also helping Mr. Miles, by giving him a third of the proceeds.
But the plan hit a pothole after Apple, which had been looking to get into shorter works in a digital format, decided to include e-books in a promotion that it does with Starbucks. It selected Mr. Bissinger’s digital sequel as a Pick of the Week, giving customers a code they could redeem online for the book. (Mr. Bissinger said he still received a royalty of $1.50 for each copy sold.)
Amazon interpreted the promotion as a price drop and lowered its price for “After Friday Night Lights” to exactly zero. Byliner withdrew the book from Amazon’s shelves, saying it did so to “protect our authors’ interest.”
Cross posted from http://bit.ly/Im9TPj
Inside Amazon
Inside the Amazon warehouse during the holiday season.
If you live in Canada and have a friend with an Internet connection and a credit card, chances are you’re getting either a calendar, Star Wars Lego, or a book by a Giller Prize nominee. Trust me, I know.
Also coming to the Kindle, classic text adventure games.
Not sure how long this will last, but the Kindle versions of all of Kurt Vonnegut’s books are now on sale for $3.99 each.
Amazon’s letter to the record labels shows that they really are going to take a stand on cloud-based music. (Which, of course, will help Apple take over the category sometime this summer.)
Cloud Drive is a general online storage service for all digital files, not unlike Google Docs, Microsoft SkyDrive and any number of other internet file back-up services. It’s your external hard-drive in the cloud. It requires a license from content owners no more than those other internet file back-up services do and no more than makers of external hard drives for PCs do.
Cloud Player is a media management and play-back application not unlike Windows Media Player and any number of other media management applications that let customers manage and play their music. It requires a license from content owners no more than those applications do.
It really is that simple.
Thought Catalog: Documenting the fall of Borders through its email newsletters.
At some point in time, Borders’ e-reader offering, the rarely-discussed Kobo, was worth about the same as a Kindle: more than $100, less than $150. In the New Year, and in a telling move, the company reduced the price to $99 for four days, then kept that offer up for another four days, then just gave in, and is keeping the price at $99 indefinitely. Is this enough to save the company? Definitely not. Is it kind of embarrassing, and an example of how the company has ridden the coattails of company (Barnes & Noble) that itself is riding the coattails of another company (Amazon)? Certainly.
Is Apple about to fuck up my ability to read Kindle and Kobo books on my iPad and iPhone? Looks like it.
Kindle Singles are like really long blog posts for your Kindle.
Eight stupid Amazon products with impressively sarcastic reviews.
What motivates Amazon’s hardcore raters?
Klausner, on the other hand, ranks around 700. Only about 70 percent of readers have rated her reviews as helpful. Some, in fact, believe she’s lying about having read that many books, calling attention to month-long spurts during which she averaged about 20 reviews per day. All of her reviews are either four or five stars and could be written after having read a jacket cover, her critics have said, with one going so far as to launch The Harriet Klausner Appreciation Society at harriet-rules.blogspot.com, a group blog for those who decidedly do not appreciate Harriet Klausner.
I wish I could speed read. Or even read at an average pace, for that matter.
Chuck Klosterman essays (all previously published in his books) are now for sale in the Kindle store for $0.99 each. They’ve also grouped some together based on theme. If you haven’t read, you’re better off just buying the books for under $10 each. [via]
Amazon Buys Woot
Amazon bought Woot.
I know I say this every time I find a picture of an adorable kitten, but please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email. Today is a big day in Woot history. This morning, I woke up to find Jeff Bezos the Mighty had seized our magic sword. Using the Arthurian model as a corporate structure was something our CFO had warned against from the very beginning, but now that’s water under the bridge. What is important is that our company is on the verge of becoming a part of the Amazon.com dynasty. And our plans for Grail.Woot are on indefinite hold.
