The Kindle Chronicles

Author of The Well-Presented Manuscript   Interview starts at 12:13 and ends at 42:27   There are some wonderful stories that I just can’t enjoy, because the author has done such a poor job with the language.  One of the reasons that I wanted to write The Well-Presented Manuscript was selfishly to increase my own enjoyment of other people’s books by helping them to not make so many errors that would keep hooking my attention as I was reading them.   News “E-Book Sales Fall After New Amazon Contracts” by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at The Wall Street Journal - September 3, 2015 (Behind the pay wall, try Googling the reporter’s last name and the headline to get full story.) “Amazon Could be Working on These 6 New Devices” at The Motley Fool - September 2, 2015 Amazon press release on video downloads to iOS and Android devices - September 1, 2015 Amazon page on downloading Amazon Video content to iOS and Android “Amazon Prime Video now does what Netflix won’t: offline playback” by Bryan Bishop at The Verge - September 1, 2015 “Amazon Stock Delivers Rebound as Prime Now Launches” at Investor’s Business Daily - August 25, 2015 Amazon announces Prime Now - August 25, 2015   Tech Tip Read - Ultimate ePub Reader app for iOS   Interview with Mike Reeves-McMillan The Well-Presented Manuscript: Just What You Need to Know to Make Your Fiction Look Professional by Mike Reeves-McMillan Other books at the Kindle Store by Mike Reeves-McMillan The Review Curmudgeon, Mike’s reviews blog Mike’s Goodreads page Fantasy Book Review “How to Calm Yourself Down”  and “How to Get Into a Good Mood” (YouTube Videos) by Mike Reeves-McMillan Books by Tim Powers Hide Me Among the Graves: A Novel by Tim Powers clippings.io “Immerse or Die” at Creativity Hacker   Content Essays after Eighty by Donald Hall The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep by Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin and Irina Maununen “RH Children’s Buys Self-Pubbed Phenom ‘Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep” by Rachel Deahl at Publishers Weekly - September 2, 2015   Next Week’s Guest Michael Dirda, author of Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

Editorial Director of Books and Kindle at Amazon.com   Interview starts at 14:54 and ends at 39:15   On The Story of the Lost Child: I think this is going to break Elena Ferrante out as a bona fide super star in this country. And nobody knows who she is, which I love!   News “Amazon e-book deal with NYC public schools postponed as blind advocates say it would leave out visually impaired students” by Lisa L. Colangelo and Ben Chapman at The Daily News - August 25, 2015 “Amazon Curtails Development of Consumer Devices” by Greg Bensinger at The Wall Street Journal - August 26, 2015 Amazon Devices Team, US jobs page with video “Amazon Shoppers Not Swayed by Workplace Horror Stories” by Ashley Rodriguez at Advertising Age - August 26, 2015   Tech Tip The Daily Review at kindle.amazon.com   Interview with Sara Nelson Amazon’s Big Fall Books Preview Press release on Fall Books Preview - August 19, 2015 Fall Reading Preview at the Amazon Book Review The Story of the Lost Child: Neapolitan Novels, Book Four by Elena ferrante Cancer Vixen: A True Story by Marisa Acocella Marchetto (graphic novel) Fall Books Preview: Children’s Books The Thing About Jelly Fish by Ali Benjamin   Content “21 Great Novels It’s Worth Finding Time to Read” by Jacquelyn Mitchard at AARP - September 2014 “Read the World’s Best Books for Free with the Harvard Classics” by Rob Nightingale at MakeUseOf - August 26, 2015  Harvard Classics Wikipedia entry, listing the contents of all 51 volumes   Next Week’s Guest Mike Reeves-McMillan, author of The Well-Presented Manuscript: Just What You Need to Know to Make Your Fiction Look Professional     Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Six Colors   Interview starts at 17:44 and ends at 42:27   I hope the E Ink readers stick around, because I do love them. But it’s going to be a niche market. It’s going to be for people who are dedicated book readers who are willing to spend at least a little bit of money for a nice, distraction-free experience.    News “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace” by Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld at The New York Times - August 15, 2015 “Was Portrayal of Amazon’s Brutal Workplace on Target?” - blog post by Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor of The New York Times - August 18, 2015 “Jeff Bezos Responds to brutal NYT story, says it doesn’t represent the Amazon he leads” by John Cook at GeekWire - August 16, 2015 An Amazon employee’s response to NYT article at LinkedIn - August 16, 2015   Tech Tips "How to renew digital titles” at Overdrive   Interview with Jason Snell Jason Snell’s Six Colors blog National Novel Writing Month Upgrade podcast episode #8 with Jason Snell and Scott McNulty re: Kindle Voyage   Content Amazon’s Fall Reading Preview French translation of David Foster Wallace’s masterpiece Infinite Jest (Slate) (Available at amazon.fr)   Next Week’s Guest Sara Nelson, editorial director at Amazon.com Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

I am experimenting with iPhone apps that may enable me to post episodes of the Kindle Chronicles while Darlene and I are in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands this fall. I won't bring my MacBook Air, but it looks as if the tools for mobile podcasting have greatly improved in the past few years. I found an iOS app named Opinion that has a very simple editing function for recording audio, and it can share the file to Libsyn via my Dropbox account.  I am including a photo of Claire taken here at Ocean Park last week. On the road, this could be a giant turtle or sea lion! We don't leave until October, so I will have time to perfect my traveling podcast studio before the trip.  Please let me know how this sounds. You can email me at PodChronicles AT gmail DOT com. Thanks, Len

Creator of the Fiona Griffiths crime series   Interview starts at 12:44 and ends at 37:59   Whoever heard of a retailer offering 70 percent royalty? It’s never happened before. How’s that not a good thing for authors? So I just think the Authors United group are bananas, quite frankly. And I think there is increasingly a swell of opinion among authors—not amongst yet among the more traditional structures—but there is a sort of side movement thinking, “Hang on. Amazon actually offers us quite a lot.    News “The Rise of Phone Reading” by Jennifer Maloney at The Wall Street Journal - August 12, 2015   Tech Tips Kindle software updates Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr   Interview with Harry Bingham1. Talking to the Dead2. Love Story, With Murders3. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths 4. This Thing of Darkness The Writers' Workshop Cotard’s Syndrome (Wikipedia)Review of This Thing of Darkness by John Cheal at Crime Review - July 4, 2015   Content “The Best Romances of August” by Adrian Liang at The Amazon Book Review - August 7, 2015 “10 Best Novels by Poets” by Naja Marie Aidt at Publishers Weekly - August 7, 2015   Next Week’s Guest Jason Snell   Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

Creator of Dispatches from the Frat House   Interview starts at 14:23 and ends at 40:20   I’d like to write the kind of book that I’d like to read. And immediately there’s that thing in your head that goes, “Why? There are a gazillion books out there. Why would you want to write a book? This little wife in the midwest surrounded by kids—who’s going to want to read that?” And the other part of my brain goes, “Well why not? Why shouldn't I write that? If nobody reads it, I wrote it, I’m happy. So why not?"   News “Watch out, Siri, Amazon’s Alexa could be coming to iOS soon” by Jeff Brynes at appadvice.com - August 3, 2015 Alexa Voice Service blog post at Amazon - July 31, 2015 “Why Apple and Amazon Chose to be ‘Frenemies’” by Michael Blanding at Forbes - August 3, 2015 "Frenemies in Platform Markets: The Case of Apple’s iPad vs. Amazon’s Kindle” by Ron Adner, Jianqing, and Feng Zhu at HBS Working Paper Series (Full paper in PDF) “Amazon Cuts Down on Prime Members Sharing Their Benefits” by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch - August 3, 2015   Tech Tips Christina Warren’s method for adding author autograph to a Kindle cover - on the Accidental Tech Podcast - May 29, 2015 Kindle Direct Publishing KDP Pricing Support Beta Psychotherapeutic Reiki: A Holistic Body-Mind Approach to Psychotherapy by Richard Curtin Jr. - $3.49 on Kindle   Interview with Carie Harling “Clippings.io and Evernote” - YouTube video by Carie Harling October 21, 2015 Clippings.io Evernote Amazon’s kindle.amazon.com retrieval tool for Kindle notes and highlights Moleskine Evernote Smart Notebooks Carie Harling’s “Cheating” post on switching to paper planning tools - March 14, 2013 “Digital Vs Paper Planning” by Carie Harling at Filofax - October 17, 2013 Omnifocus Carie Harling’s “What’s Your Why Not?” site Stochasticity post    Content “Awesome Indies Books (A Criticism of Book Awards and Seals)” by Derek Murphy at CreativeINDIE Awesome Indies Blue Ink Review   Comment Legimi, a book subscription service in Poland Google Books   Next Week’s Guest Harry Bingham, author of the Fiona Griffiths mysteries -  1. Talking to the Dead 2. Love Story, With Murders 3. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths 4. This Thing of Darkness   Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

Editor of TeleRead   Interview starts at 11:26 and ends at 37:11   Even if all the publishers remove DRM from every eBook they sell tomorrow, I would be the vast majority of Amazon Kindle customers would go right on being Amazon Kindle customers, just because it’s so easy to tap the button and start reading the book.   News “Amazon Kindle Voyage to be Released November 2015” by Michael Kozlowski at Good E-Reader - July 7, 2015 “Amazon Top Pick for Contract to Create N.Y.C. Schools’ e-Book Marketplace” by Michele Molnar at Education Week - July 30, 2015 “City partners with Amazon for $30 million e-book contract” by Eliza Shapiro at Capital New York - July 29, 2015   Tech Tips Send to Kindle app for Mac and PC   Interview with Chris Meadows “Chris Meadows becomes Editor of TeleRead; Juli Monroe to remain Editor-in-chief” by David Rothman at TeleRead - July 17, 2015   TeleRead articles by Chris Meadows TeleRead articles by Founder David Rothman and Editor-in-chief Juli Monroe Links including “950 million Android phones can be hijacked by malicious text messages” Ars Technica story (scroll down to the fourth item in this post) Calibre eBook management calibre2opds script Baen books Humble Bundles Book Bub (and an even better choice for eBook bargain emails: Stephen Windwalker's BookGorilla) Steam videogames The recently launched TeleRead Podcast, hosted by Chris Meadows TeleRead Podcast interview with author Diane Duane (click on episode 5) - July 25, 2015 Closed Circle Publications, the independent eBook retailer created by authors C. J. Cherryh, Lynn Abbey, and Jane Fancher Author Doranna Durgin’s website Pottermore “Macmillan Parent Company Holtzbrink Abandons DRM in Germany” by Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader - July 20, 2015 Author Earnings Report - May, 2015 Gen Con - July 30 - August 2, 2015 in Indianapolis Amazon Game Studios “Whither the PDA (or iPhone) D&D?” by Chris Meadows at TeleRead - January 28, 2009 DriveThruRPG and Paizo   Content Awesome Indies book reviews Awesome Indies review of The Ribs and Thigh Bones of Desire by Sandra Hutchinson   Comments Amazon PowerFast adapter for Kindle and Fire Prime Music     Next Week’s Guest Carie Harling, whose Clippings.io and Evernote video details a terrific way to organize your Kindle notes and highlights   Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

Author of Let’s Get Digital and Let’s Get Visible   Interview starts at 16:56 and ends at 44:39   If you look at stores like Barnes and Noble and Kobo and Apple, I don’t think they’ve even caught up to where the Kindle Store was in 2011 or 2012 yet, let alone approaching where it is now in 2015. I still think they haven’t grasped the core part of Amazon’s philosophy, which is that they will always seek to recommend that they think you are most likely to purchase—not the one that a company has paid a certain amount, so they’ll shove it under your nose.    News Amazon’s second-quarter earnings release - July 23, 2015 “Investors React to Amazon’s Shocking Earnings Beat” at Zack.com - July 24, 2014 “Another wake-up call from Amazon as they serve author interests better than publishers have” at The Shatzkin Files - July 23, 2015 About Amazon Follow FAQ from Amazon on anti-trust settlement credits   Tech Tip How to use Kindle FreeTime to manage your child’s reading content The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer   Interview with David Gaughran Joanna Penn’s interview with David Gaughran (video) at YouTube - January 22, 2012 “The Great Amazon Hysteria… Part 31” by David Gaughran at his blog - June 26, 2015 Author Earnings Open Road Media   Content Books by David Gaughran: Mercenary, an historical novel Let’s Get Digital: How to Self-Publish, And Why You Should : Updated Second Edition Let’s Get Visible: How to Get Noticed and Sell More Books   Next Week’s Guest Chris Meadows, editor of TeleRead   Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

Founder and President of IndieReader.com   Interview starts at 11:46 and ends at 41:02   It’s very hard to tell a self-published book these days from one that is traditionally published.   News David Pogue’s must-see Alexa demonstration and review (video) at Yahoo Tech - July 16, 2015   Tech Tip Amazon page on Cloud Collections   Interview with Amy Edelman “Self-publishers flourish as writers pay the tab” by Motoko Rich at The New York Times - January 27, 2009 “Books Gone Wild: The Digital Age Reshapes Literature” by Lev Grossman at Time Magazine - January 21, 2009 Still Alice by Lisa Genova The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry Amanda Hocking’s books at the Kindle Store “How Amazon Saved my Life” by Jessica Park at IndieReader - June 15, 2012 “If You Liked ‘Grey’, You’ll LOVE…” by Keri English at Indie Reader - July 15, 2015 Blue Ink Review Kirkus Reviews “Television That’s Worth Digesting” by Michiko Kakatuni at The New York Times - December 3, 2012 Fifty Shades of Grey and Grey by E. L. James Manless in Montclair by Amy Holman Edelman The Little Black Dress by Amy Holman Edelman Deadly Lies by Chris Patchell YA titles by Abbi Glines Colleen Hoover Jasinda Wilder   Content IndieReader lists: bestselling indie titles , art and photo books, zines, and small batch books 12 books that Jeff Bezos hopes to read   Next Week’s Guest David Gaughran, blogger and author of Let’s Get Digital and Let’s Get Visible   Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!

My wife the amazing art quilter and Kindle enthusiast   Interview starts at 14:08 and ends at 39:48   A friend of mine said, “How many times have you dropped a Paperwhite in the tub?” And she’s right. I never have. And so at that point I decided that I was just going to hold the Kindle, and if it fell into the tub I would deal with it.   News “Half of Net Proceeds Is the Fair Royalty Rate for E-Books” at the Authors Guild - July 9, 2015 “Bread and Roses” by Hugh Howey at The Wayfinder - January 24, 2014 “Opinion: Apple Watch sales plunge 90%” by Brett Arends at MarketWatch - July 8, 2015 “Apple Watch Sales Aren’t Looking So Hot” by Aaron Tilley at Forbes - July 1, 2015 “After crushing rival smartwatch sales, Apple Watch portrayed as doomed by CNBC” by Daniel Eran Dilger at Apple Insider - June 28, 2015 Apple WatchCast episode 18 My 2014 interview with the cofounders of Spritz in TKC 323 Bigger than Black Friday? Amazon Prime Day - July 15, 2015  Prime Music $100,000 Sweepstakes   Tech Tip How to disable Kindle Word Wise on your Paperwhite: 1. Start at the home screen 2. Tap on the menu icon at upper right. 3. Tap on Settings. 4. Tap on Reading Options. 5. Tap on Language Learning. 6. Turn Word Wise off. You can also turn off Vocabulary Builder.   Interview with my wife Darlene Goodreads Newsletters      (To receive the Goodreads email newsletters, click on your Goodreads Profile page and choose which ones you want.) Authors discussed in the interview:  Harry Bingham’s Fiona Griffiths books - 1. Talking to the Dead: A Novel  2. Love Story, With Murders: A Novel  3. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths - $2.51 on Kindle 4. This Thing of Darkness (available for pre-order for $3.99 with delivery July 30, 2015) Julie Hyzy's  White House Chef Mysteries Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs Mystery series Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley J. A. Jance’s Ali Reynolds series and J.P. Beaumont series      Dance of the Bones: A J.P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker Novel by J. A. Jance  - available for Kindle preorder for $15.99 (!) with delivery on September 8, 2015, price set by the publisher, HarperCollins The Rise & Fall of Great Powers: A Novel by Tom Rachman Stephen White’s Alan Gregory series Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire Mysteries Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series and the Bosch Amazon Original Series C J Box's Joe Picket series Lee Child’s Amazon page   Content “Reading War and Peace on my iPhone” by Clive Thompson at BookRiot   Comments   Next Week’s Guest Amy Edelman, founder and president of IndieReader   Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!