Books

Books
Books written by Ray Sullivan

Saturday 21 September 2013

Palace Rejects iOS 7

Just days after the introduction of the much awaited new version of iOS, there has been a backlash, our Apple correspondent reports.  Many early adopters are claiming that they do not like the new look interface, with its no fuss icons and simple gestures.  Many are ruing the fact they failed to read the small print that stated that the upgrade was not reversible, or indeed the several pop up warnings.  Or the many reports on the internet stating in big bold headlines that this was an irreversible process.

The backlash has now been reported to have angered Her Majesty the Queen, who publically started to use the iPad in public just a few months ago, although observers close to the crown have shrugged it off as just an iPad 2.  Not even a regal retina display to check Ones emails on, apparently.

The adoption of Apple products was hardly a smooth process - apparently an Apple advocate was urging the Royal Family to swing behind the interface for some time.  Normally Her Majesty makes a point of supporting British products, but since the demise of the Sinclair Spectrum in the 1980s that has proven to be a difficult path.  Apple would have won the Royal approval race sooner with the launch of the iPhone several years ago if it hadn't been for a poorly chosen statement by an Apple employee who suggested that being seen with the right phone opens doors for influential people.  Her Majesty was overheard to mutter that she had footmen for that role, thank you.

But behind the scenes the iPad has been very popular, especially with the grandchildren spun to the far reaches of the Empire such as Afghanistan and Anglesey.  Facetime has become a regular feature of the Royal Household and the report that the new interface had an improved routine for managing photographs may have urged Her Majesty or at least Her Royal Highness' chief ICT flunky to upgrade.

Except, if you read the small print you'll find that the new interface doesn't support the new software on the older iPhones and iPads, so those of you who were hoping to free up your finite storage space by shifting those photos of the last Ambassadors Ball, or the hundreds of boring garden party photographs to give Ones iPad the space to breathe will have been disappointed.  Especially if One upgraded and found that, actually, One does like the skuermorphisms that have actually driven the appeal for the iPhone, iPod and iPad over the last few years and now find One cannot revert to them.

Most of us will lick our wounds - someone will find a way to roll back to iOS6, although many would prefer to go back at least one release further if given the chance - and eagerly await iOS 8.  The big question is whether Sir Jony Ives will be invited to produce that version, especially as it is rumoured that Her Majesty is considering removing his knighthood until he sorts her iPad out, personally.  There's a room waiting at the Tower of London, apparently.  It may be difficult to oversee the development of the new Apple products with Beefeaters outside of his room.

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Books
        Visit Project: Evil Website here                                        Visit DLF Website here

        Follow me on Twitter  - @RayASullivan

        Join me on Facebook -  use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Friday 6 September 2013

Smashwords Challenges KDP Select

Amazon have a scheme called KDP Select which is an addition to their Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) arm that has allowed thousands of authors to self publish their novels.  I like KDP but I've vocally objected to KDP Select on many occasions on this blog.

My objection is that Amazon insist on exclusivity for what is arguably a valuable marketing tool for authors.  For consumers of Amazon products, if they elect to join the Amazon Prime scheme that gives them free shipping in return for a set monthly fee they can also access a library of eBooks they an download and read.  That bit sounds like a nice addition to the programme and a bit of an incentive to consider KDP Select.  The part I don't like is that Amazon only allow books to enter that programme if the author signs over exclusive rights to Amazon.  The book is still available for sale through Amazon, but cannot be listed on Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, WH Smith, Kobo etc.

A couple of years ago that might have sounded like a reasonable proposition when Amazon dominated the eBook market, and Amazon sweeten the concept by providing authors with a large monthly pot of money to be shared out pro-rata to all books loaned in this manner.  However, regardless of whether you think like me that the process is anti-competitive or whether you think it is the smartest idea going, the fact is that Apple are a huge part of the eBook market and the other eBook sellers are making up another sizeable portion as well.  Amazon are still very big in this field, but nowhere near as big in relative terms as they used to be,

Now Smashwords are about to offer a similar concept.  There's no pot of money being stumped up by them, no distorting bribe.  But no requirement to be exclusive to Smashwords.  In fact they have always been consistent in suggesting that authors should list with both themselves and Amazon to maximise sales potential, a suggestion that Amazon don't appear to mirror.

The scheme is based on Smashwords joining up with Oyster, which is aiming to be the Spotify of eBooks.  The details are eagerly awaited, but a $3 million fund has been established to get this off the ground.  For one I'm interested to see how this will pan out, not only in itself but also to see if it makes Amazon sit up and take notice.  I think their KDP Select scheme is a good marketing tool to enhance the benefits for those who choose to sign up for their Prime service, but I don't believe it has to be exclusive to work.  Maybe they'll reconsider when Oyster takes off.


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                                                          Visit my Book Website here
Books
        Visit Project: Evil Website here                                        Visit DLF Website here

        Follow me on Twitter  - @RayASullivan

        Join me on Facebook -  use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Amazon Come Out Fighting - Buy One Book, Get eBook Version Free

Amazon have been on the back foot in recent weeks.  Apple are selling as many eBooks as Amazon are and Smashwords have introduced a few innovative schemes to make their distribution channels more appealing.  Probably the most exciting of these to authors is the pre-order system that I wrote about a week or so ago.  With this an author can upload a book ahead of official launch, advertise it through their blog, website, word of mouth, whatever works for them, and then sit back and let their fans pre-order their copies.  On the given launch day all the pre-orders are shipped in one hit and the author stands a better chance of creeping up the charts, finding him or herself exposed to new potential readers.  Throw in a launch discount price and you might just get a few extra readers.

Of course Smashwords has always been more flexible than Amazon.  With the big A, unless you commit to being exclusive to them via their KDP Select program, you can't easily discount books.  You can drop the price but you get hammered on the royalty rate and the zero option appears to only apply to those who sign up for Select.  With Smashwords you can promote books for free any time you like, or you can drop the price to $0.99 and still retain the 60% royalty rate.

And Smashwords has just forged an alliance with the biggest eBook seller in India.  eBooks are only just taking off on the sub-continent, by all accounts, but India has the largest concentration of English speaking and reading people on the planet.   It's been well documented that India is a major growth market so it's welcome news that our books can be accessed there readily.  The only issue I have with Smashwords right now is that they have a one price fits all attitude.  Amazon allows me to charge different rates in different regions, within some arbitrary parameters.  I'd like to make my books in India be priced more realistically for the locals, not based on US and European price expectations.

But Amazon have just produced one extra no cost promotional tool for authors that Smashwords cannot compete with.  They are allowing authors to let them sell eBook versions of their books at a discount to customers who buy the paperback or hardback version.  And when I say discounted, it can be as low as zilch.

That's right, you can let those who choose to buy your book in print to obtain an electronic version for their Kindle for free at the same time.  I've just set my books up on Amazon to allow this pricing and it should permeate through to the bookstalls over the next few hours, but I doubt they will allow anyone to pick up a free eBook retrospectively, so apologies to those who have sunk their hard earned cash into my paperbacks.  But I'd say it's worth a try if you have bought one of my paperbacks previously and certainly if you contact me with evidence you've bought my books in print I can work out a way to get free electronic copies to you, even if Amazon won't.  But try them first, they might just bite!

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                                                          Visit my Book Website here
Books
        Visit Project: Evil Website here                                        Visit DLF Website here

        Follow me on Twitter  - @RayASullivan

        Join me on Facebook -  use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me