News:
1. Amazon reports loss in earnings - Amazon has posted a net profit of £122million for the past year, down 33%, although sales have risen by 31% from last year. The explanation - Amazon has been invested significantly in "new products and technologies." The key bit for us Kindle users is just these "new products and technologies." And if you read on, you will see where these technologies may be leading.
2. Amazon to take on iPad - The Telegraph reports: "First Amazon’s Kindle revolutionised the book market – now the company is set to release its own rival to Apple’s iPad. Taiwanese manufacturers are gearing up to produce up to 800,000 of the new tablet devices per month in the second half of this year, sources at Quanta, a company that also works for BlackBerry and Sony said. The new Kindle is likely to be based on Google’s operating system Android, and has caused excitement because Amazon already sells movies and music downloads. Amazon has also recently launched its own App store to rival that provided by Apple."
3. Ebook sales up in 2010 - The official figures are out and sales last year of ebooks were up 38% (for me, actually a surprisingly small number), there for £120million in digital book sales accounting for just 4% of the £3.1billion. The Register says: "The book market here is actually a larger than that – the Association notes that sales figures it receives are probably around 70 per cent of digital book sales. Extrapolating from this and other surveys, the Association reckons the true size of the digital slice of the market is nearer to £180m, out of a cake worth £3.8bn"
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Feature: Interview
GKD: Introduce yourself to us please, and tell us one fun fact about yourself.
Scott: I’m Scott Nicholson, and I live in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in the U.S. I’ve
written 20 books and six screenplays, but the most interesting thing about me is I am an
organic gardener and heirloom seed saver.
GKD: Interesting. So, how did you get into writing?
Scott: I always had pencils and paper around and I was always drawing, writing, just making stuff up. It was a fun little escape from a crowded family.
The smell of crayons still gives me a thrill.
GKD: So, had you always wanted to be a writer?
I always knew I’d be a writer someday, but I ventured into music for a number of years. It wasn’t until I finally got a college degree that I was afraid I’d live a normal life, so I immediately started writing every day.
GKD: And is writing your full-time job?
Yes, I’ve been writing for 15 years while working as a newspaper reporter, but in February I went full-time, thanks to all the wonderful Kindle readers.
GKD: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Scott: Make your craft your biggest asset. Work hard and expect disappoint. Most of all, do good and be kind.
GKD: Have you found the Kindle has worked out as a business model for you?
Scott: Absolutely. I’d had nine books from “real publishers” but usually only one or two would be in a store at any one time. Now all of them are available all the time, all around the world, and I feel a real close connection to my readers.
GKD: What importance would you attribute to social media in book promotion?
Scott: Your friends are your success in life, whether they are online friends or people in your daily routine. Treasure them!
GKD: What projects are you working on now?
Scott: I’m working on a sequel to Liquid Fear and starting a big promotion for The Skull Ring, another suspense thriller. We’re developing some children’s books and I’m also collaborating with bestselling writer J.R. Rain. You can keep up with things at my web site, Haunted Computer.
GKD: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Scott: Due to rights issues, I have some supernatural thrillers out for Kindle in the UK that are unavailable in the U.S.: Creative Spirit, Troubled, Solom, and The Gorge. I believe British readers will love them, since they didn’t get over here in paperback. Thanks, Giovanni, for your cool blog and your service in getting the word out about Kindle books.
GKD: Thank you very much for your time and good luck with your books.
Scott: Thanks!
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Cheap books:
Rated 4.5 stars average from 37 reviews
Synopsis: "Memories can lie…
Especially when other people mess with your mind... Danny McRae is a private investigator. He’s no Philip Marlowe but what else is a demobbed SOE agent to do now the war is over and the world struggles back to normality? Not that anything will be normal for Danny until he fills the void in his memory which swallowed up an entire mission to France. But first he has a case to investigate. Elegant, upper-class Kate Graveney has made a shocking admission, and Danny needs to get her off the hook. Danny sets off on a hunt through bomb-ravaged London, the bleak cityscape mirroring the ruins of his mind. The head injury which gouged his memory also gives him blackouts: hours, sometimes days, are a complete blank. Newspaper headlines about a brutal killer stalking London’s red light district make him uneasy, and a visit from an old adversary awakens dark misgivings. At least there’s Valerie – but even she proves elusive. He is assaulted by the police and befriended by the madam of a cat-house. He is torn between his upper class client and the shop girl who believes in him. The odds stack up against Danny and soon he fears for his life. The only escape is through that gap in his memory…"
Rated 5 stars average from 21 reviews
Synopsis: "REPLICA is a fast-paced thriller/romance you will find hard to put down.
Beth Chandler works in a government research institute, and is accidentally replicated in a flawed experiment. The replica has no official existence, and when she overhears plans to liquidate her, goes on the run. Homeless, penniless and pursued by MI5, she has to learn how to survive on icy London streets. Meanwhile, the original Beth, unaware of what has happened, becomes romantically involved with Nick Cavanagh, the spec op she believes is there to protect her. In fact, he’s hunting her double."
Rated 4 stars average from 27 reviews
Synopsis: ""There is a plague coming....For forty days and forty nights fear shall savage the streets. Those steeped in sin shall burn. The dying begins now"With this chilling message a wave of terror unlike anything the world has ever seen sweeps the streets of Europe. Thirteen martyrs burn themselves alive in thirteen major cities simultaneously.
And this is just the beginning.A religious cult calling itself the Disciples of Judas has risen in the Middle East. They twist the words of ancient prophecies to drive home the fear. Everything you believe in will be proved wrong. Everything you hold true will fail.
Day by day the West wakes to increasingly harrowing acts of terror. As fear cripples the capitals of Europe, the only question is where will be the next to fall? London? Rome? Berlin?
In a race against time - believing the terrorists intend to assassinate the Pope - Sir Charles Wyndham's unique Special Ops team, codename Ogmios, track a labyrinthine course through truth, shades of truth and outright lies that takes them from the backstreets of London to the shadow of Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin and all the way into the heart of the Holy See itself."
Spotlight: In June "Madeleine" will be released, Kate and Gerry McCann’s personal account of the disappearance and continuing search for their daughter.“There are several different reasons as to why I finally came to the decision with my husband Gerry to write and publish this book,” said Kate McCann. “This decision has not been an easy one. Many factors needed to be given thorough and careful consideration, not least the impact of such a book on the lives of our three children. My reason for writing is simple; to give an account of the truth.Publishing this book has been a very different decision and is one that we have taken after much deliberation and with a very heavy heart. However, in the last few months with the depletion of Madeleine’s Fund, it is a decision that has virtually been taken out of our hands.Every penny we raise through its sales will be spent on our search for Madeleine. Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl.”Gerry McCann said: “We are hopeful that this book may help the investigation to find Madeleine in other ways too. Our hope is that it may prompt those who have relevant information (knowingly or not) to come forward and share it with our team. Somebody holds that key piece of the jigsaw.”Bill Scott-Kerr, Publisher at Transworld, bought the book from the Christopher Little Literary Agency for publication in Spring 2011. All royalties will be donated directly to Madeleine’s Fund – Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited.Bill said: ‘It is an enormous privilege to be publishing this book. We are so pleased to be joining Kate and Gerry McCann in the Find Madeleine campaign."The McCanns' Literary Agents, Christopher Little and Neil Blair, said: "We are honoured to be part of this emotive project and to support the McCanns in their search for Madeleine."
Given all the controversy I am sure this book will be one of the most sold this year. This is a pre-order copy which will be released May 12th on paperback and May 16th on Kindle, it will be automatically delivered for free on its release date. Madeleine costs £8.10 on the Kindle here, or £9.00 in Hardcover here.
Spotlight: Royal Wedding Fever - although the big event was last weekend, how about continuing the celebrations with the biography of William and Catherine with William and Catherine: Their Lives, Their Wedding for just £3.99. Synopsis: On 16 November 2010, the long-awaited engagement of HRH Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton was formally announced, with a London wedding promised for April 2011. Andrew Morton, the leading royal biographer famous the world over for his million-copy bestselling, authorized biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, has written a full-length biography of William and his new bride Kate.Morton has followed the prince's life since birth and has unrivalled insight into the royal family.
Free Books:
Rated 2 stars average from 1 review
Synopsis: Read Lord Sugar's CV, with its extracts from his bestselling autobiography What You See is What You Get, and discover what it takes to make a true entrepreneur.
Alan Sugar was born in 1947 and brought up on a council estate in Clapton, in Hackney. He started spotting money-making opportunities as a kid, engaging in activities as diverse as selling surplus 35mm film to schoolmates (undercutting the photographic shops by 50%) and making and selling his own ginger beer. At the age of nineteen he set up his own company; through his CV we see how Amstrad's groundbreaking ventures in hi-fi and computers made him the darling of the stock exchange. The breadth of his experiences is apparent, from buying Tottenham Hotspur FC and exposing corruption in the football industry to starring in the BAFTA-winning television show The Apprentice; from his appointment as Enterprise Champion, advising the government on small business and enterprise, to his elevation to the peerage."
Rated 4 stars average from 359 reviews
Synopsis: " This title is the winner of The 2002 Booker Prize. After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The crew of the surviving vessel consists of a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan, a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger and Pi - a 16-year-old Indian boy. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary pieces of literary fiction of recent years."
Rated 4 stars average from 1 review
Synopsis: "An exclusive free edition of Brian McGilloway's acclaimed short crime-story, featuring Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin.
Includes the opening chapters of McGilloway's dazzling new novel, Little Girl Lost ('Truly chilling' Ann Cleeves)."
Rated 4.5 stars average from 9 reviews
Synopsis: "Marcus Williams and Francis Ackerman Jr. both have a talent for hurting people. Marcus, a former New York City homicide detective, uses his abilities to protect others, while Ackerman uses his gifts to inflict pain and suffering. When both men become unwi"
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Great Kindle Deals Book Club
One of the most popular responses from our recent survey was the idea of a Book Club where all the members could read something together at the same time and then share discussions about the book. So, I'd like to know what you all think - would you participate in something like this? We'd be sure to choose books which were relatively cheap and maybe even some classics which are free. Send in your suggestions too for a book we could start off with, and we'll get the ball rolling. Email us at greatkindledeals@gmail.com
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That's it for this week, see you next week with another newsletter packed with more news, free books, cheap books and features. Also, why not suggest Great Kindle Deals to a friend? For less than a price of coffee every few months they can get 52 week's worth of Kindle goodness and more than make their money back from all the free books we offer. See you next week.
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