Donna Fasano’s first novel was published by Harlequin Silhouette in 1990, and it was chosen by the Romance Writers of America as a finalist for its Golden Hearts Award. In the twenty years that followed, Fasano–sometimes using the pen name Donna Clayton–published over 30 novels via the traditional publishing route, won the HOLT Medallion three times, and sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide. In December 2009, however, she tried something different: she self-published her new book The Merry-Go-Round, which had at one time been in the hands of a large publisher (more on that below), through Amazon’s Kindle Store. Now it’s...

WHICH KINDLE SOFTWARE VERSION IS THE ONE FOR YOUR KINDLE? No one outside Amazon knows, I imagine. But as long as you have Kindle software update v2.5.x (the "x" meaning any number), you can use the new Kindle features such as Collections, Pan & Zoom, Sending of highlighted passages to Facebook and/or Twitter, etc. The Amazon Kindle software-update files currently on their servers for download are all labeled v.2.5.2 within their long filenames and should be chosen for the Kindle model you have, which is explained there. See Intro and Guide to Software version v2.5.x for information on: 1. how to...

Resource Shelf has this great tip. Quoted in full: Here’s one to share with others either on your library web site, blog or directly to users when they visit the library. The Internet Archive/Open Library and Amazon.com/Kindle have created a cool and useful service for Kindle owners who use (or should be using) the Open Library (OL). The Open Library is an “initiative” of the Internet Archive and through a partnership with Amazon.com allow some public domain titles accessible in the OL to now be sent directly to a Kindle device (with just a couple of clicks). Of course, transmission fees may apply. The...

The Kindle Web-browser expanded to 52 more countries?It looks as if Jay Marine, director of product management for Kindle, was serious when he was reported to have said that Amazon does intend to enable its experimental browser in every countryAmazon I had wondered when I read posts from Kindle-owners in other countries that their Kindles were suddenly enabled to use the Experimental Web browser, if that was because in setting up the new software update, they may have inadvertently enabled the web browser for other countries other than the U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico? This happened with Canada the first few...

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting this, and I got a call from their fact checking department about it yesterday. Unlike some schools which are doing limited trials, the high school wants to replace textbooks for all students in all grades - school wide. This would mean 2.100 Kindles. The article says that a final device hasn't been picked, but the school is negotiating with Amazon now. Already, ereaders have been issued to all 100 of the school's teachers. John Just, assistant superintendent for the district's management information systems, said Kindle officials told the district that no...

The long-delayed march of the Penguins? It wasn't worth the wait. After its agency price-fixing model co-conspirators came quickly to agreements with Amazon so that their ebook titles would remain in the Kindle Store right through the April Fool's Day transition date, the Penguin Publishing Group held readers hostage for about 8 weeks before finally reaching the end of the impasse, reported here moments before it was announced last week. Penguin has a terrific backlist and plenty of popular bestselling authors, and Kindle owners were waiting impatiently for an opportunity to purchase and download various among about 150 of the company's new...

I so wanted to say something nice about Barnes & Noble, the Nook, and its new B&N eReader App for the iPad. I've been a little harsh at times in the past, I'll admit: even as recently as yesterday. So, after reading early reviews of the iPad app from a couple of colleagues, and seeing how, as in the above screenshot, it had already soared to the top of all free apps in the iPad App Store, I was ready. I had even written a headline in my mind for the post: New Reading App from B&N Advances iPad Experience At the very...

Received the following email from reader John Hagewood. Anyone got any insight into this? I purchased many many books from ereader.com from 2000 until 2009, going way back to the palm digital media and peanut press days. For years, they were my favorite seller...loved the format, the reader, and the social DRM. A lot of what I purchased were Star Trek books. I was just revisiting my library there today via the PC and the iPhone, updating my expired CC and trying to reset my unlock codes. Then I started clicking through from my bookshelf to...

The Apple iPad will not kill the Kindle. In this installment of my Kindle shakedown series, I contend that the ideal ereader should not become a multipurpose device like the forthcoming iPad, or the HP Slate, or whatever comes next. It should instead become a fully dual-purpose device, with two screens dedicated for the two purposes of reading and writing. Some say the multipurpose iPad will kill the single-purpose Kindle. I disagree. This year I have discovered the joy of single-purpose devices. Most computers are multipurpose devices, designed to do everything but not always in the best way. I easily prefer...

There is one last aspect of the Astak that I need to review before shipping it back in. That is one of the major ways it differs from the Sony, and one of the ways it is similar to the Kindle 2: text-to-speech read-aloud mode. Note that with the version of firmware with which the Astak shipped, only PDFs could be read aloud. However, a more recent firmware upgrade expanded speech-compatibility and now it works with ePub too. (And perhaps other formats; I did not check.) I connected the Astak to my computer and recorded a couple of minutes of the...

Screen size of the new PocketBook 360 is five inches, and  supposedly the price will be $300. But here’s the real news. A $400 model with a six-inch touch screen, Blue Tooth, GPRS and 3G will follow in October if all goes as planned. The more expensive model, at least, is to let you connect a keyboard via Blue Tooth. Possibilities for note-taking? What’s more there’ll be an RSS reader. Salvation for news junkies on the go? Check out the page-changing interfaces for both models shown in the videos. What do you think? Beyond the PocketBooks: The e-reader as a commodity At the macro level,...