Amazon Kindle discussion

JJ wrote: "My experiences with my Kindle have been pretty dire so far, I have to say. I hate typos. They bring me out in hives! There are so many authors of eBooks who don't know the difference between simple..."
There's a lot out there. Sampling helps, reviews help, and referrals help. What do you like to read? Maybe we can give you a few ideas!

I wonder if the sloppy formatting has something to do with the current novelty of ebooks. Maybe authors, especially those with many novels to their name, are rushing to get in on the movement and produce digital copies rapidly without making the proper efforts.

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You can have a file that is corrupted, or the one that I think causes the most issues, has HIDDEN FORMATTING. You can debug files all you want but sometime as a publisher of the e-book just cannot see it until the book in published on the platform.

Learning html is one of the new skills writers should learn. But I agree with Andre Jute that .doc worked fine- the third time I tried it.
I first create my current manuscripts (I have two in the editing process) in a simple .wps format, then transfer it into .html to see how it looks.
If it looks okay, I can transfer it into .doc and have it ready to download into the mobicreator. I then look at it page by page to make sure nothing weird happened during the transfer.

I would like to know if the free books on amazon are alway the "strange" books. I get notifications from amazon and a couple other lists that have the free books and I must say some of them are really out there! Is there any good books that ever become free? I know everyone's idea of a good book is different, but if ya'll have seen the "free" books listed, you probably already know what I mean. Any of the big name authors ever have free books? I have several on my amazon waiting list ereaderiq.com that I'm waiting for them to drop from $10 a book. Can't wait for some of these libraries to start participating the end of this year.

Lora wrote: "I would like to know if the free books on amazon are alway the "strange" books. I get notifications from amazon and a couple other lists that have the free books and I must say some of them are rea..."

There are a few freebies that have been good--usually the first in a series. They are mostly indies or small publishers. I have seen the medium publishers give away a first book in a series, but mostly they lower the price to somewhere around $2.99 or rarely, 99 cent. Lately the publishers have been offering short stories at 99 cents.

Watch or subscribe to Books on the Knob. She almost always tells you whether the freebies are form large publisher and/or tells you what the book is about.

She's the best resource for freebies since she sorts them a bit.

For bargain reads, the best source I've found is www.DailyCheapReads.com. She always tells what the book is about and covers books under 5.

That doesn't mean there are no stinkers in the bunch, but rather than just a huge list of public domain or weird freebies you get by sorting at Amazon by price, you get a decent selection from a lot of genres.

Thanks Maria I will check these places out too. I have a whole list of books listed on here I plan on reading, but really want them on kindle version. If I bought every book I wanted to read I would be broke! That's why I loved my library...but I think I like my kindle more...:)

I would sign-up to receive the Sunshine newsletter from Amazon. It tells you which best-selling authors/books are on sale for a limited time between .99-2.99.

I'm a Christian world-view author and I know many of my friends who have multiple books out, their publishers have been offering one or two books each for free or 99 cents each, because they hope readers get hooked and will purchase more of that author's books.

Hmmm...I think I may already get that I'm not sure! lol I'll double check, but thanks for the heads up. I'll look anywhere I can for free or cheap books that are worth reading.

Lora wrote: "Hmmm...I think I may already get that I'm not sure! lol I'll double check, but thanks for the heads up. I'll look anywhere I can for free or cheap books that are worth reading."

Here's the link to the sunshine deals:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html...

They are only good to June 15. Then as someone else said, we are hoping there will be another one.

Some books I found under 5:

non-fiction: Recollections by Jim Chambers
cozy mystery: Gray Whale Inn series: Murder on the Rocks (first in the series and is usually 11.99. I was VERY excited to find this one on sale.)

There is some Lawrence Block on sale (mystery, thriller)

Oh shoot. Grayfrair -a Vampire novel ($2.99)

And some others.

I don't know if tonight is the last day or if tomorrow is the last day (it said somewhere ends June 15, but I don't know if that means through 15 or AT the 15th.)

Maria

Thank you Maria! I hope it's a regular feature.

Yep I believe I did browse through there, but it's worth another look in case I missed something. Do they do this often?

I'm a little confused as to why a couple books are listed under the non-fiction category. A little Death in Dixie and Dixie Diva's. Are these true stories? They are mysteries.

I've bought a few books on kindle with minor formatting issues, but on the whole this has not been a problem, and my own book came out perfect, as far as I can tell. The issue, for me, is the quality of the writing. I have found maybe one or two new books from indie writers that would be "publishable" in the traditional publishing world. The rest are rubbish (I was going to use a stronger word :))

Pat wrote: "Paul, I have heard you can add page breaks for Smashwords too, but I haven't tried it. I may update my book on SW if I think it's worth the trouble. But not right now."

I must have been lucky. The 4 I've read so far have been excellent - well plotted, great characters, no mistakes and well laid out.

Lora wrote: "I'm a little confused as to why a couple books are listed under the non-fiction category. A little Death in Dixie and Dixie Diva's. Are these true stories? They are mysteries."

Lora, I don't know! They might be mis-categorized. Sometimes that does happen!

Christina Stind wrote: "Hi all.
I've recently bought an 18 dollars e-book and I'm very disappointed with it. I've had issues with the standard of e-books before but this one costs so much and has some annoying flaws that..."

I think $18 is too much for an e-book. In the novels I read on here there are plenty of free chapters so you can try before you buy. I would have thought that for $18 there should have been a fair chunk that was free to view. How disappointing for you. The books I've read on my Kindle have been brilliant. Maybe I was lucky.

Evelyn wrote: "Christina Stind wrote: "Hi all.
I've recently bought an 18 dollars e-book and I'm very disappointed with it. I've had issues with the standard of e-books before but this one costs so much and has s..."

What books have you read on Kindle, Evelyn?

And yes. I would have never paid $18 for an actual, physical copy of a book unless it was a pre-order (and then, only on occasion).