Amazon add another $200,000 to Kindle Owners' Lending Library

Amazon's Kindle Owners' Lending Library is showing strong growth and now has more than 75,000 books and KDP Select books were borrowed a total of 295,000 times in December.

A $500,000 December fund meant that KDP authors earned $1.70 each per borrow and this amount is set to increase with the January fund being increased by another $200,000 to make a total of $700,000.

Although it is early days, the introduction of KDP selection looks to be beneficial to authors and Amazon says that participating authors have seen "an incremental 26%" in December.

Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content, said:

“KDP Select appears to be earning authors more money in two ways. We knew customers would love having KDP Select titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. But we’ve been surprised by how much paid sales of those same titles increased, even relative to the rest of KDP."

“Due to this early success and a seasonally strong January, we’re adding a $200,000 bonus to January’s KDP Select fund, growing this month’s total pool to $700,000.”

I'm just finishing my first book and as a soon-to-be first time author, I like the idea of the KDP Lending Library and it's something I'll take a closer look at when my book is ready to be published.   

New Stephen King audio books available in store

There is good news for Stephen King fans- especially if you like your books in audio format.  The e book Mile 81 is now available as an audio book.  Read by Thomas Sadoski, the book also includes 'The Dune' as a bonus and an excerpt from 11/22/63.

The book is available on Amazon for just £1.99

My latest Digital Journal articles

Earlier this month two Somali men were jailed for life in the US for piracy:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/312339

Award-winning singer Adele was forced to cancel her US tour due to throat problems:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/312407

Hours after the death of Steve Jobs was announced, a scam started to circulate on Facebook:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/312453

Colorado researchers discover an ancient Maya road:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/312474

UK workers discovered a rare seahorse on the Thames:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/312507

Mikey Welsh, the former bassist with Weezer, turned artist was found dead in his hotel room:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/312554

A John Wayne auction featuring over 700 pieces of memorabilia raised more than $5 million:

http://digitaljournal.com/article/312603

Amazon launch new science fiction, fantasy and horror imprint

In 2011, Amazon announced the launch of a new science fiction, fantasy and horror imprint which will be called 47North.

47North will launch with fifteen titles and they’ll be available in print, kindle and audio formats, the titles will also be available from national and independent book sellers.

The books will be published in 2011/12 and will include titles from Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin who are known for their involvement in shows such as Diagnosis Murder and Baywatch. Other authors will include sci-fi and fantasy writer Dave Duncan, Aric Davis and Chris Robeson.

Commenting in a press release, Victoria Griffith, Publisher, Amazon Publishing, West Coast Group, said:

"Amazon customers have a huge appetite for science fiction, fantasy and horror books, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce readers to new and established voices in these genres.”

"We are especially happy to have a diverse list at launch, and look forward to publishing across a wide range of subgenres."

Cambridge, Massachusetts, most well read city in America

According to Amazon, Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the most well-read city in the States. To compile the top twenty, Amazon used the data from its book, magazines and newspapers sales. The research was carried out per capita basis and included cities with more than 100,000 residents, the press release states.

Sales from the print and Kindle format were taken into consideration for the survey and the research covers the period from January 1, 2011,onwards.

From the data, Amazon compiled a top twenty with Cambridge, Massachusetts, coming out on top, Alexandria, VA was second and Berkeley, California came third. Others included on the list are Seattle, Knoxville, and Pittsburgh.

The research also showed that people living in Cambridge ordered the most nonfiction books, Boulder came top when it comes to cookery book sales and Alexandria came first for orders of children’s books.

Commenting in a press release, Mari Malcolm, managing editor of books for Amazon, said:

"In anticipation of the summer reading season--one of our favourite times to catch up on pleasure reading and unwind with the new titles being published this season--we're excited to reveal the Most Well-Read City list.”

"We hope book lovers across the country enjoy this fun look at where the most voracious readers reside, and that everyone gets the chance to relax with some great summer reads."

Amazon announce that Kindle books now outsell printed books

In a recent press release Amazon.com announced that Kindle books are now outselling printed books.

Hardcover and paperback books were first introduced to Amazon in 1995; in 2007 the Kindle was introduced.

It was in July 2010 that Kindle started to outsell hardback books. Six months on and Kindle is outselling paperback books as well and has become the sites most popular format for buying books. For every 100 printed books sold, 105 books are sold in the Kindle format.

Priced from around $114, or from £111 in the UK, the Kindle allows people to store up to 3,500 books, dpending on which model you buy.

Commenting in a press release, Jeff Bezos, Founder and Amazon.com, said:

"Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly - we've been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years.”

"In addition, we're excited by the response to Kindle with Special Offers for only $114, which has quickly become the bestselling member of the Kindle family. We continue to receive positive comments from customers on the low $114 price and the money-saving special offers. We're grateful to our customers for continuing to make Kindle the bestselling e-reader in the world and the Kindle Store the most popular e-bookstore in the world."

950,000 plus books are now available via Kindle and the books are often cheaper too. The popularity of Kindle looks set to grow and it has proved popular in the UK as well with Kindle now outselling hardback books.

Entrepreneur talks about his new book

This article of mine was published in full on Digital Journal earlier this week. I thought I'd share some of it here.

When looking for ideas to write about I've found a number of stories recently that I feel deserve to be told and Sebastian K. Young's is one of them.

Sebastian has proven to himself - and I imagine to many other people - that with the right attitude you can do well in life no matter what it may hand you.

Sebastian was brought up by his grandparents in Beaumont, Texas. His mother was murdered when he was just two years old. Sebastian describes his Grandfather, Willie Young, as a “Superhero” who he says “gave him the tools to survive a life that would have taken the life out of so many”.

Sebastian explained that when he was growing up the events surrounding the murder of his mother “remained a mystery” and left a “painful void”. There was no conviction despite there being a suspect in the case. Sebastian tells me that the evidence was a lost after it was destroyed in a flood that occurred in the evidence room.

Today, Sebastian K. Young is a successful entrepreneur and a father of three children. He's a partner at Colbert/Ball Tax and he is also Executive Vice President of Coball Entertainment which tours artists such as The O' Jays, Mo'Nique and Cedric the Entertainer. Sebastian is also author of the book of the book “I Had Every Excuse To Fail, But I Chose None”.

Sebastian describes his debut book as being a “compelling story of tragedy, trials and triumphs". The book is divided into three sections, Growing Up,Lessons Learned and Forward Thinking and is based on Sebastian's personal experiences. He hopes his debut book will serve to inspire and motivate others to rise above their own circumstances.

In an excerpt from the book, Sebastian writes:

“The circumstances surrounding my mother’s death felt as fresh as the morning dew, mostly because so many things went unanswered and unresolved, namely convicting the murderer who committed that heinous crime....."

The article can be read in full here:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/302429