Planet iPad: July 2010

Monday, July 19, 2010

PLANET IPAD Free Book Alert, Sunday, July 18: An Irresistible New Novel Skewering the Fashion World, Plus Karen Fenech's Thriller GONE (Today's Sponsor), and Links to Over a Hundred Free Promotional Kindle Store Titles

If you liked The Devil Wears Prada, you'll love the latest addition to our list of over a hundred free iPad-compatible titles in the Kindle Store, says one prominent reviewer....

But first, a word from ... Today's Sponsor

"Karen Fenech tells a taut tale with great characters and lots of twists. This is a writer you need to read." -- USA Today Bestselling Author Maureen Child

GONE by Karen Fenech - $2.99

"Karen Fenech's GONE is a real page turner front to back. You won't be able to put this one down!"
--- New York Times Bestselling Author Kat Martin

FBI Special Agent Clare Marshall was separated from her sister Beth in childhood when their mother tried to kill them. Now Clare learns that Beth lives in the small town of Farley, South Carolina but when she goes there to reunite with Beth, Clare discovers her sister is missing and that someone in the town is responsible for her disappearance.

Clare receives an offer to help with the search from fellow FBI Special Agent Jake Sutton. The offer is too good to refuse, though that is exactly what Clare wants to do. Jake is Clare’s former lover, a man she cannot forget and who has an agenda of his own.

Now while Clare tracks her sister, someone is tracking Clare, and finding her sister may cost Clare her life.

Click here to download GONE (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!

Each day's list is sponsored by one paid title, and of course, we encourage you to support our sponsors. Some of these paid titles will be from our own Kindle Nation Daily press (an imprint of Harvard Perspectives Press), while others will be paid titles from other authors and publishers.

Authors, Publishers, Kindle Accessory Manufacturers:

Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information:

Click here to sponsor a Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert!

* * *

Free Listings!

Here are our updated free iPad-compatible promotional listings in the Kindle Store as of July 19:

Falling Out Of Fashion

by Karen Yampolsky

From Publishers Weekly

Magazine junkies who remember the original Jane will devour this cheeky roman à clef by Jane Pratt's former assistant of nine years. Unlike Anna Wintour's alter ego in The Devil Wears Prada, Yampolsky's alter ex-boss is an off-the-rack heroine. Raised on a commune by inattentive hippie parents, Georgia girl Jill White was an outcast at her New England prep school before a predictably eye-opening stint at Bennington. After Jill descends on New York, a succession of magazine gigs leads her to editing Cheeky (i.e., '90s grrrl glossy Sassy) and, eventually, Jill. At that eponymous publication, idealistic Jill goes up against bottom-line obsessed Nestrom Media (a thinly veiled Condé Nast). Fictionalizations of Pratt's personal and professional moments as editor-in-chief add frisson: Sassy's skewering profile of actress Tiffani-Amber Thiessen becomes Cheeky's roasting of "Kelli Hyer-Burke"; there are plenty of other cameos. In the end, Jill comes off as a sometimes selfish but mostly likable woman who gets beat by corporate magazine land. Survivors of the era, however, may question Jill's claim that she "coined the term grunge."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mozart's Blood by Louise Marley - Historical Fiction

The Wicked House of Rohan

Forevermore - Christian Fiction

by Cathy Marie Hake

All Tied Up: Pleasure Inn, Book 1

Click here for a complete listing of our updated free promotional titles in the Kindle Store as of July 19!

Here's a list of the categories in today's Free Book Alert:

Crime and Suspense

Writing and Publishing

Children/Young Adult/Teen

Contemporary Fiction
Nonfiction/Leadership/Change/Reference/Essay

Christian Spirituality and Christian Fiction

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Historical Fiction and Romance

Erotica

Gay and Lesbian

Samples

Memoir, Biography, Personal Story

(Sponsorship can take a number of different forms and implies no endorsement either of or by Kindle Nation or a sponsoring company or individual.)

Friday, July 16, 2010

The Bloom is Off the Rose as Apple's Free iBooks App Slips to #8, But It's Still #1 in Our Cumulative Top Charts Rankings, While Kindle May Lead in Actual iPad eBook Sales

By Stephen Windwalker
Editor of Planet iPad ©Planet iPad 2010

Apple's free iBooks app -- seen so recently by agency model publishers as the White Knight that would save them from Amazon and the Kindle -- has slipped dramatically in popularity with iPad owners, and the proof is right here for all to see in the radiant color of an iPad screen shot taken at 10:30 AM Eastern July 16, 2010.

After leading the iPad apps' Top Charts rankings for most of the past 3 1/2 months since the iPad's April 3 release date, and only occasionally slipping as low as #3, the free iBooks app fell to #5 yesterday and #8 this morning.

Of course the news is not quite as bleak, for Apple's new incarnation as a bookseller, as this might seem at first blush. Due to the vagaries of Apple's Top Charts listings, position is based on a chronologically brief sample of recent app downloads, so that it is extremely sensitive at any given time to what we'll call "the flavor of the week," or even "of the day." In other words, apps that are brand new or newly buzzworthy sometimes dominate the charts for a day or two before falling back. And then there's the additional fact, of course, that anyone who downloads does not have to download it again, which would mean that the iBooks app rankings could suffer if the iPad's sales momentum were to flag a bit.

With these list-shaping issues in mind, we've kept a close watch on the iPad apps' Top Charts rankings on a daily basis since the first week of April, and as a result we are able to present -- with a high but not absolute level of confidence -- what a cumulative Top Charts ranking would look like for the iPad free apps listing if it were adjusted to exclude the "flavor of the week" bounces described above:

iBooks
Netflix
Weather Channel
Kindle
USA Today
ABC Player
WebMD
Pandora
NPR
Barnes & Noble eReader

These rankings, of course, will differ dramatically from rankings -- rankings that we're unlikely to see, I might add -- based on the actual level of commerce transacted. Based on what we know about relative size and quality of catalog, prices, methods of payment, and customer behavior, here's my educated guess as to the likely revenue ranking among free iPad apps:

Kindle
Netflix
iBooks
B&N

Although there is early excitement to try out iBooks' spiffy functionality when a customer first receives an iPad, the fact that the iBooks catalog is dwarfed by the Kindle catalog (reportedly on the order of 15:1 or 20:1 after public domain titles are excluded) ultimately leads regular readers to more Kindle transactions.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

New from Narrative - A Great Free Reading App for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch!

The Narrative App for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch application is now available for download and places the magazine’s entire library at your fingertips, for free.

The application allows you to enjoy thousands of new stories, poems, essays, interviews, cartoons, and features by eminent authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, Tobias Wolff, Amy Bloom, E. L. Doctorow, Jane Smiley, and many other established as well as up-and-coming talents, all at the touch of a button.

Users can download Narrative’s contents onto their devices for easy offline reading, customize the library by turning content categories on and off, and browse the current, regularly updated issue of Narrative, including features such as Story of the Week and Poem of the Week. The application also includes an extensive video and audio gallery where users can watch and listen to great stories read by their authors.

With the application, we have launched two new genres: the iStory and the iPoem, short, quick reads by authors such as Sherman Alexie that fit quality literature easily into readers’ daily routines.

Our goal in the evolution of digital media is to encourage and support literature by connecting readers and writers as directly as possible. Narrative was the first and foremost literary periodical online, the first on Amazon’s Kindle, and Narrative now leads the way on Apple’s newest electronic reading devices.

Narrative is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to encouraging excellence in literary form and content in the digital age, and to helping reverse the downward trend in reading by reaching readers via the digital media.

Authors and works published in Narrative have received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Best American Short Story Award, the PEN/O. Henry Prize, and many others.

HERE’S WHAT WRITERS, REVIEWERS, AND APP USERS SAY ABOUT NARRATIVE:

“Narrative is the gold standard of online literary magazines.”
—Esquire

“You are doing a splendid job for the short story, and writers like myself are very much aware of that.”
—William Trevor

“Narrative is one of the most exciting and innovative literary magazines I have seen in the past decade. It’s attractively edited, wonderfully readable, and diverse in its contents. I look forward to reading it for a very long time.”
—Joyce Carol Oates

“Narrative is atypical in terms of quality. There is no whiff of literary hipsterism here, no veil of coolness to cover up the mediocre writing that is often found in new publications. Instead, Jenks and Edgarian offer a wide, well-edited, and stimulating selection of narrative forms.”
—Tamara Straus, San Francisco Chronicle

“Best online publication.”
—storySouth

“Now my new iPad is starting to be what I wanted it to be with this great new App providing wonderfully edited prose and poetry. Great quality and richness. Very exciting! Five stars.”
—Ace9699

“This App is brilliant. it makes it so easy to use Narrative, honestly I can’t believe HOW easy. Now when I’m taveling, waiting at the doctor’s office or car wash, two seconds and I can be reading something wonderful. Fantastic!”
—applover2

“Here we are, expanding the range of the best of contemporary literature to the very boundaries of the cyberspace universe and beyond. Narrative is a writer’s dream come true.”
—T. Coraghessan Boyle

“The App has a very handsome interface and is very easy to navigate. And if you accept a call while you’re reading, the App will save your place. Also, the App has easy to use preferences and settings adjustments.”
—apl2114

DOWNLOAD
THE FREE APP NOW

Monday, July 12, 2010

iPad -Compatible Free Book Alert, Monday, July 12: An Interesting New Novel in a Shaker Setting, How J.A. Konrath is Shaking Up Publishing (Today's Sponsor) and Over a Hundred Free iPad-Compatible Titles

Okay, I will admit that the religious/historical romance genre is not ordinarily the straw that stirs my shake, but I'm just curious enough about the unique particularities of Shaker life that I will definitely download and begin reading today's addition to our list of over a hundred free iPad-compatible titles in the Kindle Store, sorted by category........

But first, a word from ... Today's Sponsor

If you're a regular here at the Kindle Nation Daily bar where everybody knows your name, you're probably no stranger to the several names of J.A. Konrath. Back in May 2009 he was one of the very first authors to grace our Free Kindle Nation Shorts feature, and more recently he has been a regular "Scary Saturday" contributor and has become one of the first established, bestselling authors to sign a print-and-ebook contract with the AmazonEncore imprint. You can call him J.A., you can call him Joe, you can call him Jack Kilborn, and I'm here to tell you that you can also call him the hardest working, most imaginative, and ballsiest man in the book writing business.

It's that combination that has made him a very successful author in the Kindlesphere and beyond, and the good news for anyone else who wants to experience success as an author or publisher, or merely wants to find out what's really going on in the book business today, is that he has recorded and codified his wisdom, the results of his experiments, his ideas, and a great deal of tough-love inspiration in a single $2.99 Kindle edition entitled The Newbie's Guide to Publishing (Everything A Writer Needs To Know).

That's right, I said $2.99. Usually when I say that a Kindle book is ridiculously priced I am talking about one of those deals where the paperback is $12 and the Kindle edition is $14.27. But The Newbie's Guide to Publishing (Everything A Writer Needs To Know) is really ridiculously priced. Most novels these days run between 50,000 and 100,000 words. This how-to book that could help you make a living as an author is 360,000 words -- less than a penny per thousand words -- and I'm telling ya that these are very, very good words, arranged in excellent sentences, and if you are a writer and you read this book you will be a much smarter writer when you finish. You will probably be so smart that you'll want to stay tuned to Konrath's wisdom by subscribing to the Kindle edition of his blog, which just for the sake of convenience is entitled A Newbie's Guide To Publishing, and is available for 99 cents a month with a free trial right here.

Click here to download The Newbie's Guide to Publishing (Everything A Writer Needs To Know) (or a free sample) to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android-compatible, PC or Mac and start reading within 60 seconds!

Authors, Publishers, Kindle Accessory Manufacturers:

Interested in learning more about sponsorship? Just click on this link for more information:

Click here to sponsor a Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert!

Free Listings!

Here are our updated free iPad-compatible promotional listings in the Kindle Store as of July 12:

The Outsider: A Novel - Religious/Historical Romance
by Ann H. Gabhart
For as long as she can remember, Gabrielle Hope has had the gift of knowing--visions that warn of things to come. When she and her mother joined the Pleasant Hill Shaker community in 1807, the community embraced her gift. But Gabrielle fears this gift, for the visions are often ones of sorrow and tragedy. When one of these visions comes to pass, a local doctor must be brought in to save the life of a young man, setting into motion a chain of events that will challenge Gabrielle's loyalty to the Shakers. As she falls deeper into a forbidden love for this man of the world, Gabrielle must make a choice. Can she experience true happiness in this simple and chaste community? Or will she abandon her brothers and sisters for a life of the unknown? Soulful and filled with romance, The Outsider lets readers live within a bygone time among a unique and peculiar people. This tender and thought-provoking story will leave readers wanting more from this writer.

A Nail Through the Heart: With Bonus Content by Timothy Hallinan

Harper Collins Pre-Order for July 30, 2010 - Suspense

From Booklist: The author of the 1990s Simeon Grist series returns with a compelling new protagonist: American travel writer Poke Rafferty, who is out to right some serious wrongs on the predatory streets of Bangkok. While attempting to adopt a homeless girl, rescue a potentially murderous urchin known as Superman, and build a lasting relationship with the former bar girl he loves, Poke is pulled into two brutal mysteries. One involves a notorious Khmer Rouge torturer, the other a series of child-porn photos. As he doggedly plumbs these ghastly depths, Rafferty matures from a play-it-as-it-lays layabout into a man willing to meet his lover's culture more than halfway and find his moral compass at a time when the victims can be as guilty as the murderers are innocent. The fact that the referenced pedophile photo series and Phnom Penh torture house both existed heightens the impact of a narrative that's already deeply felt. If this opens a new series, Hallinan is off to a surefooted start with a supporting cast (including Poke's precocious, pugnacious, almost-daughter Miaow) well worth getting to know.

Hour of the Hunter: With Bonus Material: A Novel of Suspense by J. A. Jance

Harper Collins Pre-Order for August 24, 2010 - Suspense

A hodgepodge hardcover debut in which two Native American medicine men, an Arizona lawman, a young widow and her son, and a Papago basket-weaver/wise woman are inexorably drawn into confrontation with the evil ohb, a university professor-turned- serial-killer, who upended their lives six years before when he tortured and murdered the basket-weaver's granddaughter and then stage-managed a suicide/frame-up for his distraught accomplice Garrison Ladd. Now he's stalking Ladd's widow Diana and son Davy, but his old MO (biting off nipples) used on a new victim has set the sheriff's department on his trail, while his malevolent spirit has energized the Papagos. There will be another murder, an attempted murder, dreams, emanations, and a near-fatal dog- poisoning before everyone converges on the Ladd house for a gruesome resolution. Disconcerting time shifts and a plethora of Papago parables (can anyone outdo Tony Hillerman?) fail to disguise the fact that this is nothing more than potboiler melodrama, with the hapless reader bombarded first by the lurid, then by the mystical. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.