Ebook Prices - Variations across countries

I recently noticed something appalling - yet strangely, not shocking. Amazon differentially prizes items across different countries (not news, I knew they did this).

But an ebook I was trying to pre-order *ahem* Ilona Andrews *I've been raving about this series, Magic Slays FTW* was $2 more expensive when I tried to buy it vs. my husband purchasing it. We both have accounts registered in different countries, which probably accounts for this price change. But it burns anyway!

Related situation in France: Les Echos in France says that the French Parliament has unanimously voted to price all ebooks sold in France (whether imported or otherwise) at a fixed, standard price. Since France has already placed a fixed price on all paper books, this is a simple extension of their existing law.

Why are ebook laws so complicated? Shouldn't this be easier than selling a paper book?

If I'm buying a book on my laptop, paying taxes toward a given country, and the publisher in that country, at what point is the price difference too much?

Blog Traffic - Twitter and new links

I've noticed that my two biggest sources of blog traffic, aside from other bloggers, are Twitter and more recently, Stumbleupon.
You might notice that I've added (at the end of each blog post), a new stumbleupon button.
Some very generous soul submitted my blog to Stumbleupon, and I wanted to actively encourage that.
Do you think the button as it currently is will be visible and easy to click?
Where do you think it could be placed, instead?


If you want to also have this Stumbleupon feature on your blog, I can post a "how to" tomorrow.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The recent bunch of books I've been reading have gotten me thinking about what makes a successful story.

I'm sure a lot of very seasoned publishing professionals have put years of analysis and study into this one question that supports their bread and butter. So really, I am probably not coming up with anything radically new here. Still, there remains several angles you and I can approach this idea from: Marketing, Editing, Publicity, Author availability, Story stickiness, getting into the right best seller lists, etc. From a readers point of you, being emotionally invested in a story is HUGE! You tell friends about it, it gets you up in the middle of the night and more.

Here is one more suggestion for things that contribute to a successful book - 

My idea: The Law of Unintended Consequences coming into effect for characters.

Consider this – In the latest Wheel of Time, Perrin moving one element in his dreamscape results in the Aes Sedai being unable to travel within the area, and hence he unknowingly foils the ongoing Forsaken plot against the Aes Sedai.

In George R.R. Martin's  A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) we see dragons flying. One nation knows the reason for this, but the rest of the world immediately form their own interpretations of this omen. Harsh consequences result.

In Harry Potter too, I'm sure this happens. We see Rita Skeeter's writing affecting Harry negatively, and hence helping Voldemort in his attacks.

Overall, what keeps me coming back to books is if the story is intricate and interesting enough that it seems like the characters are living real lives, with uncontrollable elements. Just like in reality, we don't always get the right omens, and we don't always understand situations and people correctly. 

The unintentional consequence makes the book closer to our reality, and perhaps we get more emotionally involved in the story?

What do you think? 

Any specific examples, readers?

Book Blogger Hop #15 - Dec17 to 19

This is a weekly PARTY hosted by Jen at Crazy For Books. It's a chance to discover new blogs and to garner new readers for your blog as well.

Thanks for visiting!

"What do you consider more important: plot or character?"

For the most part, I would take character any given day. I've felt that most of the experience of reading depends on the experience you have in your head while you are reading a book. I'm more able to enjoy the story if I relate to or like the character. Otherwise, the story becomes secondary to the voice in my head which is grumbling about what I dislike in the book's hero/heroine.

That usually does not end well.

There are some exceptions of course - Epic novels like Lord of the Rings, books with vast plot structures like The Malazan books of the Fallen, these are so plot-driven that it is almost irrelevant if you enjoy the character narrative. These authors have also created strong evil characters, multi-dimensional heroines, brave souls - and the storyline lives up to the promise.

What do you think? Is it an either/or situation? Could it be a good character makes a sketchy plot come to life, but a poor plot can sink anyone?

Black Friday Sale Roundup: Gone in 60 seconds

How many of you are getting/giving ereaders for Christmas or other occassions?

The Black Friday Sale on Amazon listed the older, Amazon Kindle 2 (for $89 ) - and sold out within Seconds!

Barnes & Noble had a similar sale on the Nook - the refurbished Wi-Fi Nooks were listed on eBay for $79, and later $99. The sale also included the refurbished 3G models for $119. The sale ended after a couple of days, having sold 6,777 Nooks in total.

Some reasons for the difference in the speed of sales (seconds vs. days) was the Amazon Kindle 2 Sale was on Black Friday, when buyers are madly refreshing their browsers for deals!
Still, gone in seconds?? My theories why -

• It was hugely publicized, and word spread via facebook, twitter, before blogs and newsfeeds could pick it up.

• The estimate is that half a million folks saw the update through these sites.

Let me mention here that we tried to buy a $139 WiFi Kindle for a friend 2 weeks ago, and Best Buy was out of stock, both the times we went. 

Tuesday (November 23rd) Amazon reported on their Facebook wall: “We had our biggest sales day ever for Kindle devices yesterday. Thank you, customers!”

What I want to know now is:  
How many readers are gifting/getting ereaders this season?

More info:
Kindle sale results in the news

Readability - The battle of the Kindle vs. Paper vs. iPad

Jakob Nielson, the guru of internet usability, published a research paper on reading and usability a few days ago.

They did some very interesting comparisions, on metrics I had been wondering about for a while (if you follow this blog, you know that I bring up e-book readers every couple of weeks). My reading style and methods have shifted drastically with the Kindle, as have that of other bookworms.You might be trying out a reader, or just want to know more about the future of reading and publishing; read on.

Jakob posits some remarkable results - after evaluating readers on the Kindle 2, PC, Kindle, and of course, printed book. The main question he attempts to answer is if ebook readers solve the long-standing issues of reading from PC monitors. The researchers decided to check only the iBook app, and no newspaper or website reading, just a story by Hemmingway.

The Usability results:

"iPad, Kindle, and the printed book all scored fairly high at 5.8, 5.7, and 5.6, respectively. The PC, however, scored an abysmal 3.6."

Wow! The kindle scored better than the actual book? Though user comments did say that the most comfortable to read was the actual book. I would have to agree - I do find myself hunting out the occasional paper book if it is a very large one.

This is good news for the trees, though I noticed a few improvements could be made in the study: Bigger test group size, different ebook readers, the Kindle Dx (known to have better contrast than the Kindle 2) or different aspects of reading. 

For those readers who are still reading on the PC, this should be a clear nudge to get an ebook reader. They are worth it!