How has the new KOLL been treating you?

The Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC)

I took my books out of Select over a year ago.  Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL) at Amazon hadn’t taken off in the UK and Europe, and borrows were pitiful — borrows from Amazon in the US were about the same as sales, so what with losing sales from other on-line book stores (KOLL means you have to be digitally exclusive to big A) I wasn’t gaining and so I removed all books from Select.

Then big A changed the rules and it was pay per page from July 1st this year, and I thought I’d give it another go.

I put my sci-fi romance series into KOLL middle of June and the results are coming in—and I’m not sure if it’s beneficial yet. Probably too early to tell. 

According to big A:

•    The author of a 100 page book that was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $1,000 ($10 million multiplied by 10,000 pages for this author divided by 100,000,000 total pages).

•    The author of a 200 page book that was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $2,000 ($10 million multiplied by 20,000 pages for this author divided by 100,000,000 total pages).

•    The author of a 200 page book that was borrowed 100 times but only read half way through on average would earn $1,000 ($10 million multiplied by 10,000 pages for this author divided by 100,000,000 total pages).

Eden (one of the books I’ve placed in KOLL) has a file Size of 763 KB and print length of 312 pages. But the Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC) comes up at v1.0: 442.

So according to big A’s summary above I’ll receive approximately 4k (subject to the fund’s calculation in June). 

No one knows the true cost of per page read and payment is subject to the amount of pages read from each and every author in the programme (that's why it changes monthly as authors drop in and out). 

How has KOLL been treating you so far?

To find your KENPC:

• Go your KDP Bookshelf.
• Click ‘Promote and Advertise’.
• Scroll to ‘Earn royalties from the KDP Select Global Fund’ and there will be your unique KENPC page (ignore the first bit and concentrate on the figures after the colon mark). 

Louise Wise is the author of the best-selling sci-fi romance Eden

Imprisoned for brutal crimes against his wardens, Fly became an unwilling experiment and was transported, with other criminals, to a hostile planet. Full of mutiny, anger and a desire for revenge the experiment was never going to be successful and Fly became the only survivor when the craft crashed.

Amazon

Then the human ship arrived -- and Jenny.
With a malfunctioning spacecraft she was in for a fight for her life, but her problems were only just beginning when her crewmates abandon her on Eden.
Jenny's on her own... or so she thinks.

The Death of Grammar (and the English language) in e-readers.

As language evolves and Kindle makes it all too easy to publish I can see a time where spelling is simplified. The long-standing "joke" of spelling changing to how it's pronounced is now the norm in texing, but that's because of lack of space and the tiny keyboard.

But is it time the English word is simplified like American spellings? Color for colour (why the "u"?), Yogurt for yoghurt (who pronounces the "Y"?) and grey. I mean, can you HEAR the "E"? So why not use the American spelling GRAY?

Makes sense, doesn't it?

Noooooo!

The English language dates so far back there aren't any records of the first words (ugg?), and anyway English has been so reconstructed from the UK's neighbouring countries that our common language is a mixture of French, Latin and others. It's beautifully old, so to hear it change and American English creep in is a shame.

American English is beautiful in its own right, but that's where it has to stay. I don't want to eat chocolate colored yogurt - I want to eat chocolate coloured yoghurt. I want to pull my hair out in frustration trying to figure out the differences between practise and practice, and not give in and use the one with the two curly kuz, as my little boy calls them. 

But this article isn't only about the fast-evolving English language, it's about the lack of grammar in ebooks. Typos happen and even editors miss them (some traditionally published books prove this!), but we owe it to ourselves to make our books as error-free as possible. This means investing in not one, but two or more, proof-readers and editors. 

Edit your book yourself, and ONLY when you think it's perfect offer it to one or more beta readers. Put your wounded pride on the back burner (no space for pride in this job!) and take on board their suggestions. Re-edit your book. Read aloud your book; dust off your old cassette deck and use that even. Go through it line by line and then, and only then, seek out a professional. 

Children are like sponges when it comes to knowledge and are highly influenced, and so as a parent I want to feel I am helping them learn by giving them books to read. Image my horror when my eight year old insisted that the word existence is spelt existance all because he saw it in a book! 
 

It is with reluctance that I allow my children to read ebooks now unless I vet them first and that's a shame. But if I'm lacking faith in ebooks, an Indie writer, you can be certain there are others who regard them like people regard *reality TV!

If a traditionally published book has a typos it is classed as an editing or printing error, if Indies have one it's ALWAYS the author's fault. People LOOK for errors. Making our books low-priced is NO excuse for being cheap.

It's time we got serious.

Here are some howlers: 
http://www.funnytypos.com/

And websites that help: 
100 Most Often Mispelled Misspelled Words in English
Commonly Misspelled English Words

*Reality TV - has its place, but for low-intelligent people who wouldn't spot quality TV if they fell over it. 
Ouch! But that's where ebooks are heading unless WE do something about it. 

Amazon readying October Kindle offer | The Bookseller

Amazon readying October Kindle offer

28.09.11 | Philip Jones

Amazon.co.uk has asked publishers for discounts of 90% on titles in order to participate in an October Kindle promotion.

The campaign, due to run from 17th to 31st October inclusively, will also be featured on Amazon.de, the retailer's German website. Amazon has told publishers this will be the "main focus for our merchandising efforts during this period", and would be supported with emails, on Facebook, and via Twitter. It has asked for new frontlist as well as key backlist titles.

The 90% discount (off the ex VAT digital list price) has caused concern among some publishers, though it is understood the level is similar to its previous Kindle promotions, including the "Spring Spectacular" and "12 Days of Kindle", which Amazon has told publishers led to an uplift in sales of some titles of more than 300%.

Read more:

Amazon readying October Kindle offer | The Bookseller