In the News: ebooks, ebooks, ebooks

Amazon pays only 18% on certain titles thanks to their delivery fees…another way to stick it to the author? Thanks to The Digital Reader for posing it.

For as long as Amazon has been selling ebooks internationally they’ve also been quietly padding the prices in certain countries. This isn’t something you can see in the KDP support pages, and it’s not something you can see listing pages for the Kindle Store (unless you look for it deliberately). But they are being tacked on, and Amazon still hasn’t explained the charges adequately.

I like the title of this Publisher’s Weekly post. E-books up in a down March. Catchy. If a tad confusing at first glance.

Sales fell in all print segments except children’s in March, according to AAP’s Monthly StatShot released Friday morning. Sales in the children’s/young adult segment rose 46.6% in March led by a 173.9% increase in e-book sales (to a still relatively small $19.3 million) and a 59.3% gain in hardcover sales at the houses that report sales to the AAP. Sales of adult e-books increased 33.2% in the month, to $86.3 million, at reporting publishers. Overall, sales of adult trade books fell 11.6% in March at reporting publishers.

 

I don’t consider 150 comments voluminious, but I suppose the DoJ has different standards. DoJ Has Received 150 Comments on E-book Case

Explaining that it has received a “voluminous” amount of comments regarding the e-book price-fixing charges it filed against Apple and five publishers, the Department of Justice has asked Judge Denise Cote to allow the department to bypass print publication of the letters in the Federal Register in favor of posting them on the antitrust division Web site along with printing the address of the site in the Register. According to the DoJ, it has already received over 150 letters totaling about 200 pages and expects “a similar or greater” amount before the comment period expires on June 25. Cost of printing the letters received to date would be over $100,000, the DoJ said, and both sides have agreed to forgo print publication.

Love Saves the World

Beautiful blog title, isn’t it! Today I’m over at Love Saves the World talking about what I like to read and what I want in a book. What about you? What do you like to see in a story?

Review: I am the Messenger

3 stars

The ending cheated me. I loved this book, I wanted to know what the next message was, who it was for, what it was about, what Ed had to do. I needed to know more about him, those he helped, what he’d do next. If I had the book (as opposed to the audio) I’m sure I would have finised it in a night.

Ed is an ordinary guy who is given an extraordinary means to change lives and he does. No, I think he deserved better than Audrey (but was willing to overlook that) and yes I think the timeline could have been clearer, but the fact that he took the challenge when so many would have tossed the addresses away shows character.

Until the very end. Without spoiling it, what a crock. I’d give 5 stars for the first 349-ish pages. I’d give 2 for the ending. What a cheap way to wrap up a brillant story. I don’t care if this is a YA book, that’s no excuse to fudge the ending with a tedious ‘no please don’t let it be so’ format.

Disappointing.

Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman

Let’s set aside my deep-seeded belief that Kristen Stewart can’t act out of a box. We’ll also put aside my girl-crush on Charlize Theron and the drool-worthly-ness of Chris Hemsworth in scruff.

I wanted to see this becaue of the darkness of the plot-no funny silly Julia Roberts here, but a dark fairytale worthy of the Grimm stories.

UGH! OK, sure, it’s a fairytale, but come on, people! I don’t care how hot Chris Hemsworth is in his huntsman gear, he’s a commoner and no princess can marry a commoner in that day and age (medieval times). None of them. No.

And what was the point of the duke? To show that Snow White is a modern gal and can choose her own destiny? Choose her own man?

Works perfectly in a modern story, even a modern retellling that takes place in a modern timeline. NOT in a supposed period piece. In fact, I applaud the choose-your-own-destiny stories, that’s what we’re all about, isn’t it!

But that is not what an historical movie is about. If the huntsman was  really the duke (whose name escapes me) and something happened to him causing him to live in the woods then be in just the right place to rescue Snow White I could have accepted that.

And while I have little faith in Hollywood telling an historically accurate story, I’m highly disappointed that they so blatently flaunted what a woman in medieval times had to work with.

Why D-Day is important

If you grew up in a household like mine, you knew what D-Day stood for before you knew current events. If it was a war movie, Western, or John Wayne movie, we watched it. This clashed slightly with my mom’s love of cheesy sci-fi movies such as Godzilla and The Day the Earth Stood Still (the original not the pathetic remake of which I shall say no more).

But why is D-Day still important today? Why should we remember one beach landing in a war filled with deadly beach landings? Because it truly was the beginning of the end of World War II. It marked Nazi Germany’s days and it showed that the winners were no longer the conquers but would help rebuild instead.

So today, on the 68th anniversary of D-Day (which only means Day-Day for some bizarre military reason) let’s remember those who fought and died, those who survived, those who made it happen, and those who supported it on the homefront-be in America, Canada, England, Australia, France, or anywhere else.

For more information try the US Army site and the National D-Day Memorial. About a decade ago I saw the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, and it was a fascinating walk-thru of all that happened. If you can, donate $5 to help expand both the museum itself and the educational program.

In the news: blog stops and Amazon

This is the final week of my blog tour, so make sure you enter for your chance to win a survival basket!

June 4: Reader Girls
June 5: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
June 6: Oodles of Books
June 7: Dawn’s Reading Nook
June 8: Adventure Into Romance

Amazon.com now pays sales tax to New Jersey, as well as Texas and Nevada.

 The collection of sales taxes, which online retailers like Amazon are not required to do now, will bring the state an estimated $30 million to $40 million a year in new revenue.

 

Friday 5: Why you should buy local

I’m a big believer in cycles and connections. Not the 6 degrees of separation kind, but overall, in the grand scheme.

I have my own top 5 reasons for buying local and supporting small business, but I also think you should read Sustainable Connections because I feel what they have to say is equally important.

1. Money stays in the community
2. I’m not feeding the cycle of low wages, big corporations, over-paid CEOs
3. I know the people I’m buying from or I can get to know them and their business
4. Products are often produced/grown in countries without human rights abuses, many often made in America
5. Creates more jobs, which starts the cycle over at #1 where the money stays in the community.

Today my blog stop is Life & Lies of an Inanimate Flying Object

Finale: Hatfields and McCoys

I know the purpose of this miniseries was to focus on the family feud (no pun intended) but a little more about the political and legal wranglings would have been nice. ESPECIALLY with a judge in the jail!

The ending titles, where we learn what happened to the key players flew by so fast and was in such tiny font I wondered if the History Channel didn’t want us to know. Truly bizarre.

Overall, I stand by my B rating–Very enjoyable, I’d recommend it to those who haven’t seen it, and if it’s on again I’d play it in the background, but I doubt I’d watch all 6 hours again.

Part 2: Hatfields and McCoys

Let me sum Tuesday night’s episode up like this: The McCoys are crazy. I don’t mean they do crazy things (they do) or that some of their actions are questionable (they are) or even that

No, I mean this in the most technical term possible. There has to be a neurological disorder at work here. Possibly inbreeding. I haven’t looked up any of the history; what I know about this fued pre-History Channel is that there was one, it was bloody, and it’s now legendary.

The 2nd of 3 parts was still very good. I don’t mind violence so long as it plays a part in the story and is not gratitious. The violence is necessary to tell the story of this blood fued, so I accept that.

In writing this, I realize that it’s difficult to pinpoint what I didn’t like about the part. Is it that all bridge parts are slower? Not sure, but I can say that I can connect a bit more to the families and for that am grateful.

Rating: B for continuing to keep my interest, for showing a balanced look at the fued, and for what looks to be an explosive (and I do mean that literally) finale tonight. After tonight’s episode I’ll look up the ‘real’ history of the Hatfields & McCoys, but since this is put on by The History Channel, I hope they’re more accurate than a typical Hollywood period piece!

Win a basket!

A post-apocalyptic survival basket that is! Comment on any of my blog tour stops and enter for a chance to win one of the baskets I’m giving away.

Yesterday’s stop included a lovely review for Dark Inheritance: Fallen Empire.

Escape Rating A-: This is an a darkly fascinating alternate history. The reader does not know how the plague came about, because the characters don’t know. The world has gone mad. How do the strong survive? Who do you trust? Life still goes on, but what changes?