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Friday, September 7, 2012

Free Classics from Audible

Amazon has started setting up a number of great deals for the audiobook companions to ebooks purchased at Amazon and any book you have previously published that gets linked will qualify. Many of the choices are $3.95 or less (which is a huge bargain compared to the cost for most audiobooks - this will mean you can often buy the ebook and the audiobook for less than the cost of the audiobook alone). Since this is a joint Amazon/Audible deal, you won't have to have any type of paid membership at Audible either (note that I can't check for geographic restrictions on this, but assume there may be some, due to publisher arrangements in various countries). To kick things off, they have set up a number of FREE companion selections for some of the free public domain classics. Even if the formatting is off on the ebook, these audiobooks are professional performances and you'll want to add at least a few of them to your account.

To add these to your account, first "buy" the free ebook at Amazon, then click thru to the Audible listing and add that selection to your cart. Make sure that you uncheck the box to use a credit, if you do have a paid membership, then click on Update. Once you are sure that you don't have the box checked and the price is still showing as free, click to complete your order (you'll have to log in and confirm; on the confirmation page, you can double check that no credits are going to be used). Once my order was completed, I was dumped into a page wanting me to install software - if you've used Audible in the past, just ignore that page and go to your library to download or send to your Kindle, as you have always done. You can get that message to go away forever by turning off Software Verification under Account Details.

This is a list of the ones that have been discovered so far, including the 27 titles on Amazon's official list:

Free eBook at Amazon Free Companion Audiobook
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy narration by Simon Vance
Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe narration by Buck Schirner
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll narration by Jim Dale
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë narration by Anne Flosnik
Moby Dick: or, the White Whale, by Herman Melville narration by Frank Muller
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas narration by John Lee
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson narration by Alfred Molina
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer's Comrade, by Mark Twain narration by Elijah Wood
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde narration by Simon Prebble
David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens narration by Simon Vance
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott narration by Kate Reading
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum narration by Anne Hathaway
Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley narration by Simon Vance
Dracula, by Bram Stoker narration by Alan Cumming,
Tim Curry & full cast
White Fang, by Jack London narration by Bob Thomley
Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift narration by David Hyde Pierce
The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie narration by David Suchet
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell narration by Nathaniel Parker
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame narration by Shelly Frasier
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackera narration by John Castle
The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins narration by James Langton
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by, by James Joyce narration by John Lee
The Sign of the Four, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle narration by Patrick Tull
House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton narration by Wanda McCaddon
Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton narration by Scott Brick
Peter and Wendy, by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie and F. D. Bedford narration by Jim Dale
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë and F. H. (Frederick Henry) Townsend narration by Susan Ericksen
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, by Daniel Defoe narration by Davina Porter
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens narration by Simon Vance

Inexpensive ebooks with free audiobooks:

eBook at Amazon Free Companion Audiobook
Siddhartha [with Biographical Introduction] ($1.75), by Herman Hesse and Hilda Rosner (Translator) narration by David Cross
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad ($1.42) narration by Kenneth Branagh
Pride and Prejudice, Annotated, by Jane Austen ($6.99; a no longer free version is also linked to the free Audible edition) narration by Lindsay Duncan

I'll add to the list as more are found (and get all the ones on the list added, later today), Update: I've added all the current titles, but will add any more as they turn up, so you might want to bookmark the post to come back to later.

Today's Deals

The new Kobo code for 25% off selected titles also works for non-Agency books not on the list: sep0725XY (exp 9/10)

Speaking of Agency agreements, it appears the settlement has been approved and publishers were given one week to stop the price fixing. There is a two year ban on them working with any retailer that requires "best pricing" in their contracts (which is something Amazon actually does want, as do others), so we should see the prices dropping on a number of newer books, very soon.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Goodnight, Little Monster ($1.99), by Bonnie Leick and Helen Ketteman (requires Kindle Fire, Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android).
Book Description
Little Monster needs to get ready for bed. That means howling at the moon, scrubbing his scales, getting into his creepy PJs, and enjoying a nice snack before bed: worm juice and baked beetle bread. And, of course, Little Monster’s mother is nearby to tuck Little Monster into bed and turn on his night-light—because even little monsters can be afraid of the dark. Bonnie Leick’s soft, child-friendly illustrations rendered in watercolor bring a new and quiet twist to the evening’s bedtime ritual. Sweet dreams, Little Monster!

Grade Level: Pre K and up

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is AmazonCrossing translation of Old Town ($1.99), by Lin Zhe and George A. Fowler (translator).
Book Description
Lin Zhe, one of China’s most prolific writers, paints an unforgettable picture of an ordinary family caught up in the maelstrom that was China's most recent century. Her narrative ranges across the entire length of China, to California and back again, to the battlefields of the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance and the brutal “struggle" sessions of the Cultural Revolution. But it always returns to this family's home in Old Town, that archetypical, old-fashioned, and vanishing place steeped in the traditions of South China.

Ms. Lin examines the inner strength that sustains people's lives in their darkest hours, when religious and political faith falter. And yet, a vein of irony and droll humor runs through this powerful story. Lin Zhe's novel may be understood as a love story, memoir, history, or allegory. For the non-Chinese reader it provides a rare and moving insight into Chinese lives in a century of fearsome upheaval. This book was originally published under the title Riddles of Belief...and Love - A Story.

600 Hours of Edward ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Craig Lancaster, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $3.99/KLL Eligible).
Book Description
A thirty-nine-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Edward Stanton lives alone on a rigid schedule in the Montana town where he grew up. His carefully constructed routine includes tracking his most common waking time (7:38 a.m.), refusing to start his therapy sessions even a minute before the appointed hour (10:00 a.m.), and watching one episode of the 1960s cop show Dragnet each night (10:00 p.m.).

But when a single mother and her nine-year-old son move in across the street, Edward’s timetable comes undone. Over the course of a momentous 600 hours, he opens up to his new neighbors and confronts old grievances with his estranged parents. Exposed to both the joys and heartaches of friendship, Edward must ultimately decide whether to embrace the world outside his door or retreat to his solitary ways.

Heartfelt and hilarious, this moving novel will appeal to fans of Daniel Keyes’s classic Flowers for Algernon and to any reader who loves an underdog.

Pride and Pleasure ($8.59 Kindle, $3.99 B&N), by Sylvia Day, is the Nook Daily Find.
Book Description
Wealth has its dangers...

There are disadvantages to being an heiress, as Eliza Martin knows well. Fortune hunters flock to her, acquaintances lie and pander, and lately, someone is engineering "accidents" to propel her to the altar. But Eliza will not be bullied, and she will get to the bottom of this plot. All she needs is a man to infiltrate her assemblage of suitors and find the culprit. Someone not easily noticed; a proficient dancer, quiet, and even-tempered.

...so do certain men

Thief-taker Jasper Bond is entirely too large, too handsome, and too dangerous. Who would believe that an intellectual like Eliza would be seduced by a man of action? But the combination of her stubbornness and the mystery makes the case one Jasper can't resist. Client satisfaction is a point of pride and it's his pleasure to prove he's just the man she needs after all...

Almost President: The Men Who Lost the Race but Changed the Nation ($9.99 Kindle, $2.99 B&N), by Scott Farris, is the Nook Daily Election 2012 Find. I've reported the lower price at Amazon and it might drop later today; be careful though, as there are two editions - I've linked to the Mobi formatted edition and not the topaz, which also costs more (and usually doesn't look as good).
Book Description
As the 2012 presidential campaign begins, Almost President profiles a dozen men who have run for the American presidency and lost—but who, even in defeat, have had a greater impact on American history than many of those who have served as president. Scott Farris tells us the stories of legendary figures from Henry Clay to Stephen Douglas, William Jennings Bryan to Thomas Dewey. He also includes mini-profiles on every major candidate nominated for president who never reached the White House but who helped ensure the success of American democracy.

Farris explains how Barry Goldwater achieved the party realignment that had eluded FDR, how George McGovern paved the way for Barack Obama, and how Ross Perot changed the way all presidential candidates campaign. There is Al Smith, the first Catholic nominee for president; and Adlai Stevenson, the candidate of the “eggheads” who remains the beau ideal of a liberal statesman. Others covered by this book include Al Gore, John Kerry, and John McCain. The mini profiles also include evocative portraits of such men as John C. Fremont, the first Republican Party presidential candidate; and General Winfield Scott, whose loss helped guarantee the Union victory in the Civil War.

New Kindle Covers

One thing I always invest in is a cover or case for my ereaders - the glass can be a bit delicate and I can't count the number of times I've accidentally dropped one on the floor (or had one knocked off a table by a pet). They've all made it thru ok, though, as they were all secure in a cover. If you've looked around a bit at Amazon, the links to the cases aren't all that obvious (in fact, I didn't think they came in more than one color: black). But, it turns out that the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Standing Leather Case ($54.99) comes in a number of colors and has a neat feature that I've only seen on the Android Transformer - opening the case turns on the device, while closing it puts it into standby.

The bargain $3 covers for the Kindle Paperwhite disappeared quick (I don't know if mine will ship, but I did get an order in). Amazon has their own covers available though, for all the new models, with the following color choices available:

Kindle Fire HD 8.9"
Standing Leather Case ($54.99)
Kindle Fire HD 7"
Standing Leather Case ($44.99)
Kindle Paperwhite
Leather Cover ($39.99)

There are some 3rd party covers starting to show up. Marware has quite a few in the list of available Kindle Paperwhite Covers and it looks like a number of the covers will fit the Paperwhite, Touch and Kindle (although perhaps not perfectly in all cases). In the case of the 7" Kindle Fire, if you don't want the special case from Amazon that turns it on and off automatically, then there are large number of cases that fit the Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD.

Any Kindle accessory purchase will also get you a $3 MP3 credit (limit one per account) -- it'll come via email, so be sure to keep an eye out once your order ships and apply the credit to your account.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

New Kindles can now be Pre-ordered

Amazon has finally unlocked the ordering system and you can now pre-order any of the new Kindles and reserve your place in line. I've updated the links in my original post and am including a quicklist both in this post and on the main blog page, at the top-right corner of the page.

I've already placed my orders and noticed that a mystery $30 credit had appeared in my account - it came off of the Kindle Paperwhite that I ordered, but don't ask me where the credit came from (I still have a mystery $200 credit, too, but don't know what I have to order to get it to be used).

New Kindle Family

New Kindle Fire HD Commercial