I didn’t mention a free Kindle book in today’s posts as the ratio of free downloads to paid downloads is above 80% – please remember that is not my rule but Amazon’s rule! While I’ve written about this rule a couple of times, if you don’t know what I’m talking about you can read about it in a prior post if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/xbqyfr into your web browser.

What does that mean to you? Well, that means a lot of you are downloading a lot of free Kindle books after clicking over from a link on the blog – that’s ok, but I need to get the ratio back down below 80% before I can post more free Kindle book offers!

So, here’s a request I’d like to make for each of you who has downloaded a free Kindle book after clicking through from one of the links on the blog this month – please buy a Kindle book after clicking one of my links! To make it as painless as possible for you, all I am asking is for you to invest one penny – hopefully, just one penny won’t break any of you and it will help with me being able to continue doing what I’m doing.

Actually, I’d like for you to buy this book I mention below – and I’ll throw in a challenge: if everyone who reads this post will invest just one cent and purchase this book below, not only will you help out the blog but let’s see if we can make this book reach the #1 paid title in the entire Amazon Kindle store! I’m certain it would happen – pass this message and link on to your Kindle-owning friends, and let’s see if we can get this book to the #1 spot: you’ll not only make my day, but I will bet you will make the author’s year!

Pacific Avenue, by Anne L. Watson, is regularly $1.99 but has been discounted 99% to just $0.01 in the Amazon Kindle store (that’s right, it’s just a penny today), and this book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 54 customer reviews.

Category: Romance / Literary Fiction

Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website:

Where do you go from the end of the line? This is the question facing Kathy Woodbridge as she steps off the bus in the port city of San Pedro, California. Nineteen years old, from Louisiana, she is running away from her past. There’s a lot to run away from.

What do you do when there’s no one to do for? That’s what Lacey Greer wants to know, with her only child off at college. When Kathy gets a job at the office where Lacey works, she can tell that Kathy’s in trouble. Lacey’s husband advises her to stay out of it — but what’s she supposed to do, buy a rocking chair?

Set in San Pedro, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans in the early seventies, Pacific Avenue explores themes of love, belonging, helpfulness, hope, forgiveness, reconciliation, interracial marriage, and healing from the trauma of war. At the end of the line, will Kathy find a way to return home?

Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/3houi6 into your web browser to pick up your copy of Pacific Avenue .
Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with the Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

It’s that time again, time for another “rambling” blog post where I have no set agenda before I start banging away on the keyboard….if you would like to write to me, my email address is Michael at fkbooksandtips dot com (I type it out that way in a small effort to thwart the spam community).

Mother’s Day

Don’t forget Mother’s Day is this Sunday!  If you haven’t purchased a gift for your Mom, wife, grandmother, etc. yet, don’t despair!  You can always give her an Amazon gift card that can be used for anything in the Amazon store.  To get one today (they will email, priority delivery for Saturday, you name it for free), you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/giftcard into your web browser.

Kindle Daily Deal & Free App of the Day

I don’t post about the Kindle Daily Deal or the Free App of the Day each and every day.  Why?  That’s mainly because I’ve been traveling with my “day” job and can’t get the post out that day (I try to setup as many posts as I can in advance because of my schedule).  In the interim, you can check the offerings out each day yourself – just bookmark the links below.

Kindle Daily Deal: click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser.

Free App of the Day: click here or type in http://smarturl.it/appdeal into your web browser.

Guest Posts from Independent Authors

The guest blog posts featuring independent authors have been fairly popular with the blog’s readers, and I will be continuing that in the weeks to come as I enjoy reading about the authors who create the material I’ve been enjoying as much as you.  Look for more of these to come in the next few weeks (there will be another one this weekend), and if you’d like to read some of the past guest blog posts you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/interviews into your web browser – to provide a little incentive, there are a few free Kindle book offers contained in the posts.

If you hit this page on the blog’s website, you will see five blog post titles and a few lines from each post; just click on the title of the blog post to read the full article.  If you want to see more than the five on the page at http://smarturl.it/interviews, just scroll down towards the bottom and click the “Previous” icon located at the bottom left-hand side of the article list.

The Kindle 100

Now that we’re in the month of May, Amazon has updated their list of 100 highly-rated Kindle books that have been discounted to $3.99 or less – each of these has been hand-selected by the staff of Amazon.  You’ll see them classified in a variety of genres, and I’ve zeroed in on a couple in the mystery / thriller and science fiction genres.  To see what I am talking about, you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/100books into your web browser.

Sports App

A week or so ago, I told you about the free sports apps available for your Kindle Fire or Android-enabled phone / tablet computer – actually, I promoted my favorite baseball team to the detriment of others – and I’ve had a lot of requests from people to send them the link again.

To see the lists of free apps detailing most of the professional sports teams – not just baseball but football, basketball, etc. – you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/sportapps into your web browser.

Pinterest and The Blog’s Social Media Pages

I’m not much for following “pins” of others on Pinterest, but many of you are and have asked for the link to the blog’s Pinterest page.  You can click here or type in http://pinterest.com/fkbooks into your web browser and start following away!

While I’m on the subject of social media pages, here are links to the blog’s Facebook and Twitter pages:

Facebook: click here or type in https://www.facebook.com/fkbooks into your web browser.

Twitter: click here or type in http://twitter.com/FKBT into your web browser.

That’s all I have for now – I hope you have a great weekend!

Michael

Well, this is a really short post for you…in honor of Mother’s Day, Amazon is discounting the price of a 7” Kindle Fire HD by $20 if you type in this special code: FIRE4MOM

Here is how you can get the $20 savings on a new Kindle Fire HD:

• Click here or type in http://smarturl.it/firehd into your web browser to get to the appropriate page on the Amazon website.
• DO NOT use the 1-click option or you won’t get the discount!  If you want to order one, click the “Add to Cart” icon as you need to go through the checkout procedure to apply the code.
• Select which version of the 7’ Kindle Fire HD you want by clicking it, then click the “Add to Cart” icon.
• Select whatever else you want in the session (power adapter, case, etc.), then click the “Proceed to Checkout” icon.
• Once you click the “Proceed to Checkout” icon you will need to input your shipping address.
• On the next screen, which is where you input your payment information, you will see a section titled “Gift Cards & Promotional Codes.”  This is where you need to type in the special code: FIRE4MOM
• Click the “Continue” icon to complete your order.

That’s it, and here’s to saving $20!

Michael

It’s time for another rambling blog post, but it’s really short compared to others, where I don’t have any set agenda before I start beating away on the keyboard…

Kindle Keyboard Giveaway

I have notified the winner of the Kindle Keyboard with 3G giveaway, as well as the 25 winners of the nifty coffee mug with the blog’s logo: the winners were sent an email this morning, and as soon as I hear back from them the prizes will be on their way!

To see a list of the winners, you can if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/043g into your web browser and look at the signup box – the winners’ first names are displayed.

If you were one of the winners, congratulations!  If you were not a winner, I’m fairy certain a new giveaway will pop up sometime soon…

Free Book Links

Last week I gave you a link to third-party sites that offer free (and paid) Kindle books.  I’ve received several emails asking me to send them that link again.  You can click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/free-book-links/ into your web browser to give it a look.

Sell Your Old Kindle

I received a blast advertising email from Amazon last night, asking me if I had an old Kindle I wanted to sell back to them (working or not) in return for an Amazon gift card.  The prices they are offering (to me) don’t seem that high, but if you have one just sitting around gathering dust you might want to consider turning it in for a gift card.  You can click here or type in http://tinyurl.com/kindletrade into your web browser to give the offers a look.

It’s not just Kindle’s they are looking for you to trade-in, but other electronics such as calculators, old cell phones, laptops, and just about any other flavor of electronic.  You can check out the deals, and possibly get a new gift card in return for your unused electronics, if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/tradein into your web browser.

Have a great week!

Michael

Well, it’s finally Friday and I figured it was time for another rambling blog post where I have no set agenda before I start banging away on the keyboard.  Please make sure you read it all as, who knows, you might find a few “somethings” available for free somewhere in the post!

I don’t know about you, but it seemed as if this week had a drag to it…I’m glad the weekend is coming up, which will be my first full weekend at home vs. the road in about a month!

 
Kindle Keyboard Giveaway

There’s only one more day to go before time is up on the Kindle Keyboard with 3G giveaway!  In addition to the Kindle Keyboard, I am also giving away 25 super-nifty coffee mugs with the blog’s logo which are soon bound to be collector’s items and sent up the bidding charts on that large online auction site headquartered in California (that alone should make you want to enter).

Contrary to rumor and popular belief, you do not need to be a member of either Facebook or Twitter in order to enter:

• If you are a Facebook member, you can click the link for one chance in the giveaway.
• If you are a Twitter member, you can click the link for one chance in the giveaway.
• If you use your email address and refer ten friends to the giveaway, you get up to ten additional chances in the giveaway.

If you did the math like I did in my head, that’s a total of 12 chances and 83% of those chances don’t require Facebook or Twitter.

Some people have reported the giveaway widget times out while using your Kindle Fire (I do find that ironic).  If you’re having problems, how about trying it out on an old-fashioned computer?  Tell your friends about it for additional chances to enter!

Haven’t entered, or want to enter with more email chances?  You can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/043g into your web browser.  It’s easy, it’s free, and I am certain your friends and family would like an opportunity to win, also!

Free Book Links

I’ve updated the page on the blog’s website for various free Kindle book links.  While the list is not all-encompassing (I am saving some material for later posts!), there should be enough there to keep you busy and entertained for a while.

You can check it out if you click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/free-book-links/ into your web browser.

The Life List

The Life List is a romance by Chrissy Anderson that is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and it has received an average user rating of 5 out of 5 stars based on 88 customer reviews.  You can check it out if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/lm19hg into your web browser.  I received a note from the author saying today is the last day for it to be free.

Religion & Spirituality Books

Now through May 5^th, Amazon is running a special saving up to 87% off on 100 Kindle books in the Religion & Spirituality category.  Looking over the list of offerings, it’s quite diverse from Christian fiction to Zen wisdom, and the books are priced at $3.99 or less (most of them less).  If you would like to peruse them, you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/0413religion into your web browser.

Random Kindle Tips

Over the years, I’ve posted various tips to the blog in an effort to help you (and me) maximize the use of your Kindle.  Many times, I am asked something along the lines of “could you send me the link to…?”

If you would like to check out the tips I’ve posted to the blog over the years, you can click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/tag/kindle-tip into your web browser.  If you do go to this page, it will show the title and a summary of the last five posts in that category.   You can click on the post’s title to see the entire thing or, if you want to see more than the last five on the page scroll down to the bottom and click the “Previous” icon at the bottom and to the left of the last post on each page.

Kindle 100

Each month, Amazon discounts 100 best-selling and / or highly-rated Kindle books for $3.99 or less in a variety of genres or lists like Oprah’s Book Club.  You can check out the Kindle 100 for April if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/100books into your web browser.

Darcy’s Decision

Darcy’s Decision is a historical fiction novel by Maria Grace that is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and it has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 33 customer reviews.  I received a note from the author saying this will be free through tomorrow, and you can check it out and pick up your free copy if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/xohhol into your web browser.

Baseball

Baseball?  What does baseball have to do with a Kindle?  Absolutely nothing, but I do love baseball!  As a Texas Ranger fan living in the home of the minor league Astros, it’s tough to really watch games these days.  It’s even tougher with the new crop of players, with Michael Young now doing well in Philadelphia, Napoli swinging for the fences with each at-bat in Boston, and Hamilton whiffing away in LA (it makes me smile knowing LA is paying so much for ex-Rangers who aren’t performing right now in the American League West race).

You can download a free app and follow the Rangers on your Kindle Fire or Android-enabled device if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/rangers into your web browser.

I realize there is a small percentage of people out there who aren’t Ranger fans, and that’s ok.  There is a company who has a free app for just about every major league team – plus other major sports – in the Amazon App store.  You can check them out and download your favorite team(s) app if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/sportapps into your web browser.

That’s all I had for now – I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Michael

It’s time for another rambling blog post, where I have no real set agenda but just start banging away on the keyboard…if you would like to write to me, my email address is Michael at fkbooksandtips dot com (I type it out that way in a small effort to thwart the spammers).

Last Week’s Kindle Fire HD Giveaway

Yes, we had a winner of the Kindle Fire HD last week!  Louis H. of Henderson, NV promptly contacted me after I notified him he won, and he has the Fire in hand (and is hopefully enjoying it).  Thanks to everyone who entered, and look for another giveaway by the blog soon!

Free Kindle Book Offers

As you’ve noticed, I ‘ve slowly started to add free Kindle book offers to the daily posts; I still, however, receive emails and messages on the blog’s Facebook page asking me “what happened?”  Rather than repeat myself as my wife and kids say I am prone to do, you can read the “why” in a post from February if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/xbqyfr into your web browser.

I understand the thoughts you have sent to me about not wanting to pay for Kindle books.  The reality is in order for the blog to survive is it has to cover the operating costs.  The simple math is in order to keep below the 80% rule (read the post above I referenced if you don’t know what the 80% rule is), the blog’s readers need to make a couple of purchases – technically, for every 8 freebies a blog reader downloads I need them to make two Kindle book purchases.   Without sounding like a greedy you-know-what, the blog needs a few more purchases: plus, the more the blog is credited with a sale of Kindle books (regardless if it costs a penny or $100), the more free Kindle book offers I can tell you about on a daily basis.

Speaking of Kindle books that cost just a penny, there are nine listed in the Amazon Kindle store right now: you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/1cent into your web browser to check them out.  Just think of the possibilities of future free book offerings if everyone reading this spent just eight cents by buying each one….

Comments on the Blog Posts

This next feature should make some of you jump for joy: I’ve killed the Facebook-required feature for commenting on the posts on the blog’s website – at least for now, as the plug-in I was using had an epic fail.

At the bottom of each post, you can click on the little box under the “What Do You Think?” section of a post’s page and type away.  I am holding all comments for moderation in order to thwart spammers, but how about sharing your thoughts and comments on the various book offers on the comment field in the blog?  Here’s a quick way to see what I mean and give it a shot:

• Go to the blog’s website at www.fkbooksandtips.com
• Click on the title of any post.
• Scroll all the way down to the bottom and see the “What do you think?” section: click your mouse or tap on your handheld the box that says “Enter your comment here…”
• Type away!
• Once you’ve finished, type in your email address and name.

While you’re name will be posted alongside your comment, your email address is not.  A blog is supposed to be interactive, right?  Post away!

Collections App Update

If you missed the post I had about the updated Collections app being available, or if your collections app has not automatically updated on your Kindle Fire yet, please click here or type in http://smarturl.it/8qkotx into your web browser to read the instructions on how to update it manually.

Kindle Daily Deal

I know, I haven’t posted about the Kindle Daily Deal in two days – it’s been a busy time at the Gallagher household!  You don’t need me to tell you about it each day, as you can check it out at any time if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/dailydeal into your web browser.  This is one of those links I have bookmarked, and you may want to consider doing the same vs. waiting on me to post about the KDD!

That’s about all I had for today…I hope you have a great weekend!

Michael

For those of you who have been waiting on an update to the Collections app for your Kindle Fire…

In a post two weeks ago, I told you about how Amazon had rolled out a software update to the Kindle Fire which caused an issue with the Collections app for your Kindle Fire: due to the software upgrade, new books (but not “old” books) you added to your Fire were not recognized on the initial scan and, as a result, you could not categorize new books on to your bookshelves.

I’ll point out while there are many things I like about Amazon, there are also things I find extremely irritating and this was one of them: Amazon didn’t give the app development community the heads-up this was coming, nor were they forthcoming with what changed.  Some of you contacted Amazon’s app customer service department (which seems to be an outsourced organization) who, despite me asking them not to, told some of you to uninstall and reinstall the app which caused yet more issues.

Sometimes, you just want to scream and say some bad words!

The good news is a revised version of the app has been submitted and is now “live” in the Amazon App store.  In addition to correcting the issue related to Amazon’s software upgrade, the revised edition has several upgrades / enhancements, including (this is not all-inclusive):

• The ability to categorize more than one book at a time into different categories.
• Checking for duplicates or when a book has been removed from your Fire automatically.
• Added the capability to categorize Kindle-format books (i.e., MOBI format) purchased or obtained for free from third-party websites.
• One-click access to this blog by tapping the “Kindle Books and Tips” icon at the bottom of the screen.

If you have your wireless on and the automatic updating of apps feature turned on, the Collections app should have updated already or, depending upon where you may be in the world, will update as soon as things replicate across Amazon’s servers and your Fire connects to the wireless connection.

The easy way to tell if your app has updated automatically can be performed with the following steps:

• Turn on your Kindle Fire.
• From the Home Screen, tap the “Apps” icon at the top of the screen.
• Launch the Collections app by tapping it.
• One it goes through the scan looking for new book titles, tap the “All Books” bookshelf: this is the top bookshelf on your app’s display.
• A listing of all of the books on your Fire (NOT the cloud) will next appear.
• If you see a square icon to the right of each title – that’s for you to bulk move or categorize your books to your own specific category (e.g., the “Mystery” or “Romance” category), you have the latest version of the Collections app installed on your Fire.

To get update the app manually, and assuming the app has replicated to the Amazon server closest to your Internet / wireless connection, here is how you do it (or for any other app that has an update available):

• Turn on your Kindle Fire.
• From the Home Screen, tap the “Apps” icon at the top of the screen.
• Tap the “Store” icon in the upper right-hand portion of your screen.
• Tap the menu icon at the bottom-center of your screen (it looks like a piece of paper to me, or a box with three horizontal lines).
• Tap the “App Updates” option on the new pop-up menu.
• Tap the “Update” icon to the right of the app you would like to update.
• If the previous version of the app is still on your Fire, you will receive a warning message it can’t update unless you remove the previous version. To install the new version, you must remove the old version.

If the updated app is not available when you are reading this, it is more likely than not still replicating across Amazon’s server network.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for listening and here’s to hoping if Amazon pushes out another Fire software update (and they will) they will communicate with the developer community!   And, if you’re one of the folks who left a negative review saying it worked great for months and just stopped working, I would appreciate a modification of your review once you install and use the updated app!

Regards,

Michael

Organize your books on your Kindle Fire with our updated Collections and Categories App! Click Here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to get it now!

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

This is a post for those of you who have “Liked” the blog’s Facebook page, as I have received quite a few emails from members who tell me the posts aren’t showing up on their Facebook walls anymore…

If you haven’t stopped by the blog’s Facebook page, you can check it out if you click here or type in www.facebook.com/fkbooks into your web browser – why you’re there, why not give it a “Like” if you haven’t already? Who knows, there might be a future incentive for those to “Like” the page as there has been for those who signed up for email delivery (that’s a big hint!)?

One continuing complaint I’ve received over time is many people say even though they have “Liked” the Facebook page, not all of the blog’s or page’s posts were showing up on their timeline when it had in the past. That’s not due to anything I am doing, but something Facebook has initiated for this and other fan pages: they want me (and other managers of fan pages) to pay to have each post guaranteed to show up on people’s Facebook pages.

That doesn’t mean each post you would see on your wall costs me money, as it doesn’t: Facebook will still allow a post to show up on a limited number of FB pages. However, Facebook’s advertising model is a pay for performance plan and the pricing for me, based upon the number of fans, would be about $750 per post to ensure it hit everyone’s wall.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford that on a periodic basis let alone a full-time basis!

How to Guarantee to See the Blog’s Posts on Facebook

I’ve been scratching my head for a solution so that the blog’s Facebook members can be sure to see the blog posts so you don’t miss a notification of the free book offers. Luckily, there are blog members who know a heck of a lot more about Facebook than I do – here is a solution that appears to work I received from blog member Christy P., which involves making the blog’s Facebook page one of your “Interests:”

• Go to your Facebook home page: once you are logged into Facebook, you may be on your Timeline, so click on the word “facebook” on the top left-hand side of your web browser to go to your Facebook home page.
• Look on the left-hand side of your Facebook home page towards the bottom on some / middle on others – you will see a section called “Interests.”
• Click on the word “Interests.”
• A new screen will open.
• On the top, middle-to-right-hand side of this new screen, click on the icon titled “+ Add Interests” which will open up yet a new window.
• On this new window, look on the top towards the middle-right, and click on the “+Create List” icon.
• Another new box / window will open titled “Create New List.” On the upper right-hand side of this new window, there is a search bar that says “Search for people or pages.” In this search bar, click on it and type in “free ebooks and tips.”
• Click on the “Free eBooks and Tips” icon when it appears in this new screen. Once you click the Free eBooks and Tips icon, a check mark will appear on the icon.
• Click the “Next” icon on the lower right-hand side.
• Name your list something you will remember. “Free Kindle Books” sounds good to me and what I named my list.
• Once you have typed in a name, click the “Done” icon.

If you followed those instructions, your new list has been established and is complete. When you want to see the blog’s posts to Facebook, just go to your Facebook home page and click on “Free Kindle Books or whatever you named your list to see the blog’s posts.

Email Option

If all of that was confusing or you couldn’t complete setting up your own list, that’s okay – you can always sign up for the email delivery option (that’s free, also)! To signup for email delivery, just click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/subscribe into your web browser and follow these instructions:

• You will see a input line that says “Enter your email address:” right above an icon called “Subscribe.” Type in your email address on this line.
• Click the “Subscribe” icon.
• Go to your email program – you will receive a confirmation email.
• Reply to this email, and press “Send” on your email program. You must reply to this email in order to receive the blog’s posts to ensure I’m not spamming anyone.

That’s it! You should now receive future posts on the blog via email.

Hope that helps!

Michael

It’s time for a brief update or rambling blog post, where I have a few things I want to talk about – plus you never know what else I might say as I beat away on my keyboard.  If you would like to write to me, my email address is michael at fkbooksandtips dot com (I write it out that way in a small effort to avoid the spammers).

Collections App for Kindle Fire

Many of you have purchased and are using the Collections App I had developed for your Kindle Fire (you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/firecollections into your web browser to see it), which allows you to categorize your Amazon-purchased Kindle books on your Kindle Fire.

Approximately Tuesday of last week, Amazon pushed out an update to the Kindle Fire software which has caused a small issue with the app: of course, there was no advance warning to the developer community, nor has there been a list of changes sent out to the developer community which is quite frustrating.  While the app still works, and you can move your books between different categories, it has one hiccup where new books you may add to your Fire are not recognized on the initial scan and, as a result, you can’t categorize these new additions.

The developer team is working on the issue, and I expect to have a new version out soon.  Of course, I will have a PT Barnum moment or two telling you about it when that happens.  In addition to this fix, I have taken the feedback I’ve received on new enhancements which should be integrated with this new version.  More to come, and I appreciate everyone’s patience!

Kindle Paperwhite Giveaway

Last week’s giveaway of a new Kindle Paperwhite with 3G was very popular, and I expect to have another giveaway of some sort soon!

We did have a winner, but I am waiting on a reply from the winner so I know where to ship it: if your email address starts with “lbg68” followed by more characters and a specific domain, please check your email, your spam folders, etc. because I want to give it to you!  And no, if this isn’t your email address please don’t go register a bunch of similar email addresses with yahoo or google – the email address is not with either one of those providers…

I’ve sent out another email to this winner, and if I don’t hear from them by midnight Saturday – that would have given them a full week to respond – we’ll just have to do it again.

Free Kindle Book Listings

I still receive a lot of emails, Facebook messages, etc. basically asking the same thing: “why aren’t you listing free Kindle books anymore,” “what happened to the format of the blog,” as well as some pointed advice on what I should be doing in terms of posts vs. what I am doing right now.  Not to be too repetitive, but I’ve posted about this several times.

• If you missed the initial post on the matter, you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/1pn4z6 into your web browser.
• If you missed the follow-up post I had, you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/bn5q72  into your web browser.

If you have noticed, over the last couple of days I have been re-introducing free Kindle book offers from the Amazon website: I will continue to do so, but I am monitoring the free to paid download ratio on a daily basis.  I am sure there will continue to be changes to the blog’s post structure as the interpretation of the new rules is further defined.  I encourage you to give the “for sale” books I tell you about a try as, for example, they are from some great independent authors and I am applying the same review criteria for them as I did for the freebies; you may also find a new favorite author!

The reality, however, is a 100% free model is not sustainable for either Amazon or me as I, for example, have to cover the operating costs of the blog’s infrastructure (and it ain’t cheap!).

Hopefully, you have enjoyed some new reads, learned a few things about your Kindle, and have participated in the weekly informal polls.  The blog was never meant to be just a data dump of freebies, but I encourage you to interact with the posts as much as you can or feel comfortable in participating!

Informal Polls

Speaking of the informal polls, they have been pretty popular in terms of the number of readers and participation of people adding their comments and feedback.  Personally, I am regretting having last week’s about the favorite series as I have added a few more Book #1 series to my to-be-read pile: now, I just need to carve out more time to read!

If you missed or would like to see the weekly informal polls we’ve had so far, you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/polls into your web browser to give them a look: dive in and participate in a few of them!

Baseball

As usual, baseball really has nothing to do with your Kindle…it is, however, my favorite sport.  I have long moaned of being a Ranger fan in the home of the lowly Astros (please spend some money, Mr. Crane!), but I had my dose of humble pie when the Astros thumped the Rangers on Opening Day.  <sigh>

Good thing there is a rematch tonight!

That’s all I had for right now…I hope you have a great rest of your week!

Regards,

Michael

Here’s a fairly quick post based on a couple of you emailing me today: Amazon has quietly reintroduced the Kindle Touch to the Amazon storefront.  As many of you know, I was not a fan of generation one of the Touch because it had a lot of issues with phantom page turns, etc., but I do like its successor, the Kindle Paperwhite.  I do not know if the issues I noted with a Kindle Touch have been corrected with this new release  (nor am I sure this is even a “new” version of the Touch.

What’s the difference between a Touch and a Paperwhite?  While the following is not an all-inclusinve list, here are the major differences I see as a user:

• Kindle Touch has an audio feature while the Kindle Paperwhite does not.
• The Kindle Paperwhite has a backlit screen, which means you don’t need an external light to read it say at night in your bed, while the Kindle Touch is a traditional e-Ink reader and you will need an external light to read in the dark.
• The Kindle Touch holds approximately 2x more books on it than a Kindle Paperwhite (approximately 3,000 vs. 1,500).
• The Kindle Touch with WiFi costs $99 and the Paperwhite with WiFi costs $119 (both of these are the Special Offers version).

To check out the Kindle Touch, you can click here or type in into your web browser.

Have a great rest of your week!

Michael

This may be my shortest blog post ever…

You might see the return of freebie Kindle book offers from the Amazon site to the blog soon…stay tuned!

It’s that time again…time for another rambling blog post where I have no set agenda: just me banging away at the keyboard with a couple of items I have been thinking about plus whatever comes to mind.  If you would like to write to me, my email address is michael at fkbooksandtips dot com (I type it out that way in a small effort to try and thwart the spammers).

The Spring Break Trip

Many of you participated and helped fund my daughter’s spring break trip to Washington, DC and New York City last week (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can click here or type in http://bit.ly/NEzWll into your web browser to read the post about their collaborative efforts in writing their first Kindle book).

The group from school left last Tuesday and returned around 10:00 last night: they had a great time!  I didn’t get too much of an update from her after she arrived home as it was late and a school night, but they made lots of memories and saw lots of sites.  I had a few pictures emailed to my wife and I from her phone, but they were pretty blurry.  I will try to post some pictures this weekend so you can see some of the sites she and her friends saw from the camera (vs. the phone), but I know they each made some memories that will last them a lifetime.  On behalf of my wife and I, we appreciate each of you who helped make it possible!

I asked her what the high point of the trip was, and I really didn’t get a clear answer as there were at least ten things that were “just awesome!”  When I asked her what the most disappointing thing was, it was a tie between the cancellation of all of the White House tours due to the political grandstanding that continues and the fact the snow that was falling in NYC on Saturday didn’t stick to the ground (kids from the Houston area rarely, if ever, get to see snow).

She and the trip chaperone who brought her home last night are pretty tired as they were going non-stop!

Free Book Listings

I’ve posted about this a couple of times, but I have received several questions from readers consisting of “where are the free book offers and what changed?”

I’m not going to regurgitate everything I previously posted about this topic, but you can click here or type in http://bit.ly/XV01Fx into your web browser to read it again or in case you missed it.

Let me clear up a few things:

• I will continue to post about free books!
• The free book offers will continue to be from non-Amazon sites!
• The free book offers will continue to be from Amazon, but not just as many as I used to do!
• The blog’s content is NOT changing to a 100% paid model!
• I will continue to tell you about tips to improve your Kindle experience!

I have been watching the free book download to paid download ratio daily – almost obsessively – and while the Amazon reporting system still has a long way to go, I am below the 80% threshold.  Just barely.

While I have taken out all of the affiliate codes I could on my old free book lists to Amazon, lots of you are still hitting the freebies from Amazon.  That’s not surprising given the cookie’s longevity, but I am watching it carefully.  However, did you notice how I slipped in an Amazon freebie not that long ago in one of the posts that led off with some 99 cent offers?

Unfortunately, I can’t make things change back to the way they were but I would like to encourage you to do a few things:

• Check out the books I’m telling you about from the independent authors: most of them are discounting their books for the day of, and several days after, I mention them on the blog.  I think you will find some jewels out there as well as a stinker or two.  However, my personal opinion is 99 cents or a couple of bucks is not too much of a price to pay if you think about the per hour entertainment value we all receive.
• If you’re not too sure about purchasing one of the books, I can understand as sometimes I am, too.  That’s why I try out the free Kindle sample on a lot of books before I purchase them.  Don’t know what I’m talking about with the free Kindle sample?  You can click here or type in http://bit.ly/YCJWjw into your web browser to read a recent post I had about the sample option.
• Read each post carefully!  Why?  As I continue to monitor the 80% threshold I will continue to tell you about free Kindle book offers on the Amazon website.
• For the free Kindle book offers I tell you about on sites other than Amazon, give them a look and a chance: there are many other platforms for your Kindle entertainment value than Amazon!

Okay, enough of my soapbox on that topic (at least for now)….

The Blog’s eMail Delivery Option

I am still receiving questions from folks who aren’t receiving the blog’s email subscription.  The new email service I am using required each email address I imported over to re-confirm their email subscriptions.  If you didn’t re-confirm, or you would like to sign up for the email delivery option that is ok.  You can click here or type in http://bit.ly/WRWMjx into your web browser to see the post with instructions on how to do it.  It’s free, and takes about 10 seconds to complete.

On The Road Again

I was out of town for most of last week for spring break, and will be hitting the road again tomorrow for work.  If you email me, it may take me a few days after I return to reply…have a great rest of your week!

Michael

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your web browser.

Are you receiving the blog’s posts by email? You can if you click here or type in http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/subscribe into your web browser – just fill in your email address, smack the “Subscribe” button, and make sure you reply to the confirmation email!

In a post yesterday afternoon, I told you the blog’s free email subscription stuff was moving to a new email server that promised all sorts of wonderful things.  Some of that came true for about 15% of you, and some of it didn’t for the remaining 85% of the blog’s email subscribers.

So, I had to turn on the “old” email program just for this post…

Despite the assurance of the underlying software’s minimal instruction manual the step wasn’t necessary, if you were previously subscribed to the blog’s email service you were actually required to confirm the subscription.  Seeing as how the instructions on the “welcome” email many of you received didn’t say that until the fine print at the bottom of the email, 85% of you (including yours truly) missed that part.  If you’re like me, you’ve probably already deleted that email.

So, here’s what you need to do if you want to receive the blog’s posts for free via email (again, I know):
 

Signup Via a Web Browser

• Click here or point your web browser to http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/subscribe
• Enter your email address in the area provided.
• Click the “Subscribe!” icon just below your email address.
• You will receive a confirmation email from the server you must reply back to in order to make sure I’m not spamming anyone.
• Once you reply back to the confirmation email, future posts will start being delivered to your inbox.

Signup via the Blog’s Free Kindle Fire / Android App

• If you do not have the blog’s free app for your Kindle Fire or other Android enabled device (smartphone or tablet computer), you can get it for free if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/fkbtfreeapp into your web browser.
• Make sure your wireless connection is active.
• Open up the blog’s app.
• Click the menu icon at the bottom middle of your screen.
• A selection of three options will open – choose the “Subscribe” menu option in the middle.
• This will open up a web browser to the blog’s email signup screen mentioned above.
• Enter your email address in the area provided.
• Click the “Subscribe!” icon just below your email address.
• You will receive a confirmation email from the server you must reply back to in order to make sure I’m not spamming anyone.
• Once you reply back to the confirmation email, future posts will start being delivered to your inbox.

Hopefully, that will resolve the email issue and we can all go back to your regularly scheduled programming!

Thanks!

Michael

I’ve mentioned it before in prior posts, because some of you have mentioned it to me, about how some of you who have signed up for the email delivery option for the blog’s posts have been experiencing problems receiving it – despite you going back in and re-subscribing, you are receiving a message saying you are already subscribed, and you still fail to receive the blog’s emails.

I don’t know why that is happening, but my theory is I’ve hit the undefined limit of the number of subscribers with the free tool I have been using.  That’s my theory (and I’m stickin’ to it) because despite numerous clicks on the blog’s website to the email signup page, the total has remained flat for a period of time.

So, in about an hour from now the email database is moving to a company called Feedblitz – if you have signed up for the email delivery option you should receive a confirmation email this afternoon informing you of the change.  The actual email should come from rss@fkbooksandtips.com via mail.feedblitz.com; you may need to add the “mail.feedblitz.com” domain to your allowed senders.

If you do not receive this welcome email, you may want to check your spam folders either on the email software on your computer / handheld device or on your email provider’s online mail application (i.e., the spam folder of Google or Yahoo’s email service).

If you are not receiving the blog’s posts via email and would like to do so, it’s free and an easy signup process.  Here are two quick methods:

Signup Via a Web Browser

• Click here or point your web browser to http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/subscribe
• Enter your email address in the area provided.
• Click the “Subscribe!” icon just below your email address.
• You will receive a confirmation email from the server you must reply back to in order to make sure I’m not spamming anyone.
• Once you reply back to the confirmation email, future posts will start being delivered to your inbox.

Signup via the Blog’s Free Kindle Fire / Android App

• If you do not have the blog’s free app for your Kindle Fire or other Android enabled device (smartphone or tablet computer), you can get it for free if you click here or type in http://smarturl.it/fkbtfreeapp into your web browser.
• Make sure your wireless connection is active.
• Open up the blog’s app.
• Click the menu icon at the bottom middle of your screen.
• A selection of three options will open – choose the “Subscribe” menu option in the middle.
• This will open up a web browser to the blog’s email signup screen mentioned above.
• Enter your email address in the area provided.
• Click the “Subscribe!” icon just below your email address.
• You will receive a confirmation email from the server you must reply back to in order to make sure I’m not spamming anyone.
• Once you reply back to the confirmation email, future posts will start being delivered to your inbox.

Hopefully, that will resolve the email issues and allow the list to continue to grow!

Michael

This is a short and sweet post: earlier this week I told you about Amazon’s “Big Deal” which is a special featuring 500+ Kindle book up to 88% off featuring bestsellers by Stephen Ambrose, Dave Ramsey, Elizabeth Haynes and more. Looking at the deal page on the Amazon website, it would appear just about every major genre / category is covered.

Today is the last day, and I picked up a couple of books with the discount. You can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/bigdeal into your web browser to check them out.

Want to have this blog sent wirelessly to your e-Ink Kindle vs. reading it on your computer? Try out the free two-week trial subscription! Click here for the Amazon page of the Free Kindle Books and Tips blog or type in http://smarturl.it/fkblog into your computer’s web browser.