I ordered my Kindle Fire late Thursday morning and it arrived Friday, charged, linked to my Amazon account and brandishing a batch of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

Okay, so I made up the last… But my Kindle initiation was almost that perfect.

Of course, honeymoons don’t last forever, and three days of drive-my-bride-crazy-intensive-Kindle-Fire-field-testing later I’m ready to share my first impressions of the Kindle Fire. This post follows up on “Kindle Fire Pros & Cons, Part I” and “Kindle Fire Pros & Cons, Part II”, but my review doesn’t depend on first reading those posts, so if you’re heart is racing because you’re a mouse click away from investing two hundred clams in a K-Fire, skip the back story and scan, read, consider the following.

First the Kindle Fire pros, as I see them:

• Kindle Fire is cheap!
• Kindle Fire is a user-friendly ereader (except for one frustration discussed below).
• Backlighting and white-on-black reading option are ideal for nighttime use.
• Seamless Amazon integration is easy, quick, virtually frictionless.
• Kindle Fire size/dimensions are ideal for ereader.

I don’t think that these Kindle Fire benefits demand much explanation, nor do I want to diminish them as I move into my list of Kindle Fire downsides. Suffice to say that the $199 price tag makes me an optimistic and tolerant K-Fire owner, despite some significant frustrations that I trust will diminish with future software updates.

As for what users like most about their Kindle Fire, it may come as little surprise that its cost came top of the list, with 59 percent citing the $199 price tag as a big plus. (Digital Trends)

It’s also worth noting that my principal interest in the Kindle Fire is as an ereader, so my cons are primarily concerned with this single aspect of the gadget.

Kindle Fire cons, as I see them:

• No text-to-speech option on Kindle Fire
• No text sharing/blogging functionality in ebooks
• No marginalia aside from highlighting and “clunky” notes
• In short, no dramatic ereader advantage to Kindle Fire over Kindle app!

Although I like the e-reader experience on the Kindle Fire, I also like it on the Kindle app for iPhone and Mac. I’ve used the Kindle app on my iPhone, Mac Pro and MacBook Pro long enough to appreciate it and depend upon it. But I’d anticipate an decidedly superior  reading experience on the Kindle Fire. The fact that Amazon opted to exclude the test-to-speech (TTS) option already available on other Kindles frustrates me just as Amazon’s unwillingness to address this issue frustrates me. I suspect that it is tied to increasingly complicated (and monetizable) copyright issues, and Amazon’s ownership of Audible.com likely is likely a contributing factor. Although I dream of a digital bundle (see also “Digital Book and Audio Book Integration” and “Kindle Owner’s Lending Library”) that lets me flip between the digital book and the audio book, I was hoping to weather the wait with a device that offered seamless TTS integration. A British R2-D2 might massacre Michael Ondaatje‘s lilting storytelling, but it would be better than trying to read The Cat’s Table while driving winding Adirondack byways or slogging away on the elliptical machine… I hope that Kindle Fire text-to-speech is only a software update away!

My second complaint undoubtedly finds its root in copyright issues as well, and as a writer, storyteller and content producer I am well aware of how important (and how tricky) it is to protect intellectual copyright. But the fact that I can’t share small text sections via email and/or social media while reading an ebook on my Kindle Fire is a major drag. As a blogger, I want to easily and quickly embed quotations in blog posts and/or mashup cited quotations from multiple sources à la Storify. Frankly, enabling readers to post cited, linked quotations from ebooks could prove to be the very best marketing available. If I share content from an ebook via email, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. and others like the content, click the link, sometimes purchase the digital content, and then share it forward, Amazon could effectively dilate its growing monopoly overnight. Let’s figure this out, wonky developers. Amazon needs you to make them richer! And I need you to sate my craving for quick and easy, frictionless storytelling…

As for the marginalia, I suspect this is a niche concern and that I’ll need to be patient for a long while before I can scribble arrows and notes and doodle in the margins of my digital books on a Kindle Fire or anywhere else for that matter. But taken together (with emphasis on the first two) these three Kindle Fire shortcomings have lead me to wonder if there’s any significant advantage to the Kindle Fire as an ereader over the Kindle app. So far, I’m not convinced. One more device to purchase, charge and misplace. One more package of distractions (especially videos on demand which — even in such a small package –  are enticing) to compete with books. One more account to keep synced (and this time dependent on wi-fi), I wonder if Amazon either intended the Kindle Fire as a lateral step instead of a step forward, or if they were simply racing to get this colt out of the barn before the holiday buying spree. In either case, I’m choosing optimism over disappointment. I believe that a software upgrade just might be able to solve these problems and teach my K-Fire how to bake chocolate chip cookies.

In closing, reading a digital book on my Kindle Fire is user friendly. And grabbing a new book if/when I desire is easy, quick and often free. This is all good. Really good! But I had hoped for more. And I’m still hoping.

Related articles

• Kindle Fire Pros & Cons, Part I (virtualdavis.com)
• Kindle Fire Pros & Cons, Part II (virtualdavis.com)
• Survey: Kindle Fire owners happy with device, though iPad users happier (digitaltrends.com)
• Amazon Revenue $17.43 Billion in Fourth Quarter, Income Down in 2011 (digitalbookworld.com)
• Publishing News: Ereader ownership doubles, again (radar.oreilly.com)
• Publishers Sour on Tablet as Reading Platform, Survey Says (digitalbookworld.com)

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Time to swap Amazon.com $199 for a Kindle Fire. I’ve to discover firsthand what makes it sexy and/or clunky. I have cast around for reviews, but now it’s time to understand what this increasingly ubiquitous device is all about. While I wait for the brown truck, you can catch up on my journey so far…

Related articles

• Kindle Fire Pros & Cons, Part I (virtualdavis.com)
• Analyst: Kindle Fire sole 6 million units last quarter (gadgetsandgizmos.org)
• Amazon Revenue $17.43 Billion in Fourth Quarter, Income Down in 2011 (digitalbookworld.com)
• Amazon Kindle Fire May Not Have Scared Apple, But Other Android Tablet Manufacturers Should Be Wary (netbooknews.com)
• Publishing News: Ereader ownership doubles, again (radar.oreilly.com)
• Storytelling from Cave Fire to Kindle Fire (virtualdavis.com)
• Kindle Day Roundup: Fire Ships Quick, Reviews and More (digitalbookworld.com)

Image by Brian Sawyer via Flickr

I’ve decided that I need to understand the Kindle Fire. I’ve borrowed, dabbled and delayed. So far it hasn’t been love at first sight. Not like my bride’s iPad, for example. I love it. Crave it. Waiting for next gen to own my own. Happy fortieth birthday, virtualDavis! Perhaps…

But the K-Fire is here to stay. For a while. Until its sexy progeny dethrone it. K-Fire’s adoption rate alone has been staggering, so I need to test drive this chunky Technicolor gizmo posthaste. I’m placing my order tonight, and I’ll dish up pick-nits and plaudits aplenty soon. Stay tuned.

Until then, consider these Kindle Fire pros and cons posted by O’Reilly Media’s Joe Wikert (@jwikert).

Kindle Fire Pros

• Form factor “It’s nice being able to wrap your hand around the entire device and the lighter weight is a big plus for the Fire.”
• Meets the needs of typical consumer “Consumers who want a cheap tablet are OK without all the bells and whistles of the iPad…”
• Connection to Amazon content “Connectivity to Amazon’s ebooks, video and audio content is second to none with the Fire.”

Kindle Fire Cons

• Connection to Amazon content “As easy as it is for Fire users to access Amazon content it’s just that difficult to access anyone else’s… my next tablet will not be locked in to one provider’s content.”
• Awful for the early adopter/tinkerer “.if you’re buying it to root and open it up you’ll be disappointed… [For example] some of the apps in the Android Market simply won’t run on it…”
• Auto-updates “How in the world can Amazon think that forcing OS updates on every Fire owner is the right thing to do? … Really stupid.”
• “Silk” browser “It turns out the browser isn’t that fast… in my totally unscientific side-by-side testing, the Fire almost always loaded pages slower than both my iPad and my RIM Playbook.”
• Missing a “killer” app “Amazon should have invested some money with the developers of apps like Zite and Flipboard to make sure they were available when the Fire launched.”

(Kindle Fire pros and cons list via Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog.)

Everything Wikert has listed makes sense to me, but the most likely complaint likely to endure is the Amazon-centric content bias. I imagine the browser will get supercharged, and app developers are already following the consumer flood. But Amazon intends to exploit and nurture the content bias. No surprise there. And with millions of satisfied, well-trained consumers eager to gobble up Amazon distributed content, it’s no surprise that Bezos & Company aren’t eager to give away their monopoly.

Are you pleased or disappointed with your Kindle Fire? Share your experience in the comments below or Twitter, Facebook, Google+. And as soon as I’ve gotten my greedy paws (and eyes) on a Kindle Fire I’ll dish up my own Kindle Fire Pros & Cons. Now, let’s see how lickety-split Amazon Prime can hook me up…

Related articles

• Analyst: Amazon moved 6 million Kindle Fires over the holidays (digitaltrends.com)
• Amazon Revenue $17.43 Billion in Fourth Quarter, Income Down in 2011 (digitalbookworld.com)
• Hands On the New Kindle Fire (epicagear.com)
• Amazon says Kindle sales tripled during holidays (digitaltrends.com)
• Kindle Fire: Three pros, five cons (radar.oreilly.com)
• Amazon Sells 6 Million Kindle Fires in Q4 Alone According to Analysts (geeky-gadgets.com)
• Netflix Tells Amazon: ‘Been There, Done That’ (dailyfinance.com)

Although I love my print books, e-readers, in one form or another, have become my primary reading device over the last few years. I barely touch my print books, although they are still beautiful and important to me. But they sit on my bookshelf as a decorative and intellectual art form… When I voiced my reluctance to ship my books, one of my editors, horror-stricken, said: “You have to take your books with you! I mean, they are books. They are so important!” The book lover in me didn’t disagree, but the practical side of me did… In the end, I decided to leave 80 percent of the books behind, donating them to bookstores and even throwing some old, tattered volumes in the garbage. Readers, what would you have done? (NYTimes.com)

Image by henry… via Flickr

Old news. Familiar question. Sort of…

I just returned from the Writer’s Digest Conference where the question of jettisoning or clinging to print collections came up several times. No consensus, but an interesting question.

This winter/spring is “out with the old, in with the new” time for me, so I’m lightening my load in as many ways as I can. My 2012 word-of-the-year? Agile. I’ll revisit this in the months ahead. Am I throwing too much too fast for you to follow my line of reasoning? Yes, I am. Concept still jelling. Actually the concept and the conviction have jelled, but I’m still sorting through how to explain my mission. Dump nonessential baggage and travel light. Simplify. Cut the crap. Chase the dream… As you can see, I’m still in beta on this!

Nick Bilton‘s July 27 post, “Print Books: Should They Stay or Should They Go?” cuts right to the chase, and I suspect that his decision to pare print down to 20% of his collection will be an increasingly common phenomenon.

I’m not there. I like digital, but I’m a sucker for ink and paper and bindings. I’m passionate about marginalia-filled white space and flattened relics which tumble out of books instantly transporting us back to an orange poppy in Big Sur or a teenage romance. I’m not ready to swap my bookshelves and floor/windowsill/desk stacks for a slim digital facsimile. Not yet. Purge I will, but not the books. Not now.

What about you? Do you feel the urge to purge?

Related articles

• Purging My Books (jackieregales.com)
• This Incessant Need To Keep Books (inkwellsplatters.wordpress.com)
• What Will Happen To Print Books ? (nfaa.wordpress.com)
• Oh to read marginalia in your own book (totallylostforwords.wordpress.com)

The interwebs are perenially in beta, and this mashup is no exception. In the days and weeks ahead, I know that conferees will create excellent conference-inspired posts on their blogs, etc. Please help me curate this archive by contributing your favorite digital artifacts and I’ll add them in. Let me know what I’ve overlooked and I’ll credit you with gold stars. Or something! Thanks.

Read the mashup on storify…

Related articles

• Writer’s Digest Conference 2012, Saturday (virtualdavis.com)
• Writer’s Digest Conference 2012, Friday (virtualdavis.com)
• Must-Attend Sessions: 2012 Writer’s Digest Conference (janefriedman.com)

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• Writer’s Digest Conference 2012, Friday (virtualdavis.com)
• Must-Attend Sessions: 2012 Writer’s Digest Conference (janefriedman.com)

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• Writer’s Digest Conference 2012, Saturday (virtualdavis.com)
• Must-Attend Sessions: 2012 Writer’s Digest Conference (janefriedman.com)

With the increasing popularity of electronic readers and e-books, the future use of hard-bound books also comes under question… French Canadian artist Guy Laramée tackles it from a decidedly philosophical — and creative — perspective, carving intricate, three-dimensional landscapes that look amazingly real up close. (TreeHugger)

Based in Montréal (only an hour and a half north of me), French Canadian artist Guy Laramée tickles the already ticklish debate over the destiny of printed books. Fusing art and anthropology Laramée carves books into sculptures which arrest the viewer not only with their intricate three dimensional beauty, but with the cascade of questions each piece compels. Why books? Why vintage books? What are the implications of destroying words and ideas in order to create romantic, usually natural scenes?

The artist statement published at Laramée’s website offers some insight.

The erosion of cultures – and of “culture” as a whole – is the theme that runs through the last 25 years of my artistic practice. Cultures arise, become obsolete, and are replaced by new ones. With the vanishing of cultures, some people are displaced and destroyed. We are currently told that the paper book is bound to die. The library, as a place, is finished. One might say: so what? Do we really believe that “new technologies” will change anything concerning our existential dilemma, our human condition? And even if we could change the content of all the books on earth, would this change anything in relation to the domination of analytical knowledge over intuitive knowledge? … My work, in 3D as well as in painting, originates from the very idea that ultimate knowledge could very well be an erosion instead of an accumulation. (Guy Laramée)

As I head into a three day writing and publishing conference, Laramée’s art and ideas strike a curious, resonant chord. I’ll hear (and cheer) oracles of the Post-Gutenberg Paradigm, and I’ll learn and laugh and celebrate writing, storytelling and publishing alternatives unimaginable even a year ago. It’s thrilling to surf waves of change, especially when they expand our abilities. But optimistic publishing predictions aside, I am drawn to the questions Laramée is asking, and fascinated with the idea of an erosion of knowledge. He concludes his artist statement thus:

After 30 years of practice, the only thing I still wish my art to do is this: To project us into this thick Cloud of Unknowing. (Guy Laramée)

I look forward to his exhibition at the Galerie d’Art d’Outremont in April. Reason enough for a Montreal birthday expedition!

Related articles

• The erosion in the paid media pyramid (sethgodin.typepad.com)
• E-Book Statistics For Authors to Watch (janefriedman.com)
• Will More People Read Books Because of E-Books? Publishers Not So Optimistic (digitalbookworld.com)
• Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (virtualdavis.com)
• Four years into the ebook revolution: things we know and things we don’t know (idealog.com)
• Guy Laramee’s Insane Book Landscapes (makezine.com)

Image via VatorNews

When Amazon launched Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, their free e-book lending library back in November it was a concept, a gamble, a challenge.

Amazon unveiled a long-rumored “Netflix-for-books” digital lending library Wednesday. Via yet another enhancement for Amazon Prime, subscribers who also own Kindles can borrow one (and only one) book per month from about 5,000 available titles. (Wired.com)

Less than three months later it’s taken off, and its potential is just beginning to take shape.

According to the company, customers borrowed nearly 300,000 (295,000 to be exact) KDP Select titles in December alone, and KDP Select has helped grow the total library selection. With the $500,000 December fund, KDP authors have earned $1.70 per borrow. In response to strong customer adoption of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, Amazon says it has added a $200,000 bonus to the January KDP Select fund, raising the total pool from $500,000 to $700,000 for authors. (TechCrunch)

Who knew libraries would profit indie authors in the digital age? Another encouraging indicator for storytelling buskers… Sure Amazon’s free e-books (like their free videos) are incentives to sell Kindles and Amazon Prime, but the numbers are encouraging at a time when writers are gushing content virtually uncompensated.

Am I gushing? Yes. Am I habitually, unabashedly pollyanna-ish? Yes! But I can’t help getting excited (and optimistic) about what this means for indie authors. I understand that Amazon’s motives are market dominance and an eventual payday, but there’s a fascinating shift afoot, and from the vantage of a latter day storyteller, it opens up exciting new opportunities fellow narrative crafters. KDP Select is starting to look a lot more inviting, right?

Amazon this morning announced that it has set up a $6 million annual fund dedicated to independent authors and publishers. Dubbed KDP Select, the fund aims to let indie authors and publishers “make money in a whole new way”… [When] a KDP author or publisher chooses to make any of their books exclusive to the Kindle Store for at least 90 days, those books are eligible to be included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and can earn a share of the KDP Select fund. (TechCrunch)

Of course, not everyone’s happy, and I suspect that it may be a couple of years before we can accurately evaluate the impact this will have on traditional publishers and authors. Plenty of cynics and skeptics are offering doomsday prophecies, but this warning in particular gives me pause, reminding me not to leap before I know how high the tide.

The Author’s Guild attacked Amazon after the Kindle Lending Library was announced, claiming that the program (in which Amazon actually purchases a copy of the book at cost to itself) “appears to be boldly breaching its contracts with these publishers. This is an exercise of brute economic power.” (HotHardware)

Brute economic power for sure, and risks abound, but at this early way station it looks like at least some authors are profiting.

Rachel Yu, a 16 year-old high school student, earned $6,200 in December from e-books she wrote and published via a related Amazon initiative called KDP Select… her children’s books, including titles such as “The Magical Dragon’s Three Gifts,” were among the most borrowed through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. (MediaFile)

Although this prodigy is still too young to enroll directly in the program, her parents fronted her success, suggesting that the KDP Select must be family-friendly and tolerant of round pegs in square holes. Not necessarily a common description for traditional publishing…

Carolyn McCray, a writer of paranormal romance novels, historical thrillers and mysteries, earned $8,250 from the KDP Select fund in December. “KDP Select truly is a career altering program,” said McCray. “I couldn’t be happier with the tools, support and exposure it has given me. To say the trade-off of exclusivity on Amazon for the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library has been a profitable one would be a gross understatement. Participating in KDP Select has quadrupled my royalties.” (TechJournal South)

Amber Scott is a romance writer and earned $7,650 from the KDP Select fund in December. “Enrolling in KDP Select utterly transformed my career,” said Scott. “I’ve experienced not only a surge in royalties but a surge in readership thanks to the increased exposure. I love the chance to earn new readers through the innovation of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. What an exciting time to be an author.” (TechJournal South)

Three inspiring stories don’t define a rule, but the picture is promising. Where from here? I suspect the numbers from January will be exciting too, especially considering how many Kindles allegedly sold in the holiday fervor. Vice President of Kindle Content, Russ Grandinetti, touched on the proven marketing potential of offering free e-books through the Kindle library.

“We knew customers would love having KDP Select titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. But we’ve been surprised by how much paid sales of those same titles increased, even relative to the rest of KDP.” (eBookNewser)

Perhaps the digital age will see a return to busking and libraries. I hope so. And our first glimpse of Kindle Owners’ Lending Library invites optimism.

Related articles

• Amazon Juices Kindle Lending Library Payout for KDP Select Authors (digitalbookworld.com)
• Amazon Kindle Owners Are “Borrowing” Nearly 300,000 Electronic Books A Month (techcrunch.com)
• Amazon lending up to 300k e-books per month (vator.tv)
• Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library now boasts 75,000 books, borrowed 295,000 times last month (thenextweb.com)
• Top 10 Self-Published Writers Make 449% More Money Through Amazon Lending Library (mashable.com)
• Amazon Kindle Users ‘Borrowing’ 300,000 E-Books Per Month (inquisitr.com)

On Sunday, January 8th, 2012 tens of thousands of people took off their pants on subways in 59 cities in 27 countries around the world. In New York, our 11th Annual No Pants Subway Ride had nearly 4,000 participants, spread out over six meeting points and ten subway lines… If you’re unfamiliar with this event, you might want to first read our history of The No Pants Subway Ride. Since this is the 11th year we’ve done this, there’s not too much to report other than it was another awesome time. (Improv Everywhere)

You’ve gotta love Improv Everywhere and their annual No Pants Subway Ride. Unless you’re too stiff to drop your trousers in public without blinking an eye. Unless you’re too uptight to smile and laugh when the fellow next to you drops his trousers in public without blinking and eye. Spontaneous acts of generosity and hilarity resuscitate levity which is darned near as important as nourishment, respiration and sleep. So say I.

Can you recommend another upbeat improv video or post?

If you’re in need of a wee bit more shake-of-the-blues improv happiness, check out “Black Tie Beach“, “Worst Ice Skater or Best Entertainer? and/or “Welcome To Heathrow Airport“. Bet your day’s going better already!

Related articles

• Pics Tell the Story of No Pants Subway Rides (mediabistro.com)
• No Pants Subway Ride 2012 (flickr.net)
• City Dwellers Drop Trou for Annual No-Pants Subway Ride (newsfeed.time.com)
• Global No Pants Subway Ride 2012 (boingboing.net)
• No Pants Subway Ride Goes Global (inquisitr.com)
• Scott Beale: Improv Everywhere No Pants Subway Ride 2012 (laughingsquid.com)