E-Books: A Guessing Game

In honor of Amazon.com’s Kindle let’s play a game and try to guess the forecast for ebook sales over the next few years.

In 2007 the ebook market is in the infancy stage. Despite Sony and Amazon.com both releasing consumer friendly devices ebooks have yet to gain widespread consumer acceptance.

Based on the reach which Amazon.com has in customer base, the proliferation of technology and the comfort of consumers purchasing electronics and virtual goods online – I forecast the sales of ebooks in 2008 will be $25 to $40 million. This is a small fraction of the overall publishing revenue per year as you can see below.

A few numbers of note (numbers are rough estimates):

2007 Literature Rate: 50%

US Population:300 Million

PC Penetration: 60+%

Itunes Downloads: 2.5 Billion

Amazon.com customer base 40+ million

# of books purchased per year – per consumer: 4

Publishing Industry revenues in 2006: $25 Billion

As we see electronics advancing the trend is convergence. The long term trend will no longer be for a separate gps, handheld, cell, mp3 player, etc – but for one unified device.

We can already see this happening with cell phones, organizers, cameras and mp3 players. As technology evolves this trend will only increase. This will result in a super-set of market size for any good or service that can be delivered to that device. Ebooks will be just such a product. In 10 years I see pocket sized devices that project onto any surface, that read and translate any text, are simple, powerful and consumer friendly. Based upon this the potential consumer (or market size) for ebooks will be in the range of 50 Million in the US, 400 Million Worldwide.

In technology the market is nearly always guided by innovators and then grown by imitators. The cutting edge innovators first create the product, unit or system in order for the innovators to make it affordable and bring it to mass production. This holds true for older products such as dvds, downloadable movies and music. From Beta video players to 8-tracks the innovation piqued curiosity in the marketplace, but little else. Until the imitators came along and created copies and more drove prices down.

The same will hold true in the e-book marketplace. As Amazon and Sony are on the cutting edge of innovation – others (like Microsoft) will sit back, watch customer reaction and learn.

At the right time the imitators will enter the market and bring volume of both product and consumers.

Let’s compare ebooks to the popular itunes – as itunes provides a near-as possible model (discounting the hardware device for ebooks which has yet to appear)

Examine the itunes sales for 5 years (again – estimates):

Itunes:

Year 1 = 70 million

Year 2 = 370 million

Year 3 = 602 million

Year 4 = 1.5 billion

Year 5 = 2.5 billion

As we can see – low volumes for the first year but nearly double each year after. I will concede that Apple’s ‘star’ power has helped itunes sell in such rapid pace.

Discounting that affect for ebooks (although it certainly a possibility.

2008: 40 Million

2009: 75 Million

2010: 135 Million

2011: 200 Million

2012: 350 Million

These figures are arrived by extrapolating the # of consumers who purchase books per year, as well as textbooks (which I predict will be the first large ebook market to hit critical mass). They are much lower then itunes volumes as you can see – as we’ve got a much lower base of consumer for books then for music.

Adoption of ebooks will be similar to music. The major difference in adoption really lies in the behaviour of the consumer. Music is vastly more popular of a medium then literature, and is much less ‘easier’ of a consumable. Meaning that consumers can make use of downloadable music in many different ways, while working, playing, in recreation and anywhere that the device follows. The consumption of music does not require dedicated attention as does literature. This creates a much tougher challenge for the adoption of ebooks – both in terms of device (hardware) and usage patterns. Music is rather indifferent to device, some may be stylish, others not – but all have the overall same delivery methodology. Until the innovators can find an acceptable delivery platform the volumes will not materialize. However, once the acceptable platform is found it will be imitated and the pattern will closely follow that of the music downloads.

The attitudes of digital content have changed dramatically in recent years. The Internet as we know it and worldwide web passed the 10 year maturity mark and has saturated through the population at a staggering rate. As this has happened the flow of information and data has followed and opened up opportunities and marketplaces which we could only dream. As the generation X’ers grew up into expendable incomes of their own they began to influence online purchases. These purchases are no longer limited to physical goods (ie . amazon.com) but now virtual services and goods such as movies, music and ebooks are common. Music content delivered electronically opened the floodgates and direct delivery of movies via electronic methods is now hitting its stride. As often occurs with new technology the old producers had difficulties (and still do) monetizing their product in a new delivery method. Early delivery methods were prone to theft and abuse. Ebooks have struggled to catch on to this new marketplace as no consumer friendly device has been introduced to satisfy the apparent need. There are many less consumers for electronic literature then movies and music, and whereas a movie or music can be delivered to a computer literature is not often read online. Attitudes have changed, but roadblocks still remain.

Hardware devices play the pivotal role in widespread adoption of ebooks. The critical hurdle which must be overcome is finding a consumer friendly hardware device which can be marketed to the masses. The Kindle (Amazon’s) is a leap forward on that front. The device addresses several important consumer concerns such as ease of use, ease of purchasing ebooks, readability, portability and battery life. The Kindle is an advanced ebook reader and Amazon is a true innovator. The major flaw (or hurdle) to the Kindle is the price-point, $399. At that price the average consumer will not jump into an unknown or unproven technology. The major advantage of the Kindle lies in the wireless ability to connect to the ebook marketplace and download fresh content. The benefit Amazon has given to the market is in innovation. The new device will test out the market and provide feedback to other device makers on what works, what is accepted by the consumer and what does not. The hidden benefit is in market awareness. Since Amazon is such a large public entity many have been exposed now to the Kindle (many more consumers then those exposed to the Sony ebook reader). Market awareness is raised for the ebook product itself and downloadable literature.

The flattened marketplace of our era has created many opportunities for businesses, products and sales. The ebook will reach out to educators and recreational consumers alike -given time, consumer acceptance and ever changing technology.

If you are thinking about purchasing the UK version of the Kindle 3G from Amazon, then you would probably like to read a Kindle 3G review UK. For a while the 3G feature was not available to UK residents, but that has all changed now. It is now possible to access all the books that you want using the super-fast 3G network. What’s even better is that Amazon offers unlimited 3G service for absolutely free. Most people cannot fully comprehend this when they first hear it, since they are so used to paying for 3G access on a monthly basis.

Let’s take a closer look at the Kindle 3G review UK so that you can fully understand how it works.

When you get your Kindle 3G, you will notice that there are multiple ways to add books to your device. One method is to simply download the books to your computer and then to transfer those books over to your Kindle 3G using a USB cable. While this is an effective way of getting books onto your Kindle, it certainly isn’t necessary. In fact, you don’t even need a computer to use a Kindle 3G – you can connect to the Internet directly with the Kindle 3G itself and download books directly onto the device. This ease of use is definitely a positive point in this Kindle 3 review UK.

There are two methods to connect to the Internet with the Kindle 3G. The first method is via WiFi. Anytime you are in a WiFi hotspot, you can quickly connect your Kindle to the Internet. This can be advantageous because even though 3G wireless is pretty zippy, WiFi is usually even faster. If you have WiFi in your home, then you might want to program your Kindle to automatically connect to your home network any time that you are within range.

The other option for connecting to the Internet is via the 3G network. It may sound amazing, but once you purchase your Kindle 3G, you will never need to pay for this service. Amazon has worked out special arrangements with the cellular service providers to offer wireless broadband service to every Kindle user for the life of the device. This is one reason that nearly every Kindle 3G review UK has been positive. When you want to download a new book, you can simply choose which method that you would like to use to connect to the Internet. You can either select a WiFi network that is in range, or you can connect to the Amazon 3G service. Then you can enter the Kindle Store, where you can browse through hundreds of thousands of books. When you find one to download, it will be ready to read in less than 60 seconds.

In this post I’m going to try and demystify the eBook publishing process. I’ve been through it and lived to tell the tale. So here goes. Stand by for a fun ride. It’ll be worth the trials and tribulations along the way!

Ingredients:

• Book (preferably in.doc format) – see detailed formatting guidelines below
• Cover picture (in JPG format, max 1200 pixels high)
• Short book description (400 characters max)
• Proper book description (up to about 2,500 characters)
• About the Author summary
• Book categories (i.e. Young Adult, Fantasy, etc.)
• Decision on selling price of book

Method:

1. Do not attempt to publish your book without ALL the above ingredients. Delay or disaster could occur
2. Ensure you have full publishing rights to the book you are publishing (I know this sounds odd, but if you have signed a contract with anyone, check and make sure…)
3. Log in to Smashwords.com and create an author account if you don’t already have one (trust me, there is method in my seeming madness) – complete your author profile
4. Select ‘Publish’ on your dashboard and complete the page, copying and inserting the various ingredients from above as requested
5. Press ‘publish’ and wait while SmashWords processes your book (this could take several hours. SmashWords uses a queue which will update to inform you of its progress)
6. When SmashWords has published your book, go to its page (click on book title) and download it to your PC / iPad / eBook reader. Look carefully at the results and decide whether anything needs reformatting. If so, reformat and resubmit book to queue. PLEASE NOTE – This step is really important and time spent here will saves hours later)
7. Once book is successfully and satisfactorily published at SmashWords, go to Amazon.com (you will need an account at kdp.amazon.com. You will also need an author account at authorcentral.amazon.com)
8. On your ‘bookshelf’ page (at kdp.amazon.com), select ‘add a new title’ and complete the form as requested (similar to SmashWords)
9. Submit the book to Amazon and wait while it converts it. You will then be taken to a page where you can select royalty rate and book price. Finally select publish and then wait
10. It will take 24 hours or longer for your eBook to appear in the Amazon Kindle store. This is why it is advised to publish at SmashWords first (to ensure format looks correct). You cannot view or correct any publishing errors at Amazon until after the book is completely published
11. Once book is published, attach it to your author profile at Amazon
12. While book is publishing at Amazon you can publish it at Barnes & Noble in much the same way. Go to pubit.barnesandnoble.com and set up an author account
13. Select ‘add a title’ and go through a similar routine as at the other sites. It will take up to 24 hours for the eBook to be available at the Barnes & Noble site
14. Market shamelessly!

Exceptions:

• You may receive emails from Amazon or Barnes & Noble if there are problems with publishing. Do not ignore these emails. The quicker and more fully you respond to them, the quicker your book will publish. Each email will delay the publishing process by at least a day
• If you have previous books published at Amazon that you want linking to your author account you can do that at the authorcentral site
• If there are also physical copies of the books that you are epublishing you will need to email amazon to ‘merge their entries’. This can take several days
• Check back regularly for publishing progress (often the books will appear in the bookstore before they are highlighted as ‘published’. Try searching for them on Amazon or B&N)

Detailed Document / Book Formatting:

• The best instructions are HERE
• Seriously, read the guide linked above…
• In a nutshell, no fonts bigger than 18pt. No multiple lines between paragraphs. Use Word to automatically set up indent and trailing line space on paragraphs. Never use ‘tabs’. Don’t use lots of different fonts. Don’t use odd fonts. Insert all pictures inline. Etc., etc.
• Seriously, read the guide linked above!!

GOOD LUCK!!

I’ve been doing a lot of eBook design for Kindle recently. Even though I’m a book designer, and have been for a long time, I’m also an eBook reader and aficionado. I’ve been reading (and in many cases “rolling my own”) ebooks for many years, going back to my old Newton Message Pad 2100 and various Pocket PCs, including HP Jornadas, Casios, Toshibas, NECs, etc., so I know my way around formatting text to be read on an electronic device. The Kindle is a very nice device for reading books and, for the most part, is designed to enhance the reader’s experience, rather than the book designer’s experience.

Book designers can sometimes lose site of the fact that we’re dealing with text and the main purpose of text, in the end, is to be read. Good typography (at least for a novel) should disappear and be transparent to the reader. The reason I’m bringing this up is that most of the Kindle ebooks I’ve been seeing are released with full-justification, as is true of most traditional books. However, since the Kindle does not support hyphenation, having fully-justified text makes the reading experience less transparent. Full-justification without hyphenation can be harder to read, creating wide rivers of white space running vertically through the text and, occasionally, strangely formatted lines with only three words in them, spread across the page.

Since the Kindle is designed to allow the reader to increase the display font size, and scale and reflow text automatically, the issue with justified text becomes more obvious as the larger font sizes are used. As a rule of thumb, anybody designing for the Kindle should make it a habit to preview their books with the default font set to different sizes to make sure text is reflowing properly.

Unfortunately, despite the absence of hyphenation, The Kindle Lords (or “Lords of the Kindle” – I’m never sure which is the appropriate term) saw fit to make full-justification the default format, even though Justification and Hyphenation should go together like… um… whichever is the current, hot, trendy celebrity couple everyone is talking about. I’m sure many people who design ebooks don’t even realize it’s possible to override the Kindle justification defaults, but it is. And they should.

The key is to override the default in the CSS for the style that is applied to body text in the eBook – usually “p” with a couple of angle brackets aro. This involves directly editing the HTML file that contains the text of your book and inserting a definition for the body text tag in the Style section of your HTML file. The “text-align” statement is the important one.

Now, for those who wouldn’t touch HTML with a ten-foot pole, if you use Calibre to prepare the file for uploading your book to Amazon, you can override the justification settings from the “Look and Feel” section of the Conversion panel: Just change “Original” to “Left align.”

See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Your readers will thank you for it. Well… maybe not, but subliminally, they may appreciate it. I will thank you for it.

Electronic book readers are now in-demand among many individuals from various classes. A remarkable innovation in the world of reading occurred after Amazon released the Kindle. Since then, everything keeps getting better. This time, another version is designed to make things perfect. Check out the latest Kindle DX Review online and find out what this device has for everyone.

This product is Amazon’s 3rd version of eBook reader, following the initial Kindle and the Kindle 2. It is set to solve the real problems of the first generation. Design-wise, it has a much larger screen at 10 inches. Hence, it’s better suited to handle the contents which may look shabby on the smaller screen. As a standard, it has a physical dimension of 7.2 x 0.4 x 10.4 inches; it weighs 1.1 pounds.

Some of its smart features include the 5-way controller, built-in PDF reader, and auto-rotating screen. It also offers read-to-me, built-in dictionary, and the text-to-speech capability. This product is also designed with an inclinometer which makes it easy for the users to flip it sideways or even upside down. When you purchase this item, you’ll also take home with you the power adapter, USB 2.0 cable, and battery.

Through its 9.7 E-Ink display type, all the images on its screen are clear and crisp. Its display resolution is at 1200 x 824 which is far better than the others of its kind. It also comes with built-in speakers and it supports MP3 audio format. With regard to the text formats, it’s guaranteed to read DOC, PDF, RTF, TXT, HTML, and PRC. For the still image formats, it supports BMP, GIF, PNG, and JPEG.

This device is also preloaded with wireless connectivity through 3G wireless network. That means that downloading all your favourite books, magazines, and newspapers can now be done anytime, anywhere. Yes, searching for a hotspot to connect to is absolutely unnecessary already. Plus take note, all those best-selling books and magazines are available for a very affordable price only.

Indeed, various brands of Portable Reader are now available in the market. All of them offer different features, functionalities, and costs. As for the DX, it has a QWERTY keyboard, and several interfaces such as hi-speed USB, headphones, and mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm. In addition, its battery life is proven to survive for up to 4 hours of straight use without recharging in between. Just like the other versions, it also has 1 year warranty service and support.

If you want to buy Kindle 3, you may be wondering if you should get the Kindle 3G (3G + Wi-Fi) or the Kindle Wi-Fi ( Wi-Fi Only) model. This article will give you a comparison to help you make an informed decision before buying the right model that fits your reading and book shopping needs.

Advantages of Kindle 3G:

• Free 3G access: You get mobile connectivity virtually anytime and anywhere (in over 100 countries) in the world. When you are outside an AT&T coverage area but near a Wi-Fi hotspot, you can use the Wi-Fi function of your e-reader. However, with the Kindle Wi-Fi, you can only access the Kindle Store or the internet within a wireless hotspot.
• More color options: The Kindle 3G has two color choices: White and Graphite. The Kindle Wi-Fi is available in Graphite only.

Advantages of Kindle Wi-Fi:

• Price: This Kindle model is $50 cheaper than the 3G model, but it offers all the same features (with the exception of 3G access) as the Kindle 3G.

Some of the common advantages of both models:

• 6-inch e-link Pearl screen: This feature gives 50% better contrast than the previous generation Kindle.
• Compact size: Both models are very easy to hold and carry around. They can easily fit into a purse or bag.
• Built-in Wi-Fi: With the wireless network, the book download speeds are faster and can be done in 60 seconds. Also, downloads of personal documents are free.
• Free wireless access in AT&T hotspot: There is no sign up, no log-in, and no registration required.
• Large storage: The e-reader offers 3G memory, which means it is capable of storing 3,500 e-books.
• Long battery life: Both models provide up to 30 days reading with one single charge and wireless off, and 10 days with wireless on.
• Wireless access to the Kindle Store: You get access to the Kindle Store that offers over 630,000 paid e-books and more than 1.8 million free e-books that are out-of-copyright and pre-1923.
• Wireless downloads of Audible books: This only works with the wireless function on.
• Supersize fonts: The latest Kindle 3 offers 8 font sizes to accommodate different reading needs.

While both models offer great value for your money, you should buy Kindle 3 Wi-Fi and save the $50 if you live in an area that is not covered by AT&T 3G, if you have wireless connection at home, or if you have no problem accessing a hotspot.

If on the other hand you travel a lot internationally, or have problem accessing a hotspot, it will be more convenient for you to buy the Kindle 3G.

Before starting the book, I did wonder whether all the hoopla surrounding Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger, was all hype without substance. But I was in for a pleasant surprise when I found the novel having all the substantial and more. Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger is magnum opus, which says a lot about contemporary India in an immensely humorous way.

Adiga’s story revolves around a protagonist who is so down and out that his parents don’t even bother to give him a name. The motel commences with the central character ‘Balram’ aka ‘munna’ penning a series of letters to the Premier of China, ‘Wen Jiabao’, who is to visit his city Bangalore. One does wonder about the correlation of the Premier of China, to a small time entrepreneur that he later becomes. The letters are addressed to the Premier, albeit in what could be described as best, elementary English.

Moving forward, the readers realise the letters are descriptive narration and confessions of Balram’s life. Balram has a lot to get off his chest – his life story and his journey to his present status of a successful entrepreneur in Bangalore.

Parts no Indian corruption, local vote rigging, and rural school conditions, where the teacher who has not been paid for six months, resorts to selling the school uniforms menu to be given free of cost to the students, are highly amusing but also painful pictures of reality. Most of the narrative is for the built up for the crime Balram commits. So engaging is the narrative that don’t cd surprised av yourself, if while reading the book you break out in chuckle or a loud throated laugh. Kudos to the author, for brilliantly putting together a thought-provoking motel that instead of overwhelming you, surprises you with its light touch. The brilliant way the author has portrayed an ordinary character, who is a benchmark for a large population of India, is ingenious. Except for some minor glitches here and there the book is truly a masterpiece. Finally, an international book by an Indian author which does not thrive on painting an unflattering picture of the country! This book is a must read in your Amazon Kindle ebooks list. Don’t forget to load it in your Amazon Kindle. You can download it at Amazon and from Kindle directly.

Amazon really has created a revolution in publishing with it’s Kindle platform, recent figures from Amazon tell the tale. For every 100 physical books sold on Amazon there are 105 Kindle books sold. It is estimated that Amazon has sold in excess of 8 Million Kindles. Now that creates an opportunity, because Amazon needs content and lots of it. This is how we will start to make our money using the method that I outline below I went from Zero Sales to 1500 sales in 5 months by publishing content for Amazons Kindle platform.

Amazon has levelled the playing field for small publishers (that’s you and me) by allowing anyone to publish on Kindle and Create Space Amazon’s Publish On Demand or POD service) without it costing a penny, provided the content complies with their Terms of Service (TOS). That removes all the barriers to self publishing that has stopped so many people from succeeding.

The traditional route of approaching publishers suffering rejection often for years on end is over. This has allowed some people to make their entire income publishing on Kindle. But most of us will perhaps never write a novel.

So here’s how we can do it, we will be publishing Non Fiction Information Products (books) and we will provide outstanding value and content. At first glance this may look little different from selling Information Products on eBay. With Kindle all the delivery is done for you electronically, there are no products to ship. It is a real set and forget business. You can also sell the same content on eBay and deliver as a physical product yourself.

There are lots of really HOT markets on Kindle so we will take a look at these, surprisingly the “Make Money Online” products are NOT big sellers so it may be better to steer clear of these, at least in the beginning until we have learned to market our other products correctly.

WHAT TO PUBLISH

We are going to publish our own range of books on Kindle and elsewhere so we need content, so we have four options:

• Write it ourselves, time consuming and some would say tedious and what if you feel you cannot write (actually we all can)
• Get your book ghost written for you, you can use a service such as e-lance, The Warrior Forum or Student Gems to find worker who will do this for you. This is a costly option and you will need to give a very tight specification for the work
• Use Public Domain Content: There is a good chance that the popular content will already be on Kindle but there is a wealth of Public Domain content that has yet to be exploited I have a strategy for getting Public Domain works accepted for Kindle EVEN if it is already for sale on the site
• Compile your book from PLR (Private Label Rights) Materials, this is an excellent option but you will need to approach this in the correct way otherwise your books will be rejected by Amazon

What we must always remember is that Kindle Publishing is a numbers game and we need to have lots of content.

In The Kindle Cash Machine Part 2 we will discuss the best sources of both free and paid content to help you compile a whole range of books in different subject areas.

If you’ve self-published a short report that you’re selling in PDF format, consider converting it to Kindle format and selling it in Amazon’s digital downloads store. Prices you can realistically charge there range from $.99 to $9.99, with your share of purchases either 35 or 70 percent. But perhaps the greater benefit than the income is the opportunity through the Amazon Kindle store to get your material in front of customers from around the world who wouldn’t otherwise ever run across your ideas and talents.

About a year ago, I struggled to take a paperback book I had nicely designed using the powerhouse publishing program InDesign and convert it so I could sell it on Kindle. I tried three different conversion tools, and all of them produced grossly unacceptable results. Frustrated, yet not ready to shell out the cash to hire someone else to reformat the book, I put this project on the back burner.

More recently, tempted by tales of colleagues experiencing results with short ebooks on Kindle, I decided to test the waters with a collection of articles that I’d compiled into an ebook. After sifting through many how-to articles and videos on Kindle conversions, here are the steps I followed that worked out perfectly not only for my experimental 30-page eBook but for several other short works and then the more complex paperback that had earlier stumped me.

Step One: Setting Up Styles in Your Word Document

One key to success is keeping your Microsoft Word formatting as simple as possible. Don’t worry about selecting fonts or defining fancy formatting. Instead, define and use what Word calls “styles.”

To do this, click on “Styles” from Word’s “Format” menu, then one by one define the following three basic styles:

1) Body Text: Times New Roman 12, single spacing, no other special effects

2) Heading 1: Based on no style, Times New Roman 16 points, bold, page break before

3) Heading 2: Based on no style, Times New Roman 14 points, bold, no page break before

Then code all regular paragraphs in your manuscript as Body Text by highlighting them and clicking on “Body Text” for them in the “Styles” menu. Code your chapter titles as “Heading 1” and any subheads as “Heading 2.”

If you need additional formatting styles, define a new style for it in the “Styles” menu instead of manually clicking buttons on your computer keyboard to make the text look the way you think it should. Unless everything in your Word document is coded consistently in such styles, you’ll see chaos in the Kindle version.

Step Two: Save Your Word File as RTF

When you have finishing coding everything in your Word manuscript, save the file first as a “.doc” file, then as a rich text file – “.rtf.” The RTF file is what you need for Step Three.

Step Three: Convert to Mobi Format using Calibre

Calibre is a free eBook conversion program you can download at http://www.calibre-ebook.com. Open the program and click on the “plus” icon in the upper left to load the RTF version of your eBook into Calibre. Then click the “i” icon” in the upper left to fill in such information as your name and the title of the ebook.

With your book title highlighted on the main screen of the program, click on the next icon, with two curved arrows, which gets you to the conversion function. There are a lot of options that come up, but you only need to concern yourself with two of them. In the upper right corner, where it says “Output Format,” select “MOBI.” Then in the left column, click on “Page Setup” and then under “Output Profile,” select “Kindle.”

Click “OK,” and the program converts your file to something you can upload to Kindle. When the rotating circle in the lower right corner stops spinning, double-click on your title on Calibre’s main screen to see how your file will look in the Kindle e-reader.

If the e-reader shows formatting that looks wildly wrong, then you didn’t define and code your styles in Word carefully enough. Go back to the “.doc” file that you saved at the beginning of Step Two and check your styles, then repeat Steps Two and Three. You may need to do some trial and error in redefining the styles to get things like bulleted lists looking right in Kindle.

When your text looks fine in Calibre’s Kindle simulator, you are ready to upload the.mobi version of your eBook to Amazon. You can get that process started by going to http://kdp.amazon.com/. In just a day or so after you’ve uploaded your ebook, you and the rest of the online universe will see it available for sale in the Kindle store. Happy eBook sales!

Ever since it’s debut in November of 2007, Amazon.com’s Kindle electronic book reader has remained one of its flagship products, targeting the e-book market at entirely new demographics. The Kindle also continues to evolve, seeing its second generation in early 2009 and, in June of that same year, appearing again as the Kindle DX. So what new features does the Kindle DX bring to your virtual libraries, and does it lose anything when compared to its predecessors? Below you’ll find an overview of what new features the DX offers.

The Kindle DX features a number of advantages over the Kindle 2. Sporting four gigs of internal flash memory, the DX doubles the capacity of its predecessor, allowing for the storage of approximately 3000 non-illustrated titles. It’s larger screen, which is almost ten inches, shows more text on the screen that the six inch version. This larger screen makes textbooks easier to view, thus targeting a new demographic of college students not wishing to be burdened by numerous heavy physical volumes.

The Kindle DX opens users to other electronic document formats such as PDF, which doesn’t lock the user to the proprietary Amazon format. By supporting PDF titles, the Kindle DX is taken out of Amazon’s closed ecosystem, becoming a reader capable of rendering any number of business documents, periodicals and e-books, including large libraries of public domain classics.

One of the DX’s new innovative features is its inclinometer, enabling it to be flipped sideways or upside-down while still retaining the correct text orientation. There have always been critics on the bandwagon that separate electronic reading devices are not as convenient as physical books. While it may seem minor, the addition of the inclinometer showcases a level of customizability for the reading experience simply not available with non-electronic books. The PDF viewing experienced has been enhanced by the new inclinometer feature. By changing orientation, it is sometimes possible to zoom in on otherwise difficult-to-view PDFs that were designed to be viewed on computer screens.

The DX also adds stereo speakers, a feature which makes the text-to-speech capabilities introduced in the Kindle 2 somewhat more accessible. Also, whereas the previous models were restricted to transferring data via Amazon’s Whispernet, the DX offers a wireless fallback option for times when Whispernet connectivity is either absent or inadequate.

The Kindle DX does have several disadvantages which, depending on perspective, might make its predecessor a more appropriate choice. The Kindle DX, priced at $489, far out prices the previous models originally priced at $389, but now priced at $299. The larger size of the DX, while an asset to many, also brings attention to its high cost compared with other equally sized, and greater featured electronic book readers. While the newer display is larger and more ideal for many viewing conditions, there remains something to be said for a smaller gadget that is more easily portable.

Amazon’s rapidly-evolving Kindle line shows great promise. Rather than a slow iteration cycle with few visible improvements and numerous problems left unaddressed, Amazon has shown a dedication to design an exciting and usable platform for electronic book distribution.