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Strong customer response to Amazon’s unlimited book borrows initiative

Posted: January 18, 2015 in Books in general
Tags: Amazon, authors, book borrows, free books, Goodreads, KDPS, kindle, Kindle Unlimited, KOLL, KU, publishers, readers

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) team announced this week they continue to see strong response from customers to the Kindle Unlimited (KU) book borrows scheme and are adding a bonus of $4.25 million to the previously announced base fund amount of $3 million. This brings the total fund to $7.25 million for the month of December.

KDP released the following report “to share some initial results from the first few months of Kindle Unlimited” with its stable of participating authors and independent publishers:

• Renewal Rates – Authors have chosen to renew their titles in KDP Select at rates in excess of 95% in each month of 2014.
• A La Carte Sales Growth – During the 5 full months since KU launch (August to December 2014), royalties to KDPS authors from a la carte sales have grown faster than a la carte sales on KDP overall or Kindle overall.
• Adding in the payments for KOLL and KU over that time, total royalties to KDPS authors more than doubled when compared to the same period in 2013.
• Total earnings on titles priced $2.99 or greater are growing faster than the overall average. The same is true for titles 150+ pages in length.

A KDP spokesperson says, “To further highlight the KDP Select books that are most popular with customers, we will again award “KDP Select All-Stars” for December to the most-read authors and titles in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. We’ll spotlight each All-Star author and title on applicable detail pages.

“These awards will come with financial bonuses and recipients will be contacted in the next few days. For more information on All-Stars, visit https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2X66QXB12WV2. Anyone with a title in KDP Select—even a debut author with a single title—can qualify if their work becomes a customer favorite. We will also pay a separate bonus for Kindle Owners’ Lending Library loans in Japan.”

The spokesperson says, “We’ve gotten lots of great feedback in the past weeks and months, including a bunch of ideas on how to further improve the structure of the program and make it work better for authors and readers alike. Like everything we do, we’re looking hard at all your feedback and we expect to keep tweaking and improving the program in the future.”

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Coming soon! ‘ANTIGRAVITY PROPULSION: Human or Alien Technologies?’

Posted: December 22, 2014 in Books in general, Underground Knowledge
Tags: aliens, Antigravity Propulsion, Extraterrestrials, Japanese POWs, manmade spacecraft, military aircraft, Roswel, ufos

Here’s the cover of our soon-to-be released book ANTIGRAVITY PROPULSION: Human or Alien Technologies? by James & Lance Morcan with contributions by leading scientist Dr. Takaaki Musha.

Roswell, that infamous event that occurred near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, when a mystery craft crashed on a ranch and debris was recovered, receives a chapter to itself in Antigravity Propulsion.

To give you a sneak preview, here’s some excerpts (abbridged) from the Roswell chapter:

Of all the conspiracy claims surrounding and interrelated with Area 51, one stands out above all others: Roswell.

The Roswell event occurred near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, when a mystery craft crashed on a ranch and debris was recovered. That much at least is true. The official explanation – courtesy of the United States Armed Forces – is the debris was the result of a secret US military Air Force surveillance balloon crashing…

…However, it’s the unofficial explanations that most interest us. They obviously interest a lot of others, too: the public at large have been intrigued by the enduring theories the incident spawned – the most prominent being that the mystery craft was in fact a spaceship and that it contained extraterrestrial life…

…In fairness, it should also be noted there are other conspiracy theories about the Roswell incident that have nothing whatsoever to do with aliens or otherworldly technologies.

One such alternative explanation involves Japan and the aftermath of WW2. This report, which apparently has/had many credible witnesses just like the alien body accounts, says that US military personnel did indeed find a crashed UFO with survivors in it.

However, the crucial difference compared to other Roswell reports is that military personnel claimed the survivors were not extraterrestrials but Japanese people.

This seemingly unlikely theory suggests the Japanese had access to their own antigravity propulsion technology – either manmade or extraterrestrial in origin – and that they were attempting to attack the US with advanced flying craft to enact revenge for the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Whether this story was a result of post war propaganda or paranoia on behalf of US military personnel, or whether the Japanese really did have antigravity propulsion systems of their own and were looking to exact justice, is anybody’s guess.

Many who believe this to be true say that the popular ET conspiracy theories were purposefully leaked to journalists by the US Government to conceal the Japanese attack, and more importantly their exotic technologies, which the military felt needed to be kept hidden from the American public.

There have been several UFO researchers and independent Roswell investigators who have written about this counter theory involving Japan and believe it to be true or at least treat it very seriously.

For example, the 2005 book Body Snatchers in the Desert: The Horrible Truth at the Heart of the Roswell Story by Nick Redfern emphatically states that there were never any dead alien bodies.

“The crash-site discovery of prototype military aircraft would expose a damning secret,” the intriguing book’s synopsis mentions, “a highly confidential, U.S. government-sanctioned program to conduct medical experiments on deformed, handicapped, disfigured, and diseased Japanese POWs, exploited as “expendable” victims by their captors.”

Watch this space for more updates on the pending release of Antigravity Propulsion !!

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‘Classified Woman’ by whistleblower Sibel Edmonds an eye-opener

Posted: December 11, 2014 in Books in general
Tags: Classified Woman, fbi, Goodreads, Goodreads groups, Sibel Edmonds, underground knowledge, whistleblowers

One of us (James) is currently reading the memoir Classified Woman, by former FBI employee-turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, and it’s a real eye-opener.

Nicknamed “the most classified woman in U.S. history,” Ms Edmonds recently joined our Underground Knowledge group on Goodreads.com – hence our recommendation of her book to fellow members. The ‘most classified woman’ tag, incidentally, is because of gagging orders placed on her by Congress as a result of her firsthand knowledge of information withheld following the 9/11 attacks.

Sibel Edmonds…classified.

Ms Edmonds worked as a language specialist for the FBI where she reported serious acts of security breaches and cover-ups, and for that she was retaliated against and ultimately fired. The court proceedings on her case were blocked by the assertion of State Secrets Privilege, and the U.S. Congress has been gagged and prevented from taking up or even discussing her case through retroactive classification issued by the Department of Justice.

According to Classified Woman’s description, the author “takes us on a surreal journey that begins with the secretive FBI and down the dark halls of a feckless Congress to a stonewalling judiciary and finally, to the national security whistleblowers movement she spearheaded.

“Having lived under Middle East dictatorships, Edmonds knows firsthand what can happen when government is allowed to operate in secret. Hers is a sobering perspective that combines painful experience with a rallying cry for the public’s right to know and to hold the lawbreakers accountable. With U.S. citizens increasingly stripped of their rights in a calibrated media blackout, Edmonds’ story is a wake-up call for all Americans who, willingly or unwillingly, traded liberty for security in the wake of 9/11.”

Ms Edmonds also recently published her first novel – a spy thriller titled The Lone Gladio. Although fiction, the book interweaves a lot of factual information, which the author has intimate knowledge of, including assassinations, drug running, false flag ops and the CIA’s and NATO’s secret terrorist-sponsoring program known as ‘Operation Gladio’.

The Lone Gladio (Volume 1)

Ms Edmonds’ first novel.

Membership of the Underground Knowledge group (on Goodreads.com) has now topped 350 members and includes scientists, historians, conspiracy theorists, authors, students and others from all walks of life. This group is open to everyone! All you need is an enquiring mind, an interest in the world we live in and a desire to learn or to uncover “underground knowledge” on important issues of our times.

To visit our Underground Knowledge group go to: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/142309-underground-knowledge—a-discussion-group

Best books in the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards

Posted: November 4, 2014 in Books in general
Tags: 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards, Amazon, bestsellers, books, Goodreads, kindle

Goodreads.com, the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations, has announced its nominees for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards — the only major book awards decided by readers.

THE NINTH ORPHAN amongst critically acclaimed ebooks available this week at 99cents

Posted: October 20, 2014 in Books in general, Morcan Books & Films
Tags: Amazon, bestsellers, ebooks, Goodreads, historical novels, kindle, kindle ebooks, novels, thriller novels

The top rating conspiracy thriller THE NINTH ORPHAN (The Orphan Trilogy, #1) is amongst five of our critically acclaimed ebooks reduced to sell at 99cents on Kindle this week only.

The Ninth Orphan, a controversial, high-octane thriller that merges fact with fiction, currently dominates several Kindle bestseller lists on Amazon.

Our other books currently on special are The Orphan Factory and The Orphan Uprising (books two and three in The Orphan Trilogy), World Odyssey and Fiji: A Novel (books one and two in our historical adventure series The World Duology), and our non-fiction book THE ORPHAN CONSPIRACIES: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy.

All these books have been extremely well reviewed and several have been regular visitors to Amazon’s bestseller lists in their respective categories.

Book covers and Kindle links to each book follow:

Product Details http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056I4FKC

Product Details http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008M9WWKW/

Product Details http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFC66DM/

Product Details http://www.amazon.com/World-Odyssey-Duology-1-ebook/dp/B00HHVOMO0/

Product Details http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057YCZM0/

Product Details http://www.amazon.com/The-Orphan-Conspiracies-Conspiracy-Theories-ebook/dp/B00J4MPFT6/

Happy reading! -Lance & James

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Attention authors with a never-before-published novel

Posted: October 3, 2014 in Books in general
Tags: Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon publishing, authors, crowd-source publishing, crowd-sourcing, KDP, KDP Select, kindle

Amazon has advised its authors it will be welcoming submissions for English-language books in Romance, Mystery & Thriller, and Science Fiction & Fantasy genres under its new publishing program. The news follows last week’s announcement that the publishing pace-setter plans to launch a crowd-sourced publishing program that will see participating authors receive US$1500 plus 50% royalties on net eBook revenues.

It appears at this early stage the program is only available to authors resident in the U.S. – or, more exactly, to authors “with a valid U.S. bank account and U.S. social security number or tax identification number”. Even so, it will no doubt appeal to those many thousands (tens of thousands?) of authors who are eligible…

And if Amazon’s recent expansion of its territories, book-lending arrangements, Kindle ereader sales and the like is anything to go on, it’s very likely the new publishing program will be expanded beyond the U.S. before long.

Regardless, here’s the letter (unabridged) we’ve just received from Amazon, explaining its progam in more detail:

Dear Author,

Thanks for subscribing to receive updates on Amazon’s new publishing program! We’re excited to announce that we’ll be opening for submissions in a couple weeks.

We’ll be welcoming submissions for English-language books in Romance, Mystery & Thriller, and Science Fiction & Fantasy genres. Any adult with a valid U.S. bank account and U.S. social security number or tax identification number is eligible.

It only takes 15 minutes to complete a submission. Here are the things that you should prepare to successfully submit your book:

Complete, never-before-published manuscript & book cover image – We’re looking for 50,000 words or more in Word format and a book cover image that reflects the essence and uniqueness of your book. Make sure your work is ready for others to read. Only the first pages will be posted to the website (approx. 3,000 words).
Book one-liner – A very short pitch (no longer than 45 characters) for your book that will be used on the homepage and throughout the website. Think of examples like “Space opera meets the Middle Ages” or “How far will one woman go to save her family?”
Book description- Help readers understand the content and quality of your book. Keep the description to 500 characters or less.
Your bio & picture – Give readers a chance to learn more about you. You will also have a chance to answer relevant questions regarding your book and personal story in a short Q&A section.

We’ll also ask you to review and accept our submission and publishing agreement that grants us a 45-day exclusivity period to post your excerpt and tally nominations. If chosen for publication, you will receive a $1,500 advance, 5-year renewable term, 50% eBook royalty rate, easy rights reversions, and Amazon-featured marketing. If not, you automatically get all your rights back at the end of the 45-day exclusivity period.

We’ll send you an email as soon as we’re open for submissions.

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Amazon plans crowd-sourced publishing program

Posted: September 27, 2014 in Books in general
Tags: Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon publishing, authors, crowd-source publishing, crowd-sourcing, KDP, KDP Select, kindle

It appears Amazon has stolen the march on competitors by announcing plans to launch a crowd-sourced publishing program that will see participating authors receive US$1500 plus 50% royalties on net eBook revenues.

Screen Shot 2012-06-04 at 1.54.18 PM

The revolutionary publishing progam comes hot on the heels of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (KU) initiative, which offers KU subscribers unlimited eBook borrows and which is predicted to further change the publishing landscape – and change it dramatically – if it hasn’t already.

While crowd-sourcing may not be new (feature films have been crowdsource-funded with much hoopla and fanfare) it’s a fairly new phenomenon in the publishing game. Certainly, other publishers have tried it – two others if our sources are correct – but there’s no doubt Amazon’s crowd-source funding will be highly visible. And, if our experience with the publishing giant is anything to go by, it will be highly successful.

The Digital Reader had the best summary of the new program we could find. Quoting Amazon’s PR department, it reports, “Authors will be asked to submit their complete, never-before-published book and cover. After a few days, we will post the first pages of each book on a new website for readers to preview and nominate their favorites. Books with the most nominations will be reviewed by our team for potential publication.”

According to the columnist, Amazon’s contract terms for authors are as follows:

Guaranteed advance & competitive royalties: You will receive a guaranteed $1,500 advance and 50% royalties on net eBook revenue.

Focused formats: We acquire worldwide publication rights for eBook and audio formats in all languages. You retain all other rights, including print.

5-year renewable terms, $5,000 in royalties: If your book doesn’t earn $5,000 in royalties during your initial 5-year contract term, and any 5-year renewal term after that, you can choose to stop publishing with us.

Easy reversions: After two years, your rights in any format or language that remains unpublished, or all rights for any book that earns less than $500 in total royalties in the preceding 12-month period, can be reverted upon request – no questions asked.

Early downloads & reviews: One week prior to release date, everyone who nominated your book will receive a free, early copy to help build momentum and customer reviews.

Featured Amazon marketing: Your book will be enrolled into the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, Kindle Unlimited as well as be eligible for targeted email campaigns and promotions.

To read The Digital Reader’s full report go to: http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/09/22/amazon-publishing-crowd-source-next-books-now-recruiting-kdp-authors/#.VCCBKBYXPCY

The KDP discussion forum on Amazon’s planned initiative makes for interesting reading also. Here’s the link to it: https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=207604&start=0&tstart=0

Happy reading! Lance & James

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Amazon announces US$2.7m bonus in store for (some) authors

Posted: September 18, 2014 in Books in general
Tags: Amazon, Book publishing, Goodreads, KDP, KDP Select, KDPS, kindle, kindle ebooks, Kindle Unlimited, KOLL, KU, publishing

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing team has advised authors participating in its new Kindle Unlimited (KU) ebook borrowing initiative it is adding a bonus of US$2.7 million in August – and that’s on top of the regular base fund amount of US$2 million. Apparently the bonus has been prompted by a “significant early trial response from customers” to KU.

The top 10 most-read KDP Select authors will each receive US$25,000.

Healthy bonus in store for Kindle Unlimited authors.

Here’s the balance of KDP’s announcement (unabridged):

To further highlight the KDP Select (KDPS) books and authors that are most popular with customers, we are introducing a new element to the program: “KDP Select All-Stars”. Based on what KDPS titles are being read the most during the month, we will identify each All-Star author and title on each applicable KDPS title’s detail page. In addition, KDP Select All-Stars will earn financial bonuses paid separately from the $2.7M bonus. Anyone with titles in KDPS — even a debut author with a single title — can qualify if their work becomes a customer favorite.

For August, we will pay out All-Star bonuses to the top 100 most-read authors and, separately, the top 100 most-read titles. We will calculate ‘most-read’ by combining books sold plus qualified borrows from KU and the Kindle Owners Lending Library (KOLL) during the month. Calculations only include sales and qualified borrows for titles enrolled in KDPS. Recipients will be contacted in the next few days.

The top 100 most-read KDPS authors will each be awarded the following amounts:
• Authors 1 through 10 will receive $25,000
• Authors 11 through 20 will receive $10,000
• Authors 21 through 30 will receive $5,000
• Authors 31 through 50 will receive $2,500
• Authors 51 through 100 will receive $1,000

Authors of the top 100 KDPS titles will each earn the following amounts:
• Titles 1 through 10 will receive $2,500
• Titles 11 through 50 will receive $1,000
• Titles 51 through 100 will receive $500

Denoting All-Stars on detail pages is a new element of KDP Select and we expect our approach to this will evolve over time. We hope it adds a little fun and adventure to the program!

Finally, many authors outside the US derive most of their qualified borrows from KOLL and have not been able to benefit from the growth of KU. This has meaningfully altered their ability to compete within the wider pool of KDPS loans. To adjust for this, we are adding an additional bonus of $80,000 to be paid out on all KOLL loans outside of the US.

★★★★★ INVITATION: We’d love to hear from our followers, fellow authors, publishers/indie publishers and readers what you think about Kindle Unlimited. Let us know if you feel as positive about Amazon’s latest initiative as we do…and if not why not. Thanks!

Lance & James

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Must-read books for avid readers courtesy of Listopia

Posted: September 7, 2014 in Books in general
Tags: action novels, action-adventure novels, adventure novels, bestsellers, Goodreads, historical novels, Listopia, popular books, romance novels

Here’s a list of Listopia-sponsored must-read books sourced on Goodreads.com – the world’s biggest online forum for authors and readers. The lists (based on reader popularity) include Favorite World Fiction & Literature, Top Books for Kindle Unlimited, Historical Romance from Around the World, Best Trilogies/Book Series Ever… and many, many more!

The Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen R. Donaldson

In Blood There is No Honor by Judith-Victoria Douglas

Duologies

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Favorite World Fiction & Literature

Fishing Into Potato Salad by Othen Donald Dale Cummings

An Elephant Is On My House by Othen Donald Dale Cummings

Top Books for Kindle Unlimited

Amazon Kindle Unlimited Must Reads

Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener

The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost

Best Books About the South Pacific

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

Multi Country Setting

Books By New Zealand Authors

Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston

Author Collaborations (Dynamic Duos)

Books by Authors Who Work in Multiple Genres

Agency Rules - Never an Easy Day at the Office by Khalid Muhammad

Best violent action novels

Isn't It Pretty To Think So? by Nick Miller

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville

Books You’ve Burned

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Best Trilogies/Book Series EVER!

Foreign Lands

Books at Making Connections Group

Best Action-Adventure Novels

My First Travel Angelic Airline Adventures by Anna Othitis

Best Location-Based and History-Based Books to Read While Traveling

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Great Coming-Of-Age Books

For the full Listopia list go to: https://www.goodreads.com/list/book/20410937

Happy reading! Lance & James

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Kindle Unlimited soon to launch internationally?

Posted: September 1, 2014 in Books in general
Tags: Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Book publishing, ebooks, Frankfurt Book Fair, Goodreads, kindle, kindle ebooks, Kindle Unlimited, KU, publishing

There’s a rumor that Amazon will soon be launching its controversial Kindle Unlimited ebook subscription reading service internationally.

Kindle Unlimited subscribers can download as many ebooks as they like.

The-digital-reader.com (quoting BuchReport.de as its source) reports that that Amazon will launch Kindle Unlimited at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October.

The writer admits he/she doesn’t know who BuchReport’s source is, but says, “I tend to believe this rumor.”

If true, the expansion of Kindle Unlimited has major ramifications for readers, authors and publishers worldwide. As we reported in our blog of August 10, “Almost overnight, Kindle Unlimited is changing the entire environment of not only the way people read, but also the way the world’s major publishers continue to sell books – or try to.”

Here’s an excerpt from the-digital-reader.com article:

As I reported when Kindle Unlimited launched in July, there was a report coming from a French publisher via the French media blog Actualitte that Kindle Unlimited would launch in France in September or October.

The Frankfurt Book Fair runs from 8 to 12 October this year, so it fits with the time frame, and since it is a major international book fair this would be an ideal time and place for Amazon to launch Kindle Unlimited. We still don’t know for sure whether Amazon will launch in select countries or every where at once, but I would bet on a global launch.

Launched in the US just over a month ago, Kindle Unlimited enables Amazon customers to download and read up to ten ebooks at a time. It costs $8.99, and offers access to a catalog of over 600,000 titles.

Amazon hasn’t revealed yet how many subscribers have signed up, but there are signs that KU is already having an effect on the Kindle Store best seller list.

Unlike Amazon’s competitor’s Scribd and Oyster, the Kindle Unlimited catalog draws almost entirely upon indie titles distributed via the KDP Select program with only a smattering of traditionally published books mixed in. Amazon has signed HMH, Scholastic, Wiliey, and a few other major publishers, but they do not yet have a deal with any of the Big 5 US trade publishers.

There’s also no information on major publishers in other countries and who they might have signed a deal with, but I would expect that information to be revealed when Kindle Unlimited launches internationally.

To read the full report go to: http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/08/25/kindle-unlimited-launch-internationally-frankfurt-book-fair/

German speakers can access the original BuchReport here: http://www.buchreport.de/nachrichten/verlage/verlage_nachricht/datum/2014/08/22/kindle-limited.htm

Lance & James

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