Posts Tagged ‘Goodreads’

Our new Goodreads group aimed at those who seek global change, international peace and an end to poverty and discrimination goes from strength to strength with membership already topping 150.

Diana, Princess of Wales, and companion Dodi Al Fayed in the French resort of St Tropez in August 1997

Princess Diana & Dodi Al Fayed feature in popular discussion thread.

Popular discussion threads include Mysterious Deaths, The US Military’s Proposal to Kill Americans, MK-Ultra, Manchurian Candidates in Popular Culture, Obama & the Bush/Clinton Clans, JFK vs. the Fed, Genius Techniques of the Elite, The Multi-trillion dollar WW2 Cover-up, Weather Modification & HAARP, The Queen’s Invisible Riches, Media Manipulation and more.

Our group, ‘The Orphan Conspiracies’, is named after our non-fiction book of the same name. However, you don’t have to have read the book to join the group. All you need is an enquiring mind, an interest in the world we live in and a desire to learn or uncover the truth.

Conspiracies

Book the inspiration for our Goodreads group.

The discussion thread ‘Mysterious Deaths’ is one of the group’s most popular to date – in particular the thread on Princess Diana. Here’s some excerpts from that thread. (Names other than group moderators redacted):

James – Aug. 16, 2014

Regarding political assassinations – could the long list of victims even include the mother of an heir to the British Royal throne?

In 1997, in a dark tunnel in Paris, France, Princess Diana along with her partner Dodi Fayed were killed in a horrific car crash. Numerous inquiries and investigations all determined the crash was an accident and not a murder, but conspiracy theories stick to Diana’s death as much as they do to JFK’s assassination.

GoodnightSweetPrincess DianaCrashSymbols CrashNoAccident CrashAssassinMI5

And much like JFK’s death, alternative theories are not just believed by conspiracy theorists or those on the fringes of society. In fact, various polls conducted by the likes of the BBC, CNN and CBS have consistently shown that a quarter to one third of Britons and Americans believe the princess’s death was no accident.

Dodi Fayed’s father, Egyptian business magnate Mohamed Al Fayed, also believes Diana, as well as his son, were murdered in that tunnel in Paris.

In an article in The Guardian dated February 19, 2008 and headlined Nazi Philip wanted Diana dead, Fayed tells inquest, the article begins, “Mohamed Al Fayed branded Prince Philip a “Nazi” and a “racist” in the high court today as he detailed his belief that his son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales, were “murdered” in a conspiracy initiated by the royal family and carried out with the involvement of Tony Blair, the security services and others”.

The Harrods store-owner informed the inquest Diana had told him she was pregnant and had agreed to marry his son, according to the same article.

Mohamed Al Fayed’s comments lend weight to what is probably the most widely believed conspiracy theory on Diana’s death: that the British royal family had Diana murdered to avoid a marriage between the mother of the future King of England and an Egyptian Muslim, not to mention the arrival of a Muslim-British Royal baby.

It was never confirmed if Diana was pregnant or not as, strangely, no autopsy was conducted.

As mentioned in the section in this group on The Queen, Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell stated the Queen had once warned him, “There are powers at work in this country of which we have no knowledge”. Burrell also told an inquest in 1998 that an unnamed British royal had once warned Diana, “You need to be discreet, even in your own home, because they are listening to you all of the time”.

Princess Diana and Paul Burrell

                                      Diana and butler Paul Burrell.

And then in 2003, Burrell published one of Diana’s letters in the Daily Mirror newspaper, revealing that she wrote, “This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous. Xxxxxxx (name redacted) is planning an accident in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry.”

And those words proved to be eerily prophetic in terms of the way she died, if not the reasons why.

The Daily Mirror reported that Diana had actually named the person (Xxxxxxx) she believed was plotting against her, but that the newspaper decided not to publish the individual’s identity for fear of a lawsuit.

Piers Morgan, then editor of the Daily Mirror, said of Diana’s predictive letter, “I think everybody who thought it was accident will think to themselves, well hang on a second, could it be that these wild allegations have any substance?”

Also in the section of this group on The Queen we refer to rumored dirty businesses the House of Windsor engages in, such as the arms trade and landmine sales. The latter, in particular, has been a focal point for conspiracy theorists; the fact that Princess Diana fought tirelessly against landmines through her charitable work for the anti-landmine organization the Halo Trust put her at risk and may explain why she was murdered, according to these theories.

However, there’s no proof that the Windsors profit or profited from landmines or other criminal enterprises, so this conspiracy theory seems much more speculative than some others surrounding Diana’s death.

One of the other more out there conspiracy theories is that Osama bin Laden was responsible for killing Diana. This theory suggests the terrorist leader had gotten wind of the Princess’ pregnancy and upcoming marriage to Dodi and was concerned she’d be a bad influence on Muslim women.

There appear to be seemingly infinite plot holes in this particular theory. Plot holes such as how did Bin Laden know Diana was pregnant and why would he even care given he was reportedly so busy blowing up the West.

Besides these questions, the most important question relating to Bin Laden is: Was the terrorist leader still alive in 1997?

Hxxxxxx – Sept. 3, 2014

Keith Allen’s banned film Unlawful Killing is a great documentary about this subject. It can sometimes still be found lurking in the depths of the internet, for people who want to make up their own minds.

Lance – Sept. 4, 2014

“How many more political murders disguised as heart attacks, suicides, cancers, drug overdoses? How many plane and car crashes will occur before they are exposed for what they are?” –Monologue delivered by Kevin Costner and written by Oliver Stone in JFK (1991).

Hxxxxxx – Sept. 4, 2014

It was financed by Mohammed Al-Fayed (who, it’s worth noting, Keith Allen had no prior relationship to- he just needed funding for the project!) and Associated Rediffusion. It was shown at Cannes in 2011 when it was a work in progress.
Lawyers said it needed 87 cuts before being allowed to be shown in the U.K- the cuts required left the film without any backbone, and was therefore ‘banned’ in its current state.
It had a short-lived, non-publicised release in the U.S where it failed miserably. I don’t know about its current ‘banned’ status in the rest of the world, but interestingly Al Fayed became disinterested in trying to fight to get the film out, after his years of battling the establishment to get his views about Diana and Dodi out to the public.

James – Sept. 5, 2014

Here’s an excerpt from Unlawful Killing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKmaN…

Hxxxxxx – Sept. 6, 2014

For the more esoteric conspiracy believers, David Icke has some excellent facts and theories about Diana’s death in The Biggest Secret: The Book That Will Change the World
As well as the hardened facts about things like the driver not being drunk, he also makes a good case for her death being a ritual sacrifice.

To join ‘The Orphan Conspiracies’ group, or to check out what Goodreads members are saying about it, go to: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/142309-the-orphan-conspiracies-discussion-group

Goodreads: Book reviews, recommendations, and discussion

Everyone’s welcome!Lance & James

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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.

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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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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! 

Fishing Into Potato Salad by Othen Donald Dale CummingsAn Elephant Is On My House by Othen Donald Dale CummingsDreams Come True by Bridgitte LesleyThe Ninth Orphan by James MorcanThe Orphan Factory by James Morcan
Top Books for Kindle Unlimited

World Odyssey by Lance MorcanAround the World in Eighty Days by Jules VerneThe World Duology by Lance MorcanThe Ninth Orphan by James MorcanThe Orphan Uprising by James Morcan                                  Multi Country Setting

The Wayward Gifted by Donna K. ChildreeStill Life With Crows by Douglas PrestonThe Orphan Trilogy by James MorcanThe Orphan Conspiracies by James MorcanBeautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia                                  Author Collaborations (Dynamic Duos)

Wild Hearted by Lea BronsenAgency Rules - Never an Easy Day at the Office by Khalid MuhammadThe Infidel Soldiers by Jams N. RosesThe Orphan Uprising by James MorcanStorm Front by Jim Butcher                                     Best violent action novels

Harry Potter Boxset by J.K. RowlingThe Hunger Games by Suzanne CollinsThe Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. TolkienDivergent by Veronica RothThe Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis                                   Best Trilogies/Book Series EVER!

Fiji by Lance MorcanAngel Evolution by David EstesDark Passage by M.L. WoolleyA Demon Made Me Do It by Penelope KingSpare Change by Bette Lee Crosby                                   Books at Making Connections Group

My First Travel Angelic Airline Adventures by Anna OthitisEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth GilbertKilingiri by Janna GraySleeping People Lie by Jae De WyldeRiptide by Amber Lea Easton                                   Best Location-Based and History-Based Books to Read While Traveling

Fiji by Lance MorcanAshen Winter by Mike MullinRed Dragon by Thomas HarrisThe Silence of the Lambs by Thomas HarrisPlaying with Food by K.A. Merikan                                    Cannibal Books

Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenOutlander by Diana GabaldonSultry with a Twist by Macy BeckettBinding Arbitration by Elizabeth MarxJane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë                                   Great Romance Novels

 

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

 

Happy reading! Lance & James

 

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Goodreads: Book reviews, recommendations, and discussion

In just three weeks our new Goodreads group “The Orphan Conspiracies” has topped 100 members, confirming our belief there’s a lot of authors, readers and others interested in how the world (really) works, politics and social sciences, global change, international peace, media studies and 21st Century history.

The group has been established to provide a public forum for interested parties to discuss any of the controversial topics explored in our non-fiction book THE ORPHAN CONSPIRACIES: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy.

Conspiracies

Issues covered to date in the group’s discussion thread include false flag operations and the US military’s (true) proposal to kill Americans, MK-Ultra and Project Monarch mind control, Bilderberg and puppet masters pulling strings, the Federal Reserve and international banksters, polyglotting and genius techniques of the elite, Yamashita’s Gold and the multi-trillion dollar WW2 cover-up, Nikola Tesla and suppressed science, Royal welfare benefits and the Queen’s invisible riches, Big Pharma and the medical mafia, Jonestown, Ormus, the science of racism, the Fourth Reich, the price of a “free” media and more.

As we explain in the introduction to the group, our book was borne out of reader curiosity for it was not something we ever intended to write. However, when The Ninth Orphan, the first book in our international thriller series The Orphan Trilogy was published readers began commenting on or asking about the truth behind the real-life mysteries highlighted throughout. Since then, readers’ emails and social media posts have escalated with the publication of The Orphan Factory and The Orphan Uprising, books two and three in the trilogy.

Our book bridges the gap between fiction and fact. It fully explores the real-world suppositions, assumptions and theories we included in our fictional universe and provides answers to the questions our readers have been asking.

As we’ve said before, our mission in writing The Orphan Conspiracies was twofold: to expose the global agenda designed to keep the power in the hands of a select few (the top 1%) and to empower the masses with essential knowledge that’s been withheld from them until now.

Goodreads members appear to have welcomed our new group going by the comments received to date. Here’s what one new member has to say: “I’ve always had an affinity for alternate history books and especially conspiracy theories, so I’m excited to connect with like-minded people. I do subscribe to a policy of radical honesty, so if you ask for my opinion you will get it. Look forward to some lively debate!”

To join “The Orphan Conspiracies” group, or to check out what Goodreads members are saying about it, go to: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/142309-the-orphan-conspiracies-discussion-group

Goodreads: Book reviews, recommendations, and discussion

 

Everyone’s welcome!Lance & James

 

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

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 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

 

★★★★★ 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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How do you catch a man who is never the same man twice? That’s the question posed in the conspiracy thriller novel The Ninth Orphan, book one in The Orphan Trilogy.

TheNinthOrphan ebook cover

An orphan grows up to become an assassin for a highly secretive organization. When he tries to break free and live a normal life, he is hunted by his mentor and father figure, and by a female orphan he spent his childhood with. On the run, the mysterious man’s life becomes entwined with his beautiful French-African hostage and a shocking past riddled with the darkest of conspiracies is revealed.

But can the ninth-born orphan ever get off the grid? To find out you’ll need to go on a tumultuous journey around the globe to such far-flung locations as China, France, the Philippines, Andorra, America, England, Germany and French Polynesia. The frenetic cat-and-mouse chase moves from airports to train stations and hidden torture prisons, taking the reader on a shocking, nail-biting ride into the world’s closet of skeletons that goes beyond conspiracy theories to painful reality.

Here’s what Amazon reviewers are saying about The Ninth Orphan:

★★★★★ “What makes The Ninth Orphan stand out from other thrillers is its intelligent handling of its themes. Like Kazuo Ishiguro’s haunting novel, Never Let Me Go, The Ninth Orphan taps into our fascination with the possibilities of genetic selection, and the consequences it may bring. Throw in a pinch of romance and the suggestion of political shadow organizations that may or may not operate in the real world, and you have an exhilarating read that will keep the little grey cells ticking over long after you’ve reached the final page.” –The Flaneur Book Reviews UK

★★★★★ “The authors manage to weave political intrigue, espionage and eugenics into an exciting fabric of mystery and entertainment. The reader can’t but believe that the novel may not be only a work of fiction.” -I.A. Wilhite, Ph.D.

★★★★★ “Moves at the speed of a runaway train” -J.R. Rogers (author of ‘Doomed Spy’)

★★★★  “A Cloak and Dagger Grand Prix” -The Kindle Book Review

★★★★★ “A fantastic spy thriller” -A Made Up Story Book Reviews

★★★★ “This book is fast paced, and I mean fast.” -C9C Reviews

★★★★★ “Every twist and turn that you can imagine” -Holy Smoley Book Review

★★★★ “Ranks amongst the best thrillers” -Kindle Book Review UK

★★★★★ “This psychological thriller really kept me on the edge of my seat!” –Susan M. Heim, bestselling author of the ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ series

 

The Ninth Orphan is available via Amazon as a trade paperback and Kindle ebook at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056I4FKC

 

Happy reading! -Lance & James

 

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Amazon’s controversial Kindle Unlimited subscription reading service was released late last month and despite all the naysayers and doomsdayers we believe the early signs indicate it’ll be a win-win for readers and authors alike.

For those who don’t yet know, paying the $9.99 per month Kindle Unlimited fee allows readers to download as many ebooks as they like – hence the word “unlimited”. It has been dubbed by the many journalists as The Netflix of reading.

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. Perhaps justifiably, the big publishers are scared and fear they are losing control of the way they have monopolized book distribution for eons. As more and more book stores go under, the competition to dominate the ebook market is reaching fever pitch.

But as published authors, and also keen readers, we have little sympathy for the big 5 publishers. If Kindle Unlimited does prove to be a better deal for authors, and readers can read as many books as they like, then who cares what the likes of Random House or Harper Collins think? At the end of the day it’s a free market and whoever presents the best deal (in this case Amazon) for readers and writers should triumph in the end.

What follows are some excerpts (that we tend to agree with) from a recent letter Amazon sent to authors around the world regarding a heated legal dispute they are engaged in with leading publishing house Hachette. Many of these comments strongly relate to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited scheme which is predicted to lower the prices of ebooks over time and lead to unprecedented book sales for authors…

 

Just ahead of World War II, there was a radical invention that shook the foundations of book publishing. It was the paperback book. This was a time when movie tickets cost 10 or 20 cents, and books cost $2.50. The new paperback cost 25 cents – it was ten times cheaper. Readers loved the paperback and millions of copies were sold in just the first year.

With it being so inexpensive and with so many more people able to afford to buy and read books, you would think the literary establishment of the day would have celebrated the invention of the paperback, yes? Nope. Instead, they dug in and circled the wagons. They believed low cost paperbacks would destroy literary culture and harm the industry (not to mention their own bank accounts). Many bookstores refused to stock them, and the early paperback publishers had to use unconventional methods of distribution – places like newsstands and drugstores. The famous author George Orwell came out publicly and said about the new paperback format, if “publishers had any sense, they would combine against them and suppress them.” Yes, George Orwell was suggesting collusion.

Well… history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

Fast forward to today, and it’s the e-book’s turn to be opposed by the literary establishment. Amazon and Hachette – a big US publisher and part of a $10 billion media conglomerate – are in the middle of a business dispute about e-books. We want lower e-book prices. Hachette does not. Many e-books are being released at $14.99 and even $19.99. That is unjustifiably high for an e-book. With an e-book, there’s no printing, no over-printing, no need to forecast, no returns, no lost sales due to out of stock, no warehousing costs, no transportation costs, and there is no secondary market – e-books cannot be resold as used books. E-books can and should be less expensive.

Perhaps channeling Orwell’s decades old suggestion, Hachette has already been caught illegally colluding with its competitors to raise e-book prices. So far those parties have paid $166 million in penalties and restitution. Colluding with its competitors to raise prices wasn’t only illegal, it was also highly disrespectful to Hachette’s readers.

The fact is many established incumbents in the industry have taken the position that lower e-book prices will “devalue books” and hurt “Arts and Letters.” They’re wrong. Just as paperbacks did not destroy book culture despite being ten times cheaper, neither will e-books. On the contrary, paperbacks ended up rejuvenating the book industry and making it stronger. The same will happen with e-books.

Many inside the echo-chamber of the industry often draw the box too small. They think books only compete against books. But in reality, books compete against mobile games, television, movies, Facebook, blogs, free news sites and more. If we want a healthy reading culture, we have to work hard to be sure books actually are competitive against these other media types, and a big part of that is working hard to make books less expensive.

Moreover, e-books are highly price elastic. This means that when the price goes down, customers buy much more. We’ve quantified the price elasticity of e-books from repeated measurements across many titles. For every copy an e-book would sell at $14.99, it would sell 1.74 copies if priced at $9.99. So, for example, if customers would buy 100,000 copies of a particular e-book at $14.99, then customers would buy 174,000 copies of that same e-book at $9.99. Total revenue at $14.99 would be $1,499,000. Total revenue at $9.99 is $1,738,000. The important thing to note here is that the lower price is good for all parties involved: the customer is paying 33% less and the author is getting a royalty check 16% larger and being read by an audience that’s 74% larger. The pie is simply bigger.

But when a thing has been done a certain way for a long time, resisting change can be a reflexive instinct, and the powerful interests of the status quo are hard to move. It was never in George Orwell’s interest to suppress paperback books – he was wrong about that.

 

A comprehensive list of books that can be read for free by Kindle Unlimited subscribers can be found here on the book reading social media site Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/kindle-unlimited

Popular Kindle Unlimited Books

The Ninth Orphan (The Orphan Trilogy, #1)

Hudson (Fixed, #4)

Fiji: A Novel (The World Duology, #2)

Rhett (Rhett, #1)

Sweet Addiction (Sweet Addiction, #1)

The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy

Beautifully Forgotten (Beautifully Damaged, #2)
With This Heart
Breathe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #7)
World Odyssey (The World Duology, #1)
The Orphan Trilogy (The Ninth Orphan / The Orphan Factory / The Orphan Uprising)
The Orphan Factory (The Orphan Trilogy, #2)
Tied with Me (With Me in Seattle, #6)
Flat-Out Love (Flat-Out Love, #1)
The Orphan Uprising (The Orphan Trilogy, #3)

Since Amazon rolled out its Kindle Unlimited initiative, enabling subscribers to borrow as many ebooks as they desire for just $9.99 a month, debate has intensified over whether the scheme is good or bad for participating authors.

Cover photo

As participating authors – all our eight book titles are registered in the scheme – we have followed the debate with interest. And we know we are not alone: social media is full of author speculation on the merits or otherwise of Kindle Unlimited.

One of the best summaries of the new initiative (in our opinion) is offered by American author and publishing veteran Michael J. Sullivan in a recent contribution to DigitalBookworld.com’s excellent site. In an article headed “Kindle Unlimited’s Two-Tier System Makes Some Authors Second-Class Citizens”, Sullivan summarizes the scheme and then perceptively dissects it.

Author Michael J. Sullivan…critical of Kindle Unlimited.

Excerpts from Sullivan’s article follow:

… Historically, Amazon has been good about treating self-published authors and traditionally published authors equally. There are some exceptions…but for the most part both self- and traditionally published authors have enjoyed equal treatment. They share similar exposure on best-seller lists and top-rated lists, and Amazon’s “cut” from sales have been the same for both groups (30% under the agency model). In fact, when the agency model went into affect, Amazon raised self-publisher’s royalty from 35% to 70% to match what traditional publishers were getting. But now with the roll-out of Kindle Unlimited, we see two very different treatments:

Self-published authors MUST be exclusive to Amazon (except for a handful of best-selling authors) and can’t sell their books on other sites. Traditionally published books have no such exclusivity requirement and can be sold wherever the publisher wishes.

Self-published authors are paid from a pool set by Amazon each month. They have no idea how much they will be paid per book. Traditionally published books get paid exactly as they would if a sale were made. They know exactly what the unit price will be for each book and are not relying on the Amazon’s whim as far as what their unit price will be.

Why the difference?

Whenever I speak about a situation where an entity (retailers or publishers) treat authors poorly the answer is always the same: “because they can.” The publishers would never agree to the terms the self-published authors are getting. What Amazon is offering traditional publishers (full wholesale price without exclusivity) is a pretty good deal…

…They are giving publishers such a fair deal because there is no way the publishers would agree otherwise. Even with such attractive terms, I suspect the big-five won’t opt in their titles. But the self-published authors can be had for much less. They have been conditioned through several years of Select and those in Select are more than willing to give up other venues for higher visibility on Amazon…

…To add insult to injury, the current payout system has self-published authors subsidizing the payments of the traditionally published titles, much the way best-selling titles subsidize books that aren’t commercial successes. By this I mean that one party is getting less to offset the costs of someone else’s works.

I’m disappointed with Amazon for not offering the same terms to both self- and traditionally-published authors. Authors have grown accustomed to poor treatment from Publisher’s, and because of the way Kindle Unlimited has been rolled out, they can add Amazon as just one more multi-billion-dollar company taking advantage of them.

To read the article in full go to: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/kindle-unlimiteds-two-tier-system-makes-some-authors-second-class-citizens/

 

Happy reading! –Lance & James

 

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Respected book review site Great Historicals has given a big thumbs up to our historical novels World Odyssey and Fiji: A Novel, books one and two in The World Duology.

Product Details   Product Details   Product Details

“I loved reading it as much as I loved Fiji,” the reviewer says of World Odyssey.

Here’s Great Historicals’ review (unabridged) as it appears on Amazon:

World Odyssey is an epic, a story that follows the tumultuous lives of three different people – Nathan, Jack, and Susanna. In this first novel, their lives are separate from each other, and by the end of the novel, they arrive in Fiji, though their paths have yet to cross.

Lance and James Morcan have a wonderfully easy style of writing, simple but descriptive, fast paced yet detailed. It is a comfortable book that one can fully relax into because of its steady flow and lovely prose. It is a prequel to their first book, Fiji, but each book stands alone and you don’t have to read them in the order they were written in.

For the three main characters, there is change and danger at every turn. From travel on land and then on the high seas, I was intrigued and completely pulled into the story from the start to the end of this book. I loved reading it as much as I loved Fiji. I highly recommend that you get both of these fabulous epics!

 

WORLD ODYSSEY (The World Duology, #1) is available via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/World-Odyssey-Duology-1-ebook/dp/B00HHVOMO0/

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Happy reading! –Lance & James

 

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Amazon’s announcement that customers who subscribe to its new Kindle Unlimited initiative can borrow as many ebooks as they want to from a library of over 600,000 titles is exciting readers and authors alike.

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While not quite a revolutionary idea – previously subscribers enrolled in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL) could borrow one ebook per month – the new system means there’s no limit to the number of ebooks subscribers can borrow – provided they pay the $10 monthly fee.

For those avid bookworms who regularly read one book, or more, per week, Kindle Unlimited represents excellent value. It also means they can ‘try out’ books by new or unknown authors by borrowing the books in stead of having to shell out valuable dollars and hope they (the books) justify their investment.

For authors, like us, who still receive a payment – albeit a reduced payment – from Amazon for every book borrowed, the scheme provides additional access to readers who may not readily buy our books; it’s also likely to create excellent word-of-mouth, leading to more sales.

It’s a win-win for readers and authors.

All books currently enrolled in KDP Select with U.S. rights will be automatically included in Kindle Unlimited. KDP Select books will also continue to be enrolled in (KOLL) available to Amazon Prime customers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Japan where authors will continue to earn a share of the KDP Select global fund when their book is borrowed.

For those Amazon customers enrolled with Kindle Unlimited, you may come across our books available in the unlimited downloads scheme…

 

The above books can be found on our Amazon author pages at:

http://www.amazon.com/Lance-Morcan/e/B005ET3ZUO/

http://www.amazon.com/James-Morcan/e/B005EPOU48/

 

Happy reading! –Lance & James

 

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