New Feature: Goodreads now has “Previews”

I spend a lot of time browsing on Goodreads. I find it is a wonderful place to find my “next great read” by learning from others, reading reviews and looking at the bookshelves that individuals have created.

And now, just last week, they have added a new feature, further enhancing the browsing experience.

You can now PREVIEW any book that has a Kindle edition. Yay!

from the Goodreads blog:

Don’t judge a book by its cover…judge it by what’s inside with our new Preview feature, which launches today! With Preview, you can sample the story before committing to the whole book. Now our U.S. members can get a taste of their next amazing read right on the Goodreads website.

Just click on the book, and notice the PREVIEW button. Tap that button and a significant preview opens on your screen.

Since we have (for years) been able to preview Kindle books on Amazon, I would often go back and forth between Goodreads and Amazon. Happily this back-and-forthing is no longer necessary. I am delighted. 🙂

At the moment, this feature is only available in the US.

Amazon Settlement is ….. settled. Did you get $?

“In December 2013, a federal court approved legal settlements by publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin in antitrust lawsuits filed by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of eBooks. Those settlements resulted in credits for qualifying Kindle books purchased between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.”

All this legal maneuvering has been simmering for a while, and I was wondering how it was going to come out in the wash.

This morning I received an e-mail from Amazon informing me that I would be receiving a credit on my account for the e-books that I purchased in the latter half of 2010, 2011 and part of 2012.

If you bought Kindle books during that time frame, and you received this email today … have no fear. It is legit. You didn’t have to do anything to be part of this settlement. It just happened for you. Enjoy!! 🙂

Holiday Gifting: How to Give Kindle Books and Apple Apps

The Shopping Season has arrived. It used to start on Black Friday, but it sure seems to me that it has been moved back. Way back.

Flyers are advertising “pre-Black-Friday” sales, and many many stores are boasting that they will be open on Thanksgiving, trying to get a jumpstart on those bargain hunters.

Online shopping is certainly a good alternative choice to facing those crowds.

Although I think that a little bit of crowd-mingling can be fun, when it comes to facing checkout lines that are hours long? Not fun. 😯

Considering the calendar I thought it would be timely to revisit a few time-saving how-tos. Specifically how to gift a Kindle book, and also how to gift an app.

How to gift a Kindle Book:

Simply navigate to the book that you would like to give. Look over to the right hand side of the page. You’ll see the option there to “Give as a Gift.”

Once you tap on “Give as a Gift” you will be taken to a screen that looks like the one below. Just fill in your recipient’s email address, and a note from you and you are all set.

Notice that you can choose the delivery date. Your recipient can be notified of your generosity immediately or you can target a particular date for them to be surprised.

If you don’t want to gift a particular book, you can also select an Amazon gift card which is good for purchasing Kindle books as well as merchandise on Amazon.com. To purchase a gift card, just go to the Amazon home page and look across the top. You’ll find a link for gift cards, and you’ll have the option to email it to your recipient or print it out yourself to wrap as a gift.

*remember, you don’t need a Kindle to read a Kindle book. A Kindle App on any device allows the recipient to read a Kindle book.

How to gift an App from the iTunes store:

I’m going to link here to my previous post on App-gifting. The photo examples are a wee bit different for iOS 7 …. but the process is exactly the same.
How to Gift an App from your iPhone or iPad

Once again, you have the option to choose your date of delivery. I like that!

Happy Shopping 🙂