This week is, of course, the time of year for Amazon Prime Day(s). Over the years, Amazon’s red-letter days have been a good indicator of the direction they want to take the business in over the coming year(s).
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
After several years when it felt Amazon might be losing interest in the book business—and after many years of (incomplete) reporting that e-book sales were plateauing—last year’s Prime Day coincided with the launch of the Kindle Colorsoft. The product was an enormous success and a further reminder that those “people don’t buy e-books” headlines come with a huge “yes, but the figures don’t include KDP Select subscriptions and many indie-published à la carte KDP titles” caveat.
New Kindle Scribe Models
Buoyed by last year’s success and the continuing popularity of e-books, Amazon is launching two big product upgrades (with some variations) to coincide with this year’s Prime Day(s). The new products are a Kindle Scribe, starting at $499, and a Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, starting at $629.
The main upgrade seems to be a surface that makes the device feel more like paper to write on, while the Colorsoft has a number of tools that not only render illustrations in books in a sympathetic way but also allow users to draw more artfully—meaning the device feels as though it’s pushing at the limits of what a specialized e-reader can do.
AI and Note-Taking Features
There are also new note-taking tools and, of course, AI features related to those notes—such as summaries of the notes you have taken across various titles. Apparently, next year your notes will even be used to enable you to have a conversation about what you’re reading with Alexa.
With one’s feet back on planet Earth, at least it looks like Amazon doesn’t plan on pulling back from e-books any time soon.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and our own ALLi team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.
Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi's Self-Publishing Advice Center.
