Download Your Kindle eBooks Before February 26th

A few days ago, news broke that Amazon was going to remove a feature that allows us to download Kindle ebooks to the computer.  The feature was intended for sideloading ebooks for older Kindles that didn't have the ability to download wirelessly, but of course allows users to back up their ebooks to prevent Amazon from sneakily removing books from your library, which they have done before.

Being able to download your Kindle library to your computer is also useful if you are, say, switching to Kobo to protest Amazon's rollback of their DEI policies and their founder being all buddy-buddy with the billionaire administration.

Supposedly you'll still be able to pull ebooks off your Kindle directly, but newer Kindles use a different format that makes it more difficult to strip the DRM so that you can read the books from any e-reader.  Which may, in fact, be why they are discontinuing this feature.  Is it possible the boycott is hurting them enough that they are trying to stop people from taking their ebook libraries and jumping ship?

Regardless of the reason, if you want to liberate your Kindle library for reading on any device, you'll need to do it before Wednesday.  Visit this article for detailed instructions on how to download your Kindle books to your computer.

Is DRM helping or hurting ebooks?

There was a very interesting story on NPR yesterday about whether DRM — digitial rights management — is helping or hurting ebook sales. It's a well-done story that quotes experts on both sides.

Personally, I think DRM is a bad idea. I completely agree with the author who says it makes it too difficult and frustrating for readers, as well as with the book marketing expert who says that filesharing actually helps to build a fan base by getting the word out.

Also, as I've heard (read) Angela Hoy of WritersWeekly point out before: The people who pirate ebooks would probably not go out and buy the ebook if they couldn't steal it, so it's not actually resulting in lost sales.

I think you have to look at the cost in each scenario. You could put DRM on your ebooks, make sure no one can pirate them, but also create lots of problems for legitimate customers. Or you can not use DRM, risk a few pirated copies, but also gain fans through filesharing. While filesharing may cost you a sale occasionally in the short run, who is to say that 1) the new fan would have heard of you and bought the ebook themselves, had they not been sent the file, anyway, and 2) that they won't go out and buy your next book, now that they know who you are?

I am curious what other writers and authors think. Do you support DRM? Or do you think it's a bad idea?

Ebook selling success!!!

I wanted to mention that Thursday marked the day of my 100th ebook sold! I've been selling instructions on how to restring dolls in ebook form since late October. One hundred copies of my ebook in a little less than four months isn't bad, I'd say! :o)

Website changes

Check it out! I have done a complete overhaul on my website

Appearance: I changed the overall look and feel of my site, because I was really sick of MS Publisher. I don't like how everything is on the left side of the screen - if you have a widescreen monitor, like I do, it looks really odd.

Logo: I also got a new logo! It's a long story, but suffice it to say I'm thrilled about this one, which Angela Watson designed for me. She also designed my new business cards for me - two different cards, actually one of which lists my title as "Literary Goddess!"

New page: My doll stringing instructions/ebook has done so well on eBay that I set up a subdomain and a microsite to sell the ebook from my website!

Upcoming changes: I'm also working on a Sales page for my site. Eventually I hope to have a number of ebooks and books for sale on this page.

Let me know what you think of the new site!