Hallelujah! The iPad 2 on sale March 11

Forget the academy awards, March 2nd was my big day, the day the world found out what features the iPad 2 will have and when it will be available to buy. March 11 is the big day in the US and it goes on sale in Canada, I believe, before the end of the month.

I wanted to blog about this on March 2nd but, as fate would have it, my computer was down for the count, getting a new operating system (Windows 7—love it!).

Here's a link to the apple store listing the different kinds of iPad 2 for sale, the prices, etc.

Joe Konrath and ebook pricing

Joe Konrath, a well-known independent author, has long maintained that $2.99 is the best price for ebooks. The pricing of ebooks is, as you can imagine, a hotly debated topic.

Recently Joe has done an experiment where he has dropped the price of one of his books, The List, to 99 cents to see if he might make more money at the lower price point.

He writes:

At $2.99, I was earning $2.03 per download. And I was selling an average of 43 ebooks a day.

At 99 cents, I only earn 35 cents per download. I'm now selling 533 sales a day.

At $2.99, I made $87 a day.

At 99 cents, I'm now making $187 a day.

Click here to read the blog.

Kindle Software Update Brings Page Numbers!

Our customers have told us they want real page numbers that match the page numbers in print books so they can easily reference and cite passages, and read alongside others in a book club or class. We've already added real page numbers to tens of thousands of Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions and thousands more of the most popular books.

Click here to read more.

An entertaining review and commentary on the software changes can be found here.

Apple to Amazon: 30% please

Philip Jones writes:

I have had it confirmed the Apple's new in-app purchasing rules will apply to e-books sold via apps, including the Kindle app, and that in addition these apps will no longer be able to link to purchasing apparatus external to the app, i.e. via a website. This is bad news for the Kindle app, and others who up to now have got around Apple's rules.

Read the article here.

Borders files for bankruptcy protection

Steve Emecz asks whether there is a sustainable model for bookstore chains and replies: No. Interesting blog post.

iPad media event to be held March 2: Yes!!

It looks like we will finally find out when the iPad 2 will be in stores! I hope that is the case, it seems as though it has been a long wait.

Kara Swisher, over at All Things Digital, writes:

... Apple will hold its much-anticipated event on March 2, where the tech giant seems poised to unveil a new version of its hugely successful iPad, according to multiple sources.

Click here to read the article.

Another Great Post from Dean Wesley Smith

This is another post on the business of writing. Read it here.

The Business of Writing

There are some wonderful blogs about the business of writing. I've already mentioned Dean Wesley Smith's blog and Joe Konrath's blog. Thanks to Dean, I've discovered another rich source of information on the state of writing and publishing: The Author's Guild, specifically their series on e-books and the difference between the economics of e-book publishing and traditional publishing.

Here are the Author Guild blogs, in order:

How Apple Saved Barnes & Noble. Probably.
E-Book Royalty Math: The House Always Wins
The E-Book Royalty Mess: An Interim Fix

Enjoy!

The Value of an Awesome Critique

I was wondering what I would blog about today -- I'm trying to blog once a day, but sometimes it is hard to find topics. Today I was going through the blogs I subscribe to hoping that there would be an exciting announcement (I'd love to read: iPad 2 on sale tomorrow! But, alas ...) however nothing caught my eye. Then, on the verge of giving up, I thought: Aha! Something very nice did happen to me today AND it has to do with writing. Perfect!

Someone, I won't name names, sent me the most marvelously helpful critique of my current manuscript. It was encouraging but also didn't pull any punches and mentioned areas in the manuscript which could be improved upon. It has made me much more optimistic that my story will be, in the end—and I think this is the highest praise—a good read.

I think that's the sign of a good critique, that it helps the writer make their story better without making them feel that their story is a huge steaming pile of doodoo.

Creating a good critique isn't easy. I've written my share of critiques and it's darn hard. I think it's one of those things that is both a learnt skill and a dark art.

iPad 2 Rumor: new iPad to weigh 16.5 oz

I'm chomping at the bit for news about the iPad 2.  David Carnoy from cnet reports that, according to a previously accurate tipster, the new iPad shell will be made of a "new material similar to carbon fiber rather than aluminum" reducing the weight of the new iPad from 24 oz to 16.5 oz.

Read the entire article, here.