There is still time to buy the bookworm in your family a present they will absolutely love!

Whether you buy the original Kindle (now referred to as the Kindle Keyboard) or the new Kindle Touch (a smaller, lightweight eReader which we will be reviewing in the new year) you can be sure that your gift recipient will be absolutely thrilled!

Remember, Amazon deliver Kindle’s to Australia in 2 to 3 days. I purchased the new Kindle as a Christmas gift from Amazon on Friday 9 December and it was delivered to my house on the morning of Tuesday 13th December! You can’t complain about that now can you!

Which Kindle?!

If you are still unsure which model to select then you can view our comparison chart, read our Kindle 3G review, Kindle DX review or check our frequently asked questions.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

If you spend more time on facebook rather than trawling websites then you are in luck for you can now get all my posts on facebook!

Just follow this link to the eBook Readers Facebook page.

Oh, and don’t forget to Like us!

Each month Amazon publish a list of their recommended books for the month – if you are stuck for something to read this month then this is a good place to start!

Now, I have not read any of these books yet for I am in the middle of reading all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work and I have just started Read This Before Our Next Meeting, which is productivity book that aims to turn business meetings from being a complete waste of time into highly productive, decision support activities (grab your copy now whilst it is still free).

Have you read a book recently? Why not drop me a line or comment and let me know what you thought of it.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I like to read the work of Seth Godin. Seth is a major driving force behind the changes that are taking place in the world of publishing; indeed, the byline of his latest project, The Domino Project includes the following text ‘we’re trying to change the way books are built, sold and spread‘.

Seth is one of the reasons that I own a Kindle and have read more books and novels in the past 6 months than I have read in the past 15 years!

Another Free Business eBook

Seth uses The Domino Project as a platform for launching and distributing cutting edge business books written by people who are challenging the rules of conventional business. The last such eBook that he helped to launch was Anything You Want by Derek Sivers, the creator of CD Baby. Derek gave away over 240 mp3′s with every purchase of his book.

The latest book to be launched by Seth is Read This Before Our Next Meeting by Al Pittampalli (see Al’s work here). In this book, which for the next 7 days can be downloaded to your Kindle for free, Al describes how modern business is killing itself through unproductive meetings. This book, which is actually a manifesto, describes what the modern meeting should be.

Al wants to change the world of meetings and I am on board!

Grab his free book (be quick!) and let me know what you think.

Don’t have a Kindle yet? Then maybe it’s time to jump onto the revolution! Read our Kindle review or buy your Kindle and have it shipped to your door with 3-5 days.

If you are on the fence about purchasing a Kindle then this might just help to sway you. Amazon provide limited-time offer Kindle eBooks for sale. Many of these eBooks are free!

Here is just a small sample of what is on offer right now (be quick as the list changes):

• 5 of the USA’s Best Trips. This is a Lonely Planet guide to the very best of the USA!
• Boost Your Memory (52 Brilliant Ideas)
• and novels such as Stealing Jake by Pam Hillman that has twenty 5 Star Reviews and normally retails for $13.99!

Many Kindle users like to take their reading material out with them to the beach or camping. After all, the whole point of reading is to relax and therefore your device needs to be able to go to the same places as you without fear of getting damaged.

I own a leather protective case (and screen protector) that securely stores my Kindle but it doesn’t offer a splash-proof environment (I rarely go to the beach and never lounge by the pool, so I don’t need this level of protection for my Kindle).

However, if your idea of relaxation involves water and books then you may want to consider investing in the KlearKase for Kindle 3.

Whilst not waterproof, the KlearKase does offer a much greater level of protection from water than a normal leather case. It does provide a completely sealed environment that will protect your Kindle from accidental drops and also ensure your device stays scratch free (the makers of the KlearKase state that it is made from the same material as the canopy of a F22 Raptor!).

An Everyday Kindle Case

Whilst the KlearKase is described as ‘an everyday case and splash proof case in one’ I am not sure that I would want to give up my leather case for this clear plastic case. When heading outdoors or the pool then yes, I’d gladly swap cases but when home again it’s the leather case for me!

I have always been a fan of new technology – I am constantly in awe of where technology is going. However, sometimes I get a little too carried away and buy something that is cool but actually has no practical application in my life. Maybe you are the same?

Knowing what I am like I took a little longer than normal to decide on purchasing my first Kindle. I rationalised in my mind the reasons why I wanted an eBook Reader: access to cheaper books; the ability to take all my books with me when travelling; the relatively cheap price of a Kindle; and, most importantly, I believed that owning a Kindle would mean that I would get back into reading fiction again (I stopped reading fiction years ago).

After tossing up the options I finally bought myself a Kindle 3 Wi-Fi model about 4 months ago.

So, has the Kindle changed my reading habits or has it been relegated to the once-cool-but-useless-gadget-cupboard?

New Reading Habits With My Kindle?

The reason I am writing this post is because this Saturday I woke up early, made a coffee and headed out onto the deck to finish reading Saving Rachel (a novel by Indie Author John Locke). Once finished I then spent about half an hour browsing the Kindle Store (I almost bought a Sci-Fi novel) when I happened upon the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes (this download includes 4 novels and 46 short stories and costs $0.99 however, there are other downloads that are free).

Now, believe it or not but I have never read Sherlock Holmes! I know, I know how can anyone who enjoys fiction not have read this wonderful collection of short stories!

Like I said, one of the reasons I bought the Kindle was in the hope that it would open up new genres (John Locke’s novels are certainly a new genre for me) but I had never really considered that I would begin to read the classics as well.

I can honestly say that the Kindle does not belong in my once-cool-but-useless-gadget-cupboard! Indeed, it is with me every day whether I am at work (snatch a few pages at lunch when the weather is too bad for a walk), on the coffee table (when the usual dribble is being broadcast on the idiot box) and on my bedside table (read a few chapters before lights out).

If you are an avid reader or, like me, someone who longs to find the joy of reading again but can’t justify the price of a paperback (and when you do spend your money it’s on a known author and/or genre) then you should really consider treating yourself to an eReader. My choice was the Kindle (see my reviews here and here), which has become my most used and useful gadget!

Never heard of John Locke? Don’t feel bad for this New York Times best seller only really started to sell his books in January 2011! That’s right, he has only been on the scene for just over six months and is already a best seller! Not only that but he is the first ever self-published author to have sold over one million eBooks on Amazon (and only one of eight authors to have sold over one million eBooks on Amazon)!

John Locke is known as an Indie Author, ie someone who writes and publishes their work in a non-traditional way. Gone are the knock-backs from publishing houses, all the middle-men who want their cut of the pie, large publishing budgets and competing for shelf space with the thousands of other known and not so well known authors. Successful Indie authors, like John, are exploiting the power of the internet and social sites like Facebook and Twitter to create a small, but loyal band of followers. And this is all completed with a budget of next to nothing!

But the benefits of Indie Publishing extend beyond the author to the likes of you and I, the readers of such material. Without the need for all the old traditional layers of publishing authors like John are now able to sell their books for next to nothing (most of John’s eleven books cost $0.99 to download to your Kindle), which is great for consumers! And it still rewards the authors with a very healthy income.

How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months

My introduction to John and his work was through his non-fiction book How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months, which costs $4.99 to download to your Kindle. In this book John provides a step-by-step guide to how he blew away his competition and became a New York Times best seller in just 5 months!

Whilst the title of this book sounds a little cheesy it is actually a very well written and practical guide that any would be author can use to market and sell their work. John explains every step that he took to create his website, blog and Twitter profile and then explains how he found, interacted and ultimately sold his books to his new found fans.

I read this book because I am interested in social media and marketing, not because I am an author. I would also recommend this book to anyone who is interested in understanding how to make use of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to develop an online business. John understands how to build relationships and fans through the proper use of the internet and he shares his strategy in this book.

Donovan Creed Series

I couldn’t read How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months without then reading one of John’s novels; I was interested to see what a $0.99 eBook from a marketing genius New York Times best selling author was like! I took John’s advice and read his third novel, Saving Rachel.

Saving Rachel is story about how one man is put in a situation where he must choose whether to save the life of his wife or his mistress. But all is not as it seems…

The story twists and turns, bumps along at a good pace and is engaging and humourous. Sure, there are a few holes in the plot but they are not enough to detract from the story line.

John freely admits that he is not a great author. But that is part of his strategy. For he has found a small, but loyal group of people who really enjoy his work. Saving Rachel will either get you hooked on his work or leave you wondering what all the fuss about.

Will I read more of John’s work? Absolutely.

What do I have to lose when his books cost $0.99?!

Author: John Locke

John Locke is a new breed of authors and the Kindle is a new way to read books. Combine the two and you open a new world of reading opportunity and diversity for a fraction of the price you used to pay!

If you are an author wondering how to market and sell your eBook (or an internet marketer who is unsure how to tap into the power of Facebook and Twitter) then How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months is a must read.

If you are an avid consumer of fiction looking for something a little bit different then the Donovan Creed Series is worth a try.

Anything You Want eBook Review

The Kindle is an electronic eReader that was developed and is now distributed globally by Amazon. Much like the way Apple has a closed eco-system in the form of the App Store, Amazon developed a proprietary eBook format which they use to sell eBooks through their Kindle Store. Fortunately, unlike Apple, the eBook format and Kindle device developed by Amazon are a little more flexible and open than the apps within the App Store. This means that book lovers, like you and I, are not necessarily locked into having to purchase all our reading material through the Kindle Store.

New eBook Format

The eBook format developed by Amazon and used on the Kindle is known as AZW and is based on the mobipocket standard. This format has been used by Amazon from the very beginning when the original Kindle was first released in November 2007.

Other Files Types on Kindle

There are many software tools available that let you convert unprotected (in other words files that have been protected by the owner to ensure they are not converted in another file type) files into the Mobipocket file type so that it can be transferred to your Kindle. Additionally, the Kindle 3 now fully supports Adobe pdf documents and the conversion of some image files (JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP) into the AZW format, as well as HTML and Word Documents.

All these files can be transferred via connecting your Kindle to your computer via the USB cable delivered with your device or through the e-mail system developed by Amazon and provided to you when you purchase your Kindle (you will be given a unique e-mail address in which you send your documents as attached files and Amazon will deliver them to your Kindle). This e-mail service is free if the files are transferred to your Kindle via your own Wi-Fi (this is the only way possible for those who own the Kindle Wi-Fi), and for a small fee if using the 3G network funded by Amazon (an option for those who own the Kindle Wi-Fi+3G and the only option for those who own the Kindle DX).

Further details can be found on the Amazon website.

Wide Range of eBooks

The Mobipocket and AZW formats have been adopted by a number of eBook retailers, which means that eBooks can be purchased from Amazon, as well as third party vendors such as Fictionwise, Mobipocket and Webscriptions. You can also download for free eBooks that are now in the public domain. Visit sites such as Project Gutenberg and World Public Library for more details.

Just spend a bit of time on Google and you are sure to find even more resources for downloading cheap and free eBooks to read on your Kindle – just remember to search for the AZW file format or be certain that you have the right tools (and rights) to convert the file into the AZW format before purchasing.

If you find other retailers selling eBooks for the Kindle please let me know so that I can put together a resource for readers of this blog.