A picture is worth a thousand words, and nowhere is that more true than social media.

Choosing the right photo to share or having an eye-catching header graphic is how you get noticed. Those images have to be formatted correctly, but unfortunately the optimal image sizes change over time as each social network tweaks their platform.  We need to stay on top of these details, otherwise a brilliant meme could get its punchline cut off.

The following infographic from Constant Contact covers the standard image dimensions for the six major social networks,  including Pinterest and Twitter. Check it and see if the graphic you make are still the right size.

Constant Contact

You just finished reading Infographic: Social Media Image Size Guide (2020 Edition) which was published on The Digital Reader.

Overdrive just announced they are “buying” part of RBmedia RBdigital, although given that both companies are owned by KKR, this is really more of a reorganization than an acquisition.

 OverDrive is acquiring the assets of RBmedia’s library business, including the RBdigital platform in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia.

The acquisition of RBdigital will bring enhanced content and features to the OverDrive platform, enabling it to better serve the needs of libraries around the world, including access to new release Recorded Books audiobooks. Moreover, OverDrive will be exploring the addition of popular RBdigital services like digital magazines from ZINIO to the OverDrive platform. As the owner of both RBmedia and OverDrive, KKR is uniquely positioned to facilitate this transaction and help bring libraries the best solutions possible.

“Combining the RBdigital library business with OverDrive’s industry-leading technologies will greatly benefit libraries and their readers worldwide,” said Steve Potash, founder and CEO of OverDrive. “We’re proud to enhance our value proposition for libraries by delighting readers with this new content on the award-winning Libby and Sora reading apps.”

Basically what this deal means is that RBmedia RBdigital will continue to be a distributor for the consumer market, while OverDdrive will serve the library market. There’s no word yet on how this will affect Overdrive’s whitelabel retail ebookstore platform, but there doesn’t appear to be any conflict  or overlap with RBmedia RBdigital, so there’s no reason they cannot coexist.

KKR bought RBmedia RBdigital in late 2018, and bought Overdrive in late 2019.

image by JuliaC2006 via Flickr

You just finished reading OverDrive to “Acquire” Part of RBmedia which was published on The Digital Reader.

If you are looking for something new to read, Amazon just announced its list of the best books of 2020.

1. The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Novel by Abi Daré: In this rousing tale of courage and pluck, a 14-year-old Nigerian girl is sold into servitude by her father when her mother—a proponent of education—passes away. You will root for Adunni as she endeavors to escape her sorry—and often harrowing—lot, and applaud the kind strangers who buoy her efforts and her spirits.
2. Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker: Hidden Valley Road is a heartbreaking, expertly told story of an all-American family, the Galvins, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia while still teenagers. Relying on exhaustive research, Kolker weaves together cultural, medical, and family history to show the ravages of mental illness on the six Galvin boys, on their parents, and, perhaps most movingly, on their other six siblings.
3. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel by Suzanne Collins: The 10th anniversary of the Hunger Games is beginning, and 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow—President Snow, when we met him decades later in The Hunger Games—has an important role to play. Nearly impossible to put down, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an exciting and thought-provoking novel that goes outside the arena to ask interesting questions about human nature and ambition.
4. Deacon King Kong: A Novel by James McBride: Set in the 1960s, this propulsive and darkly comic neighborhood epic features a cast of characters that are beguiling, boozed-filled, and larger than life. National Book Award-winner McBride weaves a fictional story of one Brooklyn project, but in doing so tells a broader tale of race and religion, getting by and getting out, and how grudges and alliances become embedded in the foundations of our lives.
5. Pretty Things: A Novel by Janelle Brown: When a second-generation grifter, Nina, and her shady boyfriend move to Lake Tahoe, they collide with a woman from Nina’s past, heiress Vanessa Liebling. Behind a glittering façade of old money and fast living, a darker story of social climbing, social media, revenge, and betrayal starts to take menacing shape. 
6. Writers & Lovers: A Novel by Lily King: Writers & Lovers is about the uncertainty of relationships, and of pursuing the creative life, in a world that values success and stability. Life is not waiting for Casey to fulfill her dream of being a novelist, so she works as a waitress and she dates, and she tries to figure it out as she goes. Love and art require frequent, often imperceptible, leaps of faith—and this book captures that perfectly.
7. Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran: Sigh, Gone is one of the funniest and most profound memoirs of the year so far. Without rose-colored glasses and with a flair for humor, Tran recounts his childhood as a Vietnamese kid growing up in a small Pennsylvania town: the racism, dislocation, and violence that surrounded him, how he fought to fit in, and how he fell in love with literature.
8. The City We Became: A Novel by N. K. Jemisin: Five strangers unexpectedly become the living embodiments of New York City’s boroughs and must battle an evil entity that threatens the city. Jemisin infuses this live-wire love letter to the city’s diverse denizens with reality-ripping storytelling.
9. Oona Out of Order: A Novel by Margarita Montimore: Oona Lockhart is celebrating New Year’s Eve 1982 and the eve of her 19th birthday, but at midnight she passes out and wakes up as a 19-year-old trapped in the body of a 51-year-old. Thus begins Oona living life out of order. Although Oona Out of Order could be a fun romp through the adage “youth is wasted on the young” (and it is), it’s also a deeper look at destiny, love, and family.
10. The Mercies: A Novel by Kiran Millwood Hargrave: There isn’t much that is not unforgiving when it comes to the far-flung and frigid town of Vardø, Norway, including the sea that surrounds it, which swallows the majority of its male population in an epic storm while they’re fishing. Accusations of witchcraft quickly infect this grieving but resourceful community, threatening what hard-won normalcy they’ve regained. The Mercies is infuriating, baleful, but full of stubborn hope.

image by david.orban via Flickr

You just finished reading Abi Daré’s “The Girl with the Louding Voice” Tops Amazon’s Best Books of 2020 (So Far) which was published on The Digital Reader.

The pandemic has many questioning whether brick-and-mortar retail will ever return to normal. Some might wait for an answer before investing in new physical retail locations, but not Amazon. The retailer continues to launch new Amazon Books locations at, compared to its competitors, a breakneck speed.

Amazon opened its first bookstore in November 2015 in Seattle, and since then they have announced, launched, or started developing 24 additional locations, including launching a store in Phoenix, AZ just over 2 weeks after the first Amazon Books location’s 4th anniversary, and filing for permits for a store in Kansas City, MO, in May 2020 (in the middle of a raging pandemic, yes). The stores carry a selection of several thousand books as well as toys, games, electronics, and Amazon hardware such as the Kindle ereader and the Echo smart speaker.

For a while there it looked like Amazon was cooling to the idea of physical bookstores; in 2018 they canceled two bookstores and converted a third location into a 4-Star store. That period of uncertainty lasted only a few months, however, with Amazon opening  its next bookstore in Denver in March 2019.

Amazon has continued to open bookstores since then, and they have also started renovating older stores. In late 2019 Amazon temporarily shut down the Georgetown, Bethesda, and three other Amazon Books locations so they could refit the stores with electronic shelf labels, shift the books so they were shelved spine out, and reorganize the store layouts.

In spite of Amazon’s continued expansion, the retailer has faced less and less criticism as time passed. For the first year or so the announcement of each new Amazon Books location drew complaints from local booksellers, and after the first location opened in Seattle, the ABA started muttering about violations of antitrust law, although this ultimately proved unfounded.

Very little has been written about Amazon’s bookstores in the past few years, and yet at the same time Amazon has managed to become the fifth largest bookstore chain in the US after B&N, BAM!, Half-Price Books, and Deseret Books. (This list does not include Hudson News, which operates airport bookstores, or Follett or B&N Edu, which operate college bookstores.)

To be honest, this achievement isn’t as impressive as it would have been three or four years ago. A number of chains have failed in the past few years, including Lifeway, Book World, Hastings, and Family Christian Stores. Each of these chains had more stores than Amazon Books, but they did not have the sales to keep the stores open.

Amazon does, or so we assume. The retailer has not revealed revenue figures for their stores, leaving us no option other than to speculate.

At the very least we can conclude that Amazon is getting something of value out of their bookstore chain. Is it sales data? Tax write offs?

Your guess is as good as mine.

image by Rob Young via Flickr

You just finished reading Amazon is Making Its Bookstores a Priority, and is Now the Fifth Largest Bookstore Chain in the US which was published on The Digital Reader.

As you saw earlier this week, I like to report on Best Books, lists, so when  I saw that the Apple Books twitter account had tweeted a link to their list of the best books of 2020, I knew I wanted to see it.

Alas, that will not be possible. If you try to visit the list at (apple.co/BestBooksSoFar), all you will see is:

The reason you see this is because Apple still cannot program a web page.

It’s 2020, and Apple is a trillion dollar company with the best tech that money can buy, and they still cannot be bothered to program something as simple as a web page. Instead, they expect you to have iTunes installed on your device so that the link will open there.

Basically what Apple is doing is creating pages that only work in one specific app (iTunes), and then sharing links to those pages on the internet.

This was not a bad idea when Apple started doing it shortly after launching iTunes 19-plus years ago – web browsers were frankly terrible, and iTunes was actually better.

And it was quirky when the iPad launched in 2010 (kinda like the iPad not having a file system), but in 2020 it’s just ridiculous.

Over half of web traffic comes from mobile devices, and the majority of those run Android. Between that and the many Windows devices that don’t have iTunes (my iPad doesn’t need it, so why would I have it?), Apple is sharing a link that fewer than a third of web users can open.

Oh, sometimes (if you’re lucky) the link will work and you will be able to at least see the content, but you still cannot buy it.

And the thing about that, folks, is that it’s not just bad tech – it’s also bad business.

Amazon has always been eager to sell you content in your web browser, and even Google figured out 8 years ago that they needed to sell content on the web (it’s why Google killed Android Market, and replaced it with Google Play). That’s why if someone share a link to the Kindle Store or Google Play Books, I can buy that ebook from just about any device.

Apple, on the other hand, still refuses to sell content in the web browser, and they still only grudgingly let you see the content that they refuse to sell you.

And that is costing them sales.

You just finished reading Apple Names “Connecting to the iTunes Store” as the Best Book of 2020 (so Far) which was published on The Digital Reader.

Amazon has a great reading platform in the Kindle, but sometimes it’s not enough.

Sometimes I need to take the notes I make in a Kindle ebook and use them elsewhere. Amazon doesn’t make it easy for us to do that, but luckily there are other ways.

Back in 2015 I needed to export my Kindle notes, so I did some digging and rounded up a few tools which would help me do just that. The tools range from the simple (copy+paste from a web browser) to the inaccessible (an iPhone app and a Mac-only script).

Now it’s March 2019, and about half the tools mentioned in the original post are gone. So I have updated the post with corrected info and I’ve also pruned the tools that have died in the past four years.

Edit: And now it’s June 2020, and I still need to export my notes, so I have revised this post.

The available tools have changed a lot over the years. For example, Amazon used to have a site called Kindle.Amazon.com where you could find your note and highlights, see what other people were writing in the margins, etc. Unfortunately, that is gone now. (That page was sorta replaced by Read.amazon.com, but the new page doesn’t have the same features.)

So let’s start with the simple trick that still works.

Look in the documents folder of your E-ink Kindle and you’ll see a file named myclippings.txt. This is a text file of all of the notes and highlights made on your Kindle (but not on the other Kindles or Kindle apps on your account). You can copy this file to your PC and open it.

Boom. You can now copy and past your notes into other documents, emails, etc.

Kindle (devcies)

Did you know you can have your Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Oasis, or Kindle email your annotations to you? (I didn’t until Tom told me.) Amazon will email the notes and highlights to the address on your Amazon account. They will arrive as a PDF and a CSV attached to the email.

You can access the export option from the Notes menu which can be found in the 3 dot menu dropdown inside the ebook you’re reading.

iPad, Android, Kindle Fire

The Kindle apps for iOS and Android have a feature which is shared by the Kindle Fire tablets. They have a notebook menu where you can find all of the highlights and notes for an ebook.

This menu is accessible from inside the ebook, and one of the things you’ll find there is an option to share your annotations by email. Here’s what it looks like on the iPad:

The notebook menu can be accessed from inside a book, but the way you find it differs between Android, iOS, and the Kindle Fire.

On iOS, click the “sheet of paper” icon in the upper right corner. The export button is in the upper right corner of the notebook menu. The exported notes don’t look very good, but this trick does let you pull the notes out of even a side-loaded ebook.

On Android, click the “3 dots” icon in the upper right corner, and then select the Notebook option from the dropdown menu. You can either create flashcards or export the notes to Drive, by email, or by Android Beam.

On the Kindle Fire, open the ebook and press the center of the screen. One of the icons you will see across the top of the screen will look like a piece of paper. That is the notebook menu, and the export option is in the upper right corner.

Kindle Cloud Reader

Amazon’s Kindle app for the web browser is located at Read.amazon.com, and it even has a copy of your notes at Read.amazon.com/notebook.

I just heard that it actually does have an export option., but you have to get Amazon CS to enable the feature first.

Kindle for PC

I forgot to include this in the original post, but the Kindle app for Windows and macOS has a notebook feature just like the one in the Kindle apps for Android and iOS. Its only export option is an HTML file. This is not an ideal option, but it does exist, which is better than nothing.

This screenshot should help you find the export feature.

Bookcision

This nifty little bookmarklet is simple and works great with Chrome. After you install it, you use it be opening one an ebook’s highlights page on Read.amazon.com and then clicking the bookmarklet button.

I liked Bookcision because it worked well with Chrome. With other web browsers, you can save the notes to the clipboard, but with Chrome I also get multiple download options (text, XML, JSON). The latter two options include a link to the note’s location in the ebook.

Evernote WebClipper

This tool can be used to copy part of a page or an entire webpage into your Evernote account, and I’m told it works well to copy notes from a book’s highlights page on Read.amazon.com.

But you might want to manually select the book notes though and copy and paste.  There’s one report that the page has an infinite scroll built-in that messes up one user’s Evernote clipper.

And while we’re on the topic, Microsoft’s OneNote has a similar clipping tool. It takes screenshots so it’s not nearly as useful, but if you already use that platform then it’s worth a look.

Clippings.io

Here’s another service I’m not sure I can recommend.

Clippings.io is supposed to offer an easy to use online service for managing your Kindle notes and highlights, but I haven’t found a good reason to continue using it.

While I was setting it up, I noticed that this “free” service works with a Chrome plugin which costs $2 (you can also find the myclippings.txt file and upload it). That turned me off, and since it basically duplicates activities I already perform on my PC, I plan to close the tab and forget about it.

Calibre

And last but not least, calibre. This ebook library tool can not only send ebooks to your Kindle, it can also fetch the annotations from a Kindle – only there’s a catch.

This only works when you have your Kindle plugged into your PC over USB.  And it apparently doesn’t work for newer Kindles.

I found this trick while researching this post, and I also found a bug report which says that this feature doesn’t work with newer Kindles. I can’t get it to work with my Paperwhites, for example.

But since it might work for you, I’m including it here. Head on over to JetShred for instructions and more details.

Conclusion

All in all, there are a lot of tools out there that either don’t work, aren’t terribly useful, or are intended to work in only specific circumstances.

But I found at least one tool that I like, so I’m good.

Did you find one you could use? Did I miss one?

The comments are open.

image by Terry Madeley via Flickr

You just finished reading How to Download Your Kindle Notes and Highlights and Export Them (Updated for 2020) which was published on The Digital Reader.

I read on Twitter this past week that Barnes & Noble had used the pandemic-imposed shutdown as an opportunity to reorganize or remodel their stores, so I made some time in my schedule today to stop by the store in Manassas, VA.

Very little has changed in that store in the ten years or so that I’ve been visiting*. The layout has stayed essentially the same, with the only major change being the withering of the Nook displays as Barnes & Noble’s digital division declined. (Up until 2014 the Nook displays occupied tables right inside the entrance and to the right of the Nook kiosk. First the Nook displays were removed from the tables, and then in the summer of 2018 the kiosk was removed.)

Around half the store remains unchanged. There’s still a cafe in the front right corner, the registers are to the left of the door, the magazine rack and kids dept are along the left wall, and there’s still a central aisle leading from the entrance to the customer service desk near the rear of the store.

The right half of the store is still devoted to books, but it did get new new display facing the entrance:

The biggest change was to the left of the central aisle, in front of the registers. That section used to have gifts, then books, and then a music dept in the back, but now it has books, music, and games.

The prime real estate in front of the registers that used to be cluttered with games, gifts, and gewgaws (it honestly looked messy every time I saw it) is now occupied by books. The games, gifts, and gewgaws have been moved to the back of the store, in the huge space the music dept used to occupy across the back wall. The music dept shrank by half, and has been pushed forward from its previous location.

It was my impression in the store that books were much more prominent, and I think there were more of them than before, too. What I found especially interesting was that the books chosen for the prime real estate near the registers were really interesting. The titles alone kept inspiring me to pick them up and flip through them.

I no longer buy print books, but I was really tempted to do so, and that hasn’t happened to me in a bookstore in a really long time. In fact, the last time I was tempted to buy a book in a bookstore was when I browsed Amazon’s newly opened Amazon Books location in Georgetown.

Make of that what you will.

P.S. B&N has of course responded to the ongoing pandemic. They now hold books in quarantine before reshelving them, and you can also have a stack of free masks and a bottle of hand sanitizer on a table by the entrance.

You just finished reading Inside the Barnes & Noble Manassas Store (Post-Covid) which was published on The Digital Reader.

Here are a few stories to read this Monday morning.

• If you’ve ever wondered about the origins of -ston, -shire, and -chester, Rich Hollick has a fascinating post on the English place names.
• The EFF is coming to the legal defense of the IA’s pirate site, The Open Library.  (statement)
• Designers are distressed at reports that Waterstones is now shelving books back cover out. (This is done so that people can read the blurb without picking up the book.)
• Mark Coker shared his predictions about the post-pandemic future of publishing. 
• File this under news no one expected: College students continue to spend less on curricula. 
• B&N is cutting staff at corporate, including firing the book buyers who used to have more power in the book industry than Jeff Bezos. 
• The Conan Doyle “estate” maintained their reputations this week as copyright trolls when they sued Netflix for giving Sherlock Holmes “too many emotions”.

You just finished reading Morning Coffee – 29 June 2020 which was published on The Digital Reader.

My weekly email with blog posts did not go out this morning, and we have Mailerlite to blame for that. The mailing list provider updated their platform late last week, and apparently broke a lot of accounts.

This was a major catastrophe for users, and not just a bump in the road. I haven’t had a chance to go over all the parts of my account yet, but I do know that Mailerlite deleted two of my RSS campaigns, and deactivated a third. (The two deleted RSS campaigns are literally gone from my account.)

If you have a Mailerlite account, you really need to go over it with a fine tooth comb. While Mailerlite  has informed users by email that there may be an issue with RSS campaigns, I am seeing a whole host of complaints on Twitter about confirmation emails not going out, automation not working, and campaigns just not being sent.

I am going to go check my account just as soon as I publish this post, and then I will start looking for a replacement service. I am financially constrained at the moment and can’t actually afford to move, but I will certainly be sending people elsewhere.

This is the 6th major problem I’ve either encountered or heard about in the 23 months since I signed up for Mailerlite. That is simply an unacceptable level of failure for a mission critical tool.

You just finished reading PSA: Go Check Your Mailerlite Account which was published on The Digital Reader.

Walmart has pulled the Kobo displays from its stores in a recent reorganization, but they still have the ereaders in stock.

Earlier today I had a reason to visit my local Walmart store for the first time in a couple months. This store had a Kobo display when I was last there in early April, but today I found that they had replaced it with books.

My apologies for the quality of the photo, folks; my phone’s camera was overwhelmed by the lighting.

The Kobo display had previously occupied two sections of the main aisle near the media/electronics dept. One section was devoted to ebook gift cards, and the other was supposed to be Kobo demo units (this was never actually set up in any of the stores I checked), but now both sections and in fact the entire wall has been replaced with books. The books had previously had their own aisle in the media/electronics dept, but they got kicked out so Walmart could install additional tables with tablet and laptop demo units. (Think Best Buy or Apple store, but more crowded.)

Walmart and Kobo announced in January 2018 that Walmart would be Kobo’s retail partner in the US, and that made that partnership a reality in August 2018 with the launch of an ebookstore on Walmart.com, and the installation if the aforementioned Kobo displays in select Walmart stores.

The retailer did not invest the time to maintain the displays, which was a shame because they were actually selling the ebook gift cards. Walmart also neglected to train their staff on how the devices worked, or even their specs.

While we are on the topic, what did you think of the displays? Did your Walmart store even have one?

I do not know what happened to the gift cards from the displays, but I can report that the ereader hardware is still in stores, although I was not able to put my hands on them.  All three of Kobo’s current models (Clara, Libra, Forma) are listed as being available for next day pickup at my local Walmart.

While it’s possible Walmart could be fibbing about availability, I seriously doubt that is the case. Availability accuracy is too damned important in the retail trade currently, and Walmart does not want to annoy customers with a bait and switch.

While the store displays are gone, Walmart continues to sell ebooks and ereaders on its website.

You just finished reading Walmart Has Pulled Kobo Displays From Stores which was published on The Digital Reader.

I was browsing through my blog’s archives this morning when I came across an old post from 2014 on embedding ebooks in a web page.  I was surprised to discover that I haven’t touched on this topic in the past six years.

I build websites for authors, so you would think it would have come up. I was thinking authors would want to have a sample on their site that visitors can read while they are still on the site, but I guess the practice is still not common.

Maybe they just don’t know how easy doable it is?

ETA: Well, I think it’s easy, but then again I am used to having tech thrown at me and figuring it out how the tech works while it’s still in mid-air. Not everyone is used to doing that, so this might not be as easy for you as it was for me.

A lot has changed in the past six years. Back then you had to use third-party apps or tools such as ReadK.it or Bib/i if you wanted to embed an Epub ebook in your site. (ReadK.it actually does a lot more than that, although I am not sure it still works.)

In 2020 it is a lot easier to embed that ebook, just so long as you are fine with not using an Epub.  Now if you want to let website visitors read an ebook on your site, the easiest way to do it is to embed either a PDF or HTML file.  This is fine by me because I am more interested in what the visitor sees than in the technical details (plus, PDFs are ebooks).

And it’s really easy – if you have a WordPress site. All you have to do is install a plugin that can display a “flipbook”. (I don’t know why it is called this, but I do know that if you search the WP plugin directory for that term, you will find plugins that can display a PDF on your site, but if you search the plugin directory for Epub you will only find plugins to help you sell ebooks.)

I recently added this feature to a client’s site using a plugin called 3D Flipbook. This plugin offers several different ways to embed either a PDF, including as a pop-up.

Click the thumbnail below, and the PDF should open.

That is a one-page PDF, so it’s not the best example, but it should give you an idea of what this will look like and how it works.

One reason I used it was so I could point out how you might want to format the PDFs to a size smaller than 8.5 x 11 so they will be easier to read. If you could format the ebooks for a 6″ ereader screen, that would be just about perfect.

Or, you could try using an HTML file as the source for the flipbook. (I would show you what that looks like, but I’ve tried 3 plugins and still can’t pull it off.)

There are over a dozen plugins that promise to let you embed a PDF in a web page. I have not tried them all, but I would recommend that you try several of them before settling on one. They each have different features, so one might have the abilities you need, while another does not.

You just finished reading How to Embed an eBook on a Website (2020 Edition) which was published on The Digital Reader.

Are you thinking about getting a Chromebook?

When I first wrote this post in 2014, and even when I updated it in 2016, I could not possibly have recommended that you buy a Chromebook. The selection of apps was still quite limited compared to iOS or Android, because frankly when it came to the major OSes, Chrome was clearly the last thing on some developers’ minds.

Fortunately a lot had changed by the time this post was last updated in July 2020. Now a significant number (the majority?) of Android apps are compatible with Chromebooks, and in fact I would say incompatible apps are the exception.

Here’s what you can do to read on Chrome.

Android Apps

Android is Android and Chrome is Chrome, but did you know that you can install Android apps on Chrome?

When you get a Chromebook you will be able to browse Google Play for compatible apps. And for those feeling adventurous, there is also a hack for running any Android app on Chrome. I haven’t tried it, but I did find instructions on how to pull it off.

eBook Apps

When I first wrote this post there wasn’t much in the way of true ebook apps for Chrome, but that changed by the time I updated this post in 2020. We still don’t have a Kindle app for Chromebooks, but there’s a Nook app and a Kobo app. Also, my Chromebook came with Play Books.

• Kindle Cloud Reader (web app)
• Kobo
• Nook
• Google Play Books
• Aldiko
• Moon+ Reader
• Adobe Digital Editions
• Apple Books (haha, just kidding)

There are in fact over a dozen Epub and PDF apps in Google Play that are compatible with a Chromebook.

Save for Later

• Pocket
• Evernote Clearly (extension)
• Instapaper

Library eBooks

When I first wrote this post I could find but a single option for reading library ebooks on Chrome (OverDrive). In 2020 the list of compatible Android apps is longer, and includes:

• OverDrive
• Libby (by OverDrive)
• Hoopla
• Axis 360
• Biblioteca Cloud Library

Audiobooks

In 2020 we have quite a few audiobook apps for Chrome, but if they do not appeal to you, you can try streaming from websites. Also, Downpour.com has no DRM so you could simply download audiobooks there and play them in a media player.

• Audible 
• Audiobooks.com
• OverDrive
• Chirp
• Libro.fm
• Nook Audiobooks
• Play Books
• Librivox

PDF

There are like 50 PDF apps for Chrome, including:

• Adobe Reader
• Foxit
• Notable PDF
• MetaPDF

News and Feed Readers

Here are a few compatible RSS feed readers you’ll find in the “news reporting” category in Google Play, but for this type of service you might be better off using the web browser version of these apps. (That would be my preference.)

• Feedly
• Inoreader
• News+
• Newsblur
• Bazqux
• Feedspot

Digital Comics & Manga

We have far more digital comics options in 2020 than when I first wrote this post.

• Marvel
• DC Comics
• Tapas
• Marvel Unlimited
• Dark Horse
• Comixology
• Play Books

Addendum

The above lists are (probably) incomplete, so if you know of an app, extension, website, or service which should be listed here please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

You just finished reading How to Turn Your Chromebook into an Adequate eReader which was published on The Digital Reader.

I was just reading over at MobileRead that Amazon has finally removed the Active Content section of the Kindle Store.

AC is the clunky name that Amazon gave to the apps that were developed to run on Kindle, Kindle Touch, and Kindle Paperwhite. At one point it included over 490 games, tools, crosswords, test prep apps, and even choose your own adventure type books such as Dusk World (or Coliloquy’s apps).

The image below shows a “where’s waldo” type of game running on my old Kindle Touch.

The feature launched in 2010/2011, and was essentially abandoned by 2014 when Amazon launched the Kindle Voyage. Amazon decided to not support Active Content on its then newest ereader. Later Kindle models also lacked support for Active Content, and that meant it was only a matter of time before Amazon also removed the section from the Kindle Store.

And now one of the last remaining holdovers from that crazy time when ebooks were new is now gone.

There was a time, back in the early ebook era, when everyone was throwing really cool ideas up against the wall to see what stuck. Enhanced ebooks, for example, got tried a dozen times in around 7 years, and failed to find a market every time. Augmented reality ebooks was also tried several times, and for the most part failed because the tech wasn’t there (AR was always going to be a niche product, but it’s time will come).

Digital textbooks were tried and failed several times because students could see they didn’t make economic sense, but then publishers found a way to force them down students’ throats (site licenses). And multiple different ereaders were tried, including two-screen models such as the Entourage Edge and the Kno (many of which are dead now).

And now Kindle Active Content is joining all the other formerly great ideas in the ebook graveyard.

RIP

You just finished reading Amazon Removes Active Content Section of the Kindle Store which was published on The Digital Reader.

Here are a few stories to read this Monday morning.

• There’s a difference between copyright-free and royalty-free. 
• David Gaughran is giving away the new edition of his publishing guide. Here’s a direct link to the ebook in the Kindle Store.
• Here are 14 keyboard combinations that few people know about (at least 3 were new to even me!). 
• Hugh Stephens explores how copyright law affected Canada’s push for independence in the 19th century. 
• Jonathan Bailey delves into the state of the DMCA report that was released last month. 

If you need a tech VA or helo with your website, email me at Nate@the-digital-reader.com

You just finished reading Monday Morning Coffee – 6 July 2020 which was published on The Digital Reader.

Amazon rolled out another update for its ereaders this week. It’s currently being pushed out to the Voyage, all Oasis models, the latest Paperwhite model, and the two most recent basic Kindle models. (Older versions of the Paperwhite or the basic Kindle did not get the update.)

The release notes (below) mention changes to the search function, and tweaks to PageFlip. Amazon also added new content to Kindle FU, and changed how that service is accessed from the Kindle. And finally, Dark Mode (white text on a black background) is now accessible via the Quick Actions menu.

Here are the release notes for the update.

Version 5.13.1 – June 2020

Here’s what’s new:

New features for kids in Amazon FreeTime: Kids are getting more out of Amazon FreeTime with new features that include: a new layout, improved search, book details, and Audible support. For customers in supported marketplaces who are Amazon FreeTime Unlimited subscribers, your kids will see rows of recommended eBook and Audible content that are age-appropriate and included in your subscription. Just access Amazon FreeTime from the menu to get started.

Search: Over the next few weeks, you will see a new search experience that makes it easier to navigate through your search results in the book without losing the page you were reading. To get started, simply search for a term in your book and tap on a search result.

Dark Mode: We have made it easier for you to turn on Dark Mode. You can easily turn it on/off in Quick Actions.

Updated Page Flip Navigation: Over the next few weeks, you will see an updated Page Flip experience that makes it easier to navigate to the right page in your book. The new experience shows recently read pages as dots on the progress bar, including your most recent page read from another device. To get started, tap the top of the screen while reading to display the Reading Navigation toolbar, then tap the left Page Flip icon (single page view) at the bottom of the screen.

Performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements.

You just finished reading Kindle Firmware Update 5.13.1 Adds Improved Search and Navigation Features which was published on The Digital Reader.

The ARC service NetGalley has distributed ebooks for almost as long as the Kindle has been around, and soon they will also be distributing audiobooks.

NetGalley announced on Twitter on Monday that, starting next week, reviewers will be able to request audiobooks from publishers. Audiobooks had been supported since last December, but only as excerpts.  Now, reviewers will be able to listen to the entire audiobook.

NetGalley advised reviewers in a related FAQ to update their profiles  to mention how the reviewers can help promote a publisher’s audiobooks. “Make sure to add all relevant information to your Bio about how you specifically promote audiobooks, including any additional links where you review audiobooks.”

Audiobooks are the fastest growing segment of the book market, but at the same time they are also by far the smallest, accounting for $52 million in publisher revenue in April 2020. (Coincidentally, revenue growth has slowed considerably this spring, probably because people aren’t buying audiobooks for their commute any more.) Audiobooks are a considerably larger source of revenue for indie authors, many of whom report audiobook revenues exceeding print revenue.

You just finished reading NetGalley Will Soon Offer Audiobook ARCs which was published on The Digital Reader.

Amazon manufactures everything from books to DVDs, but did you know they also make swag such as t-shirts? (I only found out a couple months ago, actually.)

One of Amazon’s divisions under Amazon Advertising is called Merch by Amazon, and it’s basically Amazon’s answer to services such as RedBubble and CafePress.

Merch by Amazon lets you design t-shirts and other swag, and then sell that merchandise through Amazon.com. The selection is limited to various types of shirts, as well as Popsockets, but I’ve just read on Facebook that Amazon has added smartphone cases:

Merch by Amazon is currently invite-only. I don’t know very many authors who use it, but those that do are very excited about the new merch options. I get the impression that they sell a lot through Amazon (which would make sense given the size of Amazon’s customer base).

Are you signed up with Merch by Amazon? What do you think of the service?

You just finished reading Merch by Amazon Adds iPhone, Samsung Cases which was published on The Digital Reader.

A little over two months ago the UK stopped collecting VAT on ebooks sold in that country, and I have just learned that Amazon may have lowered the UK Kindle Store’s minimum price threshold in response.

Previously Amazon had required a minimum retail price of £0.99 for all ebooks in the Kindle Store. Any ebook priced between £0.99 and £1.99 earned a 35% royalty, and ebooks priced between £2.00 and £9.99 earned a 70% royalty (less Amazon’s punitive “delivery” fees).

Under the new rules, the minimum thresholds has been lowered to £0.77 and £1.77, respectively. (The £9.99 threshold remains unchanged.)

If you have not adjusted your prices in the Kindle Store, now might be a good time to do so. (To be honest I thought Amazon had taken care of that automatically when the change in VAT went through.)

When I first heard about the change, I thought Amazon was responding to the devaluation of the pound. But after talking to Dan Holloway on Twitter, I have to agree that this change is probably the result of VAT cancellation.

Will you be lowering your prices in response?

image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr

You just finished reading Amazon Lowers Minimum Price Threshold for UK Kindle Store which was published on The Digital Reader.

A little under 9 years ago Amazon launched a version of the Kindle app that lived in your web browser. It is called Kindle Cloud Reader, and can be found at Read.Amazon.com.

This often overlooked app has always been a great back up option for reading Kindle ebooks. You could use it to peruse the notes you’ve made in Kindle ebooks, and it even had an offline mode which would store ebooks locally so you could read them when you were offline.

Or at least it used to have an offline option; there’s a report over at MobileRead that this feature has disappeared:

Kindle cloud reader offline doesn’t work anymore. The “Cloud” and “Downloaded” tabs have disappeared.

I just checked, and I can’t find it either. The offline mode is gone.

Any guesses what happened? (I would check with Amazon CS but this is one area where their scripts will give them helpful nothing to say – I’ve seen it before.)

You just finished reading Has Amazon Killed the Offline Mode for the Kindle Cloud Reader? which was published on The Digital Reader.

Here’s some frustrating news for authors and industry freelancers. It seems Godaddy has seen fit to turn off the lights on one of its website builders, Virb. According to several sources, Virb shut down without notifying users nor giving them a chance to move their sites or even download a copy of their sites.

Edit: The Wayback Machine shows that the Virb home page got its current EOL message some time between 14 June and 28 June.

The sites are just gone:

@Virb why would you guys close down without giving customers any warning so they could make smart plans…shouldn't management say something or allow people to at least figure out what to do next rather than have businesses looking for sites that are no longer there??really bunk

— Jay Shapiro (@JayShapiro3) July 9, 2020

I could say a lot about how Godaddy screwed up here, but that won’t get your website up and running again.

That’s going to take some work; you’ll need to find a new host for your site, get a copy of your content, and set up the new site.

I can help you take care of this, but I will also give you the basic steps so you can DIY.

Here’s how you can do that.

1. Find a Web Host

We’re operating under the clock, so I am going to point you to two possible hosting companies. If you want to build a WordPress site, you should get an account with Siteground. If you want a pagebuilder service service similar to Virb, you should choose Squarespace.

• Squarespace – There are many services like Virb, and Squarespace is the easiest to use and has the prettiest themes. I have worked with several different pagebuilder services like Virb, and Squarespace is literally the only service of this type that I would recommend.
• Siteground – There are many companies that can host your WordPress site (even me).  Siteground is not the cheapest but it does have best tech support and customer service. (Well, I am better but then again I try harder.)

2. Get a copy of your content

If you don’t have a backup of your site, you might be able to recover the content by visiting the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. The IA has been backing up the web for a couple decades now, and there’s a good chance that they scanned your site at some point.

If you find your site there, bookmark the link so you can find it again.

3. Set up the new site

If you have a backup copy of your site, I could get it online in an afternoon. But if you don’t it will take a little longer.

What you will need to do next is decide if you want to design a new site or recreate your old site using a new website design and the content you found on the Wayback Machine.  If you choose the former then it will take longer but you will end up with a refreshed website that will look better than before. But if you just want to get your site up fast, the quick option is to simply remake what you had before.

A new site will involve either designing it yourself or hiring a designer to build it for you. Recreating your old site will involve finding a similar website theme, and then copying and pasting your content from the Wayback machine to the new theme, one page at a time.

The choice is up to you.

But no matter which choice you make, I can help.

image by Steve Snodgrass via Flickr

You just finished reading Godaddy Shut Down Its Virb Site Builder Platform With No Notice – Here’s How to Pick Up the Pieces which was published on The Digital Reader.