Content FREE (and bargain) books for the Kindle - June 2011

[koland]

Free once again on Kindle, so far for those in the UK and DE only (but should be free in the US by morning): Business and Competitive Analysis Methods, by Craig S. Fleisher and Babette E. Bensoussan (list price $72!!)

Book Description
The Definitive How-To Guide for Business and Competitive Analysis

* Transform raw data into compelling, actionable business recommendations
* Answer the questions executives ask–“What?” “So What?” and “Now What?”
* Today’s 24 most valuable techniques: how to choose them, how to use them
* For everyone who performs analysis: managers, consultants, functional specialists, and strategists
* A completely new book by the authors of the popular Strategic and Competitive Analysis

Business success begins with deep clarity about your competition and your business environment. But, even as data gathering has improved dramatically, few business professionals know the state-of-the-art techniques for analyzing their data. Now there’s a comprehensive, immensely practical guide to today’s best tools and techniques for answering tough questions and making actionable recommendations.

Business and Competitive Analysis begins with end-to-end guidance on the analysis process, including defining problems, avoiding analytical pitfalls, choosing tools, and communicating results. Next, the authors offer detailed guides on 24 of today’s most valuable analysis models: techniques that have never been brought together in one book before.They offer in-depth, step-by-step guidance for using every technique–along with realistic assessments of strengths, weaknesses, feasibility, and business value.



You are flooded with data. This book will help you transform that data into actionable insights and recommendations that enterprise decision makers cannot and will not ignore. Craig S. Fleisher and Babette E. Bensoussan begin with a practical primer on the process and context of business and competitive analysis: how it works, how to avoid pitfalls, and how to communicate results. Next, they introduce their unique FAROUT method for choosing the right tools for each assignment. The authors then present 24 of today’s most valuable analysis methods.They cover “classic” techniques, such as McKinsey 7S and industry analysis, as well as emerging techniques from multiple disciplines:economics,corporate finance, sociology, anthropology, and the intelligence and futurist communities. For each, they present clear descriptions, background context, strategic rationales, strengths, weaknesses, step-by-step instructions, and references. The result is a book you can rely on to meet any analysis challenge, no matter how complex or novel.

Kindle US
Kindle UK
Kindle DE

[koland]

Divorce Sucks, by Mary Jo Eustace and Joanne Kimes, free for UK and DE Kindle customers so far (should be free in the US by morning, but currently marked down to $4.66).

Book Description
Hock the platinum. Take down the vacation photos. Cancel the joint checking account. There’s no question . . . Divorce Sucks. And perhaps no one knows that better than author Mary Jo Eustace, whose ex-husband Dean McDermott married Tori Spelling a mere thirty days after their divorce was finalized. One part tell-all and one part guide to get readers on their feet after a bitter breakup, this hilarious addition to the bestselling Sucks series tells everything readers don’t want to know about divorce — from what a phone call with a lawyer will cost, to how to handle your newer, younger replacement, to what Hollywood divorcees are actually thinking when they watch their ex walk the red carpet with a millionairess. Sometimes horrifying, sometimes gratifying, and never merciful, Divorce Sucks will give readers an inside look at one of today’s most public divorces while reminding them—hey, it could always be worse.

Free once again on Kindle, so far for those in the UK and DE only (but should be free in the US by morning).

Kindle US
Kindle UK
Kindle DE

[arcadata]

Now free for those in the US

How to Make Money Marketing Your Business on LinkedIn by Jamie Turner

The Truth About Perfecting Your Presentation Skills (Collection) by Michael Solomon, James O'Rourke, Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz

Antibiotic Resistance: Understanding and Responding to an Emerging Crisis by David S. Perlin and Karl S. Drlica

Ignited: Managers! Light Up Your Company and Career for More Power More Purpose and More Success by Vince Thompson

Business and Competitive Analysis Methods by Craig S. Fleisher and Babette E. Bensoussan

Divorce Sucks by Mary Jo Eustace and Joanne Kimes

[arcadata]

FYI, currently free just in the UK

10 Fun Things To Do With Your Microwave by Instructables Authors (Amazon Main, Amazon UK)

Product Description
10 Fun Things to Do With Your Microwave gives you full step-by-step instructions for fun projects you can do with your microwave. Learn how to make peanut brittle and dye wool, and all about what will or won't blow up when nuked!

Easy Appetizer Recipes by Instructables Authors (Amazon Main, Amazon UK)

Product Description
Easy Appetizer Recipes gives you full step-by-step instructions for 15 easy and impressive appetizers you can make for your next party. Impress them with fresh bruschetta, easy crab cakes, or even jalapeno poppers! All projects come from Instructables.com, are written by party-food experts, and contain pictures for each step so you can easily make sure your next party is a success. Party on!

Easy Vegetarian Recipes by Instructables Authors (Amazon Main, Amazon UK)

Product Description
Easy Vegetarian Recipes gives you full step-by-step instructions for crafting Vegetarian dishes that even die-hard meat eaters will love. Learn how to make Effortless Chili, Scrumptious Caponata, and Spicy Pumkin Samosas! All projects come from Instructables.com, are written by veggie experts, and contain pictures for each step so you can easily make it yourself, even if it’s your first time in the kitchen. Let's get cooking!

[arcadata]

Day of War (Lion of War Series) by Cliff Graham (US Kindle) - from Zondervan

Product Description
In ancient Israel, at the crossroads of the great trading routes, a man named Benaiah is searching for a fresh start in life. He has joined a band of soldiers led by a warlord named David, seeking to bury the past that refuses to leave him. Their ragged army is disgruntled and full of reckless men. Some are loyal to David, but others are only with him for the promise of captured wealth. While the ruthless and increasingly mad King Saul marches hopelessly against the powerful Philistines, loyal son Jonathan in tow, the land of the Hebrew tribes has never been more despondent---and more in need of rescue. Over the course of ten days, from snowy mountain passes to sword-wracked battlefields, Benaiah and his fellow mercenaries must call upon every skill they have to survive and establish the throne for David---if they don't kill each other first. Day of War brings to life the exploits of the Mighty Men of Israel, a rag-tag band of disgruntled warriors on the run with David, the soon-to-be King. Their legendary deeds are recorded in 2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11

[arcadata]

Never a Bride by Amelia Grey (US Kindle)

Product Description

Her name is on everyone's lips...

When he left for America six years ago, the handsome Viscount Stonehurst never suspected that he would return home to England to find his lovely fiancée embroiled in the scandal of the decade. The woman he planned on making his wife has been kissing every man in London...except him!

But scandal doesn't matter in search of the truth...

Engaged and then abandoned, Mirabella Wittingham is determined to find the man who drove her cousin to suicide, even if it means ruining her reputation and disgracing herself in the process...When her plans go awry, Mirabella has no choice but to turn to her long-lost fiancé for help. But can she trust the man who deserted her so many years ago, or is he destined to fail her yet again?

[koland]

Fire Lord's Lover, by Kathryne Kennedy (DE link), is free on Kindle and from B&N.

Book Description
If his powers are discovered, his father will destroy him...

In a magical land ruled by ruthless Elven lords, the Fire Lord's son Dominic Raikes plays a deadly game to conceal his growing might from his malevolent father-until his arranged bride awakens in him passions he thought he had buried forever...

Unless his fiancée kills him first...

Lady Cassandra has been raised in outward purity and innocence, while secretly being trained as an assassin. Her mission is to bring down the Elven Lord and his champion son. But when she gets to court she discovers that nothing is what it seems, least of all the man she married...

Then Dominic and Cassandra together uncover an unspeakable evil, one that threatens the destruction of the magical realm they would give their souls to save...

[arcadata]

Kiss at Your Own Risk by Stephanie Rowe

Product Description

Trinity Harpswell is a cursed Black Widow-death and mayhem are all part of the job description. If she can manage to go just one more week without accidentally killing someone, she'll break this killer curse and put her Black Widow days behind her. When sexy Blaine Underhill III shows up at her door and asks for her help rescuing his friend from the clutches of Death's evil grandma, Trinity gets pulled into a daring high stakes adventure. As Blaine and Trinity join forces to take down a series of underworld assassins, they may just learn that love is the deadliest game of all.

[JanG]

Originally Posted by arcadata

Plus some new indie freebies:

Black Silk by Jan Gordon

This is mine and it was pirated on Amazon. I fought with Amazon for a week after finding out (from a fan) that it was being offered. They finally took it down today. For approximately three weeks prior to it being offered for free it was being sold for $2.99, 2.13 pounds sterling on the UK site and 2.40 euros on the German site. The German site was selling it for 2.40 euros right up until yesterday.

I did not, nor will I get a penny from those sales.

I understand that Amazon does not pay publishers for 60 days, so hopefully the pirate won't get any money either.

The pirated version that was available on Amazon was formatted very badly, and my contact information was removed.

For the past two years it has been free at Feedbooks.com and at Smashwords and it will remain free.

--Jan.

[BarryTX]

Originally Posted by JanG

This is mine and it was pirated on Amazon.

...

For the past two years it has been free at Feedbooks.com and at Smashwords and it will remain free.

--Jan.

Jan,

I am really sorry to hear this - this is the worst form of pirating, when your work is stolen to be sold by the pirate. Congratulations on finally shutting it down, although you should never have had to go through all of it. I would encourage you to continue to press Amazon for the proceeds of the sales, they are rightfully yours and it should be Amazon that has to deal with the fraud.

I've had proceeds stolen from software that I wrote as charitable shareware (all proceeds were going to charity). Very recently I had someone print checks with my account number and pass them off around town. I never cease to be amazed at the efforts these sleazebags go through to steal while they are too lazy to apply themselves in an honorable pursuit.

Again, sorry to hear of your situation. Many thanks for sharing your writings with Kindle readers, it is much appreciated.

Barry

[koland]

Lady of Hay, by Barbara Erskine, is free in the Kindle store and from B&N. This title was part of the 99 cent sale from Sourcebooks last March, so you may already have it in your library.

Book Description
An iconic, groundbreaking novel about the power of destiny with more than 3 million copies sold

With a mesmerizing, wrenching story set both in the present day and the 12th century, Lady of Hay explores how Joanna, a journalist investigating hypnotic regression, plunges into the life of Matilda, Lady of Hay—who lived 800 years earlier. As she learns of Matilda’s unhappy marriage, her love for Richard de Clare, and the brutal treatment she receives from King John, it seems that Jo’s past and present are hopelessly entwined and that, centuries later, a story of secret passion and unspeakable treachery is about to begin again—and she has no choice but to brave both lives if she wants to shake the iron grip of history.

[arcadata]

Bargain Book = July Orbit deal:

The Parasol Protectorate: Books 1-3 by Gail Carriger is $9.99

Product Description
Book 1: SOULLESS
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Book 2: CHANGELESS
Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

Book 3: BLAMELESS
Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

[koland]

Mistress' House by Leigh Michaels, free on Kindle and at B&N.

Book Description
Three beautifully intertwined love stories...
The rules are made to be broken...

When the handsome, rakish Earl of Hawthorne buys the charming house across the back garden from his town home, he never expects the lovely lady he installs there to ensnare him completely...

Again...

After Lady Keighley marries the earl, it seems a shame to leave the house empty, so she offers it to her childhood friend Felicity Mercer, who discovers that the earl's gorgeous cousin is precisely the man she's been waiting for...

and again...

Finally, feisty Georgiana Baxter moves into the house to escape an arranged marriage, and encounters the earl's friend Major Julian Hampton late one night in the back garden. The handsome soldier is more than willing to give her the lessons she asks for...

There is plenty of gossip, scandal, and torrid speculations surrounding the "mistress' house", but behind closed doors, passions blaze...

[arcadata]

FYI, for new HarperCollins bargains, check out @apesmom's thread on the Deals subforum :

Bargain (Agency) newly reduced from HarperCollins

[arcadata]

The Message Solo New Testament by Eugene Peterson (from NavPress)

Product Description

This innovative devotional New Testament is designed to change how you interact with God’s Word and revolves around lectio divina, or “divine reading,” an ancient approach to exploring Scripture udated for today’s Bible reader.

Includes The Message version, a topical index, and 162 numbered devotions so you can start any day of the year.