KF8 ebooks?

[Alissa]

It seem Kindle Fire is shipping. (I'm not sure exactly since Amazon doesn't allow me who live in Japan to buy one. )

BTW, Amazon announced that ebooks in the new format KF8 would be available at a same timing with Fire. I'm curious about the new format.

Does anybody found a KF8 ebook? Which title is it?

[DreamWriter]

I'm excited about the new KF8 format! Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is one of the ebooks featured in the Kindle Fire ads. The Kindle edition, made available on November 14, specifies "Available only on Kindle Fire." If that's the same edition that they show in the ads, that should be KF8, but I don't know for sure.

I'm on the email list to be notified when KF8 tools are available for publishers, and I have received no information to date, so I have no idea when it'll be widely available.

[jimad]

Originally Posted by Alissa

Amazon announced that ebooks in the new format KF8 would be available at a same timing with Fire. I'm curious about the new format.

Does anybody found a KF8 ebook? Which title is it?

I'm not sure because Amazon appears to be studiously AVOIDING telling buyers whether they are buying a KF8 books vs an [Amazon encrypted] "Mobi" book presumably because Amazon is worrying about killing off all the Kindle books that are written in the old format.

However, try this:

Go to the Amazon Books (Not Kindle Books) "Advanced Search" page, and select:

Pub Date=After Oct 2011

Search

The Select "Kindle Edition" and Sort By=Pub Date

And for instance the first book that comes up for me is:

Unshaken (Enhanced Edition): Rising from the Ruins of Haiti's Hotel Montana by Dan Woolley and Jennifer Schuchmann - Kindle eBook

Where "Enhanced Edition" means you have a choice of
getting the "Kindle Edition with Audio/Video" for $14.99

or the "plain jane" unenhanced version for $10.99

I went into the Kindle store for books on my Fire and searched for Unshaken. It returned the unenhanced book but when you select it a View All Versions link appears under the book cover. Press the link and the enhanced version is listed. Select the enhanced version. It shows the info but says it is not yet available.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is one of the ebooks featured in the Kindle Fire ads. The Kindle edition, made available on November 14, specifies "Available only on Kindle Fire." If that's the same edition that they show in the ads, that should be KF8, but I don't know for sure.

The free sample identifies itself as a BOOKMOBI but the file starts with CR! (where normally the book title would appear in a standard MOBI). The header also contains: "landscape ~ P1024x600" and the ebook does seem to be a sequence of landscape images. It only displays in landscape.

Originally Posted by wallcraft

The free sample identifies itself as a BOOKMOBI but the file starts with CR! (where normally the book title would appear in a standard MOBI). The header also contains: "landscape ~ P1024x600" and the ebook does seem to be a sequence of landscape images. It only displays in landscape.

I think that is a children's book and not necessarily a KF8 book. I'm unsure if all or any children's books will be KF8.

In a web browser go to Amazon's Kindle Books page and type in "enhanced books" and several come up. I downloaded a sample of one but nothing was enhanced in the sample nor did it have the kf8 extension. It did have a note saying that the full book contained an hour of audio.

[BrowseTheStacks]

I believe the DC graphic novels they announced at the same time as the fire are kf8. Try Watchtmen or Superman Earth One.

[eboyhan]

Pinch to zoom works really well on pdf's on the kf. I was somewhat disappointed when I noticed that pinch to zoom did not work on the few books I had moved over from my kdx, or on the amazon books downloaded to the kf from the cloud archive.

So I called kindle customer support. They said pinch to zoom will work on web pages in their browser, PDF'S, and "some" books -- only books in the new KF8 format will support pinch to zoom (that's what CS said, but I can't verify it). They also said pinch to zoom would work on emails, but in my tests it doesn't -- only up/down scrolling works. I guess we take what CS says under advisement till confirmed. I'm inclined to believe their statements about KF8 though.

[SamL]

This is just a thought for developers.

Do you think they will change the 70/30 royalty rates on KF8 books. For anyone who isn't familiar, right now if you sell an ebook on Amazon for between $.01 and $9.99, Amazon takes a 30% fee, and you keep 70%. But if your ebook is priced over $9.99, you get 30% and Amazon takes 70%.

So I wonder since these books could have way more content through audio, video etc, if Amazon will maybe let the 70% royalty rate go up more the maybe $14.99 or $17.99?

Anyone heard anything on this?

[howyoudoin]

Originally Posted by SamL

This is just a thought for developers.

Do you think they will change the 70/30 royalty rates on KF8 books. For anyone who isn't familiar, right now if you sell an ebook on Amazon for between $.01 and $9.99, Amazon takes a 30% fee, and you keep 70%. But if your ebook is priced over $9.99, you get 30% and Amazon takes 70%.

So I wonder since these books could have way more content through audio, video etc, if Amazon will maybe let the 70% royalty rate go up more the maybe $14.99 or $17.99?

Anyone heard anything on this?

I disagree with this on principle. I realise that you're premise is that you should get paid more for more content. My premise is that don't just pile on content for the sake of it. It should only be done if it fits in and adds something to the book beyond the mere fact of "Its a different medium to text". In which case, it shouldn't be priced more than a regular book would be.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by SamL

For anyone who isn't familiar, right now if you sell an ebook on Amazon for between $.01 and $9.99, Amazon takes a 30% fee, and you keep 70%. But if your ebook is priced over $9.99, you get 30% and Amazon takes 70%.

Just a minor correction...

At least for self-publishers, the 70% royalty only applies if the ebook is priced from $2.99 to $9.99 and the sale is to a customer in the United States, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Guernsey, Germany, Isle of Man, Jersey, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, or Switzerland. Sales to other countries and ebooks priced less than $2.99 earn the author only 35%. So, if an author sells a book for 99 cents, his royalty is 35 cents.

For the 70% royalty, the author/publisher is also responsible for "delivery cost," and this is subtracted from the list price before the royalty is calculated. The delivery cost generally isn't much, but it is based on file size. Feature-rich books or ones with lots of graphics will have larger file sizes, so delivery cost will be higher for those.

[SamL]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Just a minor correction...

At least for self-publishers, the 70% royalty only applies if the ebook is priced from $2.99 to $9.99 and the sale is to a customer in the United States, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Guernsey, Germany, Isle of Man, Jersey, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, or Switzerland. Sales to other countries and ebooks priced less than $2.99 earn the author only 35%. So, if an author sells a book for 99 cents, his royalty is 35 cents.

For the 70% royalty, the author/publisher is also responsible for "delivery cost," and this is subtracted from the list price before the royalty is calculated. The delivery cost generally isn't much, but it is based on file size. Feature-rich books or ones with lots of graphics will have larger file sizes, so delivery cost will be higher for those.

you are correct

[jimad]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Did I See?

I saw a Polar Bear in an Snowstorm when I downloaded the sample of this book onto my brand new Kindle Fire -- because all I got was all white on all pages with a tiny grey smudge on the top of the display announcing I was reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

LOL -- maybe I have a guess why Amazon hasn't released their KF8 tools yet!

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by jimad

I saw a Polar Bear in an Snowstorm when I downloaded the sample of this book onto my brand new Kindle Fire -- because all I got was all white on all pages with a tiny grey smudge on the top of the display announcing I was reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

The sample works for me. Did you update the Fire's firmware?

There was no such notice on the Brown Bear page, but the Watchman page says:

Kindle Fire: Comic Books
Graphic novels come alive on Kindle Fire with Kindle Panel View. Double-tap on any region to see it magnified. You can also swipe forward or backward to be guided through the panels in the author’s own sequence for an immersive reading experience. A software update may be required to view this title.

The Brown Bear isn't using Panel View, but it might still require the upgrade.