MSI Publishing Blog

I love books and these are simply beautiful places:

BNF-PARIS

HANDELINGENKAMER TWEEDE KAM

STIFTSBIBLIOTHEK-ST.-GALLEN

RIJKMUSEUM AMSTERDAM

I have links to most of my Amazon Kindle eBooks on my site:

My wife published her first page on Hub Pages. It is a great story about the birth of our son Gavin–a waterbirth.

The Miracle of Waterbirth

I have almost a dozen books up on Amazon’s Digital Text Platform for the Amazon Kindle. I am also working on ebooks for the MOBIPOCKET bookstore. Here is an example of some of the books on Amazon.

 MSI Publishing on the Amazon Kindle Store

And a cover for James Allen’s As A Man Thinketh:

I was very skeptical at first. But I am coming around and quite interested in getting one of these devices. I believe it satisfies something I feel in important in things that I purchase. I like things that simplify my life and I am desperately trying to get rid of clutter since we will be moving next year.

I was not wowed by the design factor…it is no iPod, but Jeff Bezos said that they were going for a design that was transparent. It is about the reading experience, not the device design. Here is a video demonstration of the device:

kindle

Originally uploaded by freddie_cox

I have been following Kindle, Amazon’s Wireless Reading Device, it is a portable media reader designed to read like ‘real’ paper. You connect wirelessly to Sprint’s EVDO network for free to download book from Amazon. Major releases are around $9.99. You can also browse a limited version of the Internet and suscribe to Blogs and RSS feeds.

It was just released today, and I have not been able to handle one. But the major drawbacks for me about the device are that you are tied to Amazon for book purchases–it is not an open network. As a publisher, I am not sure how easy or hard it is to ‘play’ with Amazon and publish content. I do really like that you can visit Wikipedia.org for free. And you can download the first chapters of books for free to ‘try before you buy.’ But the strongest feature of the iPod is that you can, for free, transfer all of the CDs that you already own to the iPod for portable listening. Books and the digital rights to them are separate, so you have to re-purchase books you already own for the Kindle.

Alternate Titles:  Pimp My Blog!  “Understate My Blog”

I am working to make my Blog over into something a bit softer and more ‘family friendly’. I have been inspired by Ed Dale and his less than polished approach to his online business. His honest approach to his business and his life is a great approach to follow.

I still need to add some more details and widgets to the blog, but I am going for a simple, easy to read and follow approach.

111207_16061.jpg

Originally uploaded by freddie_cox

I was in Barnes & Noble with the family tonight and ran across this display. It is a set of “How-to” titles from quamut.com. There were 104 different titles on this two-sided display.

The price was $5.95 USD for a six page laminated booklet. Many of the titles, like How to Make Sushi, or How to Start an eBay Business would make great ideas for online information products or eBooks.

Respecting copyright, you could pull ideas and topics from these for great $0.99 USD eBooks for eBay. Or content for blogs or Squidoo Lenses.