Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

Amazon made a great move to open the Kindle Deals section in the Kindle Store (March 28th, 2009). However, there’s little point to having it if deals aren’t added regularly -

1. Last time there was a token deal/offer in the Kindle Store – April 13th.
   

   For today, April 13th only, purchase Lords of Finance and receive a free Kindle edition of Liaquat Ahmed’s Op Ed, More Money, More Political Will, at no additional charge.

   Get a free op-ed? What kind of deal is that.

2. The last time there was a short-term deal or freebie in the Kindle Store – April 6th.
   

   Kindle customers can download Put Your Dream to the Test: 10 Questions that Will Help You See It and Seize It for free between 4/6/09 and 4/9/09.

3. The last time there was an actual deal or freebie in the Kindle Store -
   

   April 1st Deal (still ongoing) – Afraid by Jack Kilborn for $1.99. 
   April 1st Free Books (still ongoing) - 2 Free Kindle Bibles. Details:

   Holy Bible, God’s Word Translation (GW). This Kindle Bible is free till May 31st.

   Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version (TNIV). This kindle edition bible is free until June 30th.

Since the Kindle Deals section opened on March 28th, there have been 2 free bibles, one $1 ebook, and 1 low priced book. And a book free for 4 days.

That’s it – in nearly a whole month.

In comparison, between March 1st and 28th (ongoing deals can be found at the Kindle Deals page) -

1. Lee Childs’ Persuader for Free. Still free.
2. Larissa Ione’s Demonica Series - one of the books for $1. Still $1.
3. Jeri Smith-Ready’s Aspect of Crow trilogy, The Wild’s Call, for free.
4. For a week or so, there was World Wide Rave for free.
5. For 20 days, Laura Lippman’s The Babysitter’s Code for free.
6. Harlequin’s 60th anniversary celebration and 17 free books that are still free.
7. Random House’s “free library” until May 31st - 5 free books including Robin Hobb, Naomi Novik, etc.
8. Buy 1 get 1 free on Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand by Carrie Vaughn.
9. Orbit Books’ $1 ebook offer.
10. Limited Time (a week) offer – Buy 1 get 1 free on buying Cara Black’s Aimee Leduc Series, Murder in the Latin Quarter.

Here’s the grand tally -

1. March: 24 free books, 2 books free for a limited time offer, 2 buy 1 get 1 free offers, 2 $1 ebooks. That’s 30 great deals in March.
2. April: 1 limited time free book, 2 free bibles, one $1 book. April: just 4 deals. And nothing for the last 18 days.

This behavior is even more surprising given how well the Random House free books have been doing, and how well the other books in the ‘free book’ series have been selling.

Filed under: free books Tagged: | kindle deals, lack thereof