Editor-at-Large, CNET’s Technically Literate Interview starts at 19:40 and ends at 43:30 We have a very different generation coming up who may relate to literature in a different way, because we have completely digital generations coming up. So I think those of us who present stories to the world have to be open to different ways to present them. And when we have a way to do it like we do in Technically Literate, that is an on-line way to do it, I think we always have to be thinking about pushin...
Mar 26, 2016•45 min
Start and End Times of Interviews at South by Southwest Interactive Martin Baron , executive editor of The Washington Post (8:20 to 18:34) Scott Totman, head of digital product engineering at Capital One 22:16 to 31:30) Rob Holzer , founder and CEO of Matter Unlimited and executive producer of Inside Impact: East Africa Adrian Bell, co-founder and Executive Director of Action Impact in Dubai Links to topics mentioned President Obama’s Keynote address at SXSW (Video) - March 11, 2016 Dewey Winbur...
Mar 19, 2016•45 min
Senior Writer, Publishers Weekly Interview starts at 19:24 and ends at 33:23 I absolutely think it’s madness to continue to push for regulatory input into the eBook market. Look what it did for you last time. Let’s just let the lawyers go away now. We’ve all articulated what we think the problem is in the market. Publishers came together to put the agency model in place, and they perfectly articulated the reason why they believe the agency model should be in place. I think that there’s got to be...
Mar 10, 2016•45 min
English Translator of Winter Men by Jesper Bugge Kold Interview starts at 20:10 and ends at 41:14 I like the fact that I can tell an editor there [at AmazonCrossing] that this book is something that you should really look for, and they listen. And in this case, from start to finish, I suggested this book, and it became a reality and now I’m sitting with it right here on my desk. News Amazon Tap - pre-order available at Amazon.com for $129.99, with delivery march 31, 2016 Echo Dot - Order from yo...
Mar 04, 2016•45 min
Author of Lit Up: One Reporter. Three Schools. Twenty-four Books That Can Change Lives Interview starts at 14:49 and ends at 42:07 You worry about the next generation of readers. Is literature going to survive? It seems to be surviving at the moment, but the iPhone has been around since 2007, and the way that digital culture has taken over in those nine years is staggering. Its’s much more comprehensive and thoroughgoing than anyone expected. Intro The music of bluegrass legend Peter Rowan News ...
Feb 26, 2016•45 min
Author of Winter Men Interview starts at 9:42 and ends at 43:24 I was very scared that it was translated into German. I really wanted it to be translated but still scared, because it’s like their war. I come from another country with another perspective on the war and write about their war and their forefathers. But the reception has been overwhelming. I’ve seen some reviews where they write that every college student should read this book, to read about their past. It’s a lot of responsibility ...
Feb 20, 2016•45 min
Chief Executive Officer of The Tattered Cover Book Stores Interview starts at 10:03 and ends at 42:09 I think it would be interesting for independent booksellers to experiment with selling eBooks directly, because it’s become much less device-centric. Tablets have in some ways normalized that world, and the notion that someone could build an open-source eReader app and that we could have direct relationships with publishers and sell eBooks is something I think worth exploring down the road. But ...
Feb 13, 2016•45 min
Creator of the I Love My Kindle Blog Interview starts at 10:46 and ends at 44:02 If people were evolving away from reading long-form reading, we would not have series. But right now people will say, “Oh yes, that’s great. It’s a 200-page book, but I want a thousand pages about this character. So I think you can make an argument that people are more into long-form reading that they were in the past. News “Mall CEO claims Amazon Books will open up to 400 physical storefronts” by Sam Machkovech at ...
Feb 06, 2016•45 min
Editor of Amazon’s Little A imprint and Day One magazine Interview starts at 18:03 and ends at 42:20 A lot of editors across Amazon Publishing kind of have their hands in Day One . Everyone’s really excited about it and dedicated to discovering these new voices and finding opportunities for new writers. (Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths) News Amazon.com announces fourth quarter earnings ( Press Release) - January 28, 2016 “Amazon Stock Plummets on Disappointing Q4 Results” by Jason Del Rey at re/...
Jan 30, 2016•45 min
Helping authors and publishers flourish in the digital age Interview starts at 12:44 and ends at 32:05 This question has become a little bit of a litmus test in the writing and publishing community. It’s almost interesting to talk about how other people react very viscerally to Amazon as a good or bad influence or factor. I do consider myself mostly neutral. Nothing about it, I feel, is wholly good or bad. Mainly, it’s just brought about this enormous change. And for some the changes have been g...
Jan 22, 2016•45 min
Author of Maude Interview starts at 15:00 and ends at 44:33 I do have an agent who called me, and he’s representing Maude. She’s been translated into Italian, German, and Russian. He made the deal for the audiobook. He’s right now negotiating with a few more countries. Whatever Kindle and Amazon don’t cover as far as print copies, he will handle that for me. And hopefully some day a motion picture! News “Amazon Prime Price Drops to $73 This Weekend” at Forbes - January 15, 2016 Prime Discount at...
Jan 16, 2016•45 min
Creator of the Evil Genius Chronicles blog and podcast Interview starts at 10:47 and ends at 42:22 This idea that books are exempt from the rules of hoarding, that you’re supposed to be happy that you have walls and walls lined with these things? I don’t actually feel that. I feel that if I had one of those book scanners or if there was a program, if Google had a book buy-back program where I could trade them every paper copy I have for a digital copy, I would do that in a heartbeat with almost ...
Jan 09, 2016•45 min
Editorial Director at Publishers Weekly Interview starts at 16:57 and ends at 44:32 It’s far from the death of eBooks. eBooks are a permanent part of the publishing industry, for sure. But what’s the next innovation? What’s the next mover? What’s going to come along to jumpstart it again? Publishers acknowledge that all you've really done so far is to put the text into a digital format. News “DOJ Urges Supreme Court to Deny Apple’s E-book Appeal” by Andrew Albanese at Publishers Weekly - Decembe...
Jan 02, 2016•45 min
Publications Specialist, Wyoming State Library Interview starts at 20:34 and ends at 38:51 We know that libraries will continue to evolve. The technology is changing so fast. It’s kind of hard to say how they will continue to evolve. But they are going to be out there to meet the needs of their patrons. News Jeff Bezos's address to the Academy of Achievement (video) in 2001 Interview with Susan Mark Wyoming State Library GoWYLD.net “Younger Americans’ Reading and Library Habits” by Pew Internet ...
Dec 25, 2015•42 min
Vice President - Amazon Devices Interview starts at 18:29 and ends at 37:47 We spent two days in an off-site with Jeff going through the experience, setting up little scenarios of “Ok, here’s the customer. They’ve done’ this, they’ve done this.” And then we would go off in our own corners for 15 minutes and be that customer and then come back together and discuss “What did we think worked, what didn’t work.” Two full days dedicated to that customer experience, thinking about what it’s going to b...
Dec 19, 2015•45 min
Founder and CEO of BeeLine Reader Interview starts at 12:44 and ends at 32:05 They tried it out with the first graders and found that in the control classroom the students’ reading fluency went up by about 8 points in the course of a month. In the BeeLine classroom, they went up by 14 points. News Leather covers by Oberon Design for Kindles and Fires Limited Edition Premium Leather Case for Fire HD 8 - $79.99 Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition - $249.99 “How to use Blue Shade on your Amazon Fire - but y...
Dec 12, 2015•45 min
Graphic designer, author, product developer and workshop presenter Interview starts at 14:57 and ends at 44:47 So whatever you do, you build products that relate to the knowledge that you have, and the two can feed each other, and you can do them in the same space. News “Take your tablet to bed: Amazon rolls out ‘blue shade’ tool for Fire” by Ellie Zolfagharifard at The Daily Mail - December 2, 2015 “Slice: Amazon grabs one-third of Black Friday online sales” by Ian P. Murphy at RetailDive - Dec...
Dec 05, 2015•45 min
Author of The Selected Poems of Donald Hall Interview starts at 12:51 and ends at 43:57 It was a house that my great-grandfather bought in 1865, and the same family’s always lived in it. I’ll be dying pretty soon, of course, in the way of things. But I have a granddaughter who’s going to take it over then. Magnificent! News Tweet of Blue Origin landing by @JeffBezos Blue Origin rocket video - November 24, 2015 “The reusable space rocket is nearly here with Blue Origin’s first successful landing”...
Nov 28, 2015•45 min
Creator of the Cuenca Tech Life blog Interview starts at 1:29 and ends at 21:34 I just turned 70, so growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950s was very special. Cuenca reminded me of Brooklyn in the 1950s. The word for neighborhood in Spanish is barrio, so each barrio had its own butcher and baker and church. People knew you on the street, and they were very, very friendly. It was a safe place to be. Interview with Lenny Charnoff Cuenca Tech Life blog - Technology News in Cuenca, Ecuador Cuenca iPad U...
Nov 20, 2015•45 min
This is the third of my Ecuador TKC episodes, uploaded today (Tuesday November 10, 2015) from the Ali Shungu Mountaintop Resort in Otavalo. You will hear the owners and hosts at Ali Shungu, Frank and Margaret, talk about their thirty-plus years in Ecuador, and you will hear from our birdwalk guide in Mindo, Alex Luna. Also, another roundtable conversation with Darlene and Deb on the week's highlights. You will find more coverage of our travels in Ecuador at LenEdgerly.com and photos at instagram...
Nov 10, 2015•45 min
This is the second of my Ecuador TKC episodes, uploaded today (Thursday November 5, 2015) from the cloud forest in Mindo at the Sisakuna Lodge . You will hear our Overseas Adventure Travel guide, Roberto Quintana, on location in the Galapagos, telling us about sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and Galapagos hawks, as well as a conversation I recorded with Darlene and Deb aboard our ship, the Carina. Before bringing you here to Ecuador, I will take a look at two news stories involving Amazon that r...
Nov 05, 2015•45 min
I am posting Friday's episode of the podcast very early, on Monday, this week from Quito, Ecuador, because tomorrow we leave for the Galapagos Islands where there will be little if any Internet connection. In this show you will hear two of our fellow Overseas Adventure Travel tour members talk about how they use their Kindles. Also, inspired music by a choir of disabled children at the Sinamune School in Quito, night sounds from a lagoon in the Amazon rain forest, our guide Juan's explanation of...
Oct 26, 2015•45 min
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon Highlights from my interview recorded on July 26, 2012 , at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle The Pre-Trip Conversation My wife Darlene, her sister Deb and I look ahead to our travels in the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador Recorded on September 28, 2015 “Portrait of a Cheetah” - November 8, 2010 “How to Make a Cheetah Purr” YouTube video - November 8, 2010 “When the Danger is Now-Now” - November 14, 2010 “Tourists in the Townships” - November 4, 2010 “What Nels...
Oct 22, 2015•45 min
Creator of Kindle Nation Daily and BookGorilla Interview starts at 9:38 and ends at 39:45 Of the top 100 bestsellers in the Kindle Store for the entire year of 2014, 91 of those books were made available by the publishers at prices that we discovered, put up and featured on BookGorilla. The average price of those 91 on their feature day was $2.92. The total price of those 91 books if you had bought them at their original prices would have been $996. If you bought them on their BookGorilla day it...
Oct 16, 2015•45 min
This is another test of my mobile podcasting gear, two days before we leave for Ecuador. I am hoping the photo of Claire and me shows up with RSS feeds. For audio, I used 44:58 of recording from my visit to San Francisco to attend the Amazon new-products demonstration on September 16, 2015. Playing with tech stuff when I should be packing, Len
Oct 16, 2015•45 min
The New York Times’s publishing industry reporter Interview starts at 12:44 and ends at 32:05 For the people that are price sensitive--if you’re not somebody that reads digitally because you prefer that, because you find it more convenient--but you’re maybe a hybrid reader, you might get a paperback if it’s significantly cheaper than an eBook, if you are somebody that toggles back and forth. News My experience with a Kindle devices customer survey First impressions of the Amazon Fire HD 10 and k...
Oct 10, 2015•45 min
Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research Interview starts at 14:38 and ends at 41:53 It’s not about Amazon Echo, it’s about putting microphones in various contexts in your life. Plug one in, like a Glade air freshener, into your bathroom, one next to your bedstand, one in the hallway, one in the laundry, and pretty soon you don’t need Dash buttons. All you have is Alexa everywhere in your home. And you can have Alexa on your phone or in your car if you want, but but most of wha...
Oct 03, 2015•45 min
General Manager of Amazon’s Kindle Scout Interview starts at 16:58 and ends at 44:45 It’s really the best part of the job. There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not either extremely proud as a publisher or really inspired as a human. Intro Agents of Change conference on September 25, 2015, in Portland, Maine hosted by Rich Brooks of Flyte Media Click here if you are interested in purchasing a digital pass to AOC for $199. News Note: You can sign up as a new member for Amazon Prime membership f...
Sep 25, 2015•45 min
Links related to Amazon’s 2015 Fall Product Launch in San Francisco Amazon news releases on the new $50 Fire tablet , the new Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 tablets , new Fire Kids Edition , new Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD and Fire TV Stick with voice remote The new Fire Tablets lineup “Amazon has 6 New Devices—and an actual plan for hardware” by David Pierce at Wired - September 17, 2015 How Spritz works - February 16, 2014 My interview with Dave Limp, Amazon senior vice president for devices, starts at...
Sep 19, 2015•45 min
Author of Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books Interview starts at 15:46 and ends at 42:34 My main attraction to a Kindle is only age-related. If my vision deteriorates enough that I need to make the type bigger, then I could see that it’s just a wonderful tool to have. But so long as I can enjoy the books that I have, the physical books, I’ll stick with them. I have nothing against them [eReaders]. I believe that what fundamentally matters is stories, poems—people nee...
Sep 12, 2015•45 min
