Friday, July 29, 2011

Kindlegraph

Here's a cool new thing for Kindle readers - Kindlegraph. It's a way to get an author's autograph in the digital age. You find a book you want "signed" and click the Request Kindlegraph button. When the author checks their requests, they'll write a personalized message and sign a page with the cover art using DocuSign. Then it's delivered to your Kindle as a PDF. My first Kindlegraph is from Sondrae Bennett, author of Arctic Winds. It looks really cool!

It's fairly easy for an author to add their book. Just log in with your Twitter account and enter the ASIN number of your book from it's Amazon buy link. There are nice clear instructions to walk you through everything, both for authors and readers.

This is a pretty cool service but it is very new and still seems to be working out some bugs. As of now you can only sign in with a Twitter account, both authors and autograph seekers. A lot of books are being added daily. The best way to find books right now is the Authors page. The site is going to need some organizational work done to make it more user-friendly. I'm hoping they'll do that soon, as well as add Facebook logins or some other way to log in and request an autograph. Not everyone is on Twitter. Right now it only works if you have an actual Kindle device, so if you're using Kindle for PC or on your cell phone you can't request an autograph. These are bugs, yes, but I do like seeing a service like this get its feet off the ground. Digital books are here to stay. Its great to see ways for readers and authors of electronic books to connect and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of this type of innovation.

If you have a Kindle and would like my Kindlegraph for Mojo Queen, you can find my page here. I would encourage all authors with digital publishers to add their books. I, for one, intend to start a collection of Kindlegraphs!

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