Evan, the creator of KindleGraph, noticed the (probably) biggest downside to ebooks: the lack of a place for authors to sign your digital books. With his background in software development, he created a program that allows authors to type in a personalize message, sign with their signature, and email a pdf copy straight to your kindle!
Excited? You should be. This is the future of ebooks, and we are lucky to have Evan here with us today to answer some questions about KindleGraph.
The Book Pushers: For the less than tech savvy READERS out there, how will KindleGraph work for them?
Evan: Kindlegraph is designed to help authors and readers connect in the digital world. The first feature of the service is the “personal digital inscription” which lets readers simulate the experience of meeting an author in person. It’s not meant to replace a live author signing but it particularly helps readers who don’t happen to live in big cities and/or who own a copy of an author’s work in an e-book format.
The Book Pushers: For the less than tech savvy AUTHORS out there, how will KindleGraph work for them?
Evan: Authors will be able to connect with their readers without having to travel all over the world. In addition, authors will be exposed to new readers who may be unfamiliar with their work as well as keep in touch with current readers in between releases of new titles.
The Book Pushers: What types of features are you hoping to integrate into KindleGraph besides just the signature?
Evan: The next exciting feature will be the ability for authors to deliver sample chapters of upcoming works directly to the reading devices of their fans. Along with that, readers will be able to “subscribe” to their favorite genres and receive a regular digest including samples of new titles in that genre.
The Book Pushers: Are there plans to get KindleGraph up and running for other eReaders? Do you have an ETA on the feature for other eReaders? (Please say yes, MinnChica has the nook and NEEDS this feature)
Evan: Yes! I’m currently working on this and I plan to eventually support all major e-reading platforms. For now, readers can simply receive a PDF of the Kindlegraph and “sideload” it onto their e-reader of choice.
The Book Pushers: Are the KindleGraphs ever going to have the function where they can be combined with the actual ebook?
Evan: Yes, although this will likely vary from platform to platform as some e-readers allow better access to the material on the device than others.
The Book Pushers: Your site says that readers can add an email address that is NOT associated with their kindle. Does that mean anyone with an email address can receive KindleGraphs? Are the pdf’s locked with DRM or can they be sideloaded onto any other ereader?
Evan: Anyone can request a Kindlegraph today and simply use a personal email address to receive a PDF attachment of the Kindlegraph. There is no DRM on that PDF so it can be used in any way the reader would like including loading onto non-Kindle devices.
The Book Pushers: Do you have plans to make your website a little more user friendly for requesting KindleGraphers? Maybe an option to sort books by genre?
Evan: Sorting by genre is a very popular request and I’ll be getting to that shortly. I’d also like to explore some new ways of categorizing books including tags (e.g. ‘vampire’, ‘startups’) that are defined by readers.
The Book Pushers: What are your plans for marketing to authors to get them to sign up with KindleGraph?
Evan: Until now all of the marketing to authors has simply been word of mouth. The author community has been wonderfully supportive and most new authors find out about Kindlegraph from other authors. However, I’d like to start being more proactive with my marketing and especially target authors in genres where the selection is not very large today.
The Book Pushers: Will readers eventually be able to request authors add back list books, or are the ones listed the only ones that will be made available?
Evan: I think Kindlegraph is an opportunity for readers to explore everything their favorite authors have written as well as for authors to give readers other options to enjoy while they work on their next project.
The Book Pushers: Who pays for the KindleGraphs? How are you able to maintain your database and send the signatures? It appears as if you are affiliated with twitter since on your website you have to sign in with twitter first before you can request the kindlegraphs. What about those people who don’t *SHOCK* have a twitter account?
Evan: Kindlegraphs are free for both authors and readers and will continue to be so. Eventually I will introduce other services to authors (and publishers) which will help promote certain authors and titles and these will be paid services.
Another popular request is to add other sign-in mechanisms beyond Twitter. Look for this in the near future and stay tuned in particular for an awesome way to share Kindlegraphs with your friends on Facebook.
If you have a question for Evan, be sure to leave it below in the comments!
Your last question actually answered mine lol. I don’t have a twitter account and don’t want one so have looked at your site a few times but not participated. Do have FB and Google+ though. Oh and obviously a Kindle 😀
@emmad:
Hi! I’m the creator of Kindlegraph.
I started with Twitter because it was an easy way to provide “authentication” for authors (i.e. I could verify that authors are who they say they are) but my plan has always been to let users sign-up in a multitude of ways.
Great job so far. I look forward to all changes and improvements as you go frward!
Looks great. I am also one who doesn’t have a twitter account, but I do have a kindle. Now I’m thinking I might have to do the twitter thing. Thanks for the info!
I have to admit – I’ve been holding off on Kindlegraph b/c I’d want the signed page to be incorporated into the actual ebook, instead of being a separate document on my Kindle. I’m glad to hear Evan is working on this.
Being able to sub to genre specific samples sounds like an awesome idea!
@Evan Jacobs:
I have 2 question for you. First: I added my books to Kindlegraph, unfortunately one of them didn’t get the proper cover art. Let me explain that, I had updated my cover art the day before and even though Amazon showed the new cover Kindlegraph received the old cover. Can I change this? Second: both of my books were co-authored. Can my co-author add these books to her Kindlegraph since we are both listed as the authors?
@Tich Brewster: Hi Tich! I’ve updated the cover for your book and I’m working on a way to enable multiple authors to be able to sign a single book.
@Evan Jacobs:
Hi Evan!
Thanks for the great app! We authors have been waiting for some genius to come up with one like this. 😀 A couple of suggestions? There is no way listed on the site to contact you if there is a problem with a book or an upload, etc. You really should put contact info or people might think you’ve got something to hide… I write under 2 names, and didn’t realize that there would only be 1 signature possible under my account. I uploaded all my books before realizing that. So I’m going to need to delete those written under my 2nd name and register a 2nd account for those so I can use the correct autograph. But there is no “delete” button, no “edit” button, and no way to contact you. What do I do? 😀
thanks!
Nina