Amazon is set to release its upcoming Kindle Fire, which is aimed directly at both the tablet and e-reader market. Authors are also getting excited, as Amazon is ramping up its efforts to publish books directly without publisher intervention.
Amazon has announced that it will be publishing 122 titles this fall as part of its efforts to accelerate its publishing program. Spanning several genres, the project will involve both producing e-book formats and likewise printing the books in physical format (hard-bound and paperback). Sources cited by the New York Times say that the retail giant is aggressively wooing authors to join the program. In effect, though, the company is alienating big-name publishers that have been the bread and butter of their book retail business.
Amazon is banking on the success of their tablets and ebook readers. The company believes that this is only the natural evolution of the book publishing business. “The only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader,” says Russel Grandinetti, an executive at the company. With the direct publishing effort, the company is taking the publishers, literary agents, and book critics out of the equation.
Authors still have mixed feelings about the new effort, though. Some authors have earned the ire of publishing houses that they are signed with — to the extent of receiving lawsuits — for self-publishing e-books on Amazon. However, Amazon’s direct publishing deals are a boon to many others, whose have often been passed over by editors for lack of a potential market. Some say that the great thing with Amazon’s new publishing program is that even grassroots authors and even small-time publishers can now get their shot at success. Now anyone with a good story can have a bestseller even without the support of the traditional publishing industry.
With the holiday season just around the corner, Black Friday has become one of the busiest shopping days of the year. From heavy discounts to long lines that rival that of an Apple product release, shoppers around the world will be spending as much as they can on their family, friends, and themselves if possible. However, online sales will help cut down on the number of people driving to the stores this season.
Before the internet even existed, Black Friday was such a big shopping day that people would take the day off just to make sure they were able to do most of their holiday shopping in one day. This resulted in stores and mall packed tighter than a can of sardines, heavy traffic, and on rare occasions fist fights. In the 1980's, Cabbage Patch Dolls were very popular among young children. Once they came out during the holiday season, parents rushed to the stores and wiped out almost the entire inventory on every toy store. In some case, cops had to be called due to fights breaking out in and outside some locations!
As time past and the internet became another part of our lives, companies have started not only bringing their in-store sales online but also starting sales early. In some cases consumers are able to enjoy those same sales for a longer period of time. Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and other retail stores will do this to either sell new items faster or to get rid of older items in a hurry. Regardless of the products, this results in larger discounts for everyone.
Since Black Friday is considered a big day for retailers, certain companies will use this to their advantage in order to generate high sales numbers in a shorter period of time. Video game publishers have been known to release their biggest titles during the holidays. Sometimes it's due to development cycles, but most will release their games on or even weeks before to offer them at a discount after Christmas. The same is done for smartphones, computers, clothing, toys, and other items.
So, why should consumers buy online on Black Friday? There are better deals available, more items on sale than in the stores, but the main reason is avoiding the crowds. Plus, consumers don't have to worry about fighting each other over certain items.
With a new GoldenEye game on the way for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, GameStop has decided to drop the price of the Wii remake all the way to $9.99. While you're at it, you can also pick up another James Bond game, Blood Stone, for the same price.
GameStop has some other unusually strong (for them) deals, including the wireless Rock Band 3 keyboard for $59.99 and DJ Hero wireless turntables for $9.99. With how cheap DJ Hero and its sequel have been recently, that's a nice, cheap way to get the DJ Hero multiplayer experience for a very small fraction of what it would have cost a year ago.
Direct2Drive has some very fun PC games for $4.95, including Just Cause 2, which is an absolute blast (and is a very difficult game to pick a single screenshot for). For that same price, you can also get The Witcher, STALKER, or Magicka.
Like last week with Altitude, Steam is letting people play Dino D-Day for free this weekend. If you end up liking it, you can get the full game for half price, $4.99.
Read on for the rest of this week's deals. Be sure to let us know what we missed in the comments.
Amazon
- Buy a 3DS game, get a select 3DS game free
- R.U.S.E. (360) -- $15.99 (from $29.99)
- Sonic Colors -- $19.52 (from $29.99)
Direct2Drive
- STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl -- $4.95 (from $19.95)
- The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director's Cut -- $4.95 (from $19.95)
- Just Cause 2 -- $4.95 (from $19.95)
- Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword -- $7.50 (from $14.95)
- Magicka -- $4.95 (from $9.95)
- Alpha Protocol -- $4.95 (from $19.95)
- STALKER: Clear Sky -- $4.95 (from $19.95)
- Just Cause -- $3.75 (from $14.95)
GamersGate
- Victoria 2 -- $14.98 (from $29.95)
- Mount & Blade -- $9.98 (from $19.95)
- Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword -- $7.48 (from $14.95)
- Mount & Blade Warband -- $14.98 (from $28.96)
- Magicka -- $4.99 (from $9.99)
- Magicka: Vietnam -- $2.47 (from $4.95)
- Magicka - four pack -- $14.98 (from $29.97)
GameStop
- GoldenEye 007 (Wii) -- $9.99 (from $39.99)
- James Bond: Blood Stone -- $9.99 (from $39.99)
- DJ Hero wireless turntable -- $9.99
- Tony Hawk Shred -- $9.99
- Tony Hawk Shred bundle -- $19.99 (from $24.99)
- Tony Hawk Ride -- $19.99
- StarCraft II -- $49.99 (from $59.99)
- Rock Band 3 wireless keyboard -- $59.99 (from $79.99)
- Dungeon Siege III (360/PS3) -- $39.99 (from $59.99)
- Dungeon Siege III (PC) -- $29.99 (from $49.99)
Good Old Games
- TopWare games 50% off
Impulse
- Bulletstorm -- $14.99 (from $29.99)
- Blood Bowl -- $4.99 (from $19.99)
- Trapped Dead -- $9.99 (from $19.99)
- Greed - Black Border -- $6.24 (from $24.99)
- Mount & Blade -- $9.99 (from $19.99)
- Mount & Blade Warband -- $14.99 (from $29.99)
- Mound & Blade: With Fire and Sword -- $7.49 (from $14.99)
- King Arthur -- $9.99 (from $19.99)
- King Arthur Collection -- $14.99 (from $29.99)
- Magicka -- $4.99 (from $9.99)
- Magicka Vietnam -- $2.49 (from $4.99)
- Victoria Complete -- $9.99 (from $19.99)
- Victoria II -- $14.99 (from $29.99)
- THQ Ultimate Bundle -- $99.99 (from $294.83)
Steam
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines -- $4.99 (from $19.99)
- Capsized -- $3.39 (from $9.99)
- Dino D-Day -- $4.99 (from $9.99)
- DCS A-10C Warthog -- $40.00 (from $59.99)
- Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising -- $14.99 (from $29.99)
- Digital Combat Simulator: Black Shark -- $26.66 (from $39.99)
- The Kings' Crusade -- $9.99 (from $19.99)