Exactly what I wanted…and more!, August 26, 2010

By 

A. Jones “BargainShopperInWA” (In the Woods, WA United States) – See all my reviews

  

Keep in mind, I am not a techno-snob, nor am I a techno-idiot. I am somewhere in the middle of the pack, with a firm understanding of technology and exceedingly high expectations that a product deliver on its promises. That being said, I LOVE this eReader. It does exactly what is promises to do and does it in a manner that is super simple and very user friendly. I love this so much, I am buying one for my best friend as a birthday gift and likely for a few other people for Christmas.

This surfs the web using any Wi-Fi available, which is handy for me that I have a wireless network at home. It seemlessly downloads books of all formats. It plays music, video, pictures, and has a notepad on it.

I have not even dug into half of the features listed, but am enamored with this delightful little reader. The case is beautiful, slips nicely into my purse, and is easy to bring along to soccer practice or read quietly in bed while my husband sleeps.

A+++++ for this eReader

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3 Stars with Room for Improvement, September 1, 2010

Got got this ebook reader about a month ago. I already have a Nook 3G but I wanted something for less that I could put in my bag and bounce around NYC with. I saw the price, the functions and the ratings and thought sounds ok. For starters I don’t have any major complaints. The only thing about this device is that requires some tweaking and adjustments. I didn’t expect it to work like a charm (out of the box) as did my Nook. But for the money I’d say it’s worth it if you have the time for tweaking.

Pros:

Pays Music with very good sound.

Displays photos well

Good with some video formats

Came with a load of free ebooks (some of them rather good)

WiFi

You can go online and check email etc

Attractive looking device

Sturdy Construction

Came with nice case and wall charger

Cons:

Little slow loading for online service

Plays some music files (took some tweaking)

Same for video

SD card doesn’t register (this too will take some tweaking)

Overall the Pros outweigh the Cons so I’m gave it 3 stars with room for improvement.

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The Book accomplishes its purpose, August 18, 2010

I’ve had the Book for a week now and am very pleased with its basic feature as an eReader. I’ve loaded on a few books from an e-library and have enjoyed them immensely. I’ve not added pictures or video to the flash drive, but will probably fiddle with that later. It’s great for loading an ebook through the USB and heading off to new adventures.

The non-touch screen is nice, but the cheap buttons can be annoying if you’re relaxing and keep hearing a snap when you push the button to advance the page. The G-motion sensor is very sensitive as well. I’ve had several occasions where the orientation will change when I shift slightly. That can be very annoying when you’re reading a fascinating book.

I’ve only briefly surfed the Internet using the WiFi function. The speed of the device seems to depend on your connection, but it is slower than most other devices.

The major con is the adapter. I plugged in the adapter to charge it the first night I had it. When I pulled the adapter out, the cover came off in my hand, exposing the internal elements of the adapter. Have contacted the company to get a replacement.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the Book as a basic entry-level eReader. I’m looking forward to taking this with me while traveling or enjoying some down time.

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Really useful and will save you a bundle, January 7, 2011

By 

Joel S. Kaminsky – See all my reviews

  

Sure there are free books on Amazon, but finding them is not always so easy. This application helpfully alphabetizes a host of important books by author’s name and then by title for each individual author. I have it on my IPAD and you just click on the book you are interested in, and it puts you right through to Amazon where you can then download it for free. A great application that will pay for itself hundreds of times over!

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Nice job on a useful resource, January 7, 2011

By 

Stephen Windwalker “Stephen Windwalker, Kindl… (Arlington, MA) – See all my reviews

  

Morris Rosenthal has done a nice job here in curating an excellent resource for readers, one that would have saved me hundreds of dollars back in my days as an English major. Most of the times you spend a buck on the internet you never get it back. This dollar will come back to you again and again and again.

I recommend downloading Free Books For Kindle and KINDLE FREE FOR ALL) directly to the Kindle app on your PC or Mac and using them there for easy downloading of many a terrific book.

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Smart Idea!, February 24, 2011

It’s usually time consuming and difficult to find all the free classics and this makes it easy. This program is very useful because it really works! Definitely worth a dollar My Kindle is gonna be loaded, haha.

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Focuses on Traditional Publishing, April 23, 2007

By 

Jeff Horsager (Seattle, WA USA) – See all my reviews

  

When I bought this book on Amazon I was hoping to get some tips and resources for the burgeoning world of online content — eBooks, reports, newsletters, etc. In that regard, this book was a disappointment. 90% of the content relates to authors who are publishing for print. If you are getting a book traditionally published or self-published, you may benefit. If your focus is online content, I would keep looking.

I feel like the title misrepresents the content. “Getting your book published” or “publishing and marketing your book” are more apt. If I didn’t feel a little duped by the promise of content, I would probably up my rating to 3 stars. Only chapter 6 and maybe part of chapter 7 (less than 20 pages) focus on anything other than the traditional publishing model.

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A good book on how to promote yourself as a consultant and create passive income streams from information products., December 5, 2006

By 

Jeff Lippincott “www.Jlippin.com” (Princeton, NJ USA) – See all my reviews

  

  

  

I’ve read most of Alan Weiss’ books on how to be a successful consultant, and the instant book seemed to me to be pretty much a rehash of Dr. Weiss’ books. It had a little of Dottie Walter’s book (Speak and Grow Rich) mixed in there, as well as a bunch of content similar to that found in M.J. Rose’s book (How to Promote and Publish Online). The book did not seem to me to be about “infopreneurship” per se as the title suggests. It certainly covered the subject, but it covered more in my opinion.

Before I purchased this book the other day my idea of an infopreneur was that of a digital publisher that sold information products online. My understanding of the term seems to be consistent with an entry for “infopreneur” at Wikipedia Online: “An infopreneur is generally considered an entrepreneur who makes money selling information on the Internet.” Since an infopreneur is an entrepreneur it seemed odd to me that the title of the book was worded the way that it was.

I had problems with the title to Chapter 8 in the book (Your Web Site: Build it and They Will Come). Just about everybody knows that merely building a Web site does not generate visitors or, more importantly, paying customers or clients.

My favorite chapters were the ones that seemed to focus on infopreneurship:

1. Information Product Opportunities (a list of the available information product options)

6. Digital Books and Special Reports

7. Other Information Products

9. Online Marketing Techniques

10. Offline Marketing Techniques

I would have liked the book better if Chapter 4 (How to Get Published Traditionally) had been omitted and Chapter 11 (Buzz Marketing) had been merged into chapters 9 (Online Marketing) and 10 (Offline Marketing). And as a CPA, attorney, and small business expert, I had problems with Chapter 5 (Self Publishing Demystified). The process of self publishing can be as simple as writing an article using Microsoft Word, printing it as a PDF File, and selling the PDF file. Of course, it can be more involved than that, but it need not be. And the presentation of Choice of Legal Entity for a small business here was not completely accurate. And for someone who toots their horn as a “Small Business Expert” I expected more helpful and accurate information from this author on this subject.

I noticed the Table of Contents for this book was not listed as part of Amazon’s promo offerings. However, you can visit the author’s Web site and she has generously posted the TOC or outline for the book. This author really does try to be helpful in the books she writes.

What I got from this book is the message that writing is important and profitable for an entrepreneur. Writing will set an entrepreneur apart as an expert. And what she writes can be sold to create passive income streams. And an entrepreneur can use her status as an expert to command consulting fees and public speaking fees (more revenue). This is what the author has done personally, and this is what she has written about in this book. 4 stars!

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Overall Disappointing, September 25, 2007

By 

D. Hayman “Affiliate Marketer” (New York, USA) – See all my reviews

  

Based on the other Amazon reviews, I purchased this book. After reading it, and being thoroughly disappointed, I realized, on second glance, that most of the reviews here are from other authors, who seemed to give it the thumbs up.

I expected this book to tackle more issues with regard to eBooks, in terms of generation and advertising, and the information contained in this book on this subject was scant, to say the least. Most of the book addresses methods for promoting printed books, which is misleading (in my eyes) and conflicts with the words “eBook” and “Information Products”, which appear on the front cover. Many of the ideas presented for advertising – TV, radio, seminars, etc., are well outside the bounds of the average author. Lots of regurgitated concepts that we’ve seen hundreds of times before in other books.

There are basically only 1 or 2 small chapters that are relevant to eBooks, and there are major omissions in that regard – no description of ClickBank (the pre-eminent leader in eBook distribution) other than a quick reference, and only a one page discussion of PPC advertising, which has to be addressed more thoroughly in this type of book.

I did find a couple of useful tidbits and website references, but it certainly didn’t justify the price of the book.

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This is for SLAVE only – haven’t read the other 2, January 5, 2011

On Christmas day, Amazon put the entire book for Slave on free download. So I downloaded it without even reading the description for the book. So I went into this completely blind and I was pleasently shocked! What a great book. It is a good cross between a romance novel and a sci-fi novel (my two favs!) The plot line for Slave was somewhat predictable but had enough twist and turns to make it interesting. One of the more endearing features was Captain Jack’s love for old Earth expressions. The author does a wonderful job of working those in, explaining why she knows them, and showing everyone else’s exasperations at not knowing what Jack is saying. All in all, it was a great read. Since I kind of regretted reaching the end, I will more than likely will continue on with the series.

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Deserves Another Half Star, December 17, 2009

By 

Michelle L. Devon “~~Professional Dreamer” (Texas, USA) – See all my reviews

  

4 1/2 stars is what I’d give this novel, with the only reason for it not quite getting five stars having to do with the extraneous and, in my opinion, unnecessary baseball references that did nothing to further the plot and pulled me out of the novel. That said, this story is a treasure of unexpectedness. Touching, tender and gentle, the moments between father and son in When You Went Away pull at the heartstrings and the tear ducts.

The book is told in a near-memoir style, even though it’s a fiction novel, and the reader gets to go along with Gerry, our protagonist, on his journey of surviving after both his wife and daughter leave him–his wife through death, and his teen daughter through running away from home. His daughter left prior to his wife dying, so he knows he’s going to have to tell her, if he ever finds her.

Left to raise a near-newborn son, alone, Gerry has to learn how to live again. He was young when he married, and had been married for the majority of his adult life, and now he’s a single father to Reese, the unplanned but much wanted child born just month prior to Maureen’s, his wife, death.

Ally, a co-worker and unexpected love interest for Gerry, helps him feel again, though he questions his commitment to Maureen because he feels so much for Ally so soon after his wife has died. It’s those feelings that allow him to see and understand what his daughter might have been feeling when she left home as a teenager, to run away with her love of the moment, Mick.

I won’t give away the ending, because you’ll really want to read this one for yourself. I do want to mention, the ending slightly disappointed me, because it seemed to come too quickly, without enough full resolution. I guess that might be a good thing, in that it left me wondering what happened next, but I’m the type of reader who, if there’s not going to be a sequel, would prefer more closure.

All in all, Baron gives us likable characters in Gerry Rubato and his son Reese, with touching moments, emotion and a good story. This one is well worth adding to your reading list.

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When You Went Away and Came Back, October 12, 2009

By 

S. Agusto-Cox “Savvy Verse & Wit” (Germantown, MD USA) – See all my reviews

  

Michael Baron’s When You Went Away is more than a novel about grief and fatherhood; it’s a novel about being lost and the journey to find the right path.

Gerry Rubato has lost his whole world–first his daughter Tanya runs away with an older man at age 17 and then he loses his wife tragically. All he has left to center him is his infant son, Reese. The story is told from Gerry’s point of view, and much of the beginning pages focuses on his grief and confusion about how to move on. Readers will be swept up in his grief, his struggle to find his way, and the dilemmas that face him when he begins to fall in love again. However, despite the focus on Gerry’s grief, readers may not find When You Went Away to be a tearjerker.

Reese becomes Gerry’s world for a long two months of seclusion before he heads back to work at a catalog firm. Codie, his wife’s sister, becomes a sounding board for Gerry and he for her, allowing their relationship to go beyond sister-in-law and brother-in-law to confidants. The first few weeks back to work for Gerry are rough with sympathetic looks and a number of “How are you feeling?” questions from coworkers. Eventually, he finds a friend in Ally Rittan, a fellow creative mind.

Readers will embark upon a meditative journey with Gerry and Reese as Gerry works through the loss of his wife, the realization that love can find you at the most inopportune moments, and the harsh realities of repairing a relationship with his lost daughter. Some of the most insightful sections of the novel involve Gerry’s journal conversations with his daughter Tanya; they are frank and raw.

When You Went Away is an apt title given that the narration focuses on what Gerry feels, does, and how he reacts to the absence of his daughter and his wife, but readers may also find that this novel examines what can happen to the self when tragedy strikes and the journey it takes to locate or transform that lost self.

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A love story told by a man through a man’s point of view, October 25, 2009

By 

365andMe – See all my reviews

  

Gerry Rubato, the main character, is left alone to raise his infant son after his wife dies and teenage daughter has run away. For the sake of his son, Gerry tries to survive one day at a time while coming to terms with his grief. As he experiences daily struggles, he tries to understand what went wrong with his daughter. How did he lose her?

Gerry meets someone from work, but he’s not sure if he’s ready love again. His story is so moving, so real, and so touching. The realism reminded me of Elizabeth Berg’s OPEN HOUSE with an ending that brought the entire story together nicely.

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Good reader!, January 24, 2010

By 

K. Silva “Kris” (Los Angeles, California United States) – See all my reviews

  

As I opened the box this afternoon, I was initially worried about the size. It’s small. However, my fears were alleviated when I accidentally rotated the page and found the button to increase the text.

The books that came with the Libre were in txt fomat and some of them have been on my to be read list – Others were books I read at Uni where this could have been useful.

The next step was to add different things to the SD Card to test. The SD Card wasn’t recognized by my computer – but I realized it was the computer’s fault. I plugged the Libre up to the computer using the USB Cord that was provided and was able to add photos, pdfs of word documents created for work, and music.

That settled, I unplugged the Libre, and wanted to see if the feature I wanted most would work – background music while reading. It did! I was pleased to also note that initial loading of the pdf was shorter than expected as there is a warning that the music would slow things down considerably. I also noted that adjusting the volume of the music was impossible without leaving the book that was being read at the moment. It’s not a big thing.

I went to recent readings afterward and was able to return to the page that I left off, which was another plus. Removing books from the list was rather easy too.

The photos aren’t really going to WOW you because it’s in B&W BUT I downloaded a photo from the net and it’s in good quality.

—————

THE MACHINE

On the left panel of the Libre there is a sliding section that scrolls down for you while in the ebook mode. It also skips to the next song in the mp3 section and the next photo in the photo section.

The right panel is the navigation panel with choices assigned to numbers. It’s easy to figure out, such as choose 2 for item 2 listed.

To the bottom left of the Libre there is a page turn button.

The bottom right buttons are a little more complicated (as there are more of them) reader, but nothing to far fetched. The outer top left button gives options such as jump to (where you have to press 1 to jump to a particular page), Recent Readings (press 2), Clear all Recent Readings (press 3), etc.

The bottom left button rotates.

The bottom right button goes back to the previous page.

The top right button zooms.

The center is an OK button.

It only takes a few minutes to learn to operate.

—————-

I gave the Libre 4 stars because there can be things to improve. Lighting might be an option to work with, or color. Adjustable volume or maybe a temporary dual screen /or separate controls for the mp3 so you could adjust the mp3 section without leaving the book. However, these things are not necessary for using the Libre as it is.

There is no Internet like the Kindle and others of it’s class but it’s a nifty device that has made accessing files so much easier for work without having to lug my computer around.

You’d probably want to get a bigger SD Card too at some point.

I’ll test the battery to see how long it lasts, but I am willing to bet it would be a long while.

UPDATE: 3/24/10

BATTERY

It’s been 2 months and I have learned to sacrifice page loading while listening to music. It’s not too bad but noticeably slower. The battery lasts me long. I can read all day long on and off, on the bus, and still have juice to go. A lot of time I listen to music as well and that CAN shorten the battery life, but so far I am VERY pleased with the battery life. I usually charge it midday while I am at my desk every other day. I took this on a 7 hr road trip and was entertained the whole way there without charging. It was a first for me, and I can now look forward to overseas trips.

SD CARD

For a while I goofed and wasn’t saving directly to the SD Card but using the internal memory, but once I realized my error (as I could only save about 20-ish songs and a handful of files which were over 1000 pages). My next stop is to see how big an SD Card I can use, if such a limit exists, and if any brand would work. The card that came with my Aluratek was a Transcend card, so I am going to assume any brand would be effective. This is NOT true in a lot of cases for me to be wary.

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Fantastic alternative to the far more expensive readers, March 5, 2010

By 

Marcus D. Reeves – See all my reviews

  

If you don’t want to spend the money on the Kendel or Sony Ereader, but want an Ereader then this product is for you! No pain in the Butt propriatary programs to install, no forced contracts, nothing. Just select the file, drag it to the SD card and enjoy! You don’t get wifi ability to download today’s NYT or other such sillyness, but you do get a solidly well built, common sense reader!

BTW, it’s also set up for Mp3s and Audiobooks!

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Extremely happy!, February 21, 2010

By 

Barbara James “freebyrd” (Georgia) – See all my reviews

  

Bought a Sony E-Reader and Aluratek Libre. Here’s my review of both:

Sony – too long for the pages to turn, had to adjust angle of reading when lighting changed, no SD card, no MP3 and no pics.

Aluratek – pages turn fast, no problem adjusting to light, MP3 capability and pics (black & white) and SD card.

Which one did I return? No brainer: the Sony. Very, very happy with the Aluratek and would highly recommend this over the Sony. Another great feature is their tech support. They were very helpful and patient with me as they helped me update the software and download my first book. Oh and did I mention? It costs less than Sony EReader. Well worth the money!

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Piece of you-know-what!, September 17, 2010

By 

M. Nichols (Iowa, USA) – See all my reviews

  

I bought this to use with my Barnes and Noble nook (ereader device like the Kindle). I liked that it had a flexible neck and it looked lightweight…and the price and free shipping was a plus too.

However, this thing only works when it feels like it and it’s only a few days old! I have to fiddle with the neck, twist the light around a bit, and turn the switch on and off several times to get it to turn on. A waste of money, even if I didn’t spend much. The only good thing about it is that, when it works, it’s nice and bright. The neck is even funny to twist into the right position. Also, if you move your book or ereader around while reading, the movement will undo whatever it was that I did to get it to work and it will flicker and turn off. And then I’m usually in the dark, in bed with my husband (so I can’t turn on the overhead light), and too tired and irritated to try to fix it again.

Don’t waste your money on this thing. I’m going to buy a nicer light and then return this one.

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So far an OK book light for Nook, September 22, 2010

So far, it has been working quite well. It can clip onto the Nook itself I prefer to click it on to the case. It can also work with hard cover books. There is some glare with this light. I have discovered that the Kandle and the M-Edge Luminator work much better with the nook.

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Two lights- neither of them work, January 17, 2011

I purchased two of these lights for Christmas gifts for Kindle users- neither of the lights turn on. Do not purchase this product. I thought was cheap for a light- turns out it is expensive for something that doesn’t work.

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Excellent Book! Well worth the investment., September 4, 2010

I recently purchased Jason’s e-book “How to Make, Market & Sell e-books”, and wanted to share my thoughts. I have been researching the idea of creating and publishing my own sales & marketing books. I’m amazed that I ran across Jason’s book… it was full of valuable information that will help any person who is interested in creating, publishing & marketing their own book.

Jason’s book is easy to read, and has step by step directions regarding the creation and publishing of your own e-book. His book will literally save you thousands of dollars of potentially wasted time and costs incurred trying to self-publish your own material.

The book is full of easy to implement methods for creating websites, blogs, and includes easy methods to establish a network of potential readers/buyers!

If you are interested in writing & publishing your own books, I suggest you buy Jason’s book first. It will certainly help you, and investment is very fair compared to the information he provides.

Thanks Jason & good luck to those of you interested in writing & publishing your own e-books!

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Certainly a book worth reading., May 23, 2010

By 

Roger Ellerton “Author of Live Your Dreams Le… (Ottawa, Canada) – See all my reviews

  

If you are thinking about writing an ebook, in the process of doing so or have already written your book, you will benefit from the ideas and suggestions provide by Jason Matthews in his book “How to Make, Market and Sell Ebooks – All for FREE”. I am the author of three ebooks, with at least one more planned for the near future. Before reading Matthews’ book, I knew that I didn’t know everything there was to know about ebooks, but I was surprised by how much I didn’t know. For example, if you want your ebook available on all of the formats .pdf, .epub, .mobi, .txt, .lrf, .rtf, and .pdb, you need to keep things simple avoiding complicated or fancy formatting – don’t use or refer to page numbers as e-readers are not like books in that they don’t have page numbers.

Matthews begins by describing how he attempted to promote his books in the past by throwing some money at it and waiting for the returns to roll in. As with most authors, he found that this is not the path to riches but rather to rags. He had to find a different way.

His approach is to invest in “sweat equity” and to take advantage of the free or low cost tools and resources available on the internet.

Major chapters include: Social Media; Creating Your Blog Site; Cover Design; Formatting and Uploading for Smashwords, Amazon and other Retailers; Formatting for Your Sites, Making Your own Conversions; Creating Your Website; SEO (Search Engine Optimization); Preparing Your Website for Ebook Sales; Selling Your Ebook from Your Websites; PR (Public Relations).

In the vast majority of cases, Matthews provides sufficient information and detail for you to implement his approach. In the few instances where the implementation is more complicated, he provides an overview and then directs you to an on-line reference for more detail.

Certainly a book worth reading.

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If it’s free, it’s for me!!, December 2, 2010

“Jason Matthews has spent a lot of money on a lot of marketing baloney.

After vowing to take an Ebook from start to finish and spend NO MONEY,

Jason learned every free trick on the internet, and lists them all. The free information contained in this book saved me hundreds of dollars, and more importantly, hundreds of hours of my time. It is the real deal. If you have ever said “If it’s free, it’s for me. ” You should own this book.

Rev. Kenny

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