Recently, I saw authors tweeting about Kindlegaph. I didn't know what it was but assumed it was an Amazon service for authors. Then one author mentioned that she got her first request from a reader for a Kindlegraph and the light bulb in my head went off. It's a signed book cover for your Kindle ebooks. Very cool.
If you have a Kindle, you can go to Kindlegraph's site, look to see if your favorite author or book is listed and if they are, you send a request. You need to give them your Kindle email, they give you an email address to add to your Kindle account's approved email list and when the author sends their autograph, Amazon sends you an email letting you know that your Kindle document has arrived. Then you download the document to your Kindle and voila, you have a signed book cover.
I went to their site and looked around. You have to have a Twitter account to sign in and that's where I ran into a problem. Now obviously, based on the first paragraph, I do have a Twitter account. But when I read the TOS (Terms of Service), I said "Hell no". Why? By signing in with Twitter, you agreed that Kindlegraph could see who you follow, follow new people for you, tweet for you, and update your profile. WTF? Why do you need to do that?
I tweeted that while the idea of Kindlegraph was good, the TOS were unacceptable. I didn't use a hashtag nor did I @reply, but when I got home from work, I had a reply from @kindlegraph, responding to my concerns. We exchanged several more tweets and then I got this tweet:
@BeasBookNook Hi again! Can you try the "sign-in with Twitter" link again? I wasn't aware of less permissive options and I've selected them.
So I did and sure enough, they'd changed the TOS. They now read thusly:
MUCH better. I signed up, looked for authors, and sent off several requests for signatures. So far, I've only gotten one, though I sent the requests several days ago. Thanks to PJ Schnyder for being so prompt! ETA 8/7/11: I've since gotten more autographs from one of the authors that I had requested.
I am very impressed with Kindlegraph's customer service, their attention to detail and their prompt response to my concerns. If you have a Kindle, if you like having signed books, GO SIGN UP!!! Yes, you need a Twitter account, but if you only ever use it for this, it's well worth it.
The Kindlegraph site has a video that shows how the process works, but here's a photo of what I got from author PJ Schynder. Note that your actual ebook is not autographed; you get a cover of your chosen book with the author's signature. My apologies for the photo quality, I used my cell phone camera.
Hi! I'm the creator of Kindlegraph.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post about the service. I'm just getting started and there are still a few rough edges (like the Twitter-only sign-in) but I'm making improvements every day. If you or your readers have any questions please let me know.
Hi Evan, thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteI really like your service and hope you'll be expanding it to other e-readers. This is a neat service for readers of e-books.
It is a great service, but I understand how authors can miss seeing they have a request, Bea, as there's no email notifications and you have to log in to Kindlegraph on a regular basis to see if you have requests (tough if you're busy trying to move house like I am!).
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realised that at first and left a request pending for 4 days before I spotted it. I wonder if that might be improved at some point? :))
Anne
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Anne, I wondered about that. A notification for new requests makes sense to me. On the other hand, the really popular authors might find their inboxes flooded with notifications. Maybe Kindlegraph could offer notifications as an option and authors could choose.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea - I'd definitely go for that! :))
ReplyDeleteAnne
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