Kindlegraph - personalize your eBooks

[ken magee]

Hi, I've just put my book, Dark Tidings, onto the Kindlegraph site. It allows users to get personalized inscriptions and signatures ("kindlegraphs") directly to their Kindles.

Has anyone tried this, reader or author? I'd love to know what you think. Here's the link...

http://www.kindlegraph.com/books?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=dark+tidings

I'm happy to respond to any Kindlegraph requests... even if you haven't read the book. Although it would be even better if you tried out the book as well!

[ken magee]

I've received my first Kindlegraph request. It's actually quite difficult to do a signature with the mouse, but I will persevere. It does seem like quite a fun thing... I hope the recipient thinks so too.

[Crenel]

I signed up and registered my books, but have never had a request for a Kindlegraph. I think it's an intriguing idea, but I don't know how many non-writer Kindle users are aware of it.

[Elizabeth Ann West]

I am in the process of finishing up 150 ebooks that were requested by readers as part of my virtual ebook blog tour last month. I opted not to use kindlegraph. Instead, when people signed up for my newsletter, they specified what version they needed. I handwrote 150 notes, one for each reader, and each a little different, and scanned them into the computer. Then I cropped them, and added an HTML file to my ebook called Signing. Put the jpg in, saved the file (.mobi for kindle, which takes a fresh compile, a LONG time on my little netbook with Jutoh) or used Sigil (free software) to edit the epub.

Those readers who received the first 50 are the ones who took it personal when I went free at the end of last month to tell everyone. And they talk to me on Facebook and light a fire under me to get that next book done. So yes, I think done correctly, such as part of a blog tour or something, signed ebooks are very unique, but they do take time.

[ken magee]

I opted not to use kindlegraph. Instead, when people signed up for my newsletter, they specified what version they needed. I handwrote 150 notes, one for each reader, and each a little different, and scanned them into the computer. Then I cropped them, and added an HTML file to my ebook called Signing. Put the jpg in, saved the file (.mobi for kindle, which takes a fresh compile, a LONG time on my little netbook with Jutoh) or used Sigil (free software) to edit the epub.

Elizabeth, I really like your idea... I think I will explore this in parallel with Kindlegraph.

From your experience, does emailing an A4 .pdf direct to a Kindle work? I appreciate this would not be part of the eBook, but it might be appreciated by the reader because it would be personal to them. Clearly, it would be something they would request after they had got the eBook from Amazon or wherever.