Ilyhana Kate Kennedy's Blog

Ilyhana's new Blogsite "Story Walking" will take you walking with her, sharing stories of connection with spirit of place. 
And there's a  Tree Challenge to inspire. More trees, more shade, more cool.
Come on over and walk along.

So maybe you've bought the snazzy new Kindle Fire reader for the kids, or you own an iPad, and now you've waded into Amazon to choose some good little ebooks.
Then it's whoa! Massive. How to choose? Sure, there are samples, but you can't kinda thumb through the book like you can at the bookshop down the street.
Hmmm OK! Let's look for the reviews and get some pointers.
And so you go looking for the good guidance...and you may spend hours, as I did, being frustrated, or just giving up when you run out of time.
And still the kids have nothing to read...or maybe you opt for the best sellers that pop up first on the screen, just for now.
So! I see a rather large hole that needs filling. There's a need for best-fit kind of meeting place sites in specific genres between Amazon and its customers online, where authors and readers are able to interact without the overwhelm of sheer volume of ebooks.
Here's an example of what I'm on about.
 http://haskindlewillread.wordpress.com/category/children
This is a blog I found, by author Patty Jansen. At the moment the reviews are just a few, but the format is there. The genre is SciFi or Fantasy. A blog or website in this format has the possibility of being developed into an income earner that sieves the good from the ordinary, rather than just promoting the bestsellers upfront.
It provides a pathway of access between authors and readers, that has the potential to link to sales points.
Maybe the sites are already there and we just don't see them coming up on first pages of Google yet.
So in today's blog, I'm going to pass on some of the leads I found after an exhaustive search and invite you to add yours. My focus is pretty much on Kindle Fire in this blog. If you have an iPad, there's an app available from Amazon for Kindle here.
Kindleboards, of course, gives both authors and readers a connection place and it's a great service, but you have to do quite some sieving to find relevant info, or post something yourself. The author's Book Bazaar on Kindleboards has more info, with book cover images. I'd like to see the children's ebooks in their own age-appropriate/genre section on Kindleboards.
Goodreads has some pages worth watching. The reviews are there, just click on the book and you'll see what other readers think. I found these three pages with reviews on kids' ebooks.
For younger children, this page on illustrated books is excellent.
I also found these on Goodreads
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/13178.Great_Ebooks_for_Kids
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18507.KINDLE_eBOOKS_CHILDREN
Pinterest may be a site to watch for individual reader choices. Though it doesn't have reviews, just the pretty cover pics, the links go through to the ebooks and their reviews on Amazon. Here's a Pinterest search result for 'kids kindle ebooks' with a few Pinboards to explore:
http://pinterest.com/search/?q=kids+kindle+ebooks
Check this website for an education project involving kids in writing reviews for ebooks they are reading on kindle readers:
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/excited-to-announce-kindle-kids-corner.html
And this site has useful info, though it's not easy to read:
http://kids.kindlenationdaily.com/
Here's a link to a little magic dreaming ebook with beautiful pics... yes, it's mine! Imagine that!
Happy reading!
Ilyhana Kate Kennedy

"Imagine That!" is my first venture into combining my writing and artwork as a children's picture ebook on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing with the KF8 format.
 The journey has been quite a process, and definitely an adventure so I thought it may be of value to set down my best road signs for others starting on the journey.
 Rather than give the full info here I'll give you my road map and some good links that helped me.
As a first-up, I kept the format simple rather than doing fixed graphics... alternating text on one page, picture on the next. I set the format up as a .doc in Word.
It's vital to know the difference between formatting and conversion. Here's a great article on that aspect and has good tips about formatting. 
I used Kindle Direct Publishing Help extensively. I suggest reading it in small bites so you don't get overwhelmed. It contains a formatting guide.
I painted the images in my ebook in acrylics, photographed them and inserted them in the word doc so that the actual image measurement, pixel size and kb size in the doc would best fit the Kindle Fire reader. You'll find this info in KDP Help.
You will need to know how to set your camera to create a 300dpi image and you'll need some basic info on how to set pixel sizing and compression of your images on your computer. Basically, I just experimented.
A couple of good tips in formatting. Centre your images. Set two returns (hit enter twice only) at the end of text and then insert a page break. Hit a return at the top of the next page before inserting the picture, two returns after the picture then insert a page break, and continue this pattern.
Follow the formatting guidelines carefully and you should have a clean doc.
Now convert it to filtered HTML webpage and upload to your Amazon Kindle Account. If you've kept it simple it should arrive relatively intact.
What about payment?
If like me, your only choice of method of payment would be to receive a paper cheque from Amazon, that would then cost you plenty to convert to your country's currency, and take another month to clear for goodness sake, you may wish to do as I did.
I applied for an affiliates MasterDebitCard from Payoneer
Once it is approved you are then directed to apply to the US Payment Service. Once this application is approved, you will be advised of a bank account with a US based bank in US dollars. So, once you have the details of your US based bank, you list the account details in your Amazon Kindle account.
You cannot draw directly from this US based bank account. It exists only so that your Amazon payment can be deposited and transferred to your Payoneer MasterDebitCard.
The Payoneer card can be used anywhere that a Mastercard is accepted. The card takes ages to arrive, and I'm still waiting for mine. That's ok, you need to build sales first. (My card has arrived since writing this blog)
As I live in Australia and my country has a treaty with the US relating to withheld taxes, I have also applied to Internal Revenue  in the US for an Employer Identification Number using Form SS-4, and when this is granted, I will submit the EIN to Amazon for reduction of withheld taxes. Your application for the EIN needs to state in point 10 under "other" ; "to obtain a reduced rate of withholding imposed by section 1441 pursuant to an income tax treaty".
So I guess you can see from this blog why you need something of a roadmap to arrive safely. However, I urge and encourage you to push on. You'll get there eventually. And like any rugged journey, it will all then be behind you.
Here's another excellent link that I found really useful. http://taleist.com