SURVEY E

The fast-changing world of ebooks and ebook reading devices means that readers' needs keep changing, too. To ensure that Kindle Nation Daily (KND) remains in tune with its audience, we survey readers several times a year on all issues, including changes they want to see in KND.

For example, late last year in the Amazon user forums, readers clamored to have the have the ability to lend and borrow ebooks from each other. Kindle Nation Daily readers learned, by way of a December 30 post, were among the first to know when Amazon enabled lending. But could readers lend free ebooks? KND answered that when the news broke on January 12 in a post. 

And when smart people out in the Kindlesphere began cooking up ebook lending clubs, KND covered that in a post on January 27.

While the editors and writers of KND watch every aspect of the world of ebooks, the Winter 2011 Survey polled its audience about what content to cover for the coming year. What features and content to keep? What new content and features to add?

In terms of specific content and features enjoyed or wanted by readers, here's the breakdown from the top in terms of positive responses:

90% Want Kindle User Tips (CURRENT). The Tips have been a staple of KND since its first issue. Tips include instructions and shortcuts on how to use features built into the Kindle devices. They also include detailed instructions on the step-by-step process of using online features Amazon provides, such as lending.

85% (WANTED) Free Book Listings sorted by category. For now, the Free Book Alert stacks the latest addition to the free ebook list atop previous additions, regardless of genre or category. This results in kids books being stacked atop an historical fiction, which sits on a racy bit of erotica, which might sit atop a new free edition of the Bible.

83% News about the Kindle, ebooks and the changing world of reading (CURRENT). It's impossible to predict “future news” because the ebook revolution is boiling with change, much of it unexpected. If it's news, if it's relevant and important to readers, it has always been covered in KND and always will be.

82% Free Book Alerts (CURRENT). Some survey respondents, in a separate question, like the way KND presents the last 220+ free ebooks added to the Kindle Store. Some, no doubt who read the blog daily, would prefer only the most recent listings to be posted.

72% Free Kindle Giveaways (CURRENT).

65% From the Kindle Nation Mailbag Q&A. While this feature shares interesting experiences of Kindle Nation Citizens, it more often reveals glitches and uncertainties Kindle owners encounter in daily use of the devices. Example of an interesting experience:  A Kindle Nation Citizen breached censorship in China. In a remote place near the border with Tibet, he downloaded a copy of the banned Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China for a guide. NOTE: We just discover the Kindle edition of Wild Swans is no longer available on Amazon. Perhaps Party leaders read KND, too.  Read about Wild Swans here.

61% (WANTED) A Weekly Kindle Nation 5-Star Fiction Feature.

59% Monthly Analysis of Prices in the Kindle Store (CURRENT). Pricing is a key concern of Kindle Nation, as evidenced in posts covering other portions of the survey.

45% Free Kindle Nation Shorts (CURRENT). Unlike anything else on the web, the Shorts regularly bring new authors and new books to readers attention right on their Kindles and other ereading devices. The Shorts can range in size from a few thousand words to over 10,000 words. For example, a recent Short featured 15,000 words from Theresa Burrell's The Advocate's Betrayal.

25% (WANTED) Kindle Nation Kids' Corner.