# PW - No more product ads as screensavers, but books.



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I just noticed that I haven't seen a product (non book) screensaver on my PW in a while. I have the one with ads and what I am getting now are book covers. They are just nice looking with the cover. Then when I open my cover to swipe, it adds the "read it now for 3.99". Or whatever the price is. But its not exactly like the cover in the store I noticed. I just checked a book I just got as a screensaver and on amazon it also has extra text like "a novel" and "New York Times bestseller". But that isn't on the screensaver. Its cleaner I guess. 

I have to say I really like that. Much better than looking at that scary baby I had for a while.  
Am I just the last one to notice that change? 

I just checked another one I got "The Accounting" William Lashner and it too looks a bit different than the store cover. Its like they redesign them for the screensavers. Font wise that is, and image cut differently. 

I think they are all Amazon imprint books so far. I don't know why, but the covers look more elegant in black and white. 

Just one of the random things I noticed today.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Just checked on my basic kindle and, yeah, all the SO's are specific books or a link to the Kindle daily deal.  Not even Amazon local deals.


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Well I think its neat. And smart. For the first time I am actually looking at the screensavers on my PW.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah. . . I think Amazon overestimated how much they'd really be able to tie purchases to readers seeing something on Kindle.  At least as regards all the other stuff -- movies, clothing, etc.  But showing BOOKS to readers -- definitely smart!


----------



## BevAnneS (May 11, 2010)

My Touch is the only Kindle I have that has special offers and it's been books only for several weeks.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

My SO Kindles have screensavers? LOL!  It's just something I swipe to get to my book.  (I know Amazon doesn't want to hear THAT!)  Off to look...

Betsy


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> My SO Kindles have screensavers? LOL! It's just something I swipe to get to my book. (I know Amazon doesn't want to hear THAT!) Off to look...
> 
> Betsy


Well me too, which is why I just noticed in the last few days. . I thought, wait, no scary baby, no credit card, no car, its actually a nice looking book cover. I think I been thinking that maybe one of the screensavers was the book of the day, but now its all books, all the time. And they aren't the daily deal either.


----------



## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I paid the extra $$ to cancel the screensavers on my PW because I wanted to be able to just open the cover and have the thing turn on and not have to deal with an extra swipe. I like the idea of books, though. I might have to re-activate the SS....

or maybe not. LOL.

L


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Well now that you have paid, you can turn on and off at will.  

It would be neat if they could adjust them a bit by user. Meaning send more of the genre that one buys.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Atunah said:


> Well now that you have paid, you can turn on and off at will.
> 
> It would be neat if they could adjust them a bit by user. Meaning send more of the genre that one buys.


That would be good. . . don't think they do as yet, though, as all the ones I have are romances which I pretty much never read.

FWIW, the SOs on the Fire are different. . . . the Star Trek movie, some games, a couple of physical products, and one or two books.


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> That would be good. . . don't think they do as yet, though, as all the ones I have are romances which I pretty much never read.
> 
> FWIW, the SOs on the Fire are different. . . . the Star Trek movie, some games, a couple of physical products, and one or two books.


I don't get romance, I would like too. . I get, I have no clue what it is I get, thrillers maybe? I did get a chick lit, or whatever that is called. But no romance as of yet.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Atunah said:


> I don't get romance, I would like too. . I get, I have no clue what it is I get, thrillers maybe? I did get a chick lit, or whatever that is called. But no romance as of yet.


Huh. Maybe they're not so much romance as 'chick lit' -- the two lines of description visible on the 'show offers' page didn't entice me on any of them, at least. Here are the titles I have: Game Set Match by Iacopelli, summer in Napa by Adair, Changing Lanes by Long . . . . .all three seem romancy based on the two lines of blurb. There is one more, The accounting by Lashner which could be a thriller. . .but from the blurb it's sounds more like family problems fiction. Which isn't really a genre, but i think you know what I mean. 

I also have an ad for the Kindle daily deal, coffee, and a movie that's coming out in August -- but you can buy the book now.


----------



## kansaskyle (Sep 14, 2010)

The last ad I recall seeing was for a men's razor, but that's been several weeks back.

I finally connected wireless again because I got tired of looking at the _The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones_ cover.


----------



## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

i've got some kind of coffee...

and the mortal bones one.


----------



## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

kansaskyle said:


> The last ad I recall seeing was for a men's razor, but that's been several weeks back.
> 
> I finally connected wireless again because I got tired of looking at the _The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones_ cover.


You mean the "robot kisses" ad? I was getting sick of that...

I was getting sick of The Mortal Instruments, also, and it had slipped my mind that turning on wireless would likely cause it to change - thanks for reminding me.

I did a double-take the other day when the screensaver was a book by Catherine Ryan Hyde (my name is Catherine Ryan).


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I could use a new set of books. I am still looking at the same 3-4 ones.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I have no idea what is on my SSs.  I'm apparently weird.

Betsy


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I have no idea what is on my SSs. I'm apparently weird.
> 
> Betsy


To know, you'd actually have to look at it. 

My PW is non-SO . . . .my other kindle I don't look at that often but opened it just now and they want to sell me a watch for father's day. 

I admit I've not noticed on my Fire though I had it open several times last night.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> To know, you'd actually have to look at it.
> 
> My PW is non-SO . . . .my other kindle I don't look at that often but opened it just now and they want to sell me a watch for father's day.
> 
> I admit I've not noticed on my Fire though I had it open several times last night.


You're right, I'd have to look at the screensaver to know what it says.  And I don't, it's just something to swipe on my way to the book.

Betsy


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> You're right, I'd have to look at the screensaver to know what it says.  And I don't, it's just something to swipe on my way to the book.
> 
> Betsy


Pretty sure that's not what Amazon has in mind. . . but I'm the same way. I pay no attention unless I've just been to a thread like this and it's in my mind to pay attention! 

Though, on my NON SO devices, I do sometimes take a couple of seconds to contemplate the designs -- and I used to look at the 'dead authors' too. Even now I could tell you almost all of them. 

Odd.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Odd.


No comment.


----------



## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

I never conciously noticed this till I read this thread.  Then it was like....ooohh yah, now that I thnk about it....
It might be working on me as an advertising tool.  I have bought one book and looked at several more.  Right now I am getting Depak Chopra's book called "Brotherhood".  Co-written with his brother and it looks interesting.  

And I much prefer the books to the general merchandise ads.  Seems more fitting...


----------



## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

Interesting concept for selling more books. Going to have to agree with Leslie though with the 20 dollars to take SO off. one of the best things I did with my kindle along with putting my own screensavers on it via simple root. Now I have it set to whenever my kindle falls asleep it displays the book I am currently reading. when I turn it off manually it goes to my saved screensavers and no one selling me anything via an ad. 

Do like the idea of a strong algorithm predicting books I would like though. 

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

I'm glad I wasn't the only one to notice this!   Neat feature and some really good marketing.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

northofdivision said:


> Interesting concept for selling more books. Going to have to agree with Leslie though with the 20 dollars to take SO off.


And see, every time I think about paying to take the SOs off, I think that's $20 I could spend on books that I would be spending to get rid of something that I never even look at longer than to swipe it.
 Different strokes.

Betsy


----------



## jlee745 (Jul 27, 2010)

I had a community coffee ad this morning.


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Mine has been stuck now on the Chopra book. It never changes anymore. I am getting a bit tired of it.


----------



## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

If I pay the $20 to opt out of the SO and ads, will that get rid of ALL ads -including the screensaver ads and the small ad bar under my cover titles? They don't bother me too much right now, but, like Atunah said, it gets slightly annoying to see the same cover on my SS for so long (currently Chopra). It would be nice if these ads changed every time you powered the PW on and if the ads were based on your preferred genres.


----------



## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

I wonder if advertisers might be paying more to keep their ad showing longer.  Some books are only there for a day or two, while others like the Chopra book has been on there for longer. I leave my wifi on almost all the time so it's not dependent on that.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I just checked and the only ads on my basic K are the Chopra book, Swiss legend watches, and an add for kindle apps for phones and tablets.

I even did a sync and check -- though I' know wi fi has connected lately -- and nothing new came down.  Not sure why it's sticking at the book, though.


----------



## athenat (Apr 17, 2013)

I'm stuck on that same Chopra book as well and it's getting on my nerves...almost ready to pay that extra $20. I don't mind one specific book ad per day or more but for more that 3-4 days... ....annoying as hell!


----------



## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

They don't really bother me--at least not enough to consider spending $20 to remove them.  I did pay the $15 to keep them off my Fire HD, but that was because they would be right on the home screen instead of a screen saver, and also I was afraid they might be animated or otherwise more annoying than what the e-readers have.  OTOH, if removing the ads from the PW would cause the screen saver to be the cover of whatever book you are reading, I would probably do it because I would really like that.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Dragle said:


> They don't really bother me--at least not enough to consider spending $20 to remove them. I did pay the $15 to keep them off my Fire HD, but that was because they would be right on the home screen instead of a screen saver, and also I was afraid they might be animated or otherwise more annoying than what the e-readers have. OTOH, if removing the ads from the PW would cause the screen saver to be the cover of whatever book you are reading, I would probably do it because I would really like that.


Just to avoid confusion, the ads on the Fire HD are just on the lock screen (like a screensaver) and are not on the home page. Initially, it was announced they would be on the home page but never have been. Unlike the PW, where there is a small band across bottom of the home page.

Betsy


----------



## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Just to avoid confusion, the ads on the Fire HD are just on the lock screen (like a screensaver) and are not on the home page. Initially, it was announced they would be on the home page but never have been. Unlike the PW, where there is a small band across bottom of the home page.
> 
> Betsy


Oh! Thanks for clarifying. I was going by what they had announced and I thought I'd seen some screenshots with ads appearing under the carousel... Glad to hear they didn't put them on the home page after all.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Dragle said:


> Oh! Thanks for clarifying. I was going by what they had announced and I thought I'd seen some screenshots with ads appearing under the carousel... Glad to hear they didn't put them on the home page after all.


what's under the carousel. . . .unless you turn it off. . . .is recommended books/apps/movies that are related to whatever icon is front and center on the Carousel. As well as some other goodies for certain apps and x-ray for books that have it enabled.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> what's under the carousel. . . .unless you turn it off. . . .is recommended books/apps/movies that are related to whatever icon is front and center on the Carousel. As well as some other goodies for certain apps and x-ray for books that have it enabled.


That's right--I almost always use my Fire in landscape mode, which doesn't show the "suggestions." And because it has the related links, I don't think of those as ads in the same way the PW has the ad at the bottom, but I guess some people do. Thanks for reminding me. I was thinking of the banner that they had originally said would be on the Home screen.

Betsy


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I was thinking of the banner that they had originally said would be on the Home screen.
> 
> Betsy


Yeah, that never really materialized. It seems to me when I got my very first Fire there was a very small something in the bottom left corner. . . .not even a banner ad, more like just a product brand or name. But that didn't last past my setting it up fully and doing a sync. So it might be something they were going to do, but decided the more relevant recommendations was smarter.

And those you can turn off if you want to. . . .


----------



## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Well, so much for the "just books" theory.  I now have an ad for a TV series called "Mistresses".  On the bright side, at least that Chopra book ad is finally gone.


----------



## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I've only seen book ads as screen savers on my PW for weeks.  Tonight . . . Clorox wipes!


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Yeah, I got the clorox too. And for a split second I thought my PW's screen was damaged, because the back round of that picture has lighter spots. 
There was another screensaver the other day that also scared me, a book and it had small white dots that looked like bad pixels. 

I am going to scream if I get another baby. Please, no more babies for me.


----------



## BevAnneS (May 11, 2010)

Sandpiper said:


> I've only seen book ads as screen savers on my PW for weeks. Tonight . . . Clorox wipes!


Same for me. It took me by surprise!


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

They got me good with the screensaver of the 'Damage Control' book. It has some sort of look like there are water drops not just on the image, but also on the text. I glanced at my kindle and went    Who spilled on my poor kindle. 

I am having the cover open at the moment since I am wearing in my new marware cover with the back strap. So it was just laying there. 

They did a really good job on that image and how it looks on e-ink.

I actually looked at that cover in the store where its color of course and I have to say it looks so much better and is more effective in black and white.


----------



## Wingpeople (Oct 7, 2011)

So, the BIG questions are:  

How can we get OUR books to show up in those ad areas? Last time I checked, I couldn't buy an ad for a BOOK on Amazon (other types of products are OK for ads). 

And, if we can get our own books to show up in the screen savers / opening screen, will it cost so much that we'd have to sell 100,000 copies to break even?


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Wingpeople said:


> So, the BIG questions are:
> 
> How can we get OUR books to show up in those ad areas? Last time I checked, I couldn't buy an ad for a BOOK on Amazon (other types of products are OK for ads).
> 
> And, if we can get our own books to show up in the screen savers / opening screen, will it cost so much that we'd have to sell 100,000 copies to break even?


That's a question for the Writer's Cafe. . . . though I don't know that anyone there would be able to answer it.

So, really, a question for Amazon.

The books I've seen advertized are generally from the big publishers. Or one of Amazon's own imprints. But, yeah, I'd guess it's not an inexpensive proposition. After all, you're paying for eyeballs on millions of devices.


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I am pretty sure every book I have had so far was published through one of Amazon publishing arms. So they are using the screensaver ads to advertise their own books. Maybe they are like a filler, for those weeks when they don't have enough clorox wipes to fill up the slots.


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Today's screensaver is awful. I mean in a disturbing way.  It looks like a beheaded child. Just the head. 
Its the first time I have ever been disturbed by a screensaver on my PW. Its the book Anything you want by Derek Sivers. 
Horrible. I assume it will be gone tomorrow hopefully.


----------



## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Atunah said:


> Today's screensaver is awful. I mean in a disturbing way. It looks like a beheaded child. Just the head.
> Its the first time I have ever been disturbed by a screensaver on my PW. Its the book Anything you want by Derek Sivers.
> Horrible. I assume it will be gone tomorrow hopefully.


It's a child buried up to his neck in the sand. Its' especially bad timing since just the other day a little boy was just buried alive under the sand. Fortunately they got him out alive even though it took 3 hours.


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Dragle said:


> It's a child buried up to his neck in the sand. Its' especially bad timing since just the other day a little boy was just buried alive under the sand. Fortunately they got him out alive even though it took 3 hours.


I saw that story, pretty amazing that he was even still alive. Not sure how his condition is now, I know he was serious right after.

I think that book cover just looks especially bad because at first glance on my PW, all I see is a boy with his eyes squeezed shut like he is in pain. The back round sand kind of isn't as obvious. The head is really big, so its all I see at first look. It just really creeps me out.

And apparently its some make money book. I guess I don't get what a child head has to do with that.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I agree it's a terrible image.  I don't see what it has to do  with the book topic, either.  It should be gone tomorrow as it was part of the Kindle Daily Deal.

Betsy


----------

