Mhm, also waiting for my GC lottery. ;)

If you have anyone in the US you know at least a little bit, who would let you use their address, that would be an option too. The bank essentially just wants to be able to contact you somehow (or through someone), it isn’t really necessary for you to be staying there all the time. At least that is how I am set up.

The main problem with this is that you basically need to have an US address. Perhaps prepaid CCs would work. Gotta check that out when I go back there.

Probably the only way for a European to get around the Kindle problem in general is to get an account and credit card in the States, if you ever find your way there. There are several bank account types where you pay no fees for opening and maintaining it and you don’t need any big amount of money to actually open the account, either.

Kindle, even the iPhone version, is U.S.-only. Which blows, and can’t be worked-around by an individual copyright-holder. That’s why there’s the pdf. A ePub version (for Stanza and others) is a few days away.

Amazon.com says something about geographical restrictions. As you are the author and copyright holder, could lift them? Or does Amazon just not sell outside the US for Kindle (+Kindle.app) content at all?

Cheers, Ben

It’s pretty thrilling, well-written, engaging, and anything else you’d want in a short story.

The bonus here is that you’re helping monetize the medium of short stories. Short stories in this day and age need all the help they can get and bravo to Mr. August for having the wherewithal to do it.

I don’t think the problem is the dollar amount that stops people for paying for a song or books online. I think it’s plain convenience masked by laziness. People would rather download torrents because it’s easy. You click a button to get what you want.

People simply don’t want to bust out the credit card, type in all the information all for a single dollar, regardless of what they’re purchasing. It’s not fast enough to satisfy the on-demand generation.

I think the solution is finding a faster way people can make the transaction, like entering a user name and password (for security reasons) that automatically links back to the person bank account and makes the withdrawal for them. Less effort and getting the product on-demand.

Basically, it’s more convenient to steal the desired product than to lug our lazy asses off the couch to find the credit card. Create the Imagination and Entertainment network. Provide people with the convenience of purchasing a product when they want it and I’d bet stealing products online will decline.

i really enjoyed the story, although i was just discussing with friends how time travel (and the ilk) seems to be showing up in so many shows and movies lately. i did very much like your twist, however. fantastic read.

I don’t think I could sell the stories themselves, at first. I have no name recognition, there is no presumption of quality in potential readers. And just starting out there wouldn’t be enough traffic that the 1%-3% who decide to buy would turn into any kind of income.

Still, I await the results of your experiment.