Are you working on a film script?

Amazon has created a new tool to help screenwriters visualize their work. AppNewser has more about the new service:

Amazon’s film production arm, Amazon Studios, has released a new tool that lets writers and filmmakers create their own storyboards. Amazon Storyteller, which is currently available for free in beta, will visually map characters and dialog from a script. They can use these mockups to share with others and make changes based on feedback.

The Department of Justice has shared direct testimony from three Amazon executives about tempestuous negotiations over the agency model for setting eBook prices in 2010.

These discussions rest at the heart of the U.S. v. Apple et al. case, as a federal judge decides if publishers  and Apple colluded to fix eBook prices.

In the executive testimony, MyHabit general merchandise manager (and former Kindle Books director) Laura Porco testified about a fateful January 2010 dinner with her former colleague, Random House COO Madeline McIntosh. This conversation prompted evasive legal action at Amazon.

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Amazon Publishing has reached out to fan fiction writers with Kindle Worlds, a platform allowing authors to write fan fiction based on someone else’s work and share royalties with the rights holders.

Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment division will work with Amazon on the program, letting fans write about Cecily von Ziegesar‘s Gossip Girl, Sara Shepard‘s Pretty Little Liars and L.J. Smith‘s Vampire Diaries. Fan fiction writers can publish their own work about these stories in the Kindle Store. The program launches in June. Here’ more about the payment structure:

Amazon Publishing will pay royalties to both the rights holders of the Worlds and the author. The standard author’s royalty rate (for works of at least 10,000 words) will be 35% of net revenue. As with all titles from Amazon Publishing, Kindle Worlds will base net revenue off of sales price—rather than the lower, industry standard of wholesale price—and royalties will be paid monthly.

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Amazon workers in Germany have called a strike, fighting the online retailer for better pay. The national trade union Verdi will lead the strike.

Reuters had the scoop:

Amazon employs around 9,000 people in Germany and has come under fire from trade union Verdi for refusing to implement a collective agreement on employment conditions, similar to other mail order and retail firms … The union is also pressing for higher basic pay and bigger supplements for night shifts.

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Amazon has unveiled its own currency for readers to spend inside the app universe of the Kindle Fire. All Kindle Fire owners get to start out with $5 worth of free Amazon Coins.

What do you think? AppNewser has more details:

Amazon’s virtual currency “Amazon coins” are now live on the Kindle Fire. The company introduced the concept of coins, a currency that lets users buy apps, games and make in-app purchases on the Kindle Fire, back in February in a push to get developers on board. To help get users started, Amazon is giving away 500 “Amazon Coins”  to every Kindle Fire owner in the U.S. This equals about $5. To encourage adoption, Amazon will give discounts to users. The more they buy, the larger the discount.

After selling 500,000 combined copies of Ian Fleming and Ed McBain backlist, Amazon Publishing has acquired books from the Saint series by Leslie Charteris and the Mrs. Bradley series by Gladys Mitchell.

Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint will publish digital editions and print editions (“where rights permit”) later this year. Jane Gelfman from Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents negotiated the deal for 49 Saint series books. A TV pilot for the classic series about a mysterious thief is now being produced.

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Amazon reported that net sales increased 22 percent to $16.07 billion in the first quarter of the financial year, compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the company reported that net income had decreased. Check it out:

Operating income decreased 6% to $181 million in the first quarter, compared with $192 million in first quarter 2012. The unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter on operating income was $12 million. Net income decreased 37% to $82 million in the first quarter, or $0.18 per diluted share, compared with $130 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, in first quarter 2012.

In addition, the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library has swelled to more than 300,000 books that readers with Kindle Prime membership can check out once a month.

Alexandria, Virginia is the most well-read city in America once again, according to Amazon’s annual ranking that measures ”all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format” in cities around the country.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was the most popular novel purchased in that city, followed by the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.

We’ve reprinted the top 20 cities on the list below–the survey counts sales data “on a per capita basis,” only focused on cities with more than 100,000 residents.

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Amazon has reportedly sold almost five million Kindle Singles since January 2011.

The new eBook format dominated online chatter this week as The New York Times profiled chief David Blum. AppNewser has more details:

Kindle Singles is designed as a place where journalists and authors can publish works that are longer than your typical magazine article but shorter than a book. This includes essays, novellas and long form stories. The format has attracted the likes of Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk, and Lee Child, among many others. The New York Times points out that the business is profitable, having sold five million copies since it launched in January 2011. The Times even asserts, “…the program is as much about gaining entree into the literary world as it is about revenue.”

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos released his annual letter to shareholders this week, reminding them that “we want to make money when people use our devices – not when people buy our devices.”

Click here to download a PDF copy of the letter. While the letter focused on the overall business, he mentioned publishing a few times–taking time to mention royalty changes for authors.

Amazon Publishing has just announced it will start paying authors their royalties monthly, sixty days in arrears. The industry standard is twice a year, and that has been the standard for a long time. Yet when we interview authors as customers, infrequent payment is a major dissatisfier. Imagine how you’d like it if you were paid twice a year. There isn’t competitive pressure to pay authors more than once every six months, but we’re proactively doing so.

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