Kindle updates

[For Kindle users only]

Summary: Amazon pushed the updates, so your content should be updated if your auto update setting is enabled.

Dear Graded Reading Sets Kindle users,

I contacted Amazon to find out why the book updates were not being pushed out.

Amazon replied, “At this time, customers who bought your Kindle book aren’t able to download updates automatically. Sending customers an update may erase notes or highlights they entered. That means the improvements must outweigh the disadvantages. Our technical team is working on improving this process.”

Although their website describes the Automatic Updates process and gives instructions on how to enable it, they do not mention that this function is in fact blocked behind the scenes, and that the author has to send in a special request to un-block it, complete with justifications and examples. The author’s content updating interface lets you send updated content, but doesn’t mention that the update gets ignored unless you follow up with a special email request.

After I sent such a request, Amazon confirmed that they pushed out the updates, so you should have received the updates if you have the “Automatic Book Update” setting enabled on your “Manage Your Content and Devices” page on the Amazon website (amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/manage). See detailed instructions below.

The quickest way to tell whether your content has been updated is to check the color of the covers. In the original versions, the covers for the first three volumes (and the combined v1-3 set) all had the same brick red color. In the updated versions, the combined set is brown, v1 is sort of a plum red, v2 is orange, and v3 is yellowish. For a full list of the edits you should see updated, please see https://keystojapanese.com//klcgrs-revisions-log (use that to check updates on v4 and v5, which had the varied colors from the start).

The root cause of the problem is that Amazon has designed its ebook system in such a way that updates erase users’ annotations unless they have been backed up. As far as I know, this technical design flaw does not exist on iBooks.

To automatically update your Kindle content without losing any annotations you have made, please follow these instructions given by Amazon:

BEGIN QUOTE

Turn on the Annotations Backup* for your Kindle device or Kindle reading app. This will sync your notes, highlights, eBookmarks, and furthest page read 

  • Go to the Manage Your Content and Devices page (www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/manage)
  • Select “Automatic Book Update” under the Settings tab
  • Select “On” from the dropdown menu

Note: The Automatic Book Update feature might not be available for markets outside of the U.S. [Amazon is less globalized than Apple, so sometimes the local Amazon companies do things their own way]

*The devices listed below automatically enable the Annotations Backup. As a result, you won’t be able turn off the Backup. 

Fire HD
Fire HDX
Kindle for Android
Kindle for Windows 8
Kindle for BlackBerry 10

END QUOTE

Troubleshooting: If the above does not work, please try deleting the original book from your Kindle device or Kindle app, then select your book(s) on the “Your Content” tab at amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/manage, then select “Deliver”.

If anyone prefers to just do things the old-fashioned way using a simple revisions log, I have provided one on this page: keystojapanese.com/klcgrs-revisions-log.

Thank you very much for your kind patience with this process.

Warm regards,

Andrew

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