Haven’t had a whole lot of time to play with either of these new Amazon wrinkles yet, but thought I’d give you my off-the-cuff, fifteen minutes of research opinion:
If you use CreateSpace and want to give away copies of your book as a promotion, then this might be the service for you. Amazon allows you to create a giveaway by specifying the quantity you’d like to give, the odds of winning the prize (1 in X, 1 every X, or first X), and conditions for entry (i.e. Follow you on Twitter, watch a video, etc). They administer everything, and they’ll ship the prize to lucky winner, all you have to do is pay the price of the prize, minimum shipping and tax.
Pros:
- Nice way for authors to promote their book.
- Easy to setup and use, separate messages for winners and losers.
- Flexibility in odds can be scaled to your expected audience.
- Instant win or lose.
Cons:
- Requires physical copy, can’t give away digital.
- Cost to author is list price, not production price (what the author can order the book for on CreateSpace).
- Can only take advantage of free shipping if price is over $35. If the winner has a prime account it doesn’t mean free shipping costs to the giveaway provider.
Verdict: Might be nice to try, but could get expensive quick.
Merging your Comixology and Amazon account:
Comixology has been an Amazon company for a while, but they just now pushed out the capability to use your Amazon login on the site instead of creating a separate login. For existing Comixology customers, you can merge your Kindle Comics and your Comixology comics into one account.
Pros:
- Amazon purchases that would include a DRM free backup if bought from Comixology (such as any comic from Image), will now be available in your backups. If you bought Saga or Chew from Amazon, you can now download CBZ’s and PDF’s from Comixology.
- For those who prefer Comixology’s panel by panel view this could make your Kindle books much easier to read.
- One easy account to remember.
Cons:
- Not all Kindle Comics covered though more coming. DC, Marvel and Dark Horse do not offer DRM free backups.
- Not all Kindle Comics have exact Comixology matches (may result in different content).
- Kindle Comics do not register as owned in Comixology store. I own Vols 1,2 and 6 of Scott Pilgrim from Amazon and 3-5 from Comixology, but only 3-5 show as owned in the app (when I do a search). Downloads for all are available.
Verdict: No harm, might get better with time.
Has anyone tried either of these services?
[BTW] : Ben Trube, Writer 
I’m very old-school about comics –I only go digital when a paper copy is hard to get for whatever reason — so the main thing I use my Comixology account for is managing my pull list.
I’m pretty sure my Comixology and Amazon acccounts are not attached — the login info is different — but when I do buy a comic digitally I use the Comixology app on my Fire tablet, because then the billing goes through my Amazon account, which is easier than entering a credit card in my Comixology account.
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