|
It seems like it's just marketing catching up. These short stories have been around on the EPUB bookstores for awhile. Not all of the Kindle Singles are exclusive to the Kindle Store. Now Apple has a catchy name to market them. It probably won't be long before B&N and Kobo have their own catchy name too.
I like the concept of Kindle Singles that are meant to accentuate the short-form content rather than long-form. However, it seems that many publishers are now offering these ebook exclusives for their best-selling authors to capitalize on the author's brand especially if they have a book series. That's why you are seeing singles from author's such as James Rollins, Steve Berry, Michael Scott, and Lee Child. These short stories are meant to add something new about a character or to have a quick, teaser adventure to set-up the big adventure that is coming in a few months when the next full-length book in the series is released. If you are fan of these series, then it is hard to avoid not purchasing these shorter books because you don't want to miss anything. Although they can't add that much to the series or they risk offending the fans of the series who only read paperbooks. It's an interesting concept. When Steve Berry released his first short-story last fall, there was an interesting interview with him about how his publisher told him what they wanted him to write about and how he had a fast deadline because they wanted it ASAP as a promotion tool for his new novel and how the creative process was different to write this type of short-story.
|