Kindle Single: Electronic Mini-Books

[SeaKing]

Critic's Notebook
Electronic Mini-Books That Allow Writers to Stretch Their Legs
By DWIGHT GARNER
Published: March 6, 2012, New York Times.

"The Kindle Single is not a promising name. It sounds like a new kind of prefabricated fire log, or a type of person you might meet on the dating service eHarmony — perhaps a lonely independent bookstore owner put out of business by Amazon.com.

Here’s what Kindle Singles actually are: probably the best reason to buy an e-reader in the first place. They’re works of long-form journalism that seek out that sweet spot between magazine articles and hardcover books. Amazon calls them “compelling ideas expressed at their natural length.” If I didn’t loathe the word “compelling,” I’d think that wasn’t a half-bad slogan..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/bo...books.html?hpw

I haven't tried one yet.

[QuantumIguana]

It's really nothing new, the short story and the novella have been around for ages, it is just a new way of marketing them. There used to be a significant market for shorter works, but people began to treat book and novel interchangeably.

[carpetmojo]

"............that sweet spot between magazine articles and hardcover books....."

That would be... soft cover books ?

Or even - radical this, hang onto your hats - short story ?
[ or novella, as quantum mentioned ]

As for the rest - God, why does sales-speak have to be quite so tiresome, predictable, trite, meaningless and inane.

[ Think I touched all bases there..... ]

[teh603]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

"............that sweet spot between magazine articles and hardcover books....."

That would be... soft cover books ?

Or even - radical this, hang onto your hats - short story ?
[ or novella, as quantum mentioned ]

As for the rest - God, why does sales-speak have to be quite so tiresome, predictable, trite, meaningless and inane.

[ Think I touched all bases there..... ]

The guy who wrote it probably hasn't read a book since college, and has no idea of how publishing actually works. That's why people get Business degrees in fields like marketing, so they can tell people how to do their job without actually knowing anything.

[fjtorres]

Pamphlets reborn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphlet
It's not a bad idea.
And do note that he's *not* talking fiction, but rather non-fiction.
(So, novella and novelette don't apply.)

[elemenoP]

Here you go:

http://longform.org/

enjoy!

eP

[Bookworm_Girl]

I have read several "Kindle Singles". However, they aren't all exclusive to Amazon. You can find them in EPUB format and at your local library too.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Or even - radical this, hang onto your hats - short story ?
[ or novella, as quantum mentioned ]

Non-fiction did not, as far as I am aware, have a whole lot of medium sized 'books' (60-120 pages) available in the pre-ebook times. Currently that is indeed slowly changing, a trend I hope will continue

[dadioflex]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Here you go:

http://longform.org/

enjoy!

eP

Neat link and I note the iPad app is on sale this weekend.

[fjtorres]

Paid Content looks at Kindle singles:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-e...indle-singles/

Lots of interesting details and actual numbers (a rarity for Amazon).
For example, they've sold 2 million singles.

[Barty]

The big deal is in traditional publishing, someone writes an interesting article or gives a talk, and a publisher wants them to expand it into a book. The book will have to be a certain length, say 300 page, to make it worthwhile for the publisher, whether there is enough material to flesh out a 300 page book, or whether the writer is capable of writing a 300 page book and keep it interesting.

Now with ebook, the book can be exactly as long as it needs to be and priced accordingly. This is a Good Thing. Yes, this is like the pamphlet of old. Everything old is new again.

[MV64]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, ebooks are making short stories a viable option for authors once again.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by MV64

I've said it before and I'll say it again, ebooks are making short stories a viable option for authors once again.

Uh-huh.
And essays.
And mega-novels.
(No need to break it up into pieces and rework each piece to make a "trilogy" or "series" out of it. Roger Zelazny's first Amber "series" comes to mind.)

Add in the fast, frictionless workflow and it is becoming a boon to products that simply can't exist in a print only universe.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

And mega-novels.

I've not seen a lot of mega-novels out, as eBook -- but maybe those authors are still writing

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Soldim

I've not seen a lot of mega-novels out, as eBook -- but maybe those authors are still writing

Not a David Weber fan are you?