Amazon Announces Amazon Singles

Amazon, has announced Amazon Singles, a new form of e-books that are well, smaller than traditional books. The shorter electronic books which are "Twice the Length of a New Yorker Feature or as Much as a Few Chapters of a Typical Book" are expected to arrive soon at the Kindle store.

The shorter publications will be between 30 and 90 pages a piece, and will be priced considerably less than traditional books.

"Ideas and the words to deliver them should be crafted to their natural length, not to an artificial marketing length that justifies a particular price or a certain format," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content. "With Kindle Singles, we're reaching out to publishers and accomplished writers and we're excited to see what they create."

The obvious choice for Singles will be short stories, which previously didn't really have a place in the Kindle store. A Single could be perfect for situations such as a 2-3 hour plane ride, where you want to read something, but you might not have the time to make it through an entire book, and aren't likely to pick up your Kindle again in the near future once the flights over.

I personally find myself starting a new book every time I fly, only to leave it in my book bag until its time to fly again. Singles would be the perfect choice for me just because of the minimal financial investment, and the probability that I'll make it through the entire thing during a single trip. Assuming I didn't make it through the entire thing (which is probably a likely scenario) I won't have dropped as much cash on a Single as I would have had I purchased a traditional full-length book.

Much like all other Kindle content, Kindle Singles can be read on the Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle DX, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, and Android-based devices. Amazon's Whispersync technology will also save your place for you so you can start reading a book on your Kindle, but finish it up later on your BlackBerry-starting back in the same place.

I still haven't quite gotten into the whole e-reader thing, simply because I love the feel of a book in my hands when I'm reading. Singles would definitely be a great place to get started with it however.

How about you? Do you currently use an e-reader for reading while you're out and about? Do you see yourself purchasing any kindle Singles, or do you think you'll stick to full-length books?