Amazon's Singles Classics To Revive Past Literary Works

To bring back the old world charm of the written word from the era gone by, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has announced the launch of Singles Classics for Kindle. The collection will comprise some iconic articles, stories and essays penned down by well-known authors, and periodicals in the digital form, many for the very first time.

While Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read the classics for free, other readers can purchase the Singles Classics for 99 cents each. One can have a look at the Singles Classics collection at www.amazon.com/singlesclassics

The Collection

Singles Classics features more than 140 essays and stories written by the likes of Susan Orlean, Gloria Steinem, Norman Mailer, Lawrence Wright, Gay Talese, Margo Jefferson and Chang-rae Lee, Kurt Vonnegut and John le Carre that were originally published in well-known magazines like Time, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic and Playboy.

In a nutshell, Singles Classics brings back those magazine cover stories and award-winning articles that defined a generation.

David Blum, Editor of Kindle Singles, said that the move is an attempt to make literary works such as Ron Rosenbaum’s ‘The Secrets of the Little Blue Box,’ Marcelle Clements’ ‘The Dog Is Us’ or TIME Magazine’s legendary 1966 cover story ‘Is God Dead? available to readers.

How Does It Work?

Writers and publishers can sell their work that was previously published via Kindle Direct Publishing, earning up to 70% in royalties with the sale of every copy, while retaining the intellectual property rights to their work.

On the other hand, readers can download and read Singles Classics on Kindle E-readers, Fire Tablets, iOS/Android phones, PC or Mac.

Amazon’s Diversified e-Book Portfolio

Currently, the e-book landscape is dominated by Amazon. Following its acquisition of Audible, it has gained considerable market share in audiobooks as well. With the introduction of Kindle Singles in 2011, the e-commerce giant attempted to attract readers with previously published content from magazines and periodicals. This also marked the company’s debut in selling long-form content in the range of 5,000 to 30,000 words. This was in addition to its digital magazine subscriptions.

Kindle Singles Classics is just an extension of the segment with timeless well-known stories.

Zacks Rank

At present, Amazon has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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