Amazon Takes it in the Shorts..er..Offers Shorts for Download   - 1,809 Views,

Amazon has just rolled out a new service, “Amazon Shorts”. Amazon Shorts are, according to the Amazon Shorts page itself, “never-before-seen short works from a wide variety of well-known authors, available only on Amazon.com. Try a new genre or a new author–there’s something for everyone.

Amazon Shorts are:
New short-form literature from top authors for only 49 cents
Delivered electronically; there are no printed editions
Yours forever after purchase; save or print and read at your convenience”

With an option of receiving these as plain text via email, these are perfect for reading on your Palm, Pocket PC, or other PDA.

There’s already a broad selection of both genres and titles (and yes, best-selling authors!) including Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction & Essays, Biography & Memoirs, Mystery & Thrillers, Maybe You Know, and Editors’ Picks.

The “Maybe You Know” section is actually a showcase for well-known authors, with names you are sure to recognize. For example, Robin Cook has submitted a short story entitled Narcissus Redux in O.R. #8. Or maybe Danielle Steel is more your cup of tea, in which case you may like Steel’s short, Candy for the Soul.

There are lots and lots of nifty little shorts there, all just forty-nine cents each.

You can choose your delivery method, either downloading a PDF, or having a plain text version sent to you instantly via email (again, ideal for reading on your PDA).

I ordered “A Man and His Luggage: Leather As a Life Imperative” by Stuart Woods, and it was great. (And, if you have a Mac, you’ll want to read about what I did with it here.)

If this all sounds good to you, check out Amazon Shorts.