Amazon Kindle 3G

Kindle 3G, Free Wireless

I wasn't expecting another big announcement by Amazon. But this is a biggy. They have just launched a new generation of Kindle, this time with free 3G and one for £109 making it much more accessible to the mass market. Of course, its big news for book publishers and I've written a bit about this before. But what about the magazine industry and short form writing? I'd love it if stuff like the Faber & Domino collaboration we worked on (Loops) benefitted from this. It would be great if interesting short form writing in general was able to benefit from this. People like McSweeneys are already leading the way in marketing in this area and really successfully. Why oh why arent more people following their example? I don't know. Is it just that they started earlier in the online world when it was easier to make a big noise and no one else can quite match that awareness to get the money to launch a proper subscription app and physical book? What about the bigger publishers? Of course this is going to be an older audience than your typical NME reader but I think there's room for a good magazine / journal with really great writing to take advantage of this if they know how to co-ordinate a premier subscription with online and offline (hello premium coffee table hardcover) as well and build a bigger fanbase they could make a bit of money. I hope. Whatever happens next should be really interesting though!