Amazon Original Stories, a new imprint dedicated to short digital fiction and nonfiction, released its first collection, The Real Thing, yesterday. It brings together six love stories, by Eddie Huang, Wednesday Martin, W. Kamau Bell, Jade Chang, Melissa DePino and Elizabeth LaBan, and Samantha Allen, with new art and animations by Geoff McFetridge. Julia Sommerfeld, editorial director of Amazon Original Stories, talks about this new venture.
What is the thinking behind this “bite-sized” approach?
We started with a pretty simple goal: to provide readers with single-sitting stories we hope they’ll love and get hooked on, and to provide authors a new outlet that would champion their short work and share it with readers. Amazon Original Stories Collections meld an episodic format with eye-catching e-book design elements, such as animations. All stories [in this collection] will be available at once for readers looking to read in smaller doses or binge the whole collection.
How can readers access books?
Readers can download the entire collection of stories to their Kindle or Kindle app with one click. Prime and Kindle Unlimited customers can get the collection for free. Customers will still be able to browse the individual stories online as they do any other book, and download them. All of the stories include free audio versions because we want people to be able to read or listen to them, or toggle back and forth, using Whispersync for Voice.
Will there be hard copies as well?
Amazon Original Stories is a digital exclusive imprint. More readers are reading on their phones, and we wanted to provide a customer experience tailored to shorter, snackable fiction and nonfiction by bestselling and beloved authors, as well as compelling new writers.
What can we expect in the future?
For future collections, we are thrilled to partner with a growing list of authors who are innovating with us, including Jane Smiley, Joyce Carol Oates, Jess Walter, Walter Kirn, Lauren Groff, Blake Crouch, and Michelle Dean.
