And how did it become a Kindle Single?
Amazon had sent me an e-mail when they were about to start their program: “We’re hoping you might want to be a part of it.” It reminded me of a letter I have hanging above my desk, from 1954, to Thomas Mann from Alfred A. Knopf: “Dear Tommy, We’re starting a line of books called Vintage Paperbacks and we’d like to publish your books to start off the series.” I’m not implying that the two of them are the same thing. Anyway, I kind of ignored it, but I had just left Vintage and I was busy working on a novel, and I started writing longer essays for fun. But the maximum length for a magazine feature is maybe 7,000 words. When I originally wrote this it was about 14,000 words, and I thought, It’s sort of silly that it’s just sitting here. I wanted it to be the cubic-zirconium jewel in a new essay collection, but I don’t know when that will be.
Amazon had sent me an e-mail when they were about to start their program: “We’re hoping you might want to be a part of it.” It reminded me of a letter I have hanging above my desk, from 1954, to Thomas Mann from Alfred A. Knopf: “Dear Tommy, We’re starting a line of books called Vintage Paperbacks and we’d like to publish your books to start off the series.” I’m not implying that the two of them are the same thing. Anyway, I kind of ignored it, but I had just left Vintage and I was busy working on a novel, and I started writing longer essays for fun. But the maximum length for a magazine feature is maybe 7,000 words. When I originally wrote this it was about 14,000 words, and I thought, It’s sort of silly that it’s just sitting here. I wanted it to be the cubic-zirconium jewel in a new essay collection, but I don’t know when that will be.
From NY Mag’s Vulture blog interview with Sloan Crosley about her upcoming Kindle Single. For those not in the know, Kindle Singles are sort of an arm of Amazon publishing. There’s an acquiring editor, and an advance, and the titles are exclusive to Amazon’s digital platform. Not sure how long the period of exclusivity lasts—clearly not forever, if Crosley plans on adding this essay to a collection one day.
I hate that writers are even considering offering exclusivity of their stories to Amazon, and I bet B&N hates it even more. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all shakes out.
I'm Ami Greko. I write in way too many places on the internet. Welcome to my home base. 