Amazon Launches Blog Subscriptions for Kindle

After optimizing the Kindle bookstore for the iPhone and acquiring the popular iPhone e-book reader Stanza, Amazon is now turning the page on its next Kindle innovation: Blog subscriptions.

Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a beta program to pay bloggers for Kindle subscriptions to their posts. Although Kindle comes equipped with a simple browser that allows consumers to pull up their blogs of choice, Amazon has decided to remove a step from the process and push blog content to the device's home screen. Subscriptions run 99 cents to $2 a month.

Amazon pays registered bloggers 30 percent of the subscription fee and keeps 70 percent for internal costs. Bloggers don't have to pay any fees to join the program, but Amazon sets the price of the content based on what it deems a fair value for customers. The new program opens the door for bloggers to gain new readers and cash.

Amazon's Digital Strategy

"This blogging program shows the diversity of content available for Kindle. For some blogs it could very well become their vehicle and their way of breaking away from the pack," said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret.

"More importantly, it shows Amazon continues to evolve Kindle as a device and
as a platform. Amazon is establishing the Kindle not as an e-book reader, but rather a content reader. I can get my blogs, my newspapers, my magazines, and, of course, my books."

With multiple Kindle devices and multiple platforms to read Kindle content, Amazon appears prepared to continue its rush toward digital content and digital distribution where others have tried and failed.

Microsoft, for example, once had a vision for electronic books that showcased the digital content on a PC. Adobe has made moves to push e-book publishing through its PDF format. Sony has its e-book reader, but it hasn't gained traction....