eBooks will be snack sized, not full length

One of the things I have felt, from the inception of online books, is that reading 300+ pages of a novel is too damn hard on them - in my view they are for snack sized media - a good academic paper, a short story or so. Every medium has its "optimal" mode and this - in my view - is the eBook's. Thus it is with some interest I read about Kindle Singles:

Today, Amazon is announcing that it will launch "Kindle Singles"--Kindle books that are twice the length of a New Yorker feature or as much as a few chapters of a typical book. Kindle Singles will have their own section in the Kindle Store and be priced much less than a typical book. Today's announcement is a call to serious writers, thinkers, scientists, business leaders, historians, politicians and publishers to join Amazon in making such works available to readers around the world.

"Priced less than an average book" is interesting - in my view full length e-Books should be priced less than an average book, I think the industry is still music c 2000.

Of course, 100+ years ago writers such as Dickens were serialised in much smaller chunks than their full tome novels. For those interested in applying for this newest of New Mediums, you can register interest over here.

Kindle Singles also puts me in mind of the digital version of "dating by cruising the bookstore" - I'm sure one can build (ahem) Yet Another Social Network for this - a sort of literary lovegety