Amazon has announced the limited beta launch of its @author program, which lets you pose questions to authors through your Kindle device and Amazon Author Pages.
Sixteen authors are participating in the beta, including Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean, and John Locke, the first independent author to sell 1 million ebooks on Amazon.
Anyone who has purchased an item on Amazon can pose a question, the company says. To ask a question on the Kindle, highlight a passage and enter a question in the annotations box, beginning with “@author” (i.e. @tferriss or @susanorlean). Questions are limited to 100 characters in the Kindle; longer questions can be posed on the authors’ individual Amazon pages. If you don’t yet have a Twitter account associated with your Amazon account, you’ll be prompted to do so at this time.
Those who don’t have a Kindle — or who want to see all of the questions others are posing — can take part through Amazon’s Author Page system. To find participating authors, search for the author’s name in the Books category and click their linked name in the search results, or visit the Detail page for one of their books and click on their name next to the cover image.
Questions will be sent to authors over Twitter from the @author account. You’ll receive an email when an answer has been posted to your question.
Amazon isn’t really introducing anything new here; the authors in the program are already actively engaged with promoting their books and interacting with their fans through mediums like Twitter. The company is, however, making these conversations more public and better accessible to Kindle readers, providing opportunities for further engagement both on Amazon.com and on the Kindle device.
Image courtesy of Flickr, kodomut
[via Nieman Journalism Lab]
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Posted on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:15:42 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/v0vv8y3uUEA/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/09/01/amazon-kindle-author/#comments
Sixteen authors are participating in the beta, including Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean, and John Locke, the first independent author to sell 1 million ebooks on Amazon.
Anyone who has purchased an item on Amazon can pose a question, the company says. To ask a question on the Kindle, highlight a passage and enter a question in the annotations box, beginning with “@author” (i.e. @tferriss or @susanorlean). Questions are limited to 100 characters in the Kindle; longer questions can be posed on the authors’ individual Amazon pages. If you don’t yet have a Twitter account associated with your Amazon account, you’ll be prompted to do so at this time.
Those who don’t have a Kindle — or who want to see all of the questions others are posing — can take part through Amazon’s Author Page system. To find participating authors, search for the author’s name in the Books category and click their linked name in the search results, or visit the Detail page for one of their books and click on their name next to the cover image.
Questions will be sent to authors over Twitter from the @author account. You’ll receive an email when an answer has been posted to your question.
Amazon isn’t really introducing anything new here; the authors in the program are already actively engaged with promoting their books and interacting with their fans through mediums like Twitter. The company is, however, making these conversations more public and better accessible to Kindle readers, providing opportunities for further engagement both on Amazon.com and on the Kindle device.
Image courtesy of Flickr, kodomut
[via Nieman Journalism Lab]
More About: amazon, author, Kindle, twitterFor more Social Media coverage:Follow Mashable Social Media on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Social Media channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:15:42 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/v0vv8y3uUEA/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/09/01/amazon-kindle-author/#comments