Thursday, March 27, 2008

Opinionated, Syndicated and Speculated -- a Magazine for the Kindle?

Peter Brantley linked me to Joe Wikert's blog with the story that there is a new magazine, Opinionated, launched through Amazon, specifically for the Kindle -- Amazon's new eBook reading device which is in short supply.

The new magazine is culled (kindled?) from the syndicated columnists of the Chicago Tribune group. The Kindle will not support colour reproduction, so there is no need to worry about paying photographers or designers for wonderful layouts. It would be interesting to know the way in which the funding for this operation goes. I am guessing that the 'syndication' is all for free and that the Amazon royalties might pay to Tribune Media Services are peanuts. I suspect that TMS and Amazon both see this as a promotional exercise in which neither party has to invest anything at all; and that is the long and the short of it. If there really is a market for this magazine, there can be no reason at all to limit its distribution to the Kindle.

So if it really works, Opinionated will escape the confines of the Kindle.......

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