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Kindling for a blog

I'm sure we can all think of a few blogs that could do with a bit kindling. They lack that vital spark. But that's not what I have in mind. Amazon has now started to offer blogs on its Kindle ebook reader - and the frightening thing is that the user has to pay.

Not a lot, I'll admit. To enjoy Now Appearing on your Kindle you would have to fork out the princely sum of $1.99 (you can see the Now Appearing page on Amazon here) for a month's subscription. In practice, the majority of this is for delivery by Whispernet, Amazon's mobile phone network delivery service that allows things to ping to the Kindle wherever you are (at least, in the US - the rest of us are still waiting to get our hands on Kindle).

But will punters really pay to read blogs? I have to admit, when I added Now Appearing to the program I assumed I would be given the choice of setting the amount, and could make it free - but no, Amazon decides the subscription rate.

It's an interesting venture by the books-and-more giant. I can't see a huge demand, but I think some will pay a little to read their favourite blogs with the ease that the Kindle provides. However, the change in mindset required to go from 'blogs are free comment' to 'I don't mind paying to read a blog' is more than trivial. Many have tried to make the web pay by charging for content. Few have succeeded.

It should be fun to see what happens.
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Comments

  1. laurasdad29 May 2009 at 07:24

    Interestingly the price has gone down to $0.99 per month; which makes me wonder whether Amazon have responded to your comments about price, or whether they've started variable pricing based on blog popularity (blogpop)- do you pay more or less for the most popular blogs I wonder?

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