Tech Flash is reporting that the Kindle will soon be able to read “singles”, short form pieces of 10,000 to 30,000 words. I don’t know how it is going to do, but it is good to see some movement on the short piece front. Bubble Cow’s piece on Ether Books also looks promising as a means to distribute short work. Mobile devices lend themselves to the short form and if these distribution channels can be harnessed correctly there is no reason that short fiction could reach a wider readership. It is too early to tell, but one can hope.

Amazon.com is putting out the call for short works for its Kindle platform. The online retailer is seeking Kindle books of about 10,000 to 30,000 words, about “twice the length of a New Yorker feature or as much as a few chapters of a typical book.” These mini digital books — ‘Kindle Singles’ — will have their own section on Amazon’s site and be priced less than a typical book, though Amazon gives no specifics on how the pricing will work.