“Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one,” H. L. Mencken famously said. That truism has taken another giant step backwards into history, with Amazon’s Digital Text Platform.
With DTP, you can self-publish at the Kindle Store at no charge. You set the price for your work as you wish, but it has to be at least a buck.
The process couldn’t be easier, as I found out late last night when I uploaded my Wazee Journal essay, “Cold Turkey in Paradise: Twelve Days Off the Internet at Maho Bay.” Publication was not quite instantaneous, but just now, about 13 hours later, I was delighted to find my essay simply by searching on “Len Edgerly” on the Amazon home page. I was surprised to discover they had discounted it to 80 cents – a major literary bargain, I might add – and that you can send a sample onto your Kindle for free. I did that, and then from my Kindle, I bought the full essay from myself for 80 cents. Within seconds, the essay was at the top of my Kindle home screen. Proceeds from this sale and any others that may occur will be transferred to my checking account.
Now I’m thinking about those two poetry manuscripts that have been kicking around my work studio, on the shuttle back and forth from poetry manuscript contests. Why not?
Jeff Bezos is doing all the right things to press this revolution in reading to the max. If you have something to publish, try out Digital Text Platform for the Kindle, and let me know so I can take a look at it!
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