I just finished a work-in-progress on my Kindle, Believe by Daniel Oran. I learned about it from the Kindle Daily Post which appears when I go to the Kindle Store on my device. It seems that Daniel Oran posted his novella at the Digital Text Platform, a free Amazon service which enables anyone to publish their work for the Kindle.
Believe made it to Number 7 in the Kindle bestseller rankings, selling for a limited time at 99 cents (that’s what I bought it for), and Oran says he received “some great feedback on the novel during the beta test.” This is quite a concept — beta testing a book with real readers, as opposed to circulating a manuscript to friends and fellow-students in your MFA program. Molly of Kindle Daily Post reported the exciting next chapter of the story. “To our absolute delight,” she wrote, “Oran reported that he was contacted just this morning by a publisher in New York showing interest in publishing a paper version of Believe.”
As for the novella itself, it was sweet and pretty well written, in my opinion. A patient named Joshua turns out to have dramatic healing powers and helps make New York City turn to kindness for a day. Oran includes enough real-sounding medical knowledge to help a willing reader go along for the miraculous ride.
I confess I am toying with putting up my poetry manuscript on the Digital Text Platform as a beta book for 99 cents. It’s one thing to put your stuff up on the web so people can read it on their computer screens. It’s quite another to know they can curl up in their favorite chair with your work, seeing your words on the clear, paperlike screen of the Kindle. Very tempting.
It’s one more example of how the Kindle has the feel of a writer/reader’s gadget. The team behind this product really seem to care about writing and authors and readers. It shows.
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