Thanks to Amazon’s official launch of Kindle Singles, writers need no longer choose between penning magazine-length essays or serving up a tome for pricey marketing and distribution.

That’s because Kindle Singles, available at amazon.com/kindlesingles, features well-researched selections of writing that are between 5,000 and 30,000 words. Works range from an elaborate bank heist in “Lifted” to Congolese rebel camps in “The Invisible Enemy,” to author Jodi Picoult’s depiction of a family in “Leaving Home.”

"The response to our announcement of Singles has been great," said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content, in a statement. "This first set of Singles was selected by our team of editors, and includes works by Rich Cohen, Darin Strauss, Ian Ayres, and the first-ever books published by TED. We think customers will be riveted by these stories that can take them to a Swedish bank heist or to the Mexican border town of Juarez, or to consider a new way to think about happiness."

Available to both Kindle device and app users, and priced between $0.99 and $4.99, the first set of Kindle Singles include original reporting, essays, memoirs and fiction. Amazon plans to frequently launch many more Kindle Singles over time.

Like all Kindle books, these books are "Buy Once, Read Everywhere"-- Kindle customers can purchase these books and read them on the $139 third-generation Kindle device on iPads, iPod touches, iPhones, Macs, PCs, BlackBerrys, Windows Phones and Android-based devices. 

Three months ago, Amazon first made a call to writers, thinkers, scientists, business leaders, historians, politicians and publishers to join Kindle in making a new kind of content available to readers. --Kindle Singles. Fortunately, the call remains open. To be considered for Kindle Singles, interested parties should contact [email protected].

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