TIES THAT BIND
It looks like Amazon will be hosting a blog-like service for Authors that they're calling the Amazon Connect Program, as reported by the ClickZ Network. As author Kevin Newcomb explains:
"Adding to its user-generated content, Amazon.com has launched a program to allow authors to blog on the Amazon.com site.
The Amazon Connect program, in beta for the past month, aims to increase the engagement between readers and authors, and between readers and Amazon.com. It provides authors with a channel to market new products to consumers who bought their books in the past, and gives them a reason to visit Amazon.com."
As the article mentions, Andy Beal, president and CEO of search and blog marketing firm Fortune Interactive, told ClickZ News:
"It's the online equivalent of an author book signing".
TDavid of Makeyougohmm.com cautions that the service isn't quite a blog hosting service, noting:
"...(I) Didn’t notice the word “blog” being used anywhere in the teaser documentation, so perhaps even Amazon isn’t calling these blogs? Instead they refer to what the author writes as “messages” numerous times...
This seems more like a place for book-related announcements than anything else: “I’ll be doing a book signing at ___ on this day/date ___ … ”
If it's successful in it's current form, OR with more "blog-like" features, the service conceivably could be extended to other Amazon stores, like music and videos. Those artists would also benefit from a blogging connection to their fans as much as authors.
But I don't think Amazon should stop there.
Back in July, in a post titled "On Amazon.com starting a Blogging Service...a hypothetical case", I'd outlined the merits of a the company offering blogging features for it's customers, targeted especially at the tens of thousands of people that write reviews on every product offered under the Amazon.com sun. I'd asked:
"What if Amazon announced a feature tomorrow, that offered Harriet (a high-ranked Amazon reviewer), and other tens of thousands of Amazon reviewers, the ability to easily set up a personal blog to the entire web, that automatically logs every review as a blog post?
What if it had TypePad like templates to choose from, and blogging features like Categories to set up, with built-in capability for comments, track-backs and the like?"
The post then went into some detail of how the review system could potentially benefit from a blogging overlay. Today's announcement is obviously blogs for authors rather than readers and reviewers, but it's a step in the right direction.
Amazon has been on a innovation tear this year, what with opening up the Alexa index, introducing the Amazon Mechanical Turk, and adding tags to online shopping, amongst other moves.
A blogging service for authors offers a low cost, high-impact way to build connections between authors and readers. It seems to be a baby step, with several essential blogging features still missing. As the Clickz report notes:
"So far, the program doesn't allow readers to comment on blog posts, or to subscribe to blogs via RSS feed."
It's early days for Amazon in the blogging world, and there is a lot of low-hanging fruit to pick. I for one am glad to see them putting a toe into the blogging waters.
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