Amazon is trying to bring back the once-popular subscription-based book model, offering Kindle owners a way to subscribe to serialized novels.
Amazon already offers subscriptions to newspapers and magazines, and today the company announced plans to do the same for serial novels.
A new service for Kindle owners, called Kindle Serials, lets customers subscribe to a serial novel. Buyers purchase the content up front, then have it delivered to their device automatically as new installments are published. Along the way, readers can provide feedback about the series, something Amazon hopes will bring a modern approach to the genre.
The feature is launching with eight series, including a yoga murder mystery called "Downward-Facing Death." Each is priced at $1.99, the company said, including a re-release of "Oliver Twist" and "The Pickwick Papers," by Charles Dickens, who is credited with popularizing the serialized novel:
The feature was just one of Amazon's announcements this morning. The company also refreshed its Kindle lineup, including new versions of its e-ink models, along with expanding its Kindle Fire line with an additional, high-end model.
Update at 2:07 p.m. PT: Amazon's posted a full list of the launch titles, and a store section highlighting Serials titles.