Have you ever read something in a book or finished a new novel only to be left with a bit of confusion or unanswered questions? With Amazon’s new @Author program for Twitter and Kindle users can now have their questions answered directly from the books author.
Currently sixteen writers are participating in the program which works by allowing readers to ask a question right form their Kindle ebook.
To use the program users place a cursor at the beginning of a passage with their 5-way controller, at which point they press down to anchor the passage, from there users highlight the passage with the controller and then enter their question for the highlighted section, starting with the phrase “@Author.” Finally users choose the “save & share” option from the pages choices and their question is sent to the author.
At this time questions are limited to 100 characters and Amazon suggests using author pages for longer questions.
While the program could be a boon for lesser known authors, I could see how someone like James Patterson would become bogged down by thousands if not tens of thousands of questions should he decide to embrace the system. If nothing else the system could be a great way to generate buzz for independent and small publishing house authors who want to connect with their readers on a more intimate level.
For more details on using the system you can visit: @Author Questions and Answers
What do you think of Amazon’s new @Author question platform?
