November 2, 2011

Kindle Format 8 Announced by Amazon - the Debut of KF8 and What it Means To You

Ebook publishing just got some big news: Amazon is changing the way it does things to allow for more graphic and image friendly e-books with its new Kindle Format 8.  If you are publishing for Kindle, does that mean a major re-do headache?  Apparently not. 

Right now, Format 8 will be introduced on Amazon Fire and as time passes, it will also be placed upon other Kindle products ... "the latest generation" of Kindle devices, according to the Amazon FAQ page

What happens to my Kindle - the one I bought a year ago?  I'm not sure right now.  

What about my Mobi files?  According to Amazon, all "currently supported content" will be okay, no need to panic about changing your stuff over to the new KF8.  However, Amazon is going to be giving instructions on how to do just that in its Kindle Publishing Guidelines (tho that's not online just yet). 

For more scoop, check out the Kindle Forums as well as TechCrunch (who points out that with KF8, Amazon products can be read on an iPad); and Webmonkey (who discusses the possibility that KF8 will allow ebooks to be placed on the web itself, since KF8's incorporattion of HTML5 essentially allows for ebooks to be built in the same way as a web page).