already offers a wide range of authors, from romance novelist Danielle Steel and thriller writer Robin Cook to the travel writer Pico Iyer. The stories can be stored forever in various formats, including email and PDF, and can also be printed out.
Steve Kessel, Amazon.com's vice-president of digital media, said: "Amazon Shorts will help authors find new readers and help readers find and discover authors they'll love. We hope that by making short-form literature widely and easily available, Amazon.com can help to fuel a revival of this kind of work."
Along with classic short stories, Amazon Shorts will include alternate chapters and scenes to well-known stories, personal memoirs about everything from food poisoning to contact lenses to potty training and even one-act plays.
The move has been welcomed by authors, who see the innovation as a way of reaching new readers.
Daniel Wallace, author of the book 'Big Fish', said: "Amazon.com has created a new way for authors to get that kind of work out there, which is incredibly exciting."
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