Amazon brings blog publishing to the Kindle

Kindle Publishing for Blogs allows users to subscribe to blogs for a monthly fee

Amazon is testing a new service which will allow bloggers to syndicate their work onto the Kindle electronic book reader.

Kindle Publishing for Blogs allows users to subscribe to blogs for a monthly fee using RSS feeds so that new pages can be downloaded automatically.

However, bloggers will not be able to set their own prices for the blogs. Instead, Amazon will charge for the subscriptions based on its own evaluation, and will take a 70 per cent cut. The service is available in English, Spanish, French and Itallian.

Although still in its infancy, Kindle Publishing for Blogs has already been questioned about its lax security systems.

TechCrunch found that signing up a new blog did not require any verification of ownership, possibly allowing users to register and collect subscription fees from blogs which others own and operate.

The terms and conditions do require that the user owns the rights to the content, and the company has said that it will remove fraudulent feeds.

The service is the latest in an ongoing effort by Amazon to expand the Kindle's reach. Last week, the company unveiled a new 9.7in KindleDX model which is being targeted for test programmes by newspapers and textbook vendors.