On Thursday, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) introduced the Spanish language Kindle and opened a Spanish Kindle store in Amazon.es. The online retailer added Kindle stores in France and Germany earlier this year. An Italian language Kindle Store was launched on Thursday along with the Spanish language store.
The Spanish Kindle Store hosts over 22,000 titles and includes 20 of the top 30 fiction and nonfiction bestsellers in Spain. Independent authors can use Kindle Direct Publishing to publish their Spanish language Kindle books in Spain and 100 other countries worldwide. Readers can also take advantage of a good sized collection of classics.
The Amazon press release noted that “Award-winning author and journalist Rosa Montero will offer three books exclusively in the Spanish Kindle Store, which were published using KDP: “La vida desnuda,” “Entrevistas” and “Lo mejor de Rosa Montero.”
Amazon Direct Publishing has given authors a chance to showcase their writing and provides them with success that they otherwise would not have achieved with the major publishing houses.
2011 has been a big year for Amazon on the international scene. Amazon.es went online at the beginning of this year, and joined the other foreign language editions of the website. The company is working hard to promote its bestselling e-reader internationally. Kobo was the first to really push an international presence, but it looks like Amazon has caught on to that marketing strategy. Customers outside of the US have mentioned in the past that they would love to be able to read their Kindles in other countries, as well as read books in other languages.
Spanish is one of the fastest growing languages worldwide, so it is only natural that Amazon should add a Kindle store for Spanish speaking countries. I hope that the Kindle will continue to show increased success in Europe, and possibly venture into Asia and beyond at some point in the near future.