Anyone can publish an ebook on Kindle?

This is astonishing, but again it's not for those who are not in the United States. While browsing Amazon.com for some printed books to buy (can't get Kindle version) I saw a link that reads "Are you an Author or Publisher?" and followed it. I landed on an introduction/login page to Amazon.com's Digital Text Platform and got the idea that anyone who has an Amazon.com's account and a ebook to sell can publish his or her content in the Amazon Kindle Store in minutes!

It makes me feel like I'm in literary exile. Firstly, almost all dedicated ebook reading devices are not available for sale in Hong Kong (maybe no market for such a gadget) and while I understand that the Kindle is not available for sale/use outside of USA, even Amazon Shorts (Short literary works delivered digitally through the internet) are not for us either because of geographical restrictions. There aren't many bookstores in HK and when comparing book prices, they are still more expensive than when I get them from Amazon.com.

I cannot think of another bookstore I will get all my reading materials from as I have patronized Amazon.com for more than half a decade but I certainly feel left out of its recent e-book development. I thought that while shipping fees and the time it took for delivery of hard copies were too much for a lot of readers residing outside United States, e-books might be the answer for them but that did not seem to be the case.

My dream, an e-bookstore that sells to customers internationally.

Kindle: I can only DREAM to own one

I have been following the ebook device trend since way back in 2002 and dreamt of owning a good device one day. My very first ebook reading device was the first generation Cybook - and still occasionally use it. To me, Cytale Cybook was more like a tablet PC. I have yet to get hold of their 3rd generation device which seems more powerful. I would love to have that because of its ability to display PDF files which I use extensively for work. So far I have used my old Cybook to read free ebooks only because should I forget to keep it charged, I lose all my data as the device reset to factory setting!

So I waited ... perhaps one day I might buy the Gen 3 device. Last week I was pleasantly surprised to learn about Kindle - the wireless ebook device by Amazon.com. But to my great disappointment, this device could not be sold nor used outside of USA. I hope this could change in the future. As an avid reader, I have bought many books from Amazon.com and paid a lot in shipping fees to ship those books all the way to Asia! Then having to wait 2 weeks for delivery was not good experience either.

Kindle would be the ideal device for me if I had lived in the US! So I bought an Asus eee PC instead and is now using that as an eBook device as well as an ultra mobile PC (which I paid an equivalent of USD385). I have bought 2 ebooks from Mobipocket.com and enjoyed reading them on the eee PC very much. However, the battery could only last 3 hours or less. So until I could get a better eBook device - I would be quite happy to use the eee PC as my preferred reader. But I really envy those who are able to own a Kindle!

ASUS Eee PC 4G Notebook PC (7", 512 MB RAM), Pearl White