{{img:8793a6d4-087a-30a4-f51b-a6a9d5419873|amazon_kindle_slate_pic} When Amazon announced that the company would be paying fan-fiction authors for short works based on Vonnegut novels, the literary world shuddered.

Now, it might be time for Christians everywhere to wonder just how Amazon will portray Jesus.

Amazon has just announced that the publishing arm of the company will start publishing short e-book biographies - starting with Jesus.

Other Biographies to Follow

Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, seems to have done some digging, and he's found out that biographies are selling like hotcakes. Why? Mostly because today's reality TV audience loves to peek into the lives of real-life people, and that includes people that once lived (and a few that are still living).

Why start with a biography of Jesus? Jesus is one of the most controversial figures in history. For Christians, he is the son of God. For others, he was a man that led a mass movement, and for others still he was just a man.

Although opinions differ as to what Jesus actually was and did, the fact remains that he is a major topic of interest. That's why Amazon's first mini e-book biography will be based on Jesus. The author behind this book is scholar Jay Parini. There are other books to come, too.

In Addition to Jesus

Amazon will also be publishing short biographies on Freud, Hemingway, Poe, Salinger, Hitchcock, Stalin, Arendt, and David Lynch (yes, David Lynch). The company will likely add more biographies to this list as interest in the short bios grows. How short will these biographies be?

The point of the new Amazon biography lineup is to provide curious e-book readers with enough information about historical figures to learn something new. However, that word count has to be relatively low, since most people today do not like to read long books (thanks to shorter attention spans). As interesting as Amazon's publishing branch maybe, is the company spreading itself too thin?

Too Much Too Soon?

It seems as though Amazon is attempting to break into every possible market lately. The company still sells retail goods, publishes books and fan fiction, and even has a 24-hour delivery service in some areas. Plus, Jeff Bezos has just purchased the Washington Post (though, technically, that has nothing to do with Amazon, per se).

So far, Amazon has been handling all of these different facets of the company rather well, though one has to wonder how long it can all stay afloat. Some Amazon customers have complained that the company's customer service is suffering while others are worried that Amazon won't be able to keep it all up. So far, though Bezos and team seem to be unstoppable.

Biography Availability

If you want to learn more about Jesus, Hemingway, or any other person included in the list above, you can check out the first biography (Jesus) through the Amazon e-book store today. What, exactly, this biography will include remains to be seen, but there's a good chance that it will be based on history and not on religion.