to answer my own question, yes, you retain the rights. my blog is now on Kindle and Kindle Nation Daily blog wrote this about it:
"It's so new that the image, blog description, categories and other metadata have yet to go live, but it arrived on my Kindle with 10 posts that constitute some of the best writing that I've seen in a while. Author and publisher Anastasia M. Ashman, an extremely gifted expat American woman living in Turkey, has a special talent for making all kinds of material and cultural references seem familiar, interesting, and humorous all in one. "
I shared a post titled "The Birth of the Diversity Blogs" today. I wanted to share about the various cultures and peoples of the world and I figured that I should make that the theme of my blog. :D Enjoy!