Amazon MatchBook makes a big push for print book buyers to go digital

Amazon MatchBook, which lets customers who've previously bought the print edition of a book from Amazon score a digital copy on the cheap, is now open for business. Months in the making, the new service is a bold plan by Amazon to convert the world's stacks and stacks of books into digital form. At prices that range from free to $2.99 per book (the latter is by far the most common price point), even consumers with very large libraries won't have to spend a fortune to get copies of their old books in Kindle format. Part of the beauty of MatchBook is how seamlessly it integrates with the Amazon experience and customers' shopping history. By visiting the MatchBook home page (see the link above), it just takes one click for MatchBook to scour your entire Amazon purchase history, dating back to 1995, to turn up all the titles available for the discount. On the sellers' side, publishers have to opt in to have their books made available for the program, and about 75,000 titles are available for conversion to date. Many bigger publishers are playing it safe for the moment, with HarperCollins the largest mainstream book company in the mix. Harper reportedly has over 9,000 books enrolled in MatchBook, though its focus is heavily geared toward older titles instead of new releases. That, of course, makes sense: Publishers looking to skim a little more profit off of the bestsellers of 1998 aren't going to do it by marking down hardcover copies of those dusty old titles in 2013. To... Continue reading at 'PC World'

[ PC World | 2013-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #big push #kindle format #dating back #makes sense

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AOP: Two Thirds of Online Publishers Plan to Grow Digital Roles

Two thirds of UK online publishers are planning to increase the number of digital roles "on the back of product growth expectations", the Association of Online Publishers reported today, compared to 55 per cent which saw growth in 2011. Acco ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'The Idea Factory' by Jon Gertner

A look at AT&T's Bell Labs documents what in its heyday was truly a marvelous innovation machine and focuses on a handful of compelling narratives.For generations of industry research executives, AT&T's Bell Telephone Laboratories served as an inspiration: a warren of youthful scientists... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'The New Republic' by Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver deftly handles terrorism, politics and satire in 'The New Republic.'It takes guts to write a satire about terrorism — and Lionel Shriver has guts. She has already published biting novels about the failings of the U.S. healthcare system ("So Much for That") and a school shooter... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Amazon made self-publishing cool

Bringing to the marketplace has always been a struggle for emerging writers, but the evolution of digital publishing formats is seeing a new wave of authors skipping the print medium entirely. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2012-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'The Stranger Within Sarah Stein'

Thane Rosenbaum skillfully mixes fantasy and tragedy in 'The Stranger Within Sarah Stein,' whose heroine weathers her parents' divorce with pluck and defiance.Young adult novelists are increasingly tackling darker subjects: kidnappings, drugs, rape. But few have delved into so many dark subjects... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'These Dreams of You' by Steve Erickson

In 'These Dreams of You,' Steve Erickson writes incisively and movingly about issues of family and race, but the novel goes off the rails with tangents.Zan Nordhoc's unhappy family is certainly unhappy in its own ways in Steve Erickson's new novel "These Dreams of You." For instance, in a... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Schnittman leaves Bloomsbury for Hachette Book Group

Hachette Book Group has appointed Evan Schnittman to the role of executive vice  president,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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OUP grows picture book list

Oxford University Press has appointed a new commissioning editor with a view to expanding its... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Johnston Press CEO Signals Move to 'Digital First'

The chief executive of Johnston Press (JP) has signalled that the local newspaper publisher will adopt a digital-first strategy. Speaking at the Guardian Changing Media Summit, Ashley Highfield, who took over as CEO in November, said "we will fl ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'The Escape Artists' by Noam Scheiber and 'Confidence Men' by Ron Suskind

In 'The Escape Artists' by Noam Scheiber and 'Confidence Men' by Ron Suskind, President Obama's economic recovery plan and his advisors are in the spotlight, but the books' analyses are off the mark in places.On Oct. 28 and 29, 1929, when the great crash devastated the stock market, Herbert... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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MPA Event Panelists: Innovation on the Digital Newsstand Is Key

Imagine bundling your publication's content with that of your competitor's. That was one interesting theory explored at the MPA Digital: Swipe conference on tablets, e-readers and smartphones. Panelists speaking on the digital newsstand debated several best practices that publishers should be... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2012-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New York Magazine Takes Home Digital Ellie for General Excellence

NEW YORK – Today’s MPA Digital: Swipe Conference closed with the National Magazine Awards for Digital Media 2012, presented by the American Society of Magazine Editors [ASME]. People managing editor and ASME president Larry Hackett and Lucy Danziger, editor-in-chief of SELF and ASME secretary,... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At MPA Digital: Swipe, Publishers See Gains From Tablet Efforts

NEW YORK - Today’s MPA Digital: Swipe event brought the consumer magazine industry together to focus on what’s next in tablet editions. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BA calls for nominations for IBW Book Award

The Booksellers Association is calling for publishers to nominate titles for the Independent... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bonnier imprint to publish scented books

Bonnier-owned Autumn Publishing Group is to launch Smellessence, a division which will use new... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stranger Than Fiction: Oprah Was Bad for Book Sales

By encouraging readers to tackle longer, more sophisticated novels, the queen of daytime TV may have hurt overall fiction sales. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair: Row over China

The London Book Fair is criticised by a leading Chinese dissident for inviting only writers approved by the Chinese communist authorities. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2012-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'House of Stone' by Anthony Shadid

Late New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid writes about insights gained rebuilding the war-ravaged home of his great grandfather in Lebanon in 'House of Stone.'A yearning for home, wherever that may be, is one of many themes that the late New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid so deftly... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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First BolognaRagazzi digital prize awarded

French publisher eToiles Editions, with an app that "breaks away from the page by page way... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Works revamps book range

The Works is enhancing its retail experience around books, creating genre sections, themed window... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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