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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Book sales "well down" as general retail rises

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 08:59 Book sales for April were "well down" in a month where general UK retail sales rose by 5.2% on last year. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) today (10th May) reported like-for-like sales were up 5.2% in value from April... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book sales #modest boost


Digital sales could be 15% of total next year - Hudson

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 11:06 E-book sales could exceed 8% of trade publishers' sales in 2011, and could reach 15% next year, Random House UK's deputy chairman Ian Hudson told delegates at the World e-Reading Congress this morning (10th May). Hudson also... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital sales #trade publishers #enhanced ebook #sit back


Richard and Judy extend Book Club with W H Smith

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 16:38 W H Smith has signed an exclusive deal to extend the Richard and Judy Book Club until 2015. The high street retailer has signed a contract with the celebrity couple to personally read and recommend eight fiction titles to WHS... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #exclusive deal #celebrity couple #fiction titles


Think short-term to stay ahead of digital change, publishers told

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 16:07 Publishers should avoid locking themselves into any long term strategy, technology or partnerships in their digital publishing because they cannot accurately predict the next two years' developments, today's World eReading... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishers told #stay ahead #digital change #digital publishing


Waterstone's plans ebook push for post-HMV era

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 15:49 Waterstone's could soon bring e-reading front of store in its physical bookshops in a manner similar to Barnes & Noble with its Nook in the US, according to e-commerce manager Alex Ingrams. Speaking to delegates at the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #physical bookshops #barnes noble


Yellow Jersey hat trick at British Sports Book Awards

Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 08:24 Random House imprint Yellow Jersey Press has scored a hat trick of wins at the British Sports Book Awards, with W H Smith also taking home the best sports book retailer prize. Catrine Clay's Trautmann's Journey won best biography, while Promised Lane by... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shift to digital will hit revenue, says Barnsley

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 09:03 Publishers are unlikely to be able to replace the revenues lost in the shift from print to ebooks unless they can significantly grow volume sales, according to HarperCollins c.e.o. Victoria Barnsley. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book sales spring back after Royal Wedding week

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 15:50 Book sales bounced back after a dire seven days in the week of the Royal Wedding in which physical book sales plummeted to an eight-year low. According to Nielsen BookScan data, spending in the seven days to 7th May was up... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #royal wedding #eight-year low


Nurturer of Authors Is Closing the Book

The editor Robert Loomis, who is retiring from Random House after 54 years, is known for nurturing writers including Maya Angelou, William Styron, Shelby Foote and Calvin Trillin. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #random house


Random rushes Bin Laden digital exclusive

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 08:51 Random House is publishing its first "instant ebook exclusive" with William Heinemann's rapid response to the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Beyond Bin Laden: The Future of Terror will be published tomorrow... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #william heinemann #bin laden #audio download #canada rights #random house


The Drama Book Shop—Award Winner

And the winner of this year’s Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre is... the Drama Book Shop, an independent New York City bookstore dating to 1917, 30 years older than the Tony Awards. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Baddiel kicks off "Blokey Book Club"

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 15:19 BBC Radio 5 Live has launched a “Blokey Book Club” to encourage men to read more fiction. The Men’s Hour show formed the club, which will ask listeners to recommend and comment on their favourite fiction through the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rowling and Oliver make ST Rich List

Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 08:50 Pearson, Blackwell and Jamie Oliver are a few book trade names to make it onto the Sunday Times Rich List 2011. Vincent Cowdray and the Pearson Family were jointly in at number 64, with the family up £165m on last year’s figure.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jamie oliver


Media Decoder: Plaintiffs Drop Suit Over Jimmy Carter Book

A $5 million lawsuit against Simon & Schuster over a book by former President Jimmy Carter was dropped by the plaintiffs on Thursday, three months after it was filed. The plaintiffs in the class-action suit had argued that Mr. Carter's "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," about the Arab-Israeli... Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble Plans New E-Book Reader [Voices]

Barnes & Noble Inc. will unveil a new electronic book reader later this month, the bookseller told analysts and investors on Wednesday, according to a federal filing released after the close of trading. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #barnes noble


Amazon to Publish New Line of Romances [Voices]

Amazon.com Inc. is expanding its fast-growing publishing business with a new line of romance books, its latest quest for original content to distinguish its print and digital bookselling services. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #romance books #original content


Media Decoder: Random House Buys Digital Agency

Random House has acquired Smashing Ideas, a digital media agency, in an effort to strengthen its digital publishing side, the publisher said on Thursday. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #media decoder #random house


Random House buys digital agency Smashing Ideas

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 05/05/2011 - 15:40 Bertelsmann has acquired digital media agency Smashing Ideas, with the aim of beefing up Random House Inc's digital offerings. The terms of the acquisition were not made public. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #random house #digital offerings #made public


Last chance to submit to Autumn Buyer's Guides

Written By: Hannah Davies Publication Date: Wed, 04/05/2011 - 08:41 The Buyer's Guide website http://www.booksellerbuyersguide.co.uk will close to editorial submissions for the Autumn 2011 Adult and Children's Buyer's Guides on Friday 6th May at 5 p.m. Eligible titles are those published... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital helps lift profit at Simon & Schuster

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 04/05/2011 - 09:30 Digital sales were worth 18% of Simon & Schuster's total global sales in its first quarter as its revenues increased 2% to $155m. Digital revenue more than doubled to $27.9m (£16.9m) from the first quarter in 2010, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital revenue #simon schuster #ebook sales #growing fast