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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ABC News High On Enhanced E-books

In deciding to launch the ABC Video Bookstore, Andrew Morse said the giant media company was looking for a product that could reach viewers who are attached to a digital reading device, be it an iPad, Kindle, or cellphone, and decided that an enhanced ebook was the right one. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #enhanced e-books #andrew morse #enhanced ebook


A Mix That Includes Fewer Books

One of the industry's biggest issues in 2011 is the loss of retail shelf space for print titles. The trend of book retailers devoting less space—and generating lower sales—from new books is seen in the recently released 10-k filings from Books-A-Million and Hastings Entertainment. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #biggest issues #print titles #hastings entertainment


Amazon Kindle for Android Now Honeycomb Optimized

Amazon has tweaked its Kindle for Android app to run optimally on tablets running Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon kindle #android app


Cheapest E-Books Upend the Charts [Voices]

The nation's largest book publishers are facing increasing pricing pressure on the digital front as the number of cheap, self-published digital titles gain popularity with readers seeking budget-minded entertainment. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital front


Amazon launches German Kindle store with fixed prices

Written By: Anja Sieg Publication Date: Thu, 21/04/2011 - 13:53 More than three years after it was introduced in North America and eight months after the UK become the first country outside of the US to get a dedicated Kindle store, Germany has followed suit. The German Kindle store was... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fixed prices #largest selection #german-speaking countries


Kindle Books to Be Loaned From Libraries Later This Year

Amazon said Wednesday that its popular Kindle e-reader will allow customers to borrow Kindle books from more than 11,000 U.S. libraries starting later this year. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kindle books


News.me, the iPad News Aggregator Blessed By Big Publishers, Gets Ready To Launch [MediaMemo]

The 99-cents a week-service looks like the kind of thing that could drive the New York Times and the Associated Press batty. Instead, they've signed on for a piece of the action. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #big publishers #ve signed


PA welcomes court ruling on Digital Economy Act

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 20/04/2011 - 12:11 The Publishers Association has said it is "delighted" by the High Court ruling in favour of the government in a legal challenge against the Digital Economy Act. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishers association #legal challenge


Check it Out: Amazon Will Add 11,000 U.S. Libraries to the Kindle [eMoney]

Amazon just eliminated one of the biggest differences between the Kindle and competing e-readers. It said today it will be rolling out the Kindle Library Lending feature later this year, allowing customers to borrow books for free from more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S. Other e-readers and... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #library books #kindle devices #allowing customers #borrow books #mobile apps


'Los Angeles Review of Books' Debuts Preview Site

In the first step of a two-phase launch, the long-awaited Los Angeles Review of Books has debuted its preview site at lareviewofbooks.org with essays and reviews by Ben Ehrenreich, Geoff Nicholson, Jane Smiley, Jefferson Hunter, and Richard Prince. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jane smiley


Like the Blog? Buy the E-Book! Chris Dixon For Sale, Via Kindle [MediaMemo]

Here's a clever idea from Chris Dixon: The investor and entrepreneur has turned his well-read blog into an ebook. Dixon, who runs Hunch and helps steer Founder Collective's bets when he's not blogging, has taken a couple years' worth of posts and compiled them into "Startups;” Dixon's proceeds... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #couple years


Another Palin Book on the Way

Howard Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced on Monday that on May 24, it would publish "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin," an account of Ms. Palin's time as governor and as a vice-presidential candidate, written by Frank Bailey, one of her former aides. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sarah palin #howard books #simon schuster


Digital's Nice, But Paper-Over-Board Offers Something Different

Forget digital versus print for a moment, and consider a cookbook's format. Think back to the last time you used a cookbook in the kitchen. Was the book covered in a dust jacket? A cumbersome, flappy dust jacket? If it wasn’t, was that because you had ripped it off? Or were you cooking from an... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Autumn Buyers Guide submission site now open

Written By: Hannah Davies Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 09:07 The Buyer’s Guide website is now accepting submissions for the Autumn 2011 Adult and Children’s Buyer’s Guides. Eligible titles are those published between July and December 2011. The website will close to submissions on... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #accepting submissions #late submissions #eligible titles #friday 6th


Myriad's Haynes wins Amazon Rising Star award

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 15:44 Police intelligence analyst Elizabeth Haynes has won the first Amazon Rising Stars award of 2011. The mother-of-one, who lives in Kent, came top in a consumer-review poll asking readers which one of four Amazon-selected... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #myriad editions #rising star


Genre authors attack "sneering" World Book Night coverage

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 09:19 Authors including Iain M Banks and Michael Moorcock have written to the BBC's director general Mark Thompson, attacking the treatment of genre fiction in its recent World Book Night coverage. In total 85 authors, across the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #genre fiction #science fiction


John Murray pics up Harkaway on digital

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 11:33 Roland Philipps at John Murray has bought a book on digital written by the author Nick Harkaway, which argues that the new technologies will make us more human. Philipps bought British Commonwealth rights through Patrick Walsh... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #john murray #patrick walsh #conville walsh #cautious optimism


Fiction Express seeks interaction from readers for digital series

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 08:56 An e-fiction venture aimed at tweens and teenagers is being launched by packager Discovery Books in May. Called Fiction Express, it will invite teenagers to buy books in instalments and to vote to decide the direction of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital series #buy books #released weekly


De Waal, Kaletsky and Vulliamy make Samuel Johnson longlist

Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 08:46 Titles on topics from Second World War bombers to the life of Roald Dahl have been longlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2011. The list of 18 books also includes Edmund De Waal’s Costa-winning The Hare with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #de waal #roald dahl #amber eyes #ben macintyre #stellar year


Choc Lit makes two acquisitions

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 11:32 Independent publisher Choc Lit has bought a contemporary debut thriller and a modern day version of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Director Lyn Vernham bought world rights to Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham, directly from the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jane austen #coming home