Kindle MatchBook: Finally, How to Get the Most Bang for your Book
If you have a Kindle and a library of printed books and a dream of having them all in one place, the wait is over. Starting in October, Kindle is to launch a new program called MatchBook, which does precisely what the title implies: anyone with an Amazon account and a hardcover or paperback (purchased new) will not have to buy the same e-book at full price. This means, even if you’ve got an enormous dust-laden copy of Stephen King’s The Stand that you ordered when Borders still existed, you will be able to have it on your Kindle for anywhere from $3 to free instead of $7; and while this may not seem like a big deal, every book adds up.
Kindle and Amazon have been smart to introduce this program, the first of its kind. MatchBook may easily put them a few more rungs up the ladder over their rival, NOOK and Barnes & Noble. The two teams have been top competitors ever since the digital age began to sweep the literary publishing industry. Now Kindle and Amazon may have the upper hand, granting all customers the opportunity to transition most of their collection into full digital form.
MatchBook isn’t without its small caveats. The printed copy has to have been purchased new and only from Amazon, making the market somewhat smaller by excluding anyone who bought from other bookstores, sellers, or used from the Amazon marketplace.
MatchBook also will not have a wide selection of e-books available for re-buy in its initial startup, covering only a small percent of Amazon’s titles. The books available, however, will be some of the more bestselling works both by current and classic authors. Self-published authors will also have the opportunity to enroll their own printed books in MatchBook so that their e-books will be available for bundling.
Kindle and Amazon will have to keep ahead of the demand that will surely skyrocket for books not yet covered but heavily desired. MatchBook will be met with only success if it satisfies both readers and authors who have been asking for this program for years.