US Kindle owners will soon be able to buy cut price ebook editions of paper books they’ve already bought.
From October, customers who purchased one of 10,000 qualifying titles from Amazon will be able to buy a Kindle edition for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free.
The retailer claims more titles will be added to the Kindle MatchBook service in the future, subject to publisher opt-in.
Launch titles include I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch.
“If you logged onto your CompuServe account during the Clinton administration and bought a book like Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus from Amazon, Kindle MatchBook now makes it possible for that purchase—18 years later—to be added to your Kindle library at a very low cost,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content.
“In addition to being a great new benefit for customers, this is an easy choice for publishers and authors who will now be able to earn more from each book they publish.”