Amazon Launches “Kindle Matchbook”, Buy Kindle Editions of Previously Purchased Print Books for $2.99 or Less

Just announced by Amazon.com.
Kindle Matchbook will launch in October.
From the Announcement:

Amazon today introduced Kindle MatchBook, a new benefit that gives customers the option to buy–for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free–the Kindle edition of print books they have purchased new from Amazon. [Our emphasis] Print purchases all the way back to 1995–when Amazon first opened its online bookstore–will qualify once a publisher enrolls a title in Kindle MatchBook. Over 10,000 books will already be available when Kindle MatchBook launches in October, including best sellers like 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, with many more titles to be added over time.”
Kindle MatchBook will launch with books from Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, James Rollins, Jodi Picoult, Neil Gaiman, Marcus Sakey, Wally Lamb, Jo Nesbo, Neal Stephenson, andJ.A. Jance, among others. In addition, Amazon Publishing will include all its titles in Kindle MatchBook.

Direct to Matchbook Web Site

Coverage

• Publishers will be able to use Amazon’s new ebook bundling feature for promotions as short as a day (via paidContent)

• From The New York Times

The success of the program will be determined partly by whether book publishers embrace it. So far, Amazon has agreements from only a couple of major publishers — HarperCollins was the only one Mr. Grandinetti [vice president of Kindle Content] was willing to name — to offer their titles through MatchBook.
He said Amazon hadn’t told most publishers about MatchBook yet and hoped to sign more up to join the program, which will begin in October.

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