To drive Kindle book sales, Amazon launched a program in 2013 called Kindle Matchbook. It allowed authors to offer a Kindle ebook version of their work at a significantly reduced price, or even free, for customers who purchased a hardcover or paperback. The Kindle version could be offered to those customers, giving them a digital copy that couldn’t be lost or damaged.
Major publishers strongly opposed the program, thinking that giving a Kindle book away for free or at a reduced price would devalue their books. Like most of Amazon’s legacy programs, it was never advertised in marketing material, and most people at the time did not even know it existed. The vast majority of the available ebooks were primarily from independent authors.
Matchbook was a boon for authors when the program was around. Authors benefited from higher discoverability, and readers would not have to choose between print and ebook. I also put more money into authors’ pockets.
Amazon discontinued the Matchbook program in 2019. They did not disclose why they cancelled it, but not many people were using it anymore. However, given that the landscape for print and ebooks has changed over the years, it might be worth it for Amazon to revisit and relaunch it under a new brand. Owning a print book and ebook would assist Amazon in a value proposition that would give it a competitive edge against Barnes and Noble and other retailers.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
