# Matchbook -- has it Begun -- MERGED thread



## Eupalinos (Nov 22, 2012)

https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=AVJCUBZXDNUM4

http://www.4-traders.com/AMAZONCOM-INC-12864605/news/Amazoncom-Inc--Introducing-Kindle-MatchBook-Soon-Customers-Will-Be-Able-to-Purchase-Kindle-Ed-17235343/

M.


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)

Received this email this morning:

Introducing "Kindle MatchBook": Soon Customers Will Be Able to Purchase Kindle Editions of Print Books Purchased from Amazon-Past, Present and Future-for $2.99 or Less

Over 10,000 books already enrolled from authors such as Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, James Rollins, Jodi Picoult, Neil Gaiman, Marcus Sakey, Wally Lamb, Jo Nesbo, Neal Stephenson, and J.A. Jance, among many others

Today's announcement is also a call to all authors and publishers to enroll their books in Kindle MatchBook-offering customers great value while adding a new revenue stream

Kindle MatchBook is the latest in a series of customer benefits exclusive to the Amazon ecosystem of digital content

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 3, 2013-- (NASDAQ:AMZN)-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. 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. Customers can learn more by visiting www.amazon.com/kindlematchbook.

"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."

Bundling print and digital has been one of the most requested features from customers. With Kindle MatchBook, they can keep their favorite book on their shelf, and have a copy in their digital library for reading, perhaps re-reading it with features like X-Ray and Popular Highlights.

"I love this idea. It's simple, brilliant, and good for everybody," said best-selling author Marcus Sakey. "I love to have print books on my shelf, but I love reading my Kindle on the go, and there are plenty of titles I'd like both ways. It's ridiculous to ask readers to pay full retail twice for the same book."

Kindle MatchBook features include: 
•Kindle editions at a great price: Amazon customers who purchase or have purchased qualifying print books can get the Kindle edition for prices that are typically $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free. 
•For book purchases dating back to 1995: 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. 
•Easy discovery: Readers can easily look up their entire print book order history to discover which of their past purchases are enrolled in Kindle MatchBook. 
•Popular Kindle-only features: As with regular purchases, Kindle MatchBook titles have unique features such as Whispersync, Popular Highlights, and X-Ray. 
•Read anywhere capabilities: In addition to Amazon's best-selling Kindle devices, customers can download a free Kindle reading app for iPhone, iPad, Android tablets and phones, PC or Mac and start building their Kindle library today.

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, and J.A. Jance, among others. In addition, Amazon Publishing will include all its titles in Kindle MatchBook. Authors and publishers using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) can enroll their books in the program today by visiting http://kdp.amazon.com.


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## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

I'm a bit confused by this. How is this different/beneficial for indies/self-publishers? Do they turn your print book into an ebook or something? Or do you still have to upload the print and ebooks separately? It just seems like we've already been doing this. Your print book is already available on Createspace, and you upload your ebook file to kdp. Amazon links your paperback and ebook (and even your ACX audiobook) together in one box on the store page, so you can purchase print, ebook, or ACX versions of the same book. You can make the prices of your ebook 2.99 or less if you so choose.

How is Matchbook different??


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## Ardin (Nov 1, 2012)

Thanks for the tip. I'm enrolled. I love this new idea.


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## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Also posted here: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,161357.0.html


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2013)

Wouldn't this only work well if you sell a lot of paperbacks? Maybe I'm misunderstanding. I barely sell any paperbacks - mostly ebooks. Some people might sell a lot of print books but my understanding was most people didn't, that they earned their money from ebooks. I don't really see how this is really good.


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## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

Ardin said:


> Thanks for the tip. I'm enrolled. I love this new idea.


Again.. why did you enroll? What benefit would you have from this??
You already have paperback and ebooks on sale and your ebooks already cost $2.99. So what exactly is the benefit of this program??


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## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

Eupalinos said:


> From what I read, you must price your e-book enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook at a "Promotionali List Price," basically discounting the digital version to those who already bought the paper version of the book of at least 50%.
> 
> However, it looks like their TOS states $ 2.99 as the top price you can choose, being $ 1.99, $ 0.99 or FREE as the other prices.
> 
> ...


Okay, so what if the original price of your ebook is 3.99, and someone purchases the paperback version. You set the Matchbook promotional price to free. Does that mean you still get the 70% royalties of the $3.99 which is the ebook's actual list price?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Similar topic threads merged -- sorry for any confusion.


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## Ardin (Nov 1, 2012)

It's simple. You can buy my ebook for $2.99 or my print book for $5.99.
Now with this Matchbook, if you buy by print book for $5.99, you can go ahead and add the ebook to your purchase for an additional $0.99.
It's a nice extra to offer to those (very few) people who shell out for a print copy.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm reading it as the royalty percentage being based on which royalty bracket your regular ebook price falls under, but I could be wrong. Their take on it is:

"*6. How is my royalty calculated for titles enrolled in Kindle MatchBook?*
Your royalty will be based on the Promotional List Price you set and your selected royalty option.

For example, if you are earning a 35% royalty for sales of your digital book at its regular Digital List Price, you will earn a 35% royalty on Kindle MatchBook sales calculated at the Promotional List Price."

It's a little unclear & could be read both ways.


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## Ardin (Nov 1, 2012)

The royalty calculation seems great.
If you're usually in the 70% bracket, you still get 70%. 

My matchbooks cost $0.99 and my royalty is still $0.70. or $0.69.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I just enrolled Baby Dust, since it sells about 30% in paper.

I chose $1.99 for the MatchBook price and will get $1.40 according to the confirmation they sent me.

I don't think I'm fond of that program name, though. It sounds like you're either going to torch the book or else get matched up to your favorite title.

Or a Facebook dating subsite.


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## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

As a reader, I think it's a great idea! As a writer, I'll probably sign up too. I hadn't heard anything about this up until now, maybe because my paper book isn't out yet.


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## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

Actually, my first reaction to reading about the program was, "Seriously? I wish you'd expended that programming time on allowing us to put things on sale easily and get that nifty slash through the regular price."


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

FWIW, I've heard of a lot of folks here comment that they frequently buy both paper and e-versions of favorite authors.  They like to keep their paper collection up to date, or want to have a physical copy to loan to kindle-less friends, but prefer to read, themselves, on Kindle.  So this could be very popular among Amazon customers.

Or, consider a couple, who read a lot of the same books, but one prefers paper and the other prefers e -- now they can get both for not much extra money and everyone is happy.


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## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

Thanks, you guys for explaining this! It does sound like a good promotional tool when you put it that way, and I may consider enrolling. I wonder how effective it would be to set your matchbook price to free? This way, you're not necessarily losing a sale if a reader purchases the paperback version (which tends to cost a little more than the ebook version anyway).


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

So it seems like most people are doing 99c for the ebook addition then? 

I enrolled mine at free, but I already have a nice royalty on Amazon paperback sales (nearly $4) when they ever happen... And I already offer customers a paperback/ebook (in all formats) bundle at just the paperback price through my Etsy shop. 

... but if EVERYBODY is doing at least 99c for theirs, then I might change mine and pocket the extra 69c royalty, lol!


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2013)

Ardin said:


> It's simple. You can buy my ebook for $2.99 or my print book for $5.99.
> Now with this Matchbook, if you buy by print book for $5.99, you can go ahead and add the ebook to your purchase for an additional $0.99.
> It's a nice extra to offer to those (very few) people who shell out for a print copy.


Think bigger. 

We are now moving into the Christmas season. This is the biggest book selling time of the year because books are commonly bought as gifts. You sell this as "Give the gift of literature, and get something for yourself." Buy a book for a friend, and get the ebook for yourself.

THAT is your pitch, my friends.  Make sure your print book is priced at a price you can make money, however, or the entire excerise is a waste of time. This is a program designed to drive print sales, not the other way around.


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Think bigger.
> 
> We are now moving into the Christmas season. This is the biggest book selling time of the year because books are commonly bought as gifts. You sell this as "Give the gift of literature, and get something for yourself." Buy a book for a friend, and get the ebook for yourself.
> 
> THAT is your pitch, my friends.  Make sure your print book is priced at a price you can make money, however, or the entire excerise is a waste of time. This is a program designed to drive print sales, not the other way around.


Genius.

Kudos to Julie.


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## Ashy (Jul 2, 2013)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Think bigger.
> 
> We are now moving into the Christmas season. This is the biggest book selling time of the year because books are commonly bought as gifts. You sell this as "Give the gift of literature, and get something for yourself." Buy a book for a friend, and get the ebook for yourself.
> 
> THAT is your pitch, my friends.  Make sure your print book is priced at a price you can make money, however, or the entire excerise is a waste of time. This is a program designed to drive print sales, not the other way around.


THIS.

Sithwitch to the rescue!


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## Courtney Milan (Feb 27, 2011)

I'm enrolling all my books. I think this is GREAT.

It's not just about financial incentive to buy both formats; it's about giving back to people who support you. If someone spends the money to buy my books in print, I really appreciate that, and if they later decide to go digital, I'm happy to make it low cost for them to do so.

It makes me especially happy because I have print copies of my novellas out there that are (to my mind) expensive--like $4--and this allows me to add a little value to them by making the digital copy free.

The only question for us analytics nerds is this: For sales rank purposes, does buying that free Matchbook copy count as a sale or a freebie or...?


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

ChristinePope said:


> Actually, my first reaction to reading about the program was, "Seriously? I wish you'd expended that programming time on allowing us to put things on sale easily and get that nifty slash through the regular price."


I want this too! So bad!


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Just got this...



> Hello,
> 
> We are excited to introduce Kindle MatchBook, an innovative new program which enables you to offer your Kindle book at a discount when readers purchase your print book, so you can sell more books. It's easy to enroll.
> 
> ...


Wonder if we can make the ebook FREE with the paperback purchase?


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

Just read the announcement about Kindle MatchBook and like the ability to now bundle an eBook with Print book at a discount.

Question remains as to what the increase in print sales there will be.

Would also like to see them add Audio to the bundle – or eBook and Audio, etc.


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## Ardin (Nov 1, 2012)

Yes. You can make it free, $0.99, $1.99 or $2.99. 
It has to be at least 50 percent cheaper than the regular ebook price.
You still get 70% royalty if that's what your ordinary ebook royalty is.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

O.K. People! 

Maybe a quick check of existing threads is in order BEFORE posting your breaking news! I just merged the three brand new threads (posted within minutes of each other so sorta excusable) with the EXISTING MERGED thread -- which was only a post or two down from the top. 

Carry on.


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## tensen (May 17, 2011)

It will be interesting to see how many pickup the print book and the ebook. But what Julie says would be a good marketing technique.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Heck I wonder if this will help sales of my paper copies?


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

Ann in Arlington said:


> O.K. People!
> 
> Maybe a quick check of existing threads is in order BEFORE posting your breaking news! I just merged the three brand new threads (posted within minutes of each other so sorta excusable) with the EXISTING MERGED thread -- which was only a post or two down from the top.
> 
> Carry on.


sorry


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

I enrolled. (and I must have had a premonition because after months of procrastinating, last week I finally got my last two books turned into paperbacks!  ) I don't sell a lot of paperbacks, but maybe this will help me sell more? I don't think it'll hurt at all since I'll still get the royalty from the paperbacks. Also, I noticed we get 70% royalty even though they are under $2.99 so it's not even as big a loss as I thought. 

All of my books, except for Genesis, are $1.99 with the paperback deal. I may try 99 cents or save that price point for a sale. This could do well with a Select book in a series. I think we just need to figure how to make this work to our best advantage.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

VydorScope said:


> Just got this...
> 
> Wonder if we can make the ebook FREE with the paperback purchase?


Yes, you can. There is that option in the dropdown menu. I'm saving that for closer to Christmas, but it's there.


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

Be sure to mention in your book description that you are offering this option. Unless any of the enrollments have gone live (mine hasn't, but it's only been 20 minutes or so), we aren't sure how Amazon will mention this on the book page. I think it's especially important to mention this on the ebook page (vs. the print page) because it seems like if they buy the ebook first, at regular price, there's no way to buy the paperback 2nd and get any discount. Now THAT would be awesome - a customer could decide they liked the ebook so much, they'd buy the paperback if they could get it at a discount, but I don't see any way for that to happen in the reverse order.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Ardin said:


> Yes. You can make it free, $0.99, $1.99 or $2.99.
> It has to be at least 50 percent cheaper than the regular ebook price.
> You still get 70% royalty if that's what your ordinary ebook royalty is.


I wonder if this will bump regular ebook prices up a little? For instance, up to 5.99 so the half-price is 2.99?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

FWIW, while all you author-types apparently got an announcement inviting you to enroll your work, we reader-types haven't yet seen any announcement on Amazon. Or gotten an email announcing it as new or anything like that.  So it may be they're still in the process of lining folks up so there's a significant number of books in the program before they let customers know about it.

And I think Julie's figured it out -- they may hold off announcing it to readers for a bit and sell it as a holiday 'give a gift and keep a copy for you' promotion.


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## H. S. St. Ours (Mar 24, 2012)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Think bigger.
> 
> THAT is your pitch, my friends.  Make sure your print book is priced at a price you can make money, however, or the entire excerise is a waste of time. This is a program designed to drive print sales, not the other way around.


Sweet! Following your lead again!


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Well the email says...



> The Kindle MatchBook discount you select will not appear on Amazon.com until the program is fully launched in the coming weeks. We will notify you by e-mail as soon as your Kindle MatchBook discount is live. Your readers will soon have an easy and affordable way to read your book in both print and digital formats.


So it will not be in place for a bit yet...


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## CEMartin2 (May 26, 2012)

My first thought on this is why should a reader have to pay ANYTHING for a kindle version of my book if they paid for the print copy... then I remembered that I make barely anything on my print books- like $.50 on most of them. 

I also get Julie's idea about buy one/keep one... really torn here... do I make them free, like I would want...?


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

I enrolled my three for free. I'm excited for myself, too, because while I prefer to buy fiction in ebook, I like print for reference/non-fic. But I would LOVE the option of an ebook bundle. If I'm excited I'm hoping readers will be too. 

And I adore the 2 for 1 promotional aspect that's been pointed out. CLEVER!


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

I set mine all to 99 cents. I may move them to free, in fact probably will... I just jumped on 99 cents to put something in until I can think it through more.


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## Leanne King (Oct 2, 2012)

Briliant, love it. Some of our titles sell 2:1 print:ebook, and we make much more money on the print books. We've had something like this on our to do list for a while, and now Amazon is going to do the hard work for us.


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

Amazon has put out a press release on this, so the info is available to more than just KDP authors.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Just wish I could get my omnibus in to print form for this! LOL (1/2 million words... Create Space wont print it)


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2013)

CEMartin2 said:


> My first thought on this is why should a reader have to pay ANYTHING for a kindle version of my book if they paid for the print copy... then I remembered that I make barely anything on my print books- like $.50 on most of them.
> 
> I also get *****'s idea about buy one/keep one... really torn here... do I make them free, like I would want...?


It depends on your overall pricing. If you are only making 50 cents on a print book sold via Amazon, there is something wrong with your print price structure right out the gate. You are already undervaluing your print product. And THEN you are going to give them the ebook for free? The only thing left to do is to start paying people to read your book!  

My ebooks are generally priced at $2.99 to $5.99. This program allows me to offer the ebook at a deep discount (99 cents) _without having to touch my list price._ So I can do an across the board Buy the print, get the ebook for only 99 cents more promotion. Think of it like "super sizing" a value meal. The average person may not want or need both versions, but impulse is rarely about want or need. What the customer will see is "regularly $2.99" or "regularly $5.99" and think they are getting a great deal. "I can buy the print book to give as a gift, and keep the ebook for myself!" Or "If I get the bundle, I don't have to fight with my husband over who gets to read the book first!"

The target demographic of this type of offer is not going to be looking for "free" per se. It is going to be people who would see value in having both formats. You don't need to go free, you just need to be able to show a clear "savings" to entice them to get both when they are already pre-disposed to do so.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Mysterygirl said:


> Amazon has put out a press release on this, so the info is available to more than just KDP authors.


BUT. . . . it's not been announced generally on their website for readers/customers yet. Which was really my point. 

I am signed up for press releases but I don't seem to get them.  But I did assume it was something sent to authors/publishers who sell via Amazon. Anyway, the bit VydorScope quoted indicates that they are in the process of getting books signed up and don't plan to actually start the program for a few weeks.



CEMartin2 said:


> My first thought on this is why should a reader have to pay ANYTHING for a kindle version of my book if they paid for the print copy... then I remembered that I make barely anything on my print books- like $.50 on most of them.


FWIW, I've never had a problem with the ebook and paper book being considered completely different products. It's the same as a hardback being different than a paperback: you don't buy a hardback and expect to be able to get the paperback for free when they release it. BUT, I do think it's a program that a lot of readers will really like, for a variety of reasons.  Come to think of it, it's akin to the current program where you can buy the ebook and get the audio book at a discount, which is also Very Popular.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Given the price I charge on my print books (mostly based on CS's minimum price thresholds) and the royalty I make, I think it's fair to offer the eBook for free as an added incentive. I'm enrolling my two titles now and I'll probably enroll the new one as soon as it's out.


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## James Bruno (Mar 15, 2011)

In July, I had a chance to chat with Amazon's VP for Kindle Content, Russ Gradinetti, which I had posted in this forum:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=157968.0

When I asked what Amazon would be doing for authors in the coming months, he replied:

"While I can't reveal details, we have in the works some new things that will help authors greatly. I really think you're going to like the new features which will be released in coming months. Stay tuned."

This Matchbook must be one of them. But, like others here, I find it all confusing and don't see the benefit.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

CEMartin2 said:


> My first thought on this is why should a reader have to pay ANYTHING for a kindle version of my book if they paid for the print copy... then I remembered that I make barely anything on my print books- like $.50 on most of them.
> 
> I also get Julie's idea about buy one/keep one... really torn here... do I make them free, like I would want...?


Raise your price on your print books so that you make on them more than what you were making on your ebooks, and then bookmatch your ebooks to free.

I just enrolled.

I'm dreading a sale promo I already have booked for September 27, though. Will Amazon throw a hissy fit about my bookmatch being set for 99 cents at 66 cents royalty and then me putting the ebook temporarily on sale for 99 cents? Will their poor programming erroneously trigger a 66 cent royalty instead of 35 for my sale price and get them to send me a nastygram? 

ETA: OK, yay! I'm safe till October, anyway!


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I am signed up for press releases but I don't seem to get them.


Here's a link to today's Amazon press release regarding MatchBook: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1851331. The press release states that the program will launch in October:



> Over 10,000 books will already be available when Kindle MatchBook launches in October....


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## Magda Alexander (Aug 13, 2011)

Well, I kept dithering about publishing the paperback version of my book. Time to put that bad boy up. And he is such a bad boy too.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

So I wonder how that affects books in Select and the Amazon price matching.

Are we not in conflict with Amazon policies if we, technically, offer our eBooks at two difference prices?


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2013)

Quiss said:


> So I wonder how that affects books in Select and the Amazon price matching.
> 
> Are we not in conflict with Amazon policies if we, technically, offer our eBooks at two difference prices?


I don't understand. Select just means the book is not available anywhere other than Amazon. How does this change that?

You aren't offering your book at a lower price elsewhere. It's an Amazon promotion.


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## shel (May 14, 2011)

While I'll definitely be participating, am I the only one concerned about this line from the press release?:

_"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." _


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

I think this is a great incentive from all perspectives. If you're a reader who buys primarily ebooks, you may be encouraged to purchase the print book (since the discount on the ebook could be considered a discount on the print book). If you buy mostly print, then you'll be encouraged to pick up the ebook (which, BTW, is actually a pretty smart move by Amazon to encourage book-buyers to buy Kindles). If you buy both, then you get a discount.

I've thrilled. I've been offering a free e-copy of my book blog book to purchasers of the print copy (it's a link-heavy book and works much better as an ebook, but I didn't want to limit readers). It's a hassle because folks have to request the e-copy, but now, they can get it for free. I've enrolled most of books so that folks can get the digital version free if they purchase the print copy.


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

Cherise Kelley said:


> I'm dreading a sale promo I already have booked for September 27, though. Will Amazon throw a hissy fit about my bookmatch being set for 99 cents at 66 cents royalty and then me putting the ebook temporarily on sale for 99 cents? Will their poor programming erroneously trigger a 66 cent royalty instead of 35 for my sale price and get them to send me a nastygram?


This is a valid concern *because* they won't give us the tools to do a temporary price reduction without changing the list price. I wish they would just do that for us. How hard would it be?


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

shel said:


> While I'll definitely be participating, am I the only one concerned about this line from the press release?:
> 
> _"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." _


What's to be concerned about? All they're saying is that if a book is enrolled in this promo, it's retroactive - it's not just for NEW books you buy. So, yeah, if you enroll in this program, anyone who bought your paper books from when you first published them at Amazon will be able to get your ebook version at your new discount (or free - whatever you chose).

I wonder if these sales (or free, if you set it to that) will count as one sale or two...


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

I don't think this is a particularly big deal for indie authors because most don't sell that many paper copies in the first place. Obviously if you do, it is. It's a huge deal for readers and for pushing traffic to Amazon though. Even if you don't have an ebook reader, you might think maybe you should buy your print books at Amazon because you can pick up the ebook later if you go for one of those thingies.


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## SusanKL (Sep 14, 2011)

But it is FREE which could be the most interesting promotional tool, practically giving away a free digital copy of the book with the paperback.
[/quote]

This. it's an opportunity to perma-free your title to prequalified customers. If they like your book well enough to buy it at 9.99 (or whatever) in paperback, throwing in a free version with links in the back to the next books in the series is a great way to capture (and hold!) this reader (assuming he liked the first book he read.) I'm not bothering doing this with later titles in a long series, but the first one or two? Absolutely. And the point made that some people will "gift" a paperback this holiday season and keep the ebook for themselves? Great! I might have just helped myself to a new reader of my series and it didn't cost me a Bookbub ad or an exclusivity with Select--in fact, even better, I got a royalty for the paperback I sold!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

shel said:


> While I'll definitely be participating, am I the only one concerned about this line from the press release?:
> 
> _"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." _


I don't see what the problem is. What they're saying is if, say, back in 1998, I bought  in paper for $4.79, (which I did, by the way) I will now be able to purchase the digital version , currently priced at $6.83, for some discounted amount. Assuming, of course, the book is part of the program. Major publishers, too, will have to opt in, I'd guess.

As some have suggested -- it's mainly a customer/reader benefit -- but used wisely can be good for writers/publishers too.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

As a re-reader, I am definitely going to be checking to see if I have any qualifying purchases that are affordable in ebook form!  I buy a lot of reference books from Amazon, so this could be very handy if their publishers opt in.


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

CEMartin2 said:


> My first thought on this is why should a reader have to pay ANYTHING for a kindle version of my book if they paid for the print copy... then I remembered that I make barely anything on my print books- like $.50 on most of them.





Zelah Meyer said:


> I'm in the same boat. I make very little on my two print versions. I don't mind that, because they are already the maximum amount I feel that I can charge (which was the minimum amount required to make it viable as a print book in the case of DJ:W).


What a lot of people don't realize is that Amazon will generally auto-discount your paperback, especially if you have it at B&N and they discounted it first. My list price is set at $13.95, because that's around what a lot of trade paperbacks list at for my genre and book size, but Amazon has it discounted to $12.50-ish. I still make the same royalty regardless. I wish I knew how to get them to knock it down even lower!


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## Doctor Barbara (Aug 17, 2010)

Many of us don't sell a lot of paperbacks, so it may not ramp up our ebook sales. But it can't hurt and it's a great incentive from the buyer's perspective. I think I'll buy some good novels for Christmas if they are linked to reduced ebook prices...give the paperbacks away as gifts & read the ebooks myself.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

I wonder how they'll deal with multiple versions/editions. Presuming the books would have to be linked on their site. For example, I have two print versions of my omnibus (one's a collector's edition which contains an extra story that the other version doesn't), and they're both linked to the digital version which also doesn't contain the extra story.


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## jdrew (Jul 27, 2012)

I see the benefit, or at least some benefit from this.  I'm guessing that Amazon is the one who will benefit most as it will be the Kindle version of the e-book that is discounted.  At this point by far the bulk of my sales are through Amazon anyway so I'm okay with it.  There may come a day when Amazon is less friendly to us all and then I might feel differently.  Based on what I've read here I plan to join this as any additional sales are to my benefit.


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## thesmallprint (May 25, 2012)

It's another 'world domination within the law' idea from the genius that is J Bezos. It's a priced equivalent of their auto-rip offer in Music: any CD you ever bought from a Amazon can be downloaded free as an MP3.

Avid readers might have bought many print books from Amazon (and elsewhere). If all those past Amazon purchases become available for their Kindle, buyers have the option of:

Selling all the print copies
Clearing space on shelves
Maintaining their full library in digital form from the proceeds of sold print books

If they are tempted to buy a print book again (and I think this gift aspect for print books will be a huge factor), then Amazon is the only place they'll be buying from, so long as the majority of authors enrol in this programme. It's a way of Amazon establishing exclusivity without Select and without breaking any laws on anti-trust/monopoly etc.

I don't think authors will need to discount ebooks too deeply to benefit; established print buyers, by the very act of purchasing, are saying that price isn't a big concern. I recently ran a promo on a 3 book collection - 99 cents. During the promo, two readers bought the print version at $34.99.

I suspect that this news will be welcomed by publishing houses - it could even be the saviour of print in the long term. But I fear the announcement will have been greeted by strings of curses, and a few pints of tears at Barnes & Noble and many other retailers. Amazon's jaws just closed tighter on their jugular. Which reminds me...what's the quickest way to kill a circus?  Go straight for the juggler!


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## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

Ann in Arlington said:


> FWIW, while all you author-types apparently got an announcement inviting you to enroll your work, we reader-types haven't yet seen any announcement on Amazon. Or gotten an email announcing it as new or anything like that. So it may be they're still in the process of lining folks up so there's a significant number of books in the program before they let customers know about it.
> 
> And I think Julie's figured it out -- they may hold off announcing it to readers for a bit and sell it as a holiday 'give a gift and keep a copy for you' promotion.


I hope the big 6 participate in this. I always give hardcovers for holiday gifts and love the idea of getting an inexpensive digital copy for myself.


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## Teri Hall (Feb 10, 2013)

PamelaKelley said:


> I hope the big 6 participate in this. I always give hardcovers for holiday gifts and love the idea of getting an inexpensive digital copy for myself.


On my Twitter feed one agent already nay-sayed it, saying that Amazon has not yet begun negotiating those rights and all kinds of questions remain (like how much of the income traditionally published authors will get).

I already signed on *all *my self-pubbed books. It sounds like a great thing to me so far.


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## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

James Bruno said:


> In July, I had a chance to chat with Amazon's VP for Kindle Content, Russ Gradinetti, which I had posted in this forum:
> 
> http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=157968.0
> 
> ...


He was talking about something else.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Hugh Howey said:


> He was talking about something else.


Dude, SERIOUSLY? 
How can you toss this in here without providing more details!


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Steeplechasing said:


> I suspect that this news will be welcomed by publishing houses - it could even be the saviour of print in the long term.


You may be right, but I don't think trad-pubbed authors with lots of sales of their print books are going to see this as all that great. As we shift to to electronic format and folks go back and re-purchase their older books in digital, they (trad-pubbed authors) may see this as another cut in future royalties. That's how I'd see it, anyway. Given that, this move actually seems to have more benefit to indies than trad-pubbed authors.


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## shel (May 14, 2011)

Eltanin Publishing said:


> What's to be concerned about? All they're saying is that if a book is enrolled in this promo, it's retroactive - it's not just for NEW books you buy. So, yeah, if you enroll in this program, anyone who bought your paper books from when you first published them at Amazon will be able to get your ebook version at your new discount (or free - whatever you chose).
> 
> I wonder if these sales (or free, if you set it to that) will count as one sale or two...


It's absolutely a benefit for our readers! I'm excited about the prospect that my paperback readers can easily have a discounted digital copy. (I just enrolled) And, I love Julie's idea for a holiday pitch.

My concern is that there was a lot of paper sold pre-KDP on Amazon, so we'd have to wait and see who opted in and how broad the level of participation is. A lot of backlist purchases could effect current discoverability. Or it could be that I'm worry wart?  It wouldn't be the first time.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Quiss said:


> Dude, SERIOUSLY?
> How can you toss this in here without providing more details!


Yeah, Really.


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## Raquel Lyon (Mar 3, 2012)

Okay, call me a dunce, but I cannot for the life in me see where I do this on my bookshelf.   Is it another one of those things only available in the USA, like gifting?


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## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

jdrew said:


> I see the benefit, or at least some benefit from this. I'm guessing that Amazon is the one who will benefit most as it will be the Kindle version of the e-book that is discounted. At this point by far the bulk of my sales are through Amazon anyway so I'm okay with it. There may come a day when Amazon is less friendly to us all and then I might feel differently. Based on what I've read here I plan to join this as any additional sales are to my benefit.


Here's the #1 benefit from this: Everyone with a Nook and a Kobo is feeling envious right now. People are learning that going all-in with Amazon, as a shopper, is the right thing to do. Prime members love the free 2-day shipping and re-up every year. You only have to return something once to Amazon to want to buy from them in the future. And now seeing rewards like this (those of us who buy our paperbacks from Amazon are going nuts today) makes you want to invest in them for the future.

The closure of Borders served the same purpose. Shopping with B&N doesn't give you a sense of future reward, partly because they almost never reward their shoppers (unless charging money for an annual membership card is a reward) and partly because you wonder if they'll be around in 5 years. These programs from Amazon are designed to do one thing: Win lifetime customers by treating customers as well as they can.


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## H. S. St. Ours (Mar 24, 2012)

Quiss said:


> Dude, SERIOUSLY?
> How can you toss this in here without providing more details!


This. And yet, Hugh did have a pretty thoughtful post on this topic today:

http://www.hughhowey.com/its-the-reader-stupid/


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## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

Quiss said:


> Dude, SERIOUSLY?
> How can you toss this in here without providing more details!


NDAs and stuff.


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## thesmallprint (May 25, 2012)

Rlyon said:


> Okay, call me a dunce, but I cannot for the life in me see where I do this on my bookshelf.  Is it another one of those things only available in the USA, like gifting?


It works in the UK

Go to your KDP Bookshelf
Tick the box to the left of the title
Click Actions
Choose Rights & Pricing
Scroll to bottom
You'll see the enrol box there.

Good luck
Joe


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

I wonder if these discounted digital copies are loanable?


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## Raquel Lyon (Mar 3, 2012)

Ah, I clearly am a dunce. Got it now. Thanks Joe.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

On the topic of temporary sales, I'm about to do one too. Since you have to republish to get the new price in, I'm sure Matchbook will look at that new price you are about to publish and force you to temporarily lower your Matchbook price too. Since I'll be doing 99 cents for the sale, I can either make my ebook free for paperback purchasers during the sale, or take it out of Matchbook during the sale.


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)

I'm anxious to hear if those of us with Amazon imprint books will be able to put 'those' books in. Or did I miss that in the details?


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

> "This Matchbook must be one of them. But, like others here, I find it all confusing and don't see the benefit."


The benefit is to consumers like me who are willing to pay two or three dollars to have both paper and electronic versions of a book. Why? I have become used to reading the same book on various platforms. I might use Kindle, iPad, and iPhone on one book. I still have a boatload of paper books on the shelf I haven't read yet. I'll gladly pay $3 to get an eBook. Then I can read it in all the electronic versions and also have paper for places I don't want to use an eReader. Hiking trails? Bicycle at the gym? Yeah, it's an indulgence, but I've been waiting for an opportunity to say it's no more than a cup of coffee at Starbucks.


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## Linda Barlow (Jul 5, 2013)

Regarding books published back the 90s or early 2000s, I presume that publishers can only enroll these if they still hold the rights. In other words, no one will be able to get a deal on the digital copy of one of my old books until I have republished a new printed and digital version myself (working on that now). Right?


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## teashopgirl (Dec 8, 2011)

I only have one title available in paperback; I enrolled it. I liked the point about perhaps getting a small bump in sales over the holidays. Hope it works!


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## jsparks (May 18, 2013)

From a reader's perspective, I'm loving this, because I prefer reading ebooks to paperbacks, but I still like owning paperbacks. Now it looks like I can have both in the future  
(Yes, this is actually giving me a bigger incentive to buy paperbacks in the future)

As a writer this doesn't concern me at this point, since I don't have print books available yet.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Hugh Howey said:


> He was talking about something else.


Can't wait to see what!


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

Awesome. At last they begin to cave to my demands.

Now if you just let us manually price to free, you will have you lawn gnome back, Bezos, alive and well.


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

I like this new program as a reader and as an indie author. I'm looking forward to seeing what books I can add to my Kindle account based on prior print purchases, and I just enrolled _Lesson One: Revolution!_ and _Journey to Yandol, and other stories_ in the program, with the Kindle editions being free to those who buy/bought the books in print. After I discuss the program with the illustrator, I expect to add _Two Boys, Two Planets_ also.

I'm sure there are potential downsides, nothing in life is perfect, but this looked good enough to jump on it right away. Plus it gives me an excuse to mention my books again on social networks in a context other than just "buy my book!"


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## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I don't sell many print books, but this is still a great idea. I just enrolled both my print books.


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

Hugh Howey said:


> He was talking about something else.


*Gets out mind reading device.*

*Focuses it in Hugh's direction.*

Oooh, wow! Now THAT is cool!


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## Gina Black (Mar 15, 2011)

This could have an interesting effect on backlist. 

I'm the second publisher for my book. Will Amazon offer my ebook to the purchasers of the book who bought my first publisher's edition? Or just to buyers who purchased my current print book...


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## Edward W. Robertson (May 18, 2010)

This is just awesome. Been wishing for something like this as both a reader and an author. Good show, Amazon.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Gina Black said:


> This could have an interesting effect on backlist.
> 
> I'm the second publisher for my book. Will Amazon offer my ebook to the purchasers of the book who bought my first publisher's edition? Or just to buyers who purchased my current print book...


I can't see how a publisher could do this unless they own ebook rights and have them available for sale. If you own the ebook rights but not print, then it seems the option is not available to you or your print book publisher. Makes me wonder how something like this would work for someone like Hugh where author and publisher split print and ebook rights.


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## nightfire (Mar 22, 2012)

I like it.  I was going to start offering it myself in my book details, and in the back of the book, telling purchasers to send me their sales receipt and I would send them the Kindle version.  While I don't get contact info, I still get my eBook into people's kindles.

I sell a lot of print books, was just noticing before the announcement that I am selling print more than eBook - due to my books being photo books.  I have a decent markup and if getting the books on people's kindles mean they can show their friends how great this photo book is - it will encourage more people to buy them.

I also see the Kindle version of my books as a way to sell the print version, because people want the images in their hands.

As a reader, I lost a heckofalotta books in Hurricane Sandy and if ANY of those print books are available in October as an ebook at a discount, I will be *very* happy.

Customer loyalty in Q4 plus "buy one get one" for gift givers = marketing dream come true.


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## KOwrites (May 23, 2011)

Katie Elle said:


> I don't think this is a particularly big deal for indie authors because most don't sell that many paper copies in the first place. Obviously if you do, it is. It's a huge deal for readers and for pushing traffic to Amazon though. Even if you don't have an ebook reader, you might think maybe you should buy your print books at Amazon because you can pick up the ebook later if you go for one of those thingies.


EXACTLY! This is a huge shot across the bow at B & N or any of the other brick & mortars; and good 'old Apple and Kobo and B & N's Nookpress with all their running-around-in-circles-in-what-appears-to-be futile attempts in bolstering up their online eBook business. Smart business. This Amazon. It's all about the customer experience from the Zon's POV.


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## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

I HATE this, okay, kidding, kidding, I love it. I'm just not sure if my bookshelves or my boyfriend will like it as much (providing that it will also work in the UK).

I immediately signed up because recently I was pondering this same thing when I was buying books. I love print copies but I read ebooks more so getting those at a discount is amazing!


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## zandermarks (May 20, 2013)

shel said:


> My concern is that there was a lot of paper sold pre-KDP on Amazon, so we'd have to wait and see who opted in and how broad the level of participation is. A lot of backlist purchases could effect current discoverability. Or it could be that I'm worry wart?


My thoughts exactly. I can see this having a huge impact on discoverability within the Kindle store. Obviously, it depends on the levels of participation by Big 6 publishers.

On the plus side, this should help Amazon move the needle further in the direction of ereaders, which is a long-term benefit (although I'd prefer ereader expansion across the board, not consolidation under Amazon solely). But in the short-term, I could definitely see an onslaught of Kindle downloads (especially to brand-new Christmas-gifted devices) potentially doing a number on some of us.

Again, it depends on participation by Big 6 as to how much it helps us or hurts us.

But if it becomes the norm to couple your paperback purchases with a Kindle version, then it could have the effect of making it as hard to chart in the Kindle store as it is in the printed store, since the Kindle sales volumes would move in the direction of print-version sales. And it might reduce the effectiveness of Bookbub in pushing a book into a more discoverable place.

Potentially. Just thinking worst-case, here.

Guess that makes me a worry-wart, too.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

Someone earlier in the thread compared this to "super-sizing" a fast food meal. I think that's a great comparison...something extra for only ninety-nine cents. I won't be going free. I don't believe in free. Anyone that would be interested in owning both print and e-book is perfectly willing to pay something. Let's not keep teaching the public to expect free. We're worth more than that!


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## Gina Black (Mar 15, 2011)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> I can't see how a publisher could do this unless they own ebook rights and have them available for sale. If you own the ebook rights but not print, then it seems the option is not available to you or your print book publisher. Makes me wonder how something like this would work for someone like Hugh where author and publisher split print and ebook rights.


Apparently I wasn't clear. I have *all* rights. Will my current ebook be available as a Matchbook with versions of the print copy that were put out by my old publisher? Or, only with the print copies that have been available (and reissued) since I've put it out?


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## DJ Edwardson (Mar 15, 2013)

I've already signed up for this and am interested to see it in action next month. As a new author, I don't sell many print copies, so I really have nothing to lose, plus it's a great value for anyone who does drop the money for the paperback version.

Since this is an opt-in program, it seems to me that if different publishers split the rights they would both have to be in agreement to make this work. Not sure about all the legal fine points though.

One thought which occurred to me was to look at DVD pricing, however. A while back when digital copies started getting added to movies, did the price of the DVD/Blu-ray go up (or at least the version with the digital copy)? I'm suspecting that was the case but don't have any hard data to back that up. But I could see publishers _raising_ prices for print editions with this program and just throwing in the Kindle version in a way similar to DVDs.

It will be interesting to see how things play out.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Katherine Owen said:


> EXACTLY! This is a huge shot across the bow at B & N or any of the other brick & mortars; and good 'old Apple and Kobo and B & N's Nookpress with all their running-around-in-circles-in-what-appears-to-be futile attempts in bolstering up their online eBook business. Smart business. This Amazon. It's all about the customer experience from the Zon's POV.


I am not sure I agree with this. It *could* be a way of convincing more people to buy our paperbacks and still sell e-books.

After giving it some serious thought, I have put my HF in it. I may add my fantasies after I consult with my co-author.


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

Well, I did it - set the match price for the book to 0.99. I'm already pricing my paper book low ($6.50 for 68 pages, 6 stories - I make about $1.75 profit on that)(and Amazon usually discounts the paper book to $5.85 or thereabouts) and my ebook high ($3.99), so I'll be interested to see what effect, if any, this has on sales.


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## KOwrites (May 23, 2011)

JRTomlin said:


> I am not sure I agree with this. It *could* be a way of convincing more people to buy our paperbacks and still sell e-books.
> 
> After giving it some serious thought, I have put my HF in it. I may add my fantasies after I consult with my co-author.


I don't think Amazon is in dire straights about paperbacks. I believe it is a value-add offering much like their "prime customer" service program. It just happens to benefit authors (on KDP or otherwise) but I do not believe that is their primary goal which I still believe is to get a reader (in this case) to spend their hard-earned dollars at Amazon because they will get the paperback as well as the eBook. Value-add. As someone earlier mentioned in the thread regarding the Amazon VP saying something about a customer who bought XXX book 18 years ago and could go back and get the eBook. Powerful stuff. It annihilates spending $$ on anyone else's eBook platform. It's sticky marketing. It keeps customers with them and on Zon's platform. It essentially forces B&N--and anyone else left--to offer a like offering to keep or grow their customer base. It's a crushing blow for B & N--a company that has spun off their Nook business from their paperback business--that is essentially scrambling to stay in business. Toys, anyone? Lattes? When is the last time you went to a physical bookstore? I haven't been since Borders closed.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

KayBratt said:


> I'm anxious to hear if those of us with Amazon imprint books will be able to put 'those' books in. Or did I miss that in the details?


Kay, did you get an email from the author team? I did and it says Amazon Publishing books will be in the MatchBook program from launch.


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)

CJArcher said:


> Kay, did you get an email from the author team? I did and it says Amazon Publishing books will be in the MatchBook program from launch.


Yes, I got an email. Thanks!

/runs off to read it again, this time much slower...


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## H. S. St. Ours (Mar 24, 2012)

Well I signed my books up and made the digital version for each free. I love the idea that someone can gift or share a physical copy and keep one for themselves. This rocks!


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## Linda Barlow (Jul 5, 2013)

Gina Black said:


> Apparently I wasn't clear. I have *all* rights. Will my current ebook be available as a Matchbook with versions of the print copy that were put out by my old publisher? Or, only with the print copies that have been available (and reissued) since I've put it out?


I raised this question, too, earlier on the thread. I also own all rights to all the books on my backlist. As far as I know, the only print copies that are available in the US (I guess I'd better check other Amazons) are second hand copies being sold through Amazon and other second hand retailers.

I don't see how Amazon could match up the new digital editions that we're publishing with old print ones to which publishers no longer have the rights. Still, I'd like to see it confirmed that Amazon won't get "confused" and try to do this, since they don't always differentiate clearly that a print copy is being sold second hand.

I'm also going to publish all future editions from my backlist in print at the same time that I put them up digitally, which is something I've neglected to do so far.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Katherine Owen said:


> I don't think Amazon is in dire straights about paperbacks. I believe it is a value-add offering much like their "prime customer" service program. It just happens to benefit authors (on KDP or otherwise) but I do not believe that is their primary goal which I still believe is to get a reader (in this case) to spend their hard-earned dollars at Amazon because they will get the paperback as well as the eBook. Value-add. As someone earlier mentioned in the thread regarding the Amazon VP saying something about a customer who bought XXX book 18 years ago and could go back and get the eBook. Powerful stuff. It annihilates spending $$ on anyone else's eBook platform. It's sticky marketing. It keeps customers with them and on Zon's platform. It essentially forces B&N--and anyone else left--to offer a like offering to keep or grow their customer base. It's a crushing blow for B & N--a company that has spun off their Nook business from their paperback business--that is essentially scrambling to stay in business. Toys, anyone? Lattes? When is the last time you went to a physical bookstore? I haven't been since Borders closed.


Who said Amazon is in "dire _straits_" about anything?

My point is that *I* might sell more PBs. It is certainly possible and I am willing to give it a try.

All my paperbacks are more than $10 and I set the e-books to $1.99. It won't lose me sales on people who only buy e-books but could increase my PB sales. It's worth a try. Does anyone know how this will be presented on the product page?


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Think bigger.
> 
> We are now moving into the Christmas season. This is the biggest book selling time of the year because books are commonly bought as gifts. You sell this as "Give the gift of literature, and get something for yourself." Buy a book for a friend, and get the ebook for yourself.
> 
> THAT is your pitch, my friends.  Make sure your print book is priced at a price you can make money, however, or the entire excerise is a waste of time. This is a program designed to drive print sales, not the other way around.


Great explanation of the concept. May I steal it for my blog?


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## kdarden (Aug 23, 2012)

Interesting concept. I appreciate that my original royalty % will translate to the new add-on price.

I've been keeping my fiction prices low on the PBs - in some cases making less than $1 - but now I'm thinking I need to re-evaluate that and raise my prices so that the royalty between the two is at least as much as what I am getting for the digital royalty.

Because I see this as win all around, I don't mind if I don't make *more* on this, so long as I make the same - that way I'm still getting the books out into new hands, so it serves as a promotional vehicle.

I, too, was considering how to get a free ebook version into the hands of people who bought the PB.

As a reader, I prefer my reference books to be physical, and this way I can have the convenience of both...


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

kdarden said:


> As a reader, I prefer my reference books to be physical, and this way I can have the convenience of both...


Every reader I have mentioned it too loves this idea. They want their dead tree edition, but read it on their reader. I for one am against the senseless slaughter of trees.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

VydorScope said:


> I for one am against the senseless slaughter of trees.


I was against the slaughter of trees, too, when all I knew was the desert (Los Angeles).

Now that I have lived in a rain forest (Forks), I totally see that trees are a renewable resource that we don't need to worry about. Dude, new trees grow there faster than they can cut down the old ones.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I signed up. Some of the books I put at .99 and some free. Even though I'll get a reduced royalty (or none) on the ebook, I'll get a royalty on the print book. BOGO might induce more readers to buy the print book. 

Wait and See.


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## Gina Black (Mar 15, 2011)

Linda Barlow said:


> I raised this question, too, earlier on the thread. I also own all rights to all the books on my backlist. As far as I know, the only print copies that are available in the US (I guess I'd better check other Amazons) are second hand copies being sold through Amazon and other second hand retailers.
> 
> I don't see how Amazon could match up the new digital editions that we're publishing with old print ones to which publishers no longer have the rights. Still, I'd like to see it confirmed that Amazon won't get "confused" and try to do this, since they don't always differentiate clearly that a print copy is being sold second hand.
> 
> I'm also going to publish all future editions from my backlist in print at the same time that I put them up digitally, which is something I've neglected to do so far.


It's not just the used copies being sold now. The program is retroactive. So, it's whether the print copies they sold in the past can be matched with the current ebooks even though the publisher is not the same.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Gina Black said:


> It's not just the used copies being sold now. The program is retroactive. So, it's whether the print copies they sold in the past can be matched with the current ebooks even though the publisher is not the same.


Right, but I don't think it matters. If they can figure out that the book you bought 10 years ago in hardback is the same as the kindle edition available now -- whether it's the same publisher or not, they'll be happy to sell that ebook to you.

And it doesn't hurt the publisher you bought from already -- it's not like they suddenly have to pay back whatever royalties they earned on that sale from 10 years ago. It's just that the current ebook rights holder is allowed to make a little something too.

I have to suppose they have thought about the fact that rights holders might not be the same people any more and have a way to work this.

It's also very possible that any number of the books purchased 15+ years ago may NOT have e-editions at all. But this might also be an impetus for the publisher who holds the rights to get one done.


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## David Wisehart (Mar 2, 2010)

Seems to me that it would be best to raise the print price and give away the bundled ebook for free.

Which is better:

$13.99 print plus $.99 ebook
$14.99 print plus free book

I'd go a buck higher for print, with a free ebook.

Plus it makes the stand-alone ebook look like a better deal:

$4.99 for Kindle version
$14.99 for paperback + free Kindle version

Which reminds me: I need to get these ebooks into print. 

David


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

David Wisehart said:


> Seems to me that it would be best to raise the print price and give away the bundled ebook for free.
> 
> Which is better:
> 
> ...


You know that's not a bad idea. But will people buy paperbacks for that much? What are the competitors charging? (Obviously I never buy paperbacks. LOL)


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## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

I was very excited to see this news in my email. Seems like a very smart move from the zon.  And I can't wait to see what the other stuff Hugh was hinting at is.
Since my novels are illustrated I sell a fair few paperbacks, mostly to people who loved the eBook then want it in print. When Matchbook goes live I'll be promoting everywhere that readers should get the paperback first.


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## Michael_J_Sullivan (Aug 3, 2011)

Holy smokes...this is major and something I've been waiting for a long long time.  This is what is needed to rejuvenate print sales.  I was going to do this anyway (but having to service it myself)...I enrolled Hollow World which is coming out from a traditional publisher for print, but the ebook is mine so I'm going to offer it for free.  Amazon once again proves itself as a true innovator.


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## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

Seems like a great idea. I've enrolled all of mine.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Michael_J_Sullivan said:


> Holy smokes...this is major and something I've been waiting for a long long time. This is what is needed to rejuvenate print sales.


I agree completely. This might end up being as big as or bigger than Select was when it first came out, at least for readers, maybe for writers and publishers.

I simply don't see how this can be a bad deal. For indies, there might be a few tough months in which the Amazon rankings are hit hard by books from traditional publishers, but that will eventually settle down. And that might not even happen. Besides, indies are always running around like chickens with their heads cut off over any kind of change or perceived change, so if it weren't for this, something else will get the blame for slow sales. ;-)


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## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

I think this is going to get some traction as some indies are finding a print audience. This is not for the mid-listers who sell 95% of their product as digital copies. This is for indies who are desperately seeking new markets, and untapped readers outside of digital. This can be the final transition to move more avid paper reading fans to buy ereader devices.

Think about it: Mary Jane Mystery Reader is a faithful paperback fan. She buys the newest *insert famous mystery author here* as soon as it comes out. But, when she is finished, she has five friends who are waiting in line to share the book. Mary JM Reader has never really caught on to the whole ereader thing, but Amazon (where she purchased her latest copy of *insert famous mystery author here*) promoted a deal where if she purchased a copy of her favorite mystery author's book at list price ($17.99 plus tax), then she could also purchase a voucher for a digital download of that some book for an additional $1.99 which was half off of the regular digital price. Well. Mary Jane has never been known to turn down an excellent deal. She may just have to talk Henry Thriller/Suspense/Non-fiction Sports Reader to buy her a Kindle Fire for Christmas. So, she purchases the voucher (or pays for the download, whatever) and soon thereafter gets her new Kindle, discovers the incredible perks of being a Prime Member, discovers a great indie mystery author with a huge backlist, and voila! Everyone wins. Multiply that by approximately 10-20% of the current paper-only market (WORLDWIDE!) and this can look absolutely HUGE. 

It may not affect your personal publishing business model at all. It may change it. It may fall completely flat because I don't know what I am talking about (most likely choice as many will attest). But, Amazon usually does not institute changes like this that don't benefit at least someone.

One more thing I think it will illuminate as we discuss our current pricing strategies: we might be undervaluing both our print books and our digital products. If one views this Matchbook opportunity as simply a promotional tool to lure print book buyers to look closer at digital, then it follows that pricing your KDP books that have a companion print copy to be priced per your genre and competitive with Trade Published books so that the promotional tier can be used to its full benefit. In other words, a win-win situation. The reader gets a bargain and possibly is lured to a new medium of enjoying their favorite past-time. The author-publisher gets an added income from a product that they already sold (the print copy).

What this would look like in practical terms is that a print book in say, the Thriller category, would be priced for a 6" x 9" 342 page book at $14.99. Very competitive against like products in that genre. Printing it through a standard POD would net the author (if sold on Amazon), about $4, give-or-take. The digital list price of the same book would be set at approximately 33% of the print price, $4.99. This, then, would allow that KDP print book (note the exclusivity, everyone) buyer the option of buying the digital copy for $1.99. Will the $3 savings matter to most buyers? You will be surprised, I think at how many will be. Especially as they become conditioned to expect this sort of heavy discounting. Think about gifting opportunities. Shared reading experience between generations. Book club distributions. There are tons of buying habits out there. Not everyone is looking to fill their Kindle with free.

One last thing (sorry for the silly rambling): This might become the next step for the KDP Free days. If you, in your business model, price your books $9.99 list for print and $2.99 or $3.99 for digital list, then you will be forced to choose the promotional MatchBook pricing of $1.99 or $.99...or FREE. And free will not be so bad. Because, I think that is what is going to drive even more people to move toward Kindles. Especially the lower-priced Kindle and Kindle Paper-White. In the end (I hate that phrase, but there it is--and aren't you glad), it is about attracting new readers, new markets, and building brand loyalty. Not just for us. For the 'Zon. I think this could be a good thing. We will see.


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## David Wisehart (Mar 2, 2010)

Ty Johnston said:


> This might end up being as big as or bigger than Select was when it first came out...


That's what I was thinking.

This may give indies a short-term competitive advantage over traditional publishers, given that we generally own print and ebook rights, so the print/ebook bundles are a no-brainer. The trad pubs don't necessarily own ebook rights to their backlist.

Also, it looks like Harper Collins and Amazon Publishing are part of MatchBook, but the others big publishers aren't. I'm sure they were all approached, since HC is on board, but the others must be taking a wait-and-see attitude, and perhaps trying to protect their high ebook markups.

I wonder if Amazon will offer the reverse of MatchBook: get a discount credit for print books if you've already purchased the ebook?

David


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Anyone know when this will go into effect?


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## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

I got the email and didn't even open it. I just looked at the subject line and came straight to Kboards.

TRUE STORY!


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

As a reader I'm excited about this. I already take advantage of the reduced price on some audio books. Some books I would like to buy in paper format to share with my "I love the way a book smells" friends and then donate to the library. I won't buy both at full price and I miss the sharing. 

Just wondering why some of you are putting your ebooks to free? If I'm buying the paper book as a gift or for myself, my eyes are already on the book. If it's free I would definitely get it but it doesn't guarantee I'll read it. And a free ebook will not get me to buy a paper book. 

If I'm buying a book as a gift and it looks interesting I would gladly pay .99 for the ebook. For something that looked really interesting I would pay 1.99. For 2.99 you would have to be one of my favorite authors that I just have to share with someone else. Anyone else at that price and my friend can go buy their own book. I know I'm not unique, so I assume there are others that feel the same way.

So why free?


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## David Wisehart (Mar 2, 2010)

imallbs said:


> So why free?


For me, the question is, "Why charge a reader twice for the same book?"

Some readers will complain if you do, while all readers will be glad to get an additional format for free.

Keep your readers happy, I say.

David


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

imallbs said:


> So why free?


Speaking only for myself, it's because I see a book of mine as single product regardless of what form(s) it is in. I don't see the print edition as one product and the Kindle edition as a separate product. It's the same content, same product. I want my "customers" (readers) to be as happy as possible about the product they pay for. One way to do that is to make it easy for them to get both print and digital for one price, or to go back and forth between print and digital according to their whims (maybe the paperback is relegated to reading on the toilet, who knows...).

I do realize there are other scenarios (e.g., someone gives a paperback as a gift and keeps the Kindle edition), but I'm still struggling to develop an audience so at this point any freebies are worthwhile. As I was commenting to a family member the other day, I'm still trying to find "fan advocates" for my books -- i.e., people who will spontaneously recommend my books to others just because they like them so much. Maybe that will never happen if my books just aren't good enough, but it will _definitely_ never happen if I don't get my work in front of as many people as I can. That's where freebies come in, and I have no problem with someone gifting a paperback and keeping the Kindle edition.


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

JRTomlin said:


> Anyone know when this will go into effect?


I didn't get any direct email from Amazon, I found out about this via somebody mentioning it on Google+, and all I've seen so far is "October."

I took a peek at my old print edition purchases to ponder which ones might become available as Kindle editions via this program, whether in October or at some future point when the publisher signs on. I was rather surprised by some of the books that I'd forgotten ever buying. _Big Basics Book of Windows 98_ -- really? That must've been for someone else!


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

According to the official Amazon MatchBook launch site, it goes live in October.

Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001373341


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

I have some concern about having it affect whether I can do promotions on Bookbub. It probably won't, but I am going to contact them tomorrow to check that out.

It's true that it is just a different format, but that's also true of a hardcover and a paperback, I pay twice if I want both. That is true of wanting both a paperback and a digital version. So I am going to reduce the price and not offer it free, because 50% off is a good deal.

ETA: Sometime in October... Oh, goodie. A whole month for us to stew, speculate and argue. What fun!


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I'm up early this morning to reformat a couple of books for print. One is a novella that I never bothered to put in print by itself because it's already in a print/ebook anthology and I'd already decided to bundle a series in a print book and an ebook even before this came out. I'm almost done with that one. Two new ones for matchbook by the end of the week.

The novella should be out in audiobook by the end of next week, and that will look really good on the product page to have it in three formats.



JRTomlin said:


> You know that's not a bad idea. But will people buy paperbacks for that much? What are the competitors charging? (Obviously I never buy paperbacks. LOL)


Trade paperbacks run from $12.99 to $16.99. Mass Market paperbacks are much cheaper.



David Wisehart said:


> For me, the question is, "Why charge a reader twice for the same book?"
> 
> Some readers will complain if you do, while all readers will be glad to get an additional format for free.
> 
> ...


As a reader, that's been my question, too. Too bad I've already bought most of my old favorites in ebook.


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

I'm in.

I didn't have a lot to go into the pot - but this weekend I will push a couple of more novellas into Createspace and kick them in to. I've also got a western novella that is nearly ready to for digital. I'll just have to make it a point to get it into Createspace as well.

I figure this is a good deal. The paperbacks weren't selling for me - so this might help their visibility. 

I figure that Amazon is going to bang the promotional drums for this new feature as October rolls in - so that can only help with the visibility. Mind you, every publisher and his dog are going to be hauling out their backlists and plugging them in so a little bitty indie like myself is going to be swallowed up in a monsoon of backwash - but there's no sense worrying about what I can't change.

I am going to have to get in touch with the publisher of my earlier e-books and see if they are on board with this new development.

Here I go - following the brave new flow faster than you can say "Barney Rubble Toe Dance".


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## SusanKL (Sep 14, 2011)

My question is, will the Matchbook e-book sale appear lumped in with all the other sales for that title on our reports page? Right now it's fairly easy to see how I'm doing money-wise at a glance when I look at my sales reports page. But if some of those "sales" are regular price sales and some are 99c (or free), will there be a quick way to tell the discounted sales from the regular priced ones?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

JRTomlin said:


> You know that's not a bad idea. But will people buy paperbacks for that much? What are the competitors charging? (Obviously I never buy paperbacks. LOL)


It seems to me the going price for brand new release hardcovers is not more than $16 or so. Oh the "list" may be $24 or $25, but they're always discounted.

People, I think, expect paperbacks to not be more than about $7 or $8. Maybe $10 if they're the larger format sort.

$14 is more like a hardcover price and there better be a darn good reason to spend that. A "Free ebook" with it may not be one. Why wouldn't I rather spend just $3 or $4 on the ebook only.

That said, people do give gifts, and I've noticed they'll often spend more on a book that's going to be a gift to someone, than they might if they are buying it for themselves.


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## Michael_J_Sullivan (Aug 3, 2011)

Ty Johnston said:


> I simply don't see how this can be a bad deal. For indies, there might be a few tough months in which the Amazon rankings are hit hard by books from traditional publishers, but that will eventually settle down. And that might not even happen. Besides, indies are always running around like chickens with their heads cut off over any kind of change or perceived change, so if it weren't for this, something else will get the blame for slow sales. ;-)


I think you are making a big assumption about the traditional publishers jumping on this. I fully expect them to either (a) not do it at all or (b) choose the highest price $2.99 as the Matchbook price. Self-published authors, on the other hand I think are going to go "all in" and do the free thing. So I think there will be more of them participating.

The real question...how is a "matched ebook" counted in the sales rank ;-)


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

JRTomlin said:


> Great explanation of the concept. May I steal it for my blog?


Enjoy, my dear. Enjoy.


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## Michael_J_Sullivan (Aug 3, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> People, I think, expect paperbacks to not be more than about $7 or $8. Maybe $10 if they're the larger format sort.
> 
> $14 is more like a hardcover price and there better be a darn good reason to spend that. A "Free ebook" with it may not be one. Why wouldn't I rather spend just $3 or $4 on the ebook only.


Orbit has only published me in the larger trade paperback size and they always run $14.99 - $16.00 then Amazon discounts them to $9.50 - $12.50. This is the price I usually find for that format from other publishing houses too. The mass market paperback are always $7.99 or $8.99 but there is no easy way for a self-pubber to get a mmpb made.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

David Wisehart said:


> For me, the question is, "Why charge a reader twice for the same book?"


Again, DON'T THINK SMALL! You aren't taking advantage of readers. You are offering them the convenience of having multiple formats of the same product so they can read as they wish. If someone actually wants both formats, they won't mind at all paying a discounted rate for it. If they don't want both formats, making it free won't mean anything to them.

I paid to see _The Avengers_ in the movie theatre...er...twice (sigh...OK...I confess..three times). Nobody gave me a free download of the movie because of it. I paid for each time I went to the theatre, and I paid for the DVD. I didn't think twice about it. I've bought print books and then turned around later and bought the ebook when it came out. Different formats serve different purposes. People pay $1.49 to buy a ringtone of their favorite song. A RINGTONE. Are we really taking advantage of readers here?



> It seems to me the going price for brand new release hardcovers is not more than $16 or so. Oh the "list" may be $24 or $25, but they're always discounted.


And if authors would price their print books at proper list prices, booksellers would discount them as well. Amazon routinely places my books on sale at 10-20% off the list, because I price my trade paperbacks the same as others. When authors set their retail prices too low, they don't leave any room for retsailers to discount. Add enough cushion, and not only will they discount your book but you still get paid the same royalty regardless. Authors leave money on the table when they artifically deflate their list prices trying to compete with the sale prices of other books. (IAnd before someone says it, yes I know YA is a completely different animal when it comes to retail pricing but it is the exception, not the rule)


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Michael_J_Sullivan said:


> The real question...how is a "matched ebook" counted in the sales rank ;-)


That's something I was wondering about as well. Chances are, we'll never know for sure. Even when we think we have it figured out, Amazon will mix it up again so the guessing game can begin anew.

I just hope they're going to give us some consideration in the rankings even if the title is bundled along for free.


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## tensen (May 17, 2011)

I worry about lost sales as the visibility of the products drops for a few days, since we have to edit the book to set the new flag. I'm always hesitant to touch any book that is selling well.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Again, DON'T THINK SMALL! You aren't taking advantage of readers. You are offering them the convenience of having multiple formats of the same product so they can read as they wish. If someone actually wants both formats, they won't mind at all paying a discounted rate for it. If they don't want both formats, making it free won't mean anything to them.
> 
> I paid to see _The Avengers_ in the movie theatre...er...twice (sigh...OK...I confess..three times). Nobody gave me a free download of the movie because of it. I paid for each time I went to the theatre, and I paid for the DVD. I didn't think twice about it. I've bought print books and then turned around later and bought the ebook when it came out. Different formats serve different purposes. People pay $1.49 to buy a ringtone of their favorite song. A RINGTONE. Are we really taking advantage of readers here?
> 
> And if authors would price their print books at proper list prices, booksellers would discount them as well. Amazon routinely places my books on sale at 10-20% off the list, because I price my trade paperbacks the same as others. When authors set their retail prices too low, they don't leave any room for retsailers to discount. Add enough cushion, and not only will they discount your book but you still get paid the same royalty regardless. Authors leave money on the table when they artifically deflate their list prices trying to compete with the sale prices of other books. (IAnd before someone says it, yes I know YA is a completely different animal when it comes to retail pricing but it is the exception, not the rule)


Is that why my print books always seem to be on sale? Three of mine are at $12.99, while the one that is half as long is $7.99. I never knew why they seemed to be permanently only sale. Even my $7.99 one (which only went live about five days ago) is marked down a little bit.


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## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

tensen said:


> I worry about lost sales as the visibility of the products drops for a few days, since we have to edit the book to set the new flag.


How does that affect visibility? My books didn't gone offline as a result of enabling this.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

tensen said:


> I worry about lost sales as the visibility of the products drops for a few days, since we have to edit the book to set the new flag. I'm always hesitant to touch any book that is selling well.


Unless you change the actual files, your book remains available for sale during any non-file updates (such as price changes or description changes).


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## tensen (May 17, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Unless you change the actual files, your book remains available for sale during any non-file updates (such as price changes or description changes).


In the past it has always seemed like it effected the algorithm every time it switched to "Publishing." Maybe coincidental timing of sales numbers going down.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Michael_J_Sullivan said:


> I think you are making a big assumption about the traditional publishers jumping on this. I fully expect them to either (a) not do it at all or (b) choose the highest price $2.99 as the Matchbook price. Self-published authors, on the other hand I think are going to go "all in" and do the free thing. So I think there will be more of them participating.
> 
> The real question...how is a "matched ebook" counted in the sales rank ;-)


Will we all do the "free thing"? Maybe. At the moment I don't plan to. Of course, I might change my mind but I think that offering it at 50% just looks better, like you are offering something with more value.

If I later see free getting fantastic results I might change my mind, but I feel pretty done with free.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

JRTomlin said:


> Will we all do the "free thing"? Maybe. At the moment I don't plan to. Of course, I might change my mind but I think that offering it at 50% just looks better, like you are offering something with more value.
> 
> If I later see free getting fantastic results I might change my mind, but I feel pretty done with free.


YMMV. If you have multiple books, you could try both strategies and see how it works for you. I've seen compelling arguments both ways here. Only time and testing will say which, if any, of these approaches will work at all.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

Just sharing some very minor feedback.

Last night when I sent out my newsletter, I included a big announcement about this program and how Bards and Sages will be participating in it. Specifically I played up to points:

First, if you already bought the print book, you'll be able to buy the ebook at the special price in the future. This is a great opportunity for people looking to transition their physical libraries to digital format, or who lost or gave away their physical books and now want to reread them again. 

Second, if you buy a print book as a gift for someone else, you can get the ebook for yourself
What we are doing is this: 

All ebooks normally priced between $2.99-$5.99 will be available for only 99 cents when someone buys the print book.

All ebooks normally priced at 99 cents will be made available for free when someone buys the print book.

I just checked my email and I have a dozen questions from readers about the program. NOBODY complained about add on price for digital. In fact, several people were asking if they would be able to buy MULTIPLE COPIES at the discounted price for gifting! (I don’t know…I need to send an email to Amazon to find out!).  Others were asking if this will be available to customers in the UK and elsewhere (unfortunately, Amazon DID respond to this email and said that at this time it is only for Amazon.com purchases *sob*) .

The initial feedback has been very receptive to this. I really hope people plan well and don’t throw away this opportunity.  Don’t assume you MUST go free with everything! People who are interested in both print and digital are willing to pay if you show them real value.  Use this as a means of building enhanced value in your product line. Sell it as a benefit to readers who are interested in multiple formats.  People with no interest in having multiple formats aren’t your target market, so there is nothing to gain by going free automatically just to appease them. 

Your target demographic here are people transitioning libraries to digital format, people who are replacing damaged or lost physical books, people who are gifting physical books, and people who like the convenience of multiple formats. These are your target groups. These are the people you think about when building a game plan. Anyone else is gravy.


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## Brenda Coulter (Aug 18, 2012)

Amazon says their customers have been suggesting this kind of deal for years, but I don't get it. Sure, I can see reading an e-book, liking it, and then buying a paper copy for your keeper shelf, or to give as a gift. But I don't understand why anybody would buy and enjoy a printed book and then want to acquire the e-book.

My indie e-book generally sells pretty well (and I just got my 200th FIVE-STAR review!) but the print edition sells only five or six copies a month. I'm keeping the price as low as possible, making just over a buck on each softcover sale via Amazon, which is not even a third of what I get for an e-book. But I'd love to get more print copies out there, even if it means less money for me. I'm confused, though. Why would getting my e-book cheaply or even for free encourage more people to buy the softcover at $10.99 plus shipping?

Yes, I've seen the "buy a softcover for a gift and get an e-book for yourself" promo suggestion, and it's a good idea. But I don't think even that will move many books, except for titles that are already selling extremely well. I wish somebody here would answer this question: If you own a print copy of a book, why would you want a digital copy? Because you're planning to read it again? Because you're afraid your home library will get blown away by a tornado?  Seriously, I can't think of a single print book currently on my shelves that I "need" to put on my Kindle. 

I've joined the program and set my price to FREE in the hope of selling a few more print copies. But really, I don't think it'll work.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

Brenda Coulter said:


> Amazon says their customers have been suggesting this kind of deal for years, but I don't get it. Sure, I can see reading an e-book, liking it, and then buying a paper copy for your keeper shelf, or to give as a gift. But I don't understand why anybody would buy and enjoy a printed book and then want to acquire the e-book.


1. You are seriously underestimating the number of people who are trying to move their print libraries to digital. Think about it. Why did people who had hundreds of albums eventually start buying CDs, and why did people with CDs buy MP3s? People will move their physical libraries to digital to save space, to replace old books, or to downsize, or to just make their collections portable. Unlike music and DVDs, there has never been an easy way for the average consumer to digitize their book collection.

2. You are underestimating the number of "split" households where one person reads print and the other is digital, particularly in multi-generational homes. The kids are all reading digital books, but the parents and grandparents still want print. This gives everyone what they want (particularly in households with multiple registered Kindles). Mom can buy the print for herself, and then let the kids read on the Kindle.

3. You are underestimating the "just because..." factor. Think about the number of times you walked into a store for one specific thing, and walked out with a dozen things you hadn't planned for, didn't actually want, and really didn't need but "it was a good deal." People who wouldn't think to buy the digital before may say "Hmmm, for only a buck, I can get a digital backup of this book."

if you just sign up and don't do anything with it, it will fail. It will be a self-fullfilling prophesy. You have to develop an actual plan for this and be prepared to sell the idea. If you just trip-trap across the internet saying "I don't get it, but I signed up anyway" All of your potential customers will read that and say "Hmmm, maybe she's right."


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Brenda Coulter said:


> Yes, I've seen the "buy a softcover for a gift and get an e-book for yourself" promo suggestion, and it's a good idea. But I don't think even that will move many books, except for titles that are already selling extremely well. I wish somebody here would answer this question: If you own a print copy of a book, why would you want a digital copy? Because you're planning to read it again? Because you're afraid your home library will get blown away by a tornado?  Seriously, I can't think of a single print book currently on my shelves that I "need" to put on my Kindle.
> 
> I've joined the program and set my price to FREE in the hope of selling a few more print copies. But really, I don't think it'll work.


Here's a scenario for you, Brenda. I know a couple where one will only read print books and the other will only read ebooks. Additionally, she is a very fast reader and he isn't so print book sharing has always been difficult for them. I'm sure they're not the only people in the world that feel that way. This would be perfect for them.

If I hadn't already replaced a lot of my print books with digital, as a consumer, I'd be all over this program so I could clear out my shelves. I reread books constantly.

Who knows what will work? All we can do is try.


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## KOwrites (May 23, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> 1. You are seriously underestimating the number of people who are trying to move their print libraries to digital. Think about it. Why did people who had hundreds of albums eventually start buying CDs, and why did people with CDs buy MP3s? People will move their physical libraries to digital to save space, to replace old books, or to downsize, or to just make their collections portable. Unlike music and DVDs, there has never been an easy way for the average consumer to digitize their book collection.
> 
> 2. You are underestimating the number of "split" households where one person reads print and the other is digital, particularly in multi-generational homes. The kids are all reading digital books, but the parents and grandparents still want print. This gives everyone what they want (particularly in households with multiple registered Kindles). Mom can buy the print for herself, and then let the kids read on the Kindle.
> 
> ...


^^^^
This!

I was just too put out to respond. Thank you, Julie, for putting it together for everyone. And my two cents, why would you set your eBook to free? Don't play into that game. I'm telling you that WE WRITERS do not want to set the precedent in a reader's mind that eBooks should be "free" in conjunction with the purchase of a paperback/hardback. *Don't. Do. It. *

Would you set your audio book to free if they bought your print book? 
Would you set your hardback cover to free if they bought your audiobook?
*No!*
So why would you set your eBook to free in this way? You want to create "value" NOT discount your sole offering of an eBook (without print) to your fan base where you have had the majority of your success. 
Capiche?


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Free can be a powerful marketing tool. 

^ That's all the energy I have for that convo this morning.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

Monique said:


> Free can be a powerful marketing tool.


But it should not be your only marketing tool, which I think is the larger issue.

Free is one tool out of many. You can't build a house by only using a hammer. You can't build a car by only using a screwdriver. You can't craft a quilt with a just a pair of fabric scissors. You need to use all the tools available and not rely solely on one.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> But it should not be your only marketing tool, which I think is the larger issue.
> 
> Free is one tool out of many. You can't build a house by only using a hammer. You can't build a car by only using a screwdriver. You can't craft a quilt with a just a pair of fabric scissors. You need to use all the tools available and not rely solely on one.


No, but did anyone say it should be the only tool?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Monique said:


> No, but did anyone say it should be the only tool?


There have been some responses here that have implied that their intention is to make all their ebook edition FREE with purchase of paper. Which is probably not a sustainable strategy.

Julie, if you get the answer to the 'mulitple copies' question, I'd love to hear it. I'm going to guess it's a 'No', because it seems like the ebook purchase will be tied to a specific Amazon account and, of course, you can only buy one copy of any particular ebook file.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> There have been some responses here that have implied that their intention is to make all their ebook edition FREE with purchase of paper. Which is probably not a sustainable strategy.


That depends on their pricing and margins, and assumes that's the only thing they're doing to sell books.


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## Brenda Coulter (Aug 18, 2012)

Julie and Gertie, your points are well taken. Thank you for taking the time to educate me.

Katherine, I'm sorry that you were "too put out to respond."  I believe I asked a simple question in a polite manner. If you think I'm an idiot, okay. But I'm going to answer your comments discouraging me from offering my own work for free:

I see an awful lot of SHOULDS and SHOULD NOTS on this board, and I'd like to suggest that we cut each other some slack. What works for one won't necessarily work for everyone else. Last year I offered my indy e-book for free, and three very wonderful things happened. First, I got TONS of reviews--roughly one hundred in a two-week period. Second, my KDP checks for the two months following that promotion were $1,400 and $1,200, which was a very nice little bump for an obscure, four-month-old inspirational romance novel that until that time had not earned over $350 in a single month. And third, the sales of my other four (traditionally published) e-books rose quite a bit. (People who read the freebie went on to buy my other novels.) Months after that free promo, my royalty check from Harlequin included about four times the amount I was used to seeing for electronic sales on my other four books.

What you and some others call "devaluing" books by giving them away is what I and some others call "long-term marketing strategy." I figure that increasing my readership by offering freebies will eventually expand my (paying) customer base. But even if it doesn't, whose business is that but mine?


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## KOwrites (May 23, 2011)

Brenda Coulter said:


> Julie and Gertie, your points are well taken. Thank you for taking the time to educate me.
> 
> Katherine, I'm sorry that you were "too put out to respond." I believe I asked a simple question in a polite manner. If you think I'm an idiot, okay. But I'm going to answer your comments discouraging me from offering my own work for free:
> 
> ...


I had this great response and Firefox closed unexpectedly for the twelfth time today. My put out comment was not directed at you. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. It was directed at a few posters a page or two back that swoop in and as Ann tried to point out as to what I was referencing. (Thank you, Ann.)

Julie is spot-on with everything else. I am a writer and a reader. I buy hardback of my favorite books although less of them now, but I have Gone Girl in every flavor, for example. Why? Because I love the portability of my Kindle and iPad for taking my books with me wherever I go but I still like the print copy on my book shelves. There are many collectors/bloggers/readers out there like me. I'll be interested in what is available for eBooks to add to my collection.

As to the free...what you're talking about is viable in relation to an overall strategy for free but what I am specifically alarmed about is those authors considering free in relation to the selling of their hardback book. I don't like that. It sets a precedent that devalues the eBook strategy authors have going when that is what we are mostly focused upon selling here. Many of us had stellar results with KDP Select and Free in 2012. I did, too, in March and May of 2012. I did exit KDP Select in December 2012 though.

Okay, I think Ann addressed what I was trying to get at. I'm stopping before Firefox crashes on me again.

Best,

Katherine Owen


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

As we sell more paperbacks on Amazon, we will soon be competing against ourselves with "used" copies appearing on Amazon and probably priced below even the digital book.
I would rather sell fewer paperbacks to dry up the "used" competition.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Brenda Coulter said:


> But I don't understand why anybody would buy and enjoy a printed book and then want to acquire the e-book.


I can give you a concrete example. Last night when I told my wife about this new program (and once she realized I was telling her something she might be interested in, instead of the usual "drivel" I inform her of, like Microsoft buying Nokia, for ex.), she held up her 1,000 page paperback with its small type and said she would love to have the option of getting that book for her Kindle at a discount.

In this case, it's about convenience and not having to keep a 1,000 page monster paperback propped up.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

Okey Dokey said:


> As we sell more paperbacks on Amazon, we will soon be competing against ourselves with "used" copies appearing on Amazon and probably priced below even the digital book.
> I would rather sell fewer paperbacks to dry up the "used" competition.


If I ever sell so many print books that my popularity can support a used book market, I don't think I will be too worried.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> 1. You are seriously underestimating the number of people who are trying to move their print libraries to digital. Think about it. Why did people who had hundreds of albums eventually start buying CDs, and why did people with CDs buy MP3s? People will move their physical libraries to digital to save space, to replace old books, or to downsize, or to just make their collections portable. Unlike music and DVDs, there has never been an easy way for the average consumer to digitize their book collection.
> 
> _2. You are underestimating the number of "split" households where one person reads print and the other is digital, particularly in multi-generational homes. The kids are all reading digital books, but the parents and grandparents still want print. This gives everyone what they want (particularly in households with multiple registered Kindles). Mom can buy the print for herself, and then let the kids read on the Kindle.
> _
> ...


It really can be complicated. Look at my own family which isn't that unusual. For fiction, I read nothing but e-books. My daughter (a tech manager in a large corporation) also reads nothing but e-books. My son-in-law (a tech manager in an even larger corporation) reads only print books--go figure. My granddaughter, 10 years old and a voracious reader (good lord, the child has read all of Henry Potter AND all of Percy Jackson), reads both print and e-books.

I do have to point out that you can't assume that only younger people read e-books; in fact, Amazon says they're skewed toward older readers. 

I still have hundreds of print books on my shelves although I gave many away a few years ago. But why might I want a digital version of those still on my shelves? Because my copy of _A Game of Thrones_ just fell apart. Because I like to have something to read on my Kindle or phone when I'm away from the house and don't always want to buy something new. Because I love certain books and want to re-read them but prefer reading fiction on my Kindle.

There can be a myriad of reason, but you can bet Amazon knows if people are asking for it.


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## Brenda Coulter (Aug 18, 2012)

Katherine Owen said:


> I had this great response and Firefox closed unexpectedly for the twelfth time today. My put out comment was not directed at you. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. It was directed at a few posters a page or two back that swoop in and as Ann tried to point out as to what I was referencing.


Oh, good. No, you didn't hurt my feelings. I did read the entire thread before posting, but it wasn't clear to me that you were talking about another post. Sorry.



> what I am specifically alarmed about is those authors considering free in relation to the selling of their hardback book. I don't like that. It sets a precedent that devalues the eBook strategy authors have going when that is what we are mostly focused upon selling here.


Well, that's the thing. There is as yet no Grand Unified Marketing Strategy  to which all indie authors subscribe. I'm glad that we can come here to trade opinions and offer advice and encouragement to each other, but I'm also glad that in the end, each of us is free to go her own way.

All the best to you. Oh, and watch out for that pesky Firefox. He bites!


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Brenda Coulter said:


> Oh, good. No, you didn't hurt my feelings. I did read the entire thread before posting, but it wasn't clear to me that you were talking about another post. Sorry.
> 
> Well, that's the thing. There is as yet no Grand Unified Marketing Strategy  to which all indie authors subscribe. I'm glad that we can come here to trade opinions and offer advice and encouragement to each other, but I'm also glad that in the end, each of us is free to go her own way.
> 
> All the best to you. Oh, and watch out for that pesky Firefox. He bites!


I am sooo looking forward to a whole month to argue these things back and forth before we even have the opportunity to try anything out. Such fun.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Brenda Coulter said:


> Amazon says their customers have been suggesting this kind of deal for years, but I don't get it. Sure, I can see reading an e-book, liking it, and then buying a paper copy for your keeper shelf, or to give as a gift. But I don't understand why anybody would buy and enjoy a printed book and then want to acquire the e-book.


I've done it twice now. Once, I bought the hardcover, loved it and 'loaned' it to my brother-in-law about an hour after I finished reading it, which was about 30 hours after it arrived in my mail. I never saw the book again.  When the ebook finally came down to $9.99 from about $14.99, I bought it to re-read. The other time, it was a favorite book that I have read several times over the last 15 years, but I have no idea what happened to my print copy. Maybe I loaned it? Anyway, about six months ago, it was a Kindle Daily Deal at $1.99. I snatched it up and have read it again. 

I already have my eye on a couple of hardcovers I bought about four years ago that I loaned to my dad. He ended up donating them to a used bookstore near our houses. I came across them on the shelf, looked inside out of curiosity to see what they were selling for and saw my dad's signature in them! He always signs and dates books he's read. The bookstore was asking $7 apiece for them! Another .


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## Pamela (Oct 6, 2010)

This may be a little off topic, but is everyone else still in "publishing" on KDP that went into the Match program?

I'm having a little panic because I'm supposed to change the price on one of my books for a promo tomorrow, and it's been in "publishing" for hours and I can't change the price.

Since the Match program doesn't go into effect until October I never expected this.  Maybe everything stalled when so many went into the program.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Several of mine are stuck publishing, Pamela. I do think it's just system overload. Hopefully, they'll get back on track soon and you can make your price change.


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## Jay Allan (Aug 20, 2012)

I'm pretty inclined to go with free on this program.  For reference, I have never had a book free on Amazon or any retailer, so free has never been part of my marketing strategy.  I kind of think when someone buys a book they are buying the story.  If they want it in print or ebook or both, then why not?  I have no incremental cost, and they already paid me for the book.

I can see a concern that it might get widely gamed, but that's not going to work anyway.  Who would buy a $15 print book just to scam a $5 ebook for someone else?

I think giving up the minimal revenue stream is a reasonable trade for a good relationship with readers


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Pamela said:


> This may be a little off topic, but is everyone else still in "publishing" on KDP that went into the Match program?
> 
> I'm having a little panic because I'm supposed to change the price on one of my books for a promo tomorrow, and it's been in "publishing" for hours and I can't change the price.
> 
> Since the Match program doesn't go into effect until October I never expected this. Maybe everything stalled when so many went into the program.


Mine, too. Hope they let you in soon.

I have all my HP books and all my Susan Howatch books in hard cover and paperback. I also have them in ebook. The _Outlander _series is all hard cover, but I gave them to my daughter when they became available as ebooks.

Did I mention I have LP's/cassette tape/CD's of some of my favorite albums? Just realized I have no MP3s yet. However will I survive?

See, there are lots of nutsy people like me that have to have stuff in more than one format, right?


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## Eric Rasbold (Aug 27, 2013)

Hmmm.

Is *THIS* why the servers are all jammed up 

I am going to have to let this idea burn in and play out before I fool with it. I'll check back for some results from you guys in a few weeks. Hope it works out, but I also agree with some of the commentary here in that it seems unlikely that the average Joe would want the print and the ebook. But hey, there are all kinds, right? I would imagine the thought od being able to buy at 50% may compel some to order both, but certainly not at the same time....then they would have to remember that it was eligible in the first place, IF they liked the book, etc. On and on...


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Eric Rasbold said:


> Hmmm.
> 
> Is *THIS* why the servers are all jammed up
> 
> I am going to have to let this idea burn in and play out before I fool with it. I'll check back for some results from you guys in a few weeks. Hope it works out, but I also agree with some of the commentary here in that it seems unlikely that the average Joe would want the print and the ebook. But hey, there are all kinds, right? I would imagine the thought od being able to buy at 50% may compel some to order both, but certainly not at the same time....then they would have to remember that it was eligible in the first place, IF they liked the book, etc. On and on...


Actually I suspect ordering them at the same time will be the most common--but we'll all have to wait and see who's right.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Pamela said:


> This may be a little off topic, but is everyone else still in "publishing" on KDP that went into the Match program?
> 
> I'm having a little panic because I'm supposed to change the price on one of my books for a promo tomorrow, and it's been in "publishing" for hours and I can't change the price.
> 
> Since the Match program doesn't go into effect until October I never expected this. Maybe everything stalled when so many went into the program.


Yep, still in publishing after 24 hours which I've never had happen before. Maybe they didn't expect everyone to run right out and sight up?


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Three of the four I submitted published after ~24 hours. The last is still in limbo.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

All seven of mine are still in publishing but I enrolled them pretty late last night. Hopefully, they'll be back up by tomorrow morning.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

All 30 something of mine are live and I didn't enroll them until this morning. Amazother always liked me best.


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## Pamela (Oct 6, 2010)

I'm blaming you Jeff.  30 books!

Thanks to Monique and everyone else for letting me know I'm not the only one in limbo.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Jeff said:


> All 30 something of mine are live and I didn't enroll them until this morning. Amazother always liked me best.


Age before beauty!


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

Katherine Owen said:


> My put out comment was not directed at you. [...] It was directed at a few posters a page or two back that swoop in and as Ann tried to point out as to what I was referencing.


And that was about authors like me who stated, in recent thread pages, an intent to go free with the e-book bundle, yes? I'm not sure what the "swoop" reference is about, but I think there is a lot to say for the points that what works for one may not work for another and that it's nobody's business but mine if my marketing (or other) ideas don't work out in my favor.

On the other hand, Julie has made some valid points about how this can be perceived by buyers, so I'm rethinking whether or not the e-book edition of one of my books will be free for print edition buyers. I guess I have a few weeks to ponder that decision.

I realize this thread has a lot of content, but those who say they can't understand why someone would want to get an e-book for a print book they already own, just look back in the thread. Many scenarios have already been described. (To whoever it was who lost books in a storm -- I'm too lazy to look at the moment -- you have my sincere condolences!)


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## H. S. St. Ours (Mar 24, 2012)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> Three of the four I submitted published after ~24 hours. The last is still in limbo.


Same here. But I guess that's the price you pay for early adopting. The program doesn't even start until October, and yet I've changed my prices already.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Crenel said:


> I realize this thread has a lot of content, but those who say they can't understand why someone would want to get an e-book for a print book they already own, just look back in the thread. Many scenarios have already been described. (To whoever it was who lost books in a storm -- I'm too lazy to look at the moment -- you have my sincere condolences!)


I lost hundreds of books when a warehouse got flooded. I don't think I've ever replaced them all.

Then there was the time I was moving and stored some things in a friends garage. Tons of books stolen then.

Oh, the fragility of paper books.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

I like the promotional value of saying, "Buy a print book for a gift and get an ebook for yourself for ONLY $x.xx." This has to be a winner.

I also like the idea of offering a bargain ebook that readers can add to their own libraries by paying ONLY $x.xx more. They were going to buy a paperback and the deal convinced them to spend a little bit more for the bonus book. As the writer, I get the royalty from the paperback sale and a small bonus royalty from the add-on.

This is not paying for the same book twice. This is paying for a paperback and getting an ebook at a substantial discount. Consumers love deals. They will participate, and we will have a bigger royalty payment at the end of the month. If the ebook bonus is free, we get nothing extra. Why shouldn't we? The reader is getting something extra.


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## KOwrites (May 23, 2011)

Crenel said:


> And that was about authors like me who stated, in recent thread pages, an intent to go free with the e-book bundle, yes? I'm not sure what the "swoop" reference is about, but I think there is a lot to say for the points that what works for one may not work for another and that it's nobody's business but mine if my marketing (or other) ideas don't work out in my favor.
> 
> On the other hand, Julie has made some valid points about how this can be perceived by buyers, so I'm rethinking whether or not the e-book edition of one of my books will be free for print edition buyers. I guess I have a few weeks to ponder that decision.


Not you.

Julie has the best ideas.


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

Sapphire said:


> Someone earlier in the thread compared this to "super-sizing" a fast food meal. I think that's a great comparison...something extra for only ninety-nine cents. I won't be going free. I don't believe in free. Anyone that would be interested in owning both print and e-book is perfectly willing to pay something. Let's not keep teaching the public to expect free. We're worth more than that!


I often read about authors training the public or teaching the public about book prices. We might ask how well that works with other prices in the economy. They keep changing. That teaching stuff doesnt seem to work. Why expect it to work for books? The public isnt that dumb.

B


> ut I don't understand why anybody would buy and enjoy a printed book and then want to acquire the e-book.


Well, Im anybody, and Ill pay up for the eBook. I have lots of paper books on the shelves that I havent read. I find it worth the $2 or $3 to have the option of reading on eReader or paper. If I were somebody, it might be a different story.


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## Skate (Jan 23, 2011)

Thirty-six hours after signing up - still waiting for my two books to 'publish'.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

40 hours stuck in "Publishing" and counting...


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## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

I have read this thread with great interest. I probably missed this thought expressed in the 8 pages previous, but are you all going to increase your ebook retail price so that your matchbook price is still eligable for the 70% royalty?

My books are currently $4.99 but to use matchbook and get 70% the price must increase to $5.99 

Do you guys think matchbook will have the side effect of standardising prices upward by multiplying your chosen matchbook price by 2 for your ebook's retail price?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> I lost hundreds of books when a warehouse got flooded. I don't think I've ever replaced them all.
> 
> Then there was the time I was moving and stored some things in a friends garage. Tons of books stolen then.
> 
> Oh, the fragility of paper books.


Here's the cool thing: Any of those you had purchased from Amazon, you can now (well, when the program starts) replace with e-editions at a discount. That's pretty amazing, really.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

markecooper said:


> I have read this thread with great interest. I probably missed this thought expressed in the 8 pages previous, but are you all going to increase your ebook retail price so that your matchbook price is still eligable for the 70% royalty?
> 
> My books are currently $4.99 but to use matchbook and get 70% the price must increase to $5.99
> 
> Do you guys think matchbook will have the side effect of standardising prices upward by multiplying your chosen matchbook price by 2 for your ebook's retail price?


If I understand it correctly, you'll still get 70% but of the discounted price. When you sign up, it says what your royalty will be. On a 2.99 book discounted to .99, you get .64.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

One book of seven went back to live this morning.


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2013)

markecooper said:


> I have read this thread with great interest. I probably missed this thought expressed in the 8 pages previous, but are you all going to increase your ebook retail price so that your matchbook price is still eligable for the 70% royalty?
> 
> My books are currently $4.99 but to use matchbook and get 70% the price must increase to $5.99
> 
> Do you guys think matchbook will have the side effect of standardising prices upward by multiplying your chosen matchbook price by 2 for your ebook's retail price?


Your royalty will be calculated on your LIST price, not the discounted price. I am getting 70% on all of the titles I discounted to 99 cents because those titles are regularly $2.99-$5.99. So even if the discounted price is below the normal $2.99 cutoff, you still get paid the normal rate.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Your royalty will be calculated on your LIST price, not the discounted price. I am getting 70% on all of the titles I discounted to 99 cents because those titles are regularly $2.99-$5.99. So even if the discounted price is below the normal $2.99 cutoff, you still get paid the normal rate.


Which has me wondering if the Deliver Fee still applies. That $0.69 royalty on a $0.99 deal might get knocked down to zero if that's the case and you have a very large book. anyone know the answer to this?


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

I decided I would go free for the launch and see what happens. I might move it to .99 post Christmas season. Just going to watch and see what happens.


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## CEMartin2 (May 26, 2012)

Signed up four books yesterday... .#2 is finally through... and the link between Kindle and CSpace versions is gone. Before, my books had Kindle and print versions on the same page. Now they're two different pages and my author name on the print versions has been changed to "Mr. C.E. Martin". WTF?!

I emailed customer support, asking for a re-linkage and to fix my name. I never sell any paperbacks, but I'd still like it to be linked correctly. 



P.S. I upped my print cost to $9.99 so I'd have close to the same royalty as the Kindle version and opted for FREE for the electronic versions.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

I've gone free for my shortest print products, less than 20,000 words each, 99 cents for everything else. I haven't produced print versions yet of my omnibus editions, but when I do I'll probably go with $2.99 in MatchBook.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Ty Johnston said:


> I've gone free for my shortest print products, less than 20,000 words each, 99 cents for everything else. I haven't produced print versions yet of my omnibus editions, but when I do I'll probably go with $2.99 in MatchBook.


I'm working on putting together boxed sets for my series and then I'll put them into print. There's a lot to do before October.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> Which has me wondering if the Deliver Fee still applies. That $0.69 royalty on a $0.99 deal might get knocked down to zero if that's the case and you have a very large book. anyone know the answer to this?


Just a heads up: Looks like the delivery fee still applies. So, if your $5.99 book is offered at $0.99 with the purchase of the pb, but has a $0.40 delivery fee, your net royalty is $0.29, not $0.69.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

As I posted in the ISBN thread, I'm hoping the matchbook program gets readers to buy my paperbacks from Amazon rather than through the vendors who Amazon mysteriously allows to undercut the price I set, right there on Amazon's own site. The difference in royalty between selling a paperback through Amazon rather than through expanded distribution would be worth setting the ebook to free. I set mine to $2.99, though, for now.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

Does anyone know if this will be available in the non-US stores? It doesn't say anywhere that it won't be, but nor does it say that it will...

(If it's US-only then it's pretty much a pointless exercise as far as I'm concerned)


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2013)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> Just a heads up: Looks like the delivery fee still applies. So, if your $5.99 book is offered at $0.99 with the purchase of the pb, but has a $0.40 delivery fee, your net royalty is $0.29, not $0.69.


My average delivery fee for a full length ebook is around 6 cents. If you have a 40 cent delivery fee, then the book is either very graphic intensive or there is something wrong with the formatting. If you have a graphic intensive book, I would assume 99 cents is not a good price point even as an add-on because of the extra work involved in formatting a graphic heavy kindle file.


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2013)

Tim_A said:


> Does anyone know if this will be available in the non-US stores? It doesn't say anywhere that it won't be, but nor does it say that it will...
> 
> (If it's US-only then it's pretty much a pointless exercise as far as I'm concerned)


I asked this question and Amazon said at this time it is only Amazon.com. My impression is that it will roll out to the other stores in time.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

Ok thanks Julie.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> My average delivery fee for a full length ebook is around 6 cents. If you have a 40 cent delivery fee, then the book is either very graphic intensive or there is something wrong with the formatting. If you have a graphic intensive book, I would assume 99 cents is not a good price point even as an add-on because of the extra work involved in formatting a graphic heavy kindle file.


That was purely an example. My largest book at the moment, the 8-episode half million-word omnibus, is 27 cents. But I've been planning on using Matchbook for an illustrated version of _Get The F**k to Work_, which will be graphic heavy.


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## jdrew (Jul 27, 2012)

CEMartin2 said:


> Signed up four books yesterday... .#2 is finally through... and the link between Kindle and CSpace versions is gone. Before, my books had Kindle and print versions on the same page. Now they're two different pages and my author name on the print versions has been changed to "Mr. C.E. Martin". WTF?!
> 
> I emailed customer support, asking for a re-linkage and to fix my name. I never sell any paperbacks, but I'd still like it to be linked correctly.
> 
> P.S. I upped my print cost to $9.99 so I'd have close to the same royalty as the Kindle version and opted for FREE for the electronic versions.


Anything to report back on this? I am waiting to see if this and other such issues crop up before deciding to go with MatchBook or not. Let us know.


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## CEMartin2 (May 26, 2012)

jdrew said:


> Anything to report back on this? I am waiting to see if this and other such issues crop up before deciding to go with MatchBook or not. Let us know.


Nope, still no changes made. Not linked to ebook versions and still has author name wrong.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Just to let everyone know, Bookbub confirmed to me that having a novel in Matchbook will not affect eligibility for their promotions.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

All seven of mine are live now. 

All except one are still linked between kindle/pb. The one that isn't linked never was and I never got around to contacting them about it. Now I'll make sure I do.


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

This seems like a no-brainer that will breathe some life, perhaps, back into print sales. It at least gives us a tool that previously was probably something only big publishers could do.

I went ahead and enrolled MOST LIKELY and SHADA in MatchBook, and intend to do likewise with future releases I self-publish and are long enough to do print versions of.

I mean, who would be stingy enough to say, "No, I don't want to make it cheaper for those who bought my print book to also buy my eBook," hmm?

If someone wants to buy my print book, dang right I'd like to offer them the eBook at a reduced rate.

Plus, I think this will encourage indies to raise their eBook prices from the very bottom ($0.99 or $2.99 for those who love 70%). That will make indie books stick out less.

So, we'll see if it does anything. Most Likely and Shada are probably not great tests, as both are a couple years old. But I'm about to release the audiobook for Most Likely, so you never know.

Amazon has a similar thing set up with Audible, so that if you buy the print book, you'll now get a great discount on both the MatchBook eBook, AND the Audible "professional narration."

So, for Most Likely, $9.99 gets you the print book, plus $1.99 for the eBook and probably another $1.99 or something like that for the Audible file.

But without MatchBook, one could just get the eBook of Most Likely for $4.99.

Offering the consumer both choices and incentives are always good for business. Can't wait to have a new release to give the MatchBook idea a really fair test.

How are other people doing with the program so far?


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

It doesn't go live until next month, Craig. It's a wait and see as usual.

I put my best selling novella into print just last week so I could sign it up. It's always done well but has been lagging a bit lately. This might be just the boost it needs.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

I've been working on this blog piece ever since Amazon announced the program. Let me know what you think -- and if you get a chance, please leave comments on the blog!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiana-miller/selfpublishing-on-a-shoes_1_b_3911008.html

Thanks!


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

The biggest problem with MatchBook is that I've had to raise the price of my paperback to 6.99 in order to not make too much of a loss on the matched purchases. When I had the price at $6.50, I'd make less on the purchase of a matched set than I would on the sale of just the ebook. This way, I'll make the same profit as on an ebook, but boy, I hated to raise the price, even $0.50.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

beccaprice said:


> The biggest problem with MatchBook is that I've had to raise the price of my paperback to 6.99 in order to not make too much of a loss on the matched purchases. When I had the price at $6.50, I'd make less on the purchase of a matched set than I would on the sale of just the ebook. This way, I'll make the same profit as on an ebook, but boy, I hated to raise the price, even $0.50.


Becca, FWIW, I just checked your book. Even though it's listed at $6.99, Amazon has it on sale for $5.85, although they'll still pay you the $6.99 royalty.

Also, the royalty they seem to be offering on the e-books is at 70% for the discounted e-books, rather than 35%.

I really don't think you'll lose money on the deal. Especially since you're writing kids books. I'll bet you see more income coming in.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I didn't raise my paperback prices. I'm hoping that this brings in readers who might not have bought even the ebook.


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

Sophrosyne said:


> Becca, FWIW, I just checked your book. Even though it's listed at $6.99, Amazon has it on sale for $5.85, although they'll still pay you the $6.99 royalty.
> 
> Also, the royalty they seem to be offering on the e-books is at 70% for the discounted e-books, rather than 35%.
> 
> I really don't think you'll lose money on the deal. Especially since you're writing kids books. I'll bet you see more income coming in.


Thanks for checking for me - I knew that Amazon was going to discount the raised price, but had no idea they'd discount it so much - That's a good thing... because I do sell about as many print books as I do ebooks these days.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

OMG! Anne Rice just linked to my blog on her FB page. I am so astounded and honored and just completely blown away. I love her books.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Sophrosyne said:


> OMG! Anne Rice just linked to my blog on her FB page. I am so astounded and honored and just completely blown away. I love her books.


Why are you not passed out on the floor? How exciting!


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## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> Why are you not passed out on the floor? How exciting!


She was.

But she had to wake up SOMETIME, right?


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> She was.
> 
> But she had to wake up SOMETIME, right?


I'm not sure _I _would!


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

LOL! I just got off the floor!


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## jdrew (Jul 27, 2012)

I put both of my books that have a paperback edition into MatchBook since I can't really see any negatives.  I guess we'll all find out once it goes live.


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## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

With Matchbook not available to UK readers, I had thought about giving the ebook to people buying the paperback off my site. But I'm also considering enrolling in Select, so no doubt it wouldn't be allowed.

With one hand Amazon giveth, with the other it taketh away...


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

When does Matchbook take effect? I wanted to blog about it, but looking at my amazon pages, didn't see any mention of it.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

beccaprice said:


> When does Matchbook take effect? I wanted to blog about it, but looking at my amazon pages, didn't see any mention of it.


Sometime this month.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Isn't it supposed to start today? I looked at Amazon's front page and didn't see a mention. I then went to my paperbacks, thinking there would be some kind of notification like, "Buy this book in print, and get the Kindle version for just 99 cents!" or whatever I put it at.  Nothing. Then I went to the Kindle version, thinking it would have the opposite message. "Get this book for just 99 cents if you buy the print version as well!" Nope. Did I get the date wrong?


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## dkgould (Feb 18, 2013)

Think it's still the generic "starts in October"  that's what the customer side says anyway.  Can't find a date on the kdp side either  was hoping it would be the first.  Maybe saving it for Columbus day weekend sales?


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

Amazon announced that MatchBook begins in October, but no specific date was given. They also said they will notify participating authors via email when it starts.


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> Sometime this month.


For some silly reason I was hoping that it would take effect immediately on October 1. Silly, for me, because I doubt it will have any impact on my sales.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

Crenel said:


> For some silly reason I was hoping that it would take effect immediately on October 1. Silly, for me, because I doubt it will have any impact on my sales.


Yeah, me too.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

I am hoping that it might spike sales for Christmas. It's worth a try so I intend to promote it--when it starts.


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## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

So this must be the beginning of it. I enrolled _The Billionaire's Will _and today it has two listings - the regular one with the standard ebook and paperback, and then a second page that just says --

Paperback - January 1, 0010
http://amzn.com/B00FK8K0WU

(I'm old, but not quite that old.)


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## Michael_J_Sullivan (Aug 3, 2011)

Sorry this is from a while back but I haven't been watching this thread.



Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> I just checked my email and I have a dozen questions from readers about the program. NOBODY complained about add on price for digital. In fact, several people were asking if they would be able to buy MULTIPLE COPIES at the discounted price for gifting! (I don't know&#8230;I need to send an email to Amazon to find out!). Others were asking if this will be available to customers in the UK and elsewhere (unfortunately, Amazon DID respond to this email and said that at this time it is only for Amazon.com purchases *sob*) .
> 
> The initial feedback has been very receptive to this. I really hope people plan well and don't throw away this opportunity. Don't assume you MUST go free with everything! People who are interested in both print and digital are willing to pay if you show them real value. Use this as a means of building enhanced value in your product line. Sell it as a benefit to readers who are interested in multiple formats. People with no interest in having multiple formats aren't your target market, so there is nothing to gain by going free automatically just to appease them.


For me the decision isn't a matter of "I think I could get more by going the paid route," but rather the fact that I feel that this person has already paid for THIS book and I'm just giving them an additional way to read it that costs me nothing. I would rather them have more money in their pockets to buy other books (by me or another author) than to double dip them, even if the second dip isn't as steep as the first. I think you are right that they are more than willing to pay more...but I just don't think they should have to. Just my 2 cents of course.


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## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

I am starting with free. I wouldn't do the same between audio and a second format because audio has its own, higher for me, production costs. I will probably raise it after an initial offering (say after Christmas). It will depend on my margin on the print book -- I don't want to encourage print sales over ebook sales if I make more on ebook sales. But for now, just starting with print, I definitely want to encourage print sales.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Christa Wick said:


> It will depend on my margin on the print book -- I don't want to encourage print sales over ebook sales if I make more on ebook sales. But for now, just starting with print, I definitely want to encourage print sales.


That's a point. I make more on eBooks than print and I don't want to raise the price of the print version. Also, as I understand it, print books sales don't help your rank (for your eBook)
So, really, from a business pov it doesn't make a lot of sense to drive sales to the print version.

I do agree that people shouldn't have to pay twice for the same book, in whatever format. Still...


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

I put the first book in my series as free with the print as a way to entice readers. It's also my cheapest paperback. In this case, the ebook actually has more value than the paperback because I don't think I included my bonus scenes in it since more pages equals having to charge more. When this goes live, I'll have to change my blurb to reflect that. 

My other three books are going to be at $1.99 which is about half-price. Since they give up the 70% royalty on them instead of the 35%, it's not that big of a loss on the ebook, and actually comes out the same or a little better than what I make on ebook alone.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Quiss said:


> I don't want to raise the price of the print version.


Why not?


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

I don't see this as asking anyone to pay twice for the same book. With Matchbook, I envision most readers buying an ebook for themselves and a print book for someone else. Look at it this way: If a buyer purchases three of the same article for three different people, should he be charged for only one? Matchbook at a price is a heck of a deal in that scenario.


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## TheGapBetweenMerlons (Jun 2, 2011)

They don't have much time left if they're still planning to roll it out in October. Any more word on this? I don't see any reference to it on the paperback page for either of the two books I enrolled in the program.


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## Maia Sepp Ross (May 10, 2013)

Sophrosyne said:


> OMG! Anne Rice just linked to my blog on her FB page. I am so astounded and honored and just completely blown away. I love her books.


Oh, wow! Good for you!!


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Crenel said:


> They don't have much time left if they're still planning to roll it out in October. Any more word on this? I don't see any reference to it on the paperback page for either of the two books I enrolled in the program.


I haven't heard a thing. Rather odd. Perhaps they have had more tech issues than expected.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I would think there would have been mention of it in the October newsletter, but there was nothing.


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## DJ Edwardson (Mar 15, 2013)

I just went to the following page on Amazon's site and found several books which I own are now available in Kindle format:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/ep-landing-page?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

All of the ones that showed up on my list are traditionally published books. My own book, however, which I did buy a copy of from Amazon in order to gift to a friend did not show up. I enrolled my book right after the program showed up in KDP so it's a bit disappointing not to see it there.

Has anyone else seen their books show up in the program yet?


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## DJ Edwardson (Mar 15, 2013)

Oops! Looks like a _new_ Matchbook thread has been started:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,166214.0.html

So I'll head on over there and see if I can find out what's going on.


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## Lisa J. Yarde (Jul 15, 2010)

Not yet, but that would require my books to show up in the historical fiction category. Which they don't. I did note Gemi Sasson's and J.R. Tomlin's books were available through MatchBook.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Yep! All mine are active in Matchbook! I've already updated my book pages on my blog.


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## quiet chick writes (Oct 19, 2012)

I was underwhelmed with the trad pub offerings. I know I've bought hundreds of paperbacks from Amazon over the years (before self pub was a thing), and there were only 4 of those books enrolled in MatchBook. There was one in particular I was hoping for that I own in hardcover, but I can't stand reading paper anymore.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Matchbook is now Live -- locking this thread -- check out http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,166214.0.html for conversation.


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