This is hot and it puts Indie Authors in the catbird seat … Amazon came up with a program last month that pushes print books … the bonus is that your get the eBook at a deep discount.
Matchbook bundles the print book with the ebook. The customer they get a deeply discounted or free Kindle version of the same book. It’s similar to what Amazon’s audiobook program.
Traditional publishers are doing something that sounds like, but isn’t. Many are offering “enhanced hardcovers”—they bundle the more expensive hardcover books with an e-book, for a 25 percent greater charge. So, if you purchased a new hardcover release for $25, you could choose to pay an additional $6.25 to receive the e-book as well. If you purchase the much cheaper paperback, all you get is the paperback. Big deal—you can do better with a discount at Costco or Sam’s Club and get the ebook on a separate purchase.
With Amazon’s Matchbook program, if you purchase the book, you can have the e-book included, for any price-point between $0 to $2.99, depending on what the standard price of the e-book is, and which discount level the author has selected. For instance, if the e-book normally costs $1.25, the bundled e-book would be free. But if the e-book normally costs $6.99, you’d be able to get it for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99 or free, depending on what price the author’s selected.
Here’s a bonus… you don’t have to be exclusive with Amazon in order to enroll in the Matchbook program. And for Indie Author who only creates ebooks, Amazon’s Matchbook program is the perfect incentive to get print versions of their books up and running. Hello POD for those who don’t want to run a full run. Take advantage of this!
Judith Briles is known as The Book Shepherd, the Author and Publishing expert and the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Author U, a membership organization created for the author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the 80s. She’s the author of 31 books including Author YOU: Creating Your Book and Author Platform that has won multiple “best” in the writing/publishing categories in book award competitions. Her next book is Snappy, Sassy, Salty … Wise Words for Authors and Publishers and will be available this fall. Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for Author U Your Guide to Book Publishing on the Toginet network at: http://togi.us/authoru
Follow @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” at AuthorU and Judith Briles on Facebook. Join the Author U LinkedIn Group and the Author U Google+ community. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact her at Judith@Briles.com.
If you are looking for FREE author and book coaching … call in to Judith’s Author Monday Mornings at NOON Eastern each Monday. The number is 218-632-9854; Access Code 1239874444 … have your questions ready–there’s a full hour to ask and listen.
Was this helpful? Get more FREE tips and insight:
2 Comments on Amazon Delivers a Huge Treat with No Tricks with MatchBook Program