Kindle MatchBook

Isn't this true, Amazon or not? Hardcovers cost the customer more than paperbacks or ebooks, so the author should be getting hopefully a larger cut of the sale.

I think this program (if it has enough titles that I've bought in the past) is going to be awesome. I've never bought a Kindle because paying almost the same price for the Kindle version of a book vs. the paperback cost is ridiculous. Now with this program I will buy a Kindle so I can read my past purchases via that when I'm traveling, and my paperback versions when I'm sitting around at home.

Does anyone know if you can actually use this program with used book purchases? I've bought many books used (many times for only a few bucks including shipping), so I don't know if they would be eligible for this program or not.

    I buy my books hardcover now: more cash for the author.

(This doesn't make sense to do because there's too much friction. One way to deal with that would be to pick a random number between 0 and N and if you get 0 then send them N times that much money otherwise nothing.)

Also, selling an ebook via Amazon does not preclude you from selling it yourself or through other venues.

EDIT: Though I must say, I've always wanted a print+digital feature, and if the paperwhite is as cool as they make it look...

Yet hisincome depends on deadtrees and gasp... Hardcovers. This is exactly which should be used to generate more profit for the publisher alone... Adding value to what the author already provided.

Everything in all media business is idiotic to say the least.

I frequently buy technical books for my business now, which requires that they be hardcopy (since I haven't found any way to share ebooks legally). Having the option to also get a softcopy licence would be incredibly useful.

I'm glad you found it clear and straightforward but a glance through the comments here shows that several other people were also confused.

* Applies to past, present, and future purchases.

It is an extremely unclear landing page.

The value proposition of a physical book is that is a physical artifact with concrete ownership; you can sell it, lend it, put it on a shelf for guests to see, forget it and rediscover it a decade later, or have your grandchildren find it in your attic in 80 years.

These two value sets are not inherently exclusive; there's no reason why you can't have both. But until now, the business model has prevented acquiring both hard and digital copies of everything from being economical.

Every time I buy a book, I have to do a lot of thinking: Is is good enough I'll want to lend it? Will I need to travel with it? Is it worth getting rid of some other book on my bookshelf to make room for it? Am I going to refer to it? If so, will it be just the occasional text search, or do I need the random access of a physical book? There is often no good answer.

This actually results in me buying fewer books. A number of times I have waffled on this and then just never bought the book. It also increases resentment toward Amazon: when I buy a book and then have to re-buy it in the other format, it's really annoying.

In addition to this, I want them to add the other direction: if I buy the Kindle book, can I upgrade to a physical edition for the price difference (plus, optionally, a modest fee)?

Think no further. Because it's me. I've explicitly held off from buying a Kindle because it meant having to always choose between print and ebook.

Sometimes I want to curl up with a book. Sometimes I want the convenience of an ebook. And I never want to have to make the choice about what kind of material gets relegated to one or the other experience.

I like the way books look, feel, smell and sound. I also like the option of always having accessible my entire collection digitally.

Now it looks like my problem is (partially) solved - at least sufficiently enough that I'm now going to buy a Kindle.

Technically, nobody NEEDS a printed or digital book to begin with. Maybe you're just over-thinking this? I like print books but also have an iPad. For many obvious reasons it would be nice to have all of my books on my iPad (which is almost always with me).

I remember having both PDF and hard copies of some RPG rulebooks, and it was almost always easier to find That Specific Thing in the paper book, once I was familiar enough with everything to use the contextual clues and page differences to find my way easily. Flipping between rules for {verb} and the list of valid {option} permutations is a similar case with tech books. Control-F helps, and so do bookmarks, but some things are easier with paper.

Relatively few people own and simultaneously use multiple ereaders. Probably much more common in the future.

Luckily, it is VERY easy to crack Amazon's DRM in Calibre.

Not excusing the DRM - I'm just thankful it's easy to get around (all you need is the Kindle serial number, which is easy to find in the settings on your Kindle).

They publish the very minimum the need to publish according to GPL.

Depending on your definition of "easy-to-build", the GPLv3 addresses that (partially).

The human gets replaced by a robot doing the menial task, win for everyone (as long as the pie expands and he gets another more meaningful job).

Most new jobs are basically service jobs, so maybe now instead of handling toilet paper he'll give you a Starbucks coffee..

Beyond that, one could argue a brick and mortar provides ample oppurtunity for discovery, previewing, and discussion that amazon doesnt support as directly... and these brick and mortars are dying in part not because of true competition, but because of competition against someone who hasn't had to turn a profit for the last 15 years.

The ability to independently publish into an established marketplace is a pretty great boon for aspiring authors.