Kindle MatchBook Program to Offer Customers Inexpensive Kindle eBook Upgrades from Paper Books

In a move that mirrors the firm's AutoRip service for music, Amazon.com announced that it will soon offer a Kindle MatchBook program that will allow past purchasers of paper books to upgrade to Kindle eBook versions of those titles very inexpensively. The program applies to print book purchases from as far back as 1995 and will include at least 10,000 titles when it debuts next month.

I wrote about AutoRip back in January. That program provides customers who purchased CD music from the firm with free MP3 versions. It applies to new purchases as well as previous purchases dating back to 1998. As with Amazon MP3 purchases, AutoRip music does not count against the storage limit of your Amazon Cloud Player/Cloud Drive account.

Things are going to work a bit differently with Kindle MatchBook.

It's not (always) free. While someKindle eBook conversions will be free, others will cost 90 cents, $1.99 or $2.99, depending on the title.

It requires publisher participation. Not all publishers have enrolled in Kindle MatchBook, so all of the books you've bought over the years won't be eligible for this offer. Amazon hasn't announced yet which publishers are participating, but based on the list of book titles it's provided, we can see that HarperCollins, at least, is on board.

At least 10,000 titles. Amazon says that at least 10,000 books will be eligible for this program once it starts, and more will be made available over time.

See your entire history. Amazon says it will make it easy for customers to see their entire eligible purchase history so they can pick the books they wish to own on Kindle.

Author? Sign-up now. Writers and publishers can sign up to be included in Kindle MatchBook by joining the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program.

When. Kindle MatchBook will launch sometime in October.

There's not much there yet, but you can learn more at the Kindle MatchBook web site.