Kindle Matchbook Now Live – Selection is Limited

Amazon has launched their ebook bundling program, Kindle Matchbook, but darned if I can't find any of my Amazon purchases that qualify.

This program is intended to let consumers who have bought paper books from Amazon over the years flesh out their libraries with a digital copy of those same books. The catch? You have to pay for them again, albeit for reduced rates. Prices for the ebooks range from $0.99 to $2.99, with some titles free of charge, so they certainly won't break the wallet.

Kindle Matchbook Now Live - Selection is Limited Amazon eBookstore Kindle

According to the Kindle Matchbook page Amazon has around 74 thousand titles available as part of this program, including works from HarperCollins, Macmillan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Amazon Publishing, Wiley, Chronicle Books, and Marvel.

This is rather a small figure compared to the 2.2 million titles listed in the Kindle Store, or even the more than 350,000 available in the Kindle Owner's Lending Library. Also, most of the publishers have only a limited number of titles, but HarperCollins is the exception. Amazon is showing over 9 thousand HC titles in the Matchbook listings, including some titles published in the past few months. Not so coincidentally HC is also the single biggest contributor to the Oyster and Scribd ebook subscription services.

Still, 74 thousand is a major improvement on the 10,000 title catalog that Amazon promised when they announced the program last month.

How the service works is pretty simple. Simply visit the Kindle Matchbook page and click the button, and Amazon will trawl your purchase history for compatible titles. They will be listed automatically.

Or at least that is the way the system is supposed to work. I tried it and it turns out that I haven't purchased any compatible books from Amazon, much to my surprise.

Have you tried it, and did you find any good deals?

Nate Hoffelder

View posts by Nate Hoffelder
Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader: He's here to chew bubble gum and fix broken websites, and he is all out of bubble gum. He has been blogging about indie authors since 2010 while learning new tech skills at the drop of a hat. He fixes author sites, and shares what he learns on The Digital Reader's blog. In his spare time, he fosters dogs for A Forever Home, a local rescue group.

18 Comments

  1. Patrick29 October, 2013

    I found 19 books of mine that qualify, most, not surprisingly, at the 2.99 level. Many of them are still sitting on the bookshelf waiting to be read in the paper format. But there may be 2 or 3 I’d be willing to match.

    Reply
  2. Rebecca Allen29 October, 2013

    39. Nothing compelling, only a few tempting. I blogged the details. The earliest purchase that matches is March 1996; my earliest purchase from Amazon was from December 1995.

    Reply
  3. Paul29 October, 2013

    Only 1 book out of the hundreds I have bought from Amazon over the years qualified, and that was $2.99, a Terry Pratchett book (Making Money).

    Reply
  4. Juli Monroe29 October, 2013

    I found 2. A book I already own in digital format, and one I hated so much that I’d never consider buying it again. I was surprised to find that many considering how few paper books I buy.

    Reply
  5. Pamela Withrow29 October, 2013

    I found several of mine available, and a couple at .99 that I will be purchasing as soon as possible.

    Reply
  6. AlanW29 October, 2013

    I used to buy a lot of paperback books from Amazon (now I buy a lot of ebooks). 91 of them are in the program with savings typically between 50% and 75% of the ebook price. I lost all my books in hurricane Katrina so I may end up buying quite a few of these. So far as I can tell, if I have already bought the ebook it isn’t included in the list. Also, if I go directly to the Kindle book page I get the Kindle MatchBook price.

    Reply
  7. dave29 October, 2013

    Only 4 for me from years ago & now I only buy digital. However, I have purchased many paper editions as gifts & they don’t show. I wonder if the gift recipients will receive the matchbook offer?

    Reply
    1. Charles29 October, 2013

      One book of mine was a gift sent to someone else. It appears on my list for the kindle deal, not on theirs.

      Looks like some of my Lois McMaster Bujold and Robin Hobb titles are appearing at the $1.99 level.

      Reply
      1. dave29 October, 2013

        Charles, now I really feel slighted. I have bought quite a few books for my brother & I just checked on the last 3 which I bought in June of this year. All 3 are available in Kindle format, but none of them showed as available matches.

        Reply
        1. a29 October, 2013

          Dave, I think not all books that have Kindle format are available in this Matchbook?

          Reply
  8. ucfgrad9329 October, 2013

    I have 5 books that are part of this program. All of them are priced $2.99.

    Reply
  9. fjtorres29 October, 2013

    Three so far.
    Good ones at good enough discounts so I matched up.

    Reply
  10. Castiron29 October, 2013

    Fourteen, mostly $1.99 to $2.99. Five are books I definitely like enough to buy twice, especially at that price, and I’m thinking about a couple others. One’s a book I already own in e from another vendor.

    Reply
  11. Stephen Beale29 October, 2013

    I found one, a PHP reference guide, and it was free.

    Reply
  12. Tom Semple29 October, 2013

    This link shows a full list of titles:
    https://www.amazon.com/b/?node=7792718011

    74,199 at present.

    Reply
  13. Rob Siders1 November, 2013

    I got three matches. One I bought. One I made so I had no need (but would have purchased had I not made it). And one in which I had no interest.

    Reply
  14. Piotr8 January, 2014

    So promising and yet such a big disappointment: out of 100+ books (classical fiction, guide books, children’s literature) that I have bought since 1995 not a single one (!) appears in the program.
    I fared somewhat better with the CDs bought at Amazon. Out of also 100+ titles I can access 6.

    Reply
  15. […] bundle an ebook or other digital content with their paper books.In mnay ways it is similar to the Amazon Matchbook program, only free of Amazon’s tentacles. Also, it is platform […]

    Reply

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