Book lovers have another device to add to their digital book collection in Amazon's Kindle Matchbook released Tuesday Time reported.
"People live in both worlds," HarperCollins chief digital officer Chantal Restivo-Alessi told Time.com. "They like that they can consume content in different forms and they have different purposes at an additional price."
The service offers cheap e-book forms of books, customers may have bought on the site during its launch in 1995. Prices vary from 99 cents to $2.99. There is no cost in some cases.
The service applies to new, and unused purchases. It launched with 70,000 titles, up considerably from 10,000, which were originally supposed to be offered when it revealed its plans prior to the Matchbook's introduction. Books with self-published titles from Kindle Direct Publishing can also be used.
According to Time, publishers, and authors whose literary works are on sale for 50 percent or fewer than the cost of its normal e-book price, and a maximum price of $2.99 in the device can withdraw their participation anytime they want.
"As a customer I might give my loyalty to Amazon because now I'll be positioned to always have access to my book," David Wogahn of e-book publishing consultant firm Sellbox told Time.
The concept of bundling or taking ten digital versions of a book to read wherever you are has also become commonplace.
"I think the idea is read anywhere," David Wilk, a publishing veteran who also owns Bootrix, a book marketing and consulting firm told Time. There are enough reasons that people want both versions that publishers will see the benefit."
There are concerns however about how independent books will do with the new technology, and how the convenience of being able to have multiple books at a time no matter a person's location.
"If [publishers] don't move to that really quickly people will be forced to take the digital version whether they really want to or not," Bill Bryson, a travel author said at a Booksellers Association conference according to Time.
