Kindle Store

Last updated
Kindle Store
Developer Amazon.com
Launch dateNovember 2007;16 years ago (2007-11)
Platform(s) Web at read.amazon.com

Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Fire OS, Kindle reader

Contents

Pricing modelVariable
Availabilityover 170 countries [1]
Website www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I15SB16/
The New Yorker digital subscription via the Kindle Store Kindle 3 by Jleon.jpg
The New Yorker digital subscription via the Kindle Store

The Kindle Store is an online e-book e-commerce store operated by Amazon as part of its retail website and can be accessed from any Amazon Kindle, Fire tablet, or Kindle mobile app. At the launch of the Kindle in November 2007, the store had more than 88,000 digital titles available in the U.S. store. [2] This number increased to more than 275,000 by late 2008 and exceeded 765,000 by August 2011. [3] In July 2014, there were over 2.7 million titles available. [4] As of March 2018, there are over six million titles available in the U.S. [5] Content from the store is purchased online and downloaded using either Wi-Fi or Amazon's Whispernet to bring the content to the user's device. [6] One of the innovations Amazon brought to the store was one-click purchasing which allowed users to quickly purchase an e-book. The Kindle Store uses a recommendation engine that looks at purchase history, browsing history, and reading activity, and then suggests material it thinks the user will like.

Features

Whispersync

Whispersync is a service provided for e-books acquired from the Kindle Store that allows customers to synchronize reading progress, bookmarks, and other information across Kindle devices and Kindle apps. [7] [8] The service debuted with the Kindle 2's release in February 2009. [9]

Lending Library

The Lending Library was added in late 2011 for Amazon Prime members with Kindle e-readers. This perk allows access to the "Kindle Owners' Lending Library" where users can borrow one e-book, choosing from over 600,000 titles as of July 2014, per calendar month from the Kindle Store for free. [10] The library was later expanded to include Fire tablets; as of February 2018, the service had over 1.7 million titles available. [11]

Kindle Unlimited

In July 2014, Amazon added the Kindle Unlimited subscription service that initially offered unlimited access to over 638,000 titles and over 7,000 audiobooks for a $9.99 monthly fee. [12] [13] As of June 2015, there were over one million titles available in Kindle Unlimited, [14] from publishers such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Lonely Planet, Simon & Schuster, Wizarding World Digital, and Workman Publishing Company. [15] As of February 2017, the U.S. version of Kindle Unlimited includes over 1.5 million titles includes over 290,000 foreign language titles. [16] Amazon pays authors by using a per-page rate and during 2016 nearly $200 million was paid to authors. In 2019, Amazon paid over $300 million to authors and publishers that provide content to Kindle Unlimited. [17]

Prime Reading

In October 2016, another perk was added for Amazon Prime members called "Prime Reading". Prime Reading gives the ability to read as much material as they wish from a selection of over 1,000 e-books, magazines, comic books, children's books, and more for no additional fee. [18]

E-book pricing

In late 2007, new releases and New York Times best sellers were being offered for approximately $11 at the store, with the first chapters of many books offered as free samples. Many titles, including some classics, are offered free of charge or at a low price, which has been stated to relate to the cost of adapting the book to the Kindle format. Magazines, newspapers, and blogs via RSS are provided for a monthly subscription fee or during a free trial period. Newspaper subscriptions cost from $1.99 to $27.99 per month; magazines charge between $1.25 and $10.99 per month, and blogs charge from $0.99 to $1.99 per month. [19] Amazon e-book sales overtook print for one day for the first time on Christmas Day 2009. [20] International users may pay different prices for e-books depending on the country listed as their home address.

In February 2017, the Association of American Publishers released data that shows the U.S. adult e-book market declined 16.9% in the first nine months of 2016 over the same time in 2015. [21] This decline is partly due to widespread e-book price increases, known as agency pricing, by major publishers that Amazon had recently allowed bringing the average e-book price from $6 to nearly $10. [22]

File formats

The Kindle Store offers e-books in Amazon's proprietary e-book formats: AZW, and, for fourth-generation and later Kindles, AZW3, also called KF8. [23] In August 2015, the "Kindle Format 10" (KFX) file format, which has enhanced typography, was added to the Store. [24] E-books available in KFX are indicated on the e-book's description page.

The Kindle Store's terms of use forbid transferring Amazon format e-books to another user or a different type of device. [25] However, Amazon allows limited lending of certain e-books. [26]

Country availability

CountryAvailability on local site Domain name Notes
United StatesYes amazon.com/kindlestore
GermanyYes amazon.de/kindlestore
United KingdomYes amazon.co.uk/kindlestore
FranceYes amazon.fr/kindlestore
JapanYes amazon.co.jp/kindlestore
ChinaYes amazon.cn/kindlestore The Chinese Kindle Store has closed on June 30, 2023, and downloadability of purchased books will stop after June 30, 2024 [27]
CanadaYes amazon.ca/kindlestore
ItalyYes amazon.it/kindlestore
SpainYes amazon.es/kindlestore
BrazilYes amazon.com.br/kindlestore
IndiaYes amazon.in/kindlestore
MexicoYes amazon.com.mx/kindlestore
NetherlandsYes amazon.nl/kindlestore
SingaporeNo amazon.sg/kindlestore [lower-alpha 1]
AustraliaYes amazon.com.au/kindlestore
TurkeyNo amazon.com.tr/kindlestore [lower-alpha 1]
United Arab EmiratesNo amazon.ae/kindlestore [lower-alpha 1]
Saudi ArabiaNo amazon.sa/kindlestore [lower-alpha 1]
SwedenNo amazon.se/kindlestore [lower-alpha 1]
PolandNo amazon.pl/kindlestore [lower-alpha 1]
EgyptNo amazon.eg/kindlestore [lower-alpha 1]
Other countriesTBA amazon.com/kindlestore eBooks can be purchased on the US website amazon.com [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">E-reader</span> Device for reading e-books

An e-reader, also called an e-book reader or e-book device, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals.

The following is a comparison of e-book formats used to create and publish e-books.

Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines and other digital media via wireless networking to the Kindle Store. The hardware platform, which Amazon subsidiary Lab126 developed, began as a single device in 2007. Currently, it comprises a range of devices, including e-readers with E Ink electronic paper displays and Kindle applications on all major computing platforms. All Kindle devices integrate with Windows and macOS file systems and Kindle Store content and, as of March 2018, the store had over six million e-books available in the United States.

Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and reading lists. They can also create their own groups of book suggestions, surveys, polls, blogs, and discussions. The website's offices are located in San Francisco.

Scribd Inc. is an American e-book and audiobook subscription service that includes one million titles. Scribd hosts 60 million documents on its open publishing platform.

OverDrive, Inc. is a worldwide digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, online magazines and streaming video titles. The company provides digital rights management and download fulfillment services for publishers, public libraries, K-12 schools, colleges, universities, corporations, legal industries, and formerly retailers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accessible publishing</span> Approach to publishing and book design

Accessible publishing is an approach to publishing and book design whereby books and other texts are made available in alternative formats designed to aid or replace the reading process. It is particularly relevant for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled.

ebook Book-length publication in digital form

An ebook, also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as "an electronic version of a printed book", some e-books exist without a printed equivalent. E-books can be read on dedicated e-reader devices, also on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnes & Noble Nook 1st Edition</span> First generation Nook e-reader developed by Barnes & Noble

The Nook 1st Edition is the first generation of the Nook e-book reader developed by American book retailer Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The device was announced in the United States in October 2009 and was released the next month. The Nook includes Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless connectivity, a six-inch E Ink display, and a separate, smaller color touchscreen that serves as the primary input device. In June 2010 Barnes & Noble announced a Wi-Fi-only model of the Nook. On June 5, 2018 Barnes and Noble announced support for logging in to BN.com and adding new content to the device will end on June 29, 2018. The second-generation Nook, the Nook Simple Touch, was announced May 25, 2011 with a June 10 release date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apple Books</span> E-book application by Apple

Apple Books is an e-book reading and store application by Apple Inc. for its iOS, iPadOS and macOS operating systems and devices. It was announced, under the name iBooks, in conjunction with the iPad on January 27, 2010, and was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch in mid-2010, as part of the iOS 4 update. Initially, iBooks was not pre-loaded onto iOS devices, but users could install it free of charge from the iTunes App Store. With the release of iOS 8, it became an integrated app. On June 10, 2013, at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Craig Federighi announced that iBooks would also be provided with OS X Mavericks in fall 2013.

Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company that sells ebooks, audiobooks, e-readers and tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten. The name Kobo is an anagram of book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ComiXology</span> Online comic distribution platform

Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology, was a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads as of September 2013. It offers a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, graphic novels, and manga across Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Windows 10, and the Internet.

Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon.com's e-book publishing platform launched in November 2007, concurrently with the first Amazon Kindle device. Originally called Digital Text Platform, the platform allows authors and publishers to publish their books to the Amazon Kindle Store.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon Fire</span> Amazon Fire tablet timeline

The Amazon Fire, formerly called the Kindle Fire, is a line of tablet computers developed by Amazon. Built with Quanta Computer, the Kindle Fire was first released in November 2011, featuring a color 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS technology and running on Fire OS, an Android-based operating system. The Kindle Fire HD followed in September 2012, and the Kindle Fire HDX in September 2013. In September 2014, when the fourth generation was introduced, the name "Kindle" was dropped. In later generations, the Fire tablet is also able to convert into a Smart speaker turning on the "Show Mode" options, which the primary interaction will be by voice command through Alexa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E-book lending</span>

E-book lending or elending is a practice in which access to already-purchased downloads or online reads of e-books is made available on a time-limited basis to others. It works around the digital rights management built into online-store-published e-books by limiting access to a purchased e-book file to the borrower, resulting in loss of access to the file by the purchaser for the duration of the borrowing period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oyster (company)</span> Commercial streaming service for digital e-books

Oyster was a commercial streaming service for digital e-books, available for Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, and NOOK HD/HD+ devices. It was also available on any web browser on a desktop or laptop computer. Oyster held over 1 million books in its library, and as of September 2015, the service was only available in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon Prime</span> Paid subscription service offered by Amazon

Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- or two-day delivery of goods, and streaming music, video, e-books, gaming, and grocery shopping services. In April 2021, Amazon reported that Prime had more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.

Kindle File Format is a proprietary e-book file format created by Amazon.com that can be downloaded and read on devices like smartphones, tablets, computers, or e-readers that have Amazon's Kindle app. E-book files in the Kindle File Format originally had the filename extension .azw; version 8 (KF8) introduced HTML5 & CSS3 features and have the .azw3 extension, and version 10 introduced a new typesetting and layout engine featuring hyphens, kerning, & ligatures and have the .kfx extension.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 eBooks can be purchased on the US site amazon.com [28]
  1. ↑ "eBook Distribution Rights". Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  2. ↑ Patel, Nilay (November 21, 2007). "Kindle Sells Out in 5.5 Hours". Engadget.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Kindle Books: Kindle Store : Nonfiction, Fiction, History, Advice & How-to, Business & Investing & More". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Kindle Books: Kindle Store : Nonfiction, Fiction, History, Advice & How-to, Business & Investing & More". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  5. ↑ Kindle Store : Kindle eBooks Archived 2016-12-27 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Kindle Wireless Reading Device - 2nd Generation". Archived from the original on June 21, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Kindle for iPhone home page". Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
  8. ↑ Kafka, Peter. "That Was Fast: Kindle, Meet the iPhone". Archived from the original on December 30, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
  9. ↑ Whispersync: The Real News Behind Kindle 2 Archived 2021-09-25 at the Wayback Machine Techhive February 2009
  10. ↑ Kindle Owners' Lending Library Archived 2016-01-28 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  11. ↑ How Do I Borrow a Book From the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library? Archived 2018-09-13 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  12. ↑ Owen, Laura Hazard (16 July 2014). "Amazon is testing "Kindle Unlimited," an ebook subscription service for $9.99/month". Gigaom . Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "About Kindle Unlimited". Amazon.com . Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "More than a million books in Kindle Unlimited". I Love My Kindle (blog). 17 June 2015. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  15. ↑ According to search results on Amazon.com on 4 August 2015.
  16. ↑ Amazon.com: Kindle Unlimited: Kindle Store Archived 2021-07-31 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  17. ↑ "Amazon Paid Out Over $300 Million in Royalties via Kindle Unlimited Last Year". The Digital Reader. February 2, 2020. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  18. ↑ A look back at 10 years of the Amazon Kindle Archived 2017-12-06 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved December 6, 2017
  19. ↑ Ricker, Thomas (November 19, 2007). "Amazon Kindle available now on Amazon". Engadget. Archived from the original on November 22, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  20. ↑ Allen, Katie (December 28, 2009). "Amazon e-book sales overtake print for first time". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on December 31, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  21. ↑ E-Book Sales Down 17% In First Three Quarters Of 2016 Archived 2017-03-07 at the Wayback Machine Forbes, Retrieved 6 March 2017
  22. ↑ Hiltzik, Michael (1 May 2017). "No, ebooks aren't dying — but their quest to dominate the reading world has hit a speed bump". LA Times. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  23. ↑ "AZW3 file - Zamzar - Free online file conversion". Archived from the original on 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  24. ↑ Kindle eBooks with Improved Typography Use New KFX File Format Archived 2019-04-18 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 11 August 2015
  25. ↑ "Amazon Kindle: License Agreement and Terms of Use". Amazon.com, Inc. February 9, 2009. Archived from the original on January 9, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
  26. ↑ Hastings, Rob (January 1, 2011). "Amazon allows customers to lend e-books to just one friend". The Independent . Archived from the original on January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
  27. ↑ "Kindle中国电子书店运营调整通知 - Kindle商店 - 亚马逊". www.amazon.cn. Archived from the original on 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
  28. 1 2 How to buy Kindle eBooks
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