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.
| Developer | Amazon.com |
|---|---|
| Launch date | November 2007 |
| Platform(s) | Web at read.amazon.com Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Fire OS, Kindle reader |
| Pricing model | Variable |
| Availability | over 170 countries[1] |
| Website | www |
Features
editWhispersync
editWhispersync 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
editThe 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
editIn 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
editIn 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
editIn 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
editThe 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
edit| Country | Availability on local site | Domain name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Yes | amazon |
|
| Germany | Yes | amazon |
|
| United Kingdom | Yes | amazon |
|
| France | Yes | amazon |
|
| Japan | Yes | amazon |
|
| China | Yes | amazon |
The Chinese Kindle Store has closed on June 30, 2023, and downloadability of purchased books will stop after June 30, 2024[27] |
| Canada | Yes | amazon |
|
| Italy | Yes | amazon |
|
| Spain | Yes | amazon |
|
| Brazil | Yes | amazon |
|
| India | Yes | amazon |
|
| Mexico | Yes | amazon |
|
| Netherlands | Yes | amazon |
|
| Singapore | No | amazon |
[a] |
| Australia | Yes | amazon |
|
| Turkey | No | amazon |
[a] |
| United Arab Emirates | No | amazon |
[a] |
| Saudi Arabia | No | amazon |
[a] |
| Sweden | No | amazon |
[a] |
| Poland | No | amazon |
[a] |
| Egypt | No | amazon |
[a] |
| Other countries | TBA | amazon |
eBooks can be purchased on the US website amazon.com [28] |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "eBook Distribution Rights". Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Kindle Store : Kindle eBooks Archived 2016-12-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
- ^ "Kindle Wireless Reading Device - 2nd Generation". Archived from the original on June 21, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
- ^ "Kindle for iPhone home page". Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
- ^ Kafka, Peter. "That Was Fast: Kindle, Meet the iPhone". Archived from the original on December 30, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
- ^ Whispersync: The Real News Behind Kindle 2 Archived 2021-09-25 at the Wayback Machine Techhive February 2009
- ^ Kindle Owners' Lending Library Archived 2016-01-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "About Kindle Unlimited". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
- ^ "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.
- ^ According to search results on Amazon.com on 4 August 2015.
- ^ Amazon.com: Kindle Unlimited: Kindle Store Archived 2021-07-31 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ "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.
- ^ A look back at 10 years of the Amazon Kindle Archived 2017-12-06 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved December 6, 2017
- ^ Ricker, Thomas (November 19, 2007). "Amazon Kindle available now on Amazon". Engadget. Archived from the original on November 22, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
- ^ 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.
- ^ E-Book Sales Down 17% In First Three Quarters Of 2016 Archived 2017-03-07 at the Wayback Machine Forbes, Retrieved 6 March 2017
- ^ 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.
- ^ "AZW3 file - Zamzar - Free online file conversion". Archived from the original on 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
- ^ Kindle eBooks with Improved Typography Use New KFX File Format Archived 2019-04-18 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 August 2015
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b How to buy Kindle eBooks
External links
edit- Kindle Store (official), Amazon.
- Kindle Store (UK) (official), Amazon.