Kindle Matchbook Program
Amazon has just unveiled Kindle Matchbook for ebook publishers. This special program encourages their customers to buy two copies of your book; the printed version at the regular price and the ebook version at a discounted price. Publishers receive approximately 50% royalty on the ebook sold and a standard royalty on the printed book sold.
What this means for the publisher is increased revenue; they’re selling two books at one time. The book buyer can immediately download the Kindle version while waiting for the printed version to arrive in the mail.
Publishers will need to discount the price on the Kindle version to less than half it’s normal price at one of these price points: $2.99, $1.99, 99 cents or free.
Unlike the Kindle Select Program, the Matchbook Program does not restrict publishers from selling their books on other websites or with other retailers.
Kobo
Kobo Writing Life: www.kobo.com/writinglife is a growing site for ebook publishers. It is easy to create an account, upload the ebook file and get started. Although the publisher can upload a manuscript and have Kobo convert it into epub format for free, I strongly recommend publishers hire a professional to convert the manuscript into an ebook first, then upload the epub file. This will reduce the number of errors.
There is no cost for distribution, but Kobo does have a 30% discount, which is the standard rate of the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and Apple ibookstore programs. (Publishers keep 70% of the royalties).
Kobo has partners who distribute ebooks all over the world: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, United Kingdom, and they also have their own widely popular international ebookstore website: www.KoboBooks.com.
Royalty payments are made through EFT 45 days after the end of each month when more than $100 worth of the publisher’s ebooks have been sold.
Ganxy
Ganxy: http://get.ganxy.com helps publishers market and sell their ebooks online as well as offers a set of tools to help publishers give away ebooks to targeted markets in special campaigns. (The ebooks are given away in exchange for email addresses other information).
Publishers can use the program to create showcases with marketing content, video and graphics. The most powerful tool Ganxy offers is a way to track all the ebook sales. Publishers pay a small fee for each transaction and collect up to 90% of each sale and can sell from any website, blog, or Facebook page.
This new startup company also offers free printed cards with promotional codes for publishers to use when marketing their ebooks.