PRESS RELEASE
With an Amazon Prime membership, Kindle owners can soon choose from over 200,000 books to borrow for free
Books can be borrowed and read for free on all Kindle E Ink and Kindle Fire devices, including the all-new Kindle Paperwhite - our most advanced e-reader ever constructed
Luxembourg - October 11, 2012 - With the introduction of Kindle Paperwhite in the UK, today Amazon.co.uk also announced that the Kindle Owners' Lending Library is coming to the UK later this month. With an Amazon Prime membership, Kindle owners will be able to choose from over 200,000 books to borrow for free -including all seven Harry Potter books- as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. No other e-reader or eBookstore offers such a service. With an annual Prime membership for just £49, the Kindle Owners' Lending Library is included at no additional cost. Prime members currently enjoy free One-Day Delivery, reduced fees for overnight Express and Evening same day Delivery, and soon thousands of books to borrow for free with a Kindle. Books can be borrowed and read on all Kindle E Ink and Kindle Fire devices, including the all-new top-of-the-line Kindle e-reader announced today: Kindle Paperwhite.
"Owning a Kindle is getting even better. Today, we're announcing that our newest Prime benefit, built just for Kindle, is coming to UK customers: The Kindle Owners' Lending Library," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. "Prime members will have exclusive access to a huge library of books to read on any Kindle device at no additional cost and with no due dates. We're already seeing the programme's success in the US for both readers and authors-customers are reading more and authors are reaching a whole new audience while making money in a new way-and we're excited to bring it to customers in the UK."
The Kindle Owners' Lending Library will offer access to a wide array of categories and genres in fiction and nonfiction, including popular titles such as Stephen Leather's ‘The Basement' and M.C Beaton's ‘Agatha Raisin' series, and checking out books from the library will be easy and seamless. Books can be borrowed via a customer's Kindle device, and they can have one book out at a time. When customers want to borrow a new book, any borrowed book can easily be returned right from their device. Just as with any other Kindle book, notes, highlights and bookmarks in borrowed books will be saved, so customers have them later if they purchase or re-borrow the book.
The lending library will also feature thousands of titles from independent Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) authors, including best sellers like ‘As if By Magic' by Kerry Wilkinson. KDP authors can include their books in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library through KDP Select, an option for authors and publishers to make money through the lending library and promote their book for free. After launching KDP Select in December 2011, authors and publishers that joined the programme in the first month saw their sales grow even faster than other KDP titles. On top of this growth in paid sales, KDP Select authors and publishers on average received an incremental 26% in royalties as a result of their participation in the US Kindle Owners' Lending Library. To learn more about KDP Select, visit http://kdp.amazon.com.
The Kindle Owners' Lending Library is also coming soon to France and Germany. To learn more, visit www.amazon.co.uk/kindleownerslendinglibrary.
Amazon.co.uk also announced today that Kindle Paperwhite-our most advanced e-reader ever constructed-is coming to the UK. Kindle Paperwhite offers 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, up to 8 weeks of battery life, and a thin and light design for just £109. Find out more about Kindle Paperwhite at www.amazon.co.uk/kindlepaperwhite.
Amazon Prime is a membership programme that gives customers and their family fast delivery on eligible purchases. For an annual membership fee of £49, customers get unlimited free One-Day Delivery for millions of eligible items on Amazon.co.uk with no minimum order threshold. With the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, Amazon is offering the first non-delivery benefit to Prime members with no increase to the annual membership fee. To learn about all of the additional benefits included with Amazon Prime, or to start an Amazon Prime free trial visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/prime.
About Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.co.uk opened its virtual doors in October 1998 and strives to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavours to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.
Amazon.co.uk and other sellers offer millions of new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Baby, Books, Car & Motorbike, Clothing, DIY & Tools, DVD, Electronics & Photo, Grocery, Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, Jewellery, MP3, Music, Musical Instruments & DJ, Office, PC, Pet Supplies, Shoes, Software, Sports & Leisure, Toys & Games, Video Games and Watches.
Kindle Paperwhite is our most-advanced e-reader ever with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD is our most-advanced tablet, with a stunning customised high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support and dual antennas/MIMO, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine.The all-new Kindle Fire features a faster processor for 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.
