Amazon Matchbook: What is it?

Amazon Matchbook is a brand new marketing strategy from Amazon (and I'm talking three days old new) that should be able to help you sell more books, or so it claims. The idea is to offer people a discount on Kindle editions of books after they buy the print version. Authors have the option to sell their books on discount for free, $.99, $1.99, or $2.99 depending on non-discount prices and on the choice of the author.

Now, I'm more of a seller than a buyer when it comes to books, but to me this idea seems a little odd. If a person already spent $10 on a print book of mine (that's what mine usually go for, but it could be less or more depending on the author) why would they spend extra on a Kindle edition, or even get it for free if they just bought it in print? I don't quite get it, but I didn't go to college for marketing, so maybe I just don't see the potential. Don't get me wrong, it seems like a nice idea, people will go for a bargain on just about anything, mindful or not. Wal-Mart runs specifically on that strategy. Whether or not it will work remains unseen, but I think it will, despite my early doubts.

A few authors out there seem to find some controversy in Matchbook for some reason. From what I've seen, its because they believe that they have no choice but to use the program or to abandon Amazon. Let me just say that is nonsense. Matchbook is activated one book at a time, through checking a little box in the royalty setting page on a book's KDP dashboard. Now the beauty of checking a little box, is that it can go unchecked or once checked it can be unchecked as well. There is an obvious and far from permanent choice to be made when it comes to Matchbook. Authors have the choice to start using it and stop using it whenever. The idea that authors are forced to use it is ludicrous.

My final thought it this: its a nice idea, although it may or may not be effective. I put it into effect on all my books, so we'll see how well it works. The effectiveness will only become apparent in good time.