Amazon Adds a Teaser eBook Service to Amazon Prime
When Amazon launched Prime Video, the service offered a comprehensive selection of movies and tv shows which could take years, if not decades, to work through. In the past couple years, however, the selection has been pared back to make Prime Video more of a teaser for the paid videos (this is why I let my Prime expire).
Now Amazon is launching a similar Amazon Prime teaser service for reading material. The retailer announced on Wednesday that Amazon Prime members in the US could now access a library of 1,000 free ebooks, magazines, short works, and comic books.
“Prime is the best deal in the history of shopping and today it got even better,” said Greg Greeley, Vice President Amazon Prime. “Prime members can now enjoy an awesome selection of books including The Hobbit, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, The Man in the High Castle, plus magazines and more with Prime Reading – all for free on any device.”
The service is called Prime Reading, and it is included free in the $99 a year Prime subscription. And unlike Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, Prime Reading works on the Kindles apps as well as ereaders.
“This is a new and exciting way for our premium brands to reach and engage with Amazon’s Prime members,” said Monica Ray, Executive Vice President of Consumer Marketing at Condé Nast. “Prime readers can now keep up with all the latest news, trends, tips and so much more with the rotating selection of our magazine brands.”
Compared to the millions of works now available as ebooks, a thousand titles is merely a drop in the bucket. That makes this a teaser service which Amazon is hoping will get more people buying books (print or digital – Amazon isn’t picky).
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