Amazon is doubling down on its efforts in Australia. The Seattle-based company announced today that it is opening an online store in the country for Kindle users. It will also be selling its Kindle Fire HD and HDX tablets locally at Dick Smith and Big W stores, both going on sale right before the holidays.
With the Kindle push, more than 2 million titles will now be available to more readers. The new store works well with Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite, Fire HD, and Fire HDX tablets. And while readers in the country will have access to the thousands of books other Amazon customers already can read, the Australian store also includes content from local authors and publishers, including Rachael Johns, Sally Morgan and Kim Scott; Australian classics from Text Publishing; and titles from Indigenous publishing house Magabala books.
Amazon says that over 700,000 books are priced at AU$3.99 or less and 1.4 million will be available for AU$9.99 or less.
In addition, through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service, local authors can opt-in to receive a 70 percent royalty fee just by distributing their books through Amazon’s store.
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But wait, Amazon books has always been available in Australia, right? As Lifehacker Australia notes, this is true, but it was limited to whatever content was available from its US or UK catalog. It wasn’t localized to suit the needs of the Australian community. Now that it has been created, Amazon is going to begin shipping its popular tablets into the country.
So how much will the new tablets go for? The company says the Kindle Fire HD will go for AU$189 while the 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX (starting November 26) will be priced at AU$329 while 8.9-inch one will be AU$479 (for sale starting December 10). As for the Kindle Paperwhite, consumers can expect that to go for AU$159.
Amazon’s Vice President for its Kindle division, Neil Lindsay, said in a statement:
Millions of Australians are already Kindle customers, and we’re delighted to make it even easier for them to enjoy the Kindle experience. The new Kindle Store is customised for Australian customers, with local best sellers and curated lists relevant to Australians, and many titles from local publishers and authors such as Tim Winton, Karly Lane and Kate Morton.
Photo credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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