With the Amazon Kindle store India launch and the release of the eReader through Croma at around Rs. 7,000, bookworms across the country have two fresh reasons to drop those paperbacks and hardcovers. Indie publishers and authors should also be raising a toast considering that even Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is being served up.
The virtual library stocks more than a million books inclusive of classics and 70 of 100 Nielsen Bestsellers. Apart from offering titles from well known Indian authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Ravinder Singh, Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi, the store also houses a few Kindle exclusives. These include Reality Bites; a not so innocent Love Story by Anurag Anand and Love, Life and a Beer Can penned by Prashant Sharma.
“We are proud to launch this new Kindle store for Indian customers – offering Kindle book purchases in rupees and the ability to buy and read the work of many great Indian authors,” expressed Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content, Amazon.com. “In addition, we are excited to work with Croma to make Kindle available at retail outlets across India.”
The eReader can be ordered online from Croma or Amazon through Junglee, the last mentioned being the latter seller’s very own retail portal which opened shop back in February this year. The Wi-Fi version with the plain old 6-inch eInk display costs Rs. 6,999 via Croma online or its retail outlets, and Rs. 9,025 through Amazon. The higher price demanded by the Kindle maker covers shipping and import costs.
The Amazon Kindle store India is already accessible through www.amazon.com/kindlestoreindia.