Amazon pulls republished books from Kindle library

Amazon this week began clamping down on cloned e-books in the Kindle Store. According to anecdotes from the pseudo-authors, the company has been removing some books or even whole catalogs of books where the text is either identical to or only slightly changed from the original. The retailer has justified the forced exits by noting that the books "diminish the experience" for readers and lead them to see many of what amounts to the same title.

Many of the titles are taking advantage of private label rights, or the rights to sell a work under a different name. These titles are supposed to be modified to give the author's own take on the publication, but many have taken to simply publishing the titles as-is. The practice usually only produces a small profit but can be considered "free" money given the lack of effort.

Duplicate e-books haven't normally been an issue at the iBookstore, the Nook Store or other digital stores. Most don't have the same market share, however, and aren't as big targets as Amazon's store. [via NY Times]

By Electronista Staff