Amazon has announced that Kindle Unlimited, its subscription-based service for books, is now available in the UK for £7.99 in the month.
A kind of Netflix for bookworms, or a library card for the 21st century, Kindle Unlimited allows subscribers access to over 650,00 books on Kindle, as well as thousands of audiobooks from Audible.
It will also allow easy switching between reading and listening thanks to Whispersync for Voice.
In among the huge library of literature are books from the Harry Potter series, to the Hunger Games Trilogy to last year's Man Booker prize-winner The Luminaries. Many books that are exclusive to Kindle in digital format are also available through the service. Kindle Unlimited also addresses one of digital publishing's long-standing conundrums: how to improve discoverability. Amazon believes people are more likely to give new titles and authors a chance through the service. "Kindle Unlimited offers by far the simplest and most cost-effective way to explore and discover eBooks and audiobooks together, and you can even switch from reading to listening without losing your place," said Jorrit Van der Meulen, vice president of Kindle EU, in a press release. "Our US customers have shown us how much they love the opportunity to discover new authors and genres, and now we're delighted to offer the same freedom to our customers in the UK."
To find out if a book is included in the subscription service, just search for it and see whether it has a Kindle Unlimited logo displayed next to it. If it does and you have signed up to the service, you can click "Read for £0.00 and it will be sent straight to your Kindle, or will be accessible through the free Kindle app, which is available on many devices.
It's of course important to remember that in the context of the wider publishing industry, many prominent authors and large publishing houses believe that Amazon's cut-price model and unforgiving negotiation tactics are undermining authors' ability to earn a decent wage. The company is currently involved in a huge dispute with major publisher Hachette and has been criticised by authors including Stephen King and Donna Tartt.
Kindle Unlimited is just one of several existing Amazon products the company has launched in the UK recently. Earlier this month, Amazon announced that both the Fire TV streaming box and the Fire Phone would be available in the UK. It used to take Amazon a while to bring products to the UK following their US launch, but Kindle Unlimited only launched in the US this July, demonstrating the company has made significant efforts to speed up the process.
It's also proved wrong our earlier estimation about the service's arrival date in the country.
You can start a free 30-day Kindle Unlimited trial today, after which you'll be charged £7.99 every month.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK