Amazon Prime Reading Now in India, Gives Prime Members Access to 100s of Ebooks

Amazon Prime Reading, a service that comes as another benefit for Amazon Prime members, has now been launched in India. It lets Amazon Prime subscribers read from hundreds of eligible ebooks without spending anything additional. Prime Reading comes alongside Kindle Unlimited that was launched in the country in September 2015 to offer unlimited access to over a million ebook titles at a monthly charge of Rs. 150. However, unlike the standalone Kindle Unlimited, Prime Reading is touted to have hundreds of titles on offer. Amazon is offering literature and fiction, non-fiction, romance, comics, and Indian language ebooks under the Prime Reading model. There are popular titles such as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling, Immortals of Meluha by Amish, One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat, and Operation Deep Strike by Rahul Badami among others.

"Prime Reading builds the habit of reading," said Rajiv Mehta, Country Manager, Kindle India, in a press statement. "Prime members can now read their favourite titles at no additional cost by conveniently downloading and reading ebooks within minutes. They can discover and read new and bestselling titles from a variety of authors at no additional cost. Ebooks under Prime Reading include all genres like Literature & Fiction, Travel, and Romance."

Amazon Prime members in India can start exploring Prime Reading directly using their Kindle ebook reader or through the Kindle app for Android and iOS devices or by downloading the Kindle Lite app on their entry-level Android devices. They then need to head to the dedicated Prime Reading section on the Amazon India site to see all the available titles for the new model.

Once signed in using your Prime account, you can read your favourite titles from the available list by tapping the Read for Free button. You can also access the Prime Reading section from the Amazon app on your Android or iOS device. Alongside various English titles, Prime Reading include various ebooks in Indian languages, including Hindi, Marathi, and Tamil. Kindle features such as Highlights, Dictionary, Search, and Whispersync are also available for the titles accessed through the Prime Reading service. Furthermore, you can give your reviews or see what others have reviewed about the listed titles.

"Amazon Prime already offers members great value with free, fast delivery, streaming of movies, TV series, music and lots more," said Akshay Sahi, Director and Head of Prime, Amazon India, in the statement. "Prime Reading is yet another offering for Prime members to help make their everyday life better and more fun."

Notably, Prime Reading has been a part of Amazon Prime in the US since October 2016. The e-commerce giant also offers services such as First Reads in the US to give customers an early access to editors' pick and choose one Kindle book each month at a charge of $1.99 (roughly Rs. 145).