Amazon Launches German Publishing Program

(AMZN)-Amazon Publishing today announced the launch of a new German-language publishing program under the Amazon Publishing umbrella. The European Amazon Publishing team will acquire German-language fiction for publication in Kindle and print editions available on Amazon.

"We've been delighted with the reader response to the German translations released by Amazon Publishing, and are excited to have Publisher Sarah Tomashek and her team in Munich supporting our efforts to bring great works written in German to a wider audience," said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President of Kindle, EU.

The program's debut list for spring 2014 includes:

• Klang der Gezeiten (The Sound of the Tides), a new work of contemporary fiction from international best-selling author Emily Bold
• A new murder mystery featuring Berlin police investigator Jan Tommen from best-selling author Alexander Hartung, and a new edition of the first book in the series, Bis alle Schuld beglichen (Until All Debts Are Cleared)
• New York für Anfängerinnen (New York for Beginners), the romantic best-selling debut novel from FOCUS Magazine New York Bureau Chief Susann Remke

"By publishing my new book Klang der Gezeiten with Amazon Publishing, I'll have a visionary publishing partner by my side who can flexibly react to fast changes within the book market," said Bold, whose previous works Touch of Eternity and Breath of Yesterday, both from "The Curse" series, were published in English by Amazon Publishing. "My successful partnership with Amazon Publishing in the U.S. encouraged me in my decision to publish with them in Germany."

This new international program builds on Amazon Publishing's commitment to supporting German authors in translation via its AmazonCrossing imprint for world literature in translation, which will publish many of the new German-language acquisitions in English. AmazonCrossing's English translation of Oliver Pötzsch's The Hangman's Daughter was a #1 best-selling Kindle book, and Pötzsch's Hangman's Daughter series has sold over one million copies in combined print, audio and Kindle English-language editions worldwide. Other German authors who have found success through Amazon Publishing include Dörthe Binkert, Christoph Spielberg and Sarah Lark.

AmazonCrossing also publishes German translations of selected English language works; since launching in July 2012, six of the imprint's titles have reached #1 on the German Kindle best seller list.

"Over the past five years, Amazon Publishing has worked hard to create an author-centric publishing experience that connects readers with outstanding fiction and non-fiction from around the world," said Sarah Jane Gunter, Director of International Publishing. "We're excited to expand the opportunities we can provide to German authors by acquiring and publishing works in German, building on the success we have had bringing top German authors to English-language readers through our AmazonCrossing translation imprint."

For more information about Amazon Publishing, visit www.apub.com.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the world's best-selling and most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX features a stunning exclusive 7" or 8.9" HDX display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0 including X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, Prime Instant Video downloads, and the revolutionary new Mayday button. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display, high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.

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Forward-Looking Statements

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