• by Ray Schultz , December 19, 2022

Amazon will no longer sell digital magazine and newspaper subscriptions via Kindle Newsstand, starting next year.  

The tech giant is also phasing out its print textbook rental program, Publishers Weekly reports.  

Amazon issued this statement to Publishers Weekly: 

“Following an assessment of our print textbook rentals and our magazine and newspaper subscriptions and single-issue sales, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue these services.”  

The statement continues, “We don’t take these decisions lightly, and are winding down these offerings in a phased manner over several months. We will continue to support customers, sellers, and publishers during that time.”

The announcement from Amazon rocked small publishers. 

“In an absolutely devastating announcement (right before the holidays) Amazon has informed us that they are ending their Kindle Subscription program in 2023 and trying to get magazines to switch to Kindle Unlimited,” Neil Clarke, publisher of Clarkesworld, posted. “Asking for more details, but this is bad.” 

Locus reports that some publishers will be able to offer subscriptions in Kindle Unlimited Magazines.

Clarke explained the difference: “Magazine subscriptions are currently guaranteed revenue from each subscriber. KU is not like that. It's not like the subscriptions can be converted either (unless your subscriber is already in KU), so it will effectively cancel thousands of subscriptions.”

In a later post, Clarkesworld reported, “The existing program ends on 9/1/2023. In our case, that means the 8/1/2023 issue is the last one that will go out that way. If we participate in the new program it can overlap with the old one.” 

In October, it was reported that discounted Kindle subscriptions to the Washington Post would no longer be offered at the previous $3.99 rate on Amazon Prime. The price rose to $7.99 per month, the Post reported.