Lending and Borrowing Kindle eBooks

Photo Credit: Jon Davis

Over the summer I enjoyed reading several eBooks on both my Kindle and iPad. Most of the time my preferred device for reading was my Kindle. I found that both the size of the Kindle and the E ink technology made it the easiest to read under most conditions.

In past summers my sister and I would exchange boxes of books to share with each other. This summer was different because we were both Kindle owners. If you are a Kindle owner there are several great ways to lend and borrow eBooks with friends, family, or complete strangers.

In October of 2010 Amazon began allowing Kindle users to borrow and lend eBooks from other Kindle users. Each Kindle book that a user owns can be loaned once for a period of 14 days. The person that you loan the book to does not need to have a Kindle to read the book. All that is needed is the free Kindle reading application that can be downloaded to a computer, cellphone, etc.

How it works - When you lend someone an eBook it is downloaded from the Amazon site to the "borrower's" device for the 14 day period. After the 14 day period expires then the book is deleted from the borrower's device and is again available on your own device again. Note: not all publishers allow lending of their book titles. Use your Amazon account to begin lending eBooks.

If you are a Kindle user that is looking for other great ways to borrow and lend books check out the following:

ebookfling.com - This site allows Kindle users to lend and borrow books for a 14 day fling. Borrowing books works on a credit system. If you lend a book you are issued one credit. You can then use your credit to borrow a book from someone else. You also have the option to purchase additional credits for 2.99 each. If you are feeling generous you can also gift credits to other users.

BookLending.com - This site also allows Kindle users to lend or borrow eBooks for a 14 day period. This site is programmed to reward really active lenders by allowing them to borrow books before other less active users.

Kindle Library Lending (coming soon!) - Amazon announced in April of this year that it is partnering with OverDrive to give Kindle users (or any device with the Kindle reading app) the ability to check out eBooks from their local library.