When Amazon made the amazing move allowing people to lend their Kindle eBooks to each other, it was only a matter of time before a service popped up making it easy to find the exact book that you’re dying to read but don’t necessarily want to buy. The Kindle lending process does have its limitations – you can only borrow the book for up to two weeks, but if you’re a fast reader it’s no big deal. If you’re not, it gives you enough time to decide whether or not you really want to buy the book.
The Kindle Lending Club started out as a Facebook page, growing to over 8,000 members in less than a month. The best part is that you don’t even have to own a Kindle to get in on the action. You can use the free Kindle apps op your Mac, PC, iOS, Blackberry or Android devices.
Register for a free account by providing your details, or if you’d prefer, you can connect the site to your Facebook account.
How to Borrow a Book
The first thing you’ll probably want to do once you’ve registered for a free account is see if you can find any books that you want to borrow. Clicking on the orange Borrow a Book button gives you the option to perform a search or to browse the available books.
If the eBook is lendable, it will be accompanied by buttons to borrow or lend the title, along with the option to purchase it on Amazon.
If the ebook is not available or is not lendable, it will only be accompanied by a link to purchase it on Amazon.
Of course, its availability in the Lending Club doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get to read it straight away. Depending on the number of copies available, you might end up on a waiting list until a copy becomes available.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, browsing the available titles might pique your interest.
Once you’ve found a book that is available, you will have to wait until one of the owners of the book receives the notification that you wish to borrow the book.
Once the title has been loaned to you, you will receive an email notification with a link to download the book to your Kindle device or app. The book is yours for 14 days, after which it is automatically returned to the lender.
How to Lend a Book
Lending a book is just as easy. Click the green Lend a Book button and you can can then search for the titles you own or browse the most recently requested titles.
The method is exactly the same as borrowing a book. Click the lend button, and there are no current requests for the title, you simply wait to be notified when someone wants to borrow the book.
In the event that the book has already been requested, you will be presented with a list of the users waiting for the title.
You can then select one and follow the instructions to lend the title directly on Amazon after which you will confirm on the site that you have loaned out the title.
It is worth mentioning that the email address that you use will be visible to other users who lend you books, and that the email address you register with does not have to be your Kindle or Amazon email address.
If you want to delete an offer or a request, this can be done by accessing your profile and clicking delete on any given title from your page.
If we had one request, it would be the inclusion of book descriptions on the site. At the moment, you have to go to Amazon to read the description, and if you’re not sure what you want to read and are just browsing, it’s a little inconvenient.
Have you tried borrowing a book using the Kindle Lending Club? Got any books on offer? Let us know in the comments.
