One of my favorite things about books is sharing and discussing them with my friends and family. When I got my first Kindle ereader, I was thrilled with the money I could save on ebooks, my new ability to borrow ebooks from the library, and how easy it made reading while traveling, but I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to share the books I bought with others. Luckily, someone taught me how to lend a Kindle book and share the reading love!
Sharing Kindle Books: The Pros
Share with Anyone: As mentioned above, shareable Kindle books can be sent to anyone via email. Once you share, your friend will have seven days to download the book and then 14 days to read it before it is returned to you. No Kindle Needed: Your friend doesn’t need a Kindle to read the book you share. They can read it via the free Kindle app on a smartphone or tablet, or from any internet browser at read.amazon.com. Share from a Distance: Unlike physical books, you don’t need to meet up with your friend in person or pay for shipping to loan a Kindle book. Because this easy process occurs electronically, you can get your book to your friend even if you’re far apart. No Lost Books: At the end of the 14-day loan period, your Kindle book is automatically returned to you. That means you can loan books to that one friend who always seems to misplace them or forget to bring them back. Since the recipient has seven days to accept the book via email after you share it, you’ll only be parted from your book for a maximum of 21 days. Lending Community: If you’re looking to borrow a Kindle book that none of your friends have purchased, there are places to connect with other Kindle users willing to share the love. Lendle is the most popular of these communities. When you sign up, you can share a list of Kindle books you own that are eligible to lend. The more you lend, the more you can borrow from other users.
Sharing Kindle Books: The Cons
#NotAllBooks: Unfortunately, not all Kindle books are lendable. In fact, the majority of Kindle books can’t be loaned. You can find out if a book is lendable by checking the product details prior to purchasing, or from your content and devices page, which I’ll show below. One Time Only: Kindle only allows you to loan a title once—not just once per person, but once total. After you’ve loaned a book out, you can’t loan it out to anyone else again. Short Window: As mentioned before, your book can only be shared for 14 days. If your friend doesn’t complete the book in that time frame, you can’t share it again. No Simultaneous Reading: Once you’ve shared your book, you won’t have access to it until it is returned, either manually or automatically. Don’t plan to read the book at the same time as your friend, because it will be out of your hands—and your Kindle library.
How to Lend a Kindle Book
Now that we’ve discussed the basics, let’s talk about how to share Kindle books. There are two ways to do this: from the Manage Your Content and Devices page or from the Product Detail page. From the Manage Your Content and Devices Page: From the Product Detail Page:
How to Return a Loaned Kindle Book
If you’ve borrowed a book from a friend, it will be automatically returned to them after 14 days. If you want to return the book before that date, you can do so by deleting the book from your Kindle library.
Family Library
How to Share Content Using Family Library
How to Share Individual Content Using Family Library
We hope this guide helped you learn more about ways to share your Kindle books! Check out more handy tips for Kindle: How to Delete Books from Your Kindle How to Return a Kindle Book You Accidentally Purchased 12 Reasons to Use a Kindle to Read Your Book Club Book How to Gift a Kindle Book (and Five Reasons Why You Should)
