How To Loan A Book To A Friend From Your Kindle
When you finish reading a really excellent book, you just can't help but want to tell the first person you talk to about how much you loved it. You can tell them how much of an impact it had on you, or even ask them to give it a shot themselves in the hopes that they'll get that same emotional impact you experienced.
In the olden days, where books were primarily physical things you can hand from person to person, you could just hand your copy over to your friend and send them on their merry way. In the age of eBooks, this process has become a bit more complicated. After all, the book is stored on an eReader like a Kindle, and unless you really trust this person, you're probably not going to want to loan them the whole device.
Luckily, there is a way that you can loan out a digital book from your Kindle, holding onto the physical device while your friend gets the book data.
Loaning out Kindle books
Virtual loaning allows you to send an eBook to a friend's Amazon account on a provisional basis, giving them a temporary way to read it without having to buy it again or share your physical devices.
-
Visit the Amazon website in a web browser and log into your Amazon account.
-
Under your account options, select Content & Devices.
-
Under the Digital Content section, select Books.
-
Click the "More Actions" button next to the book you want to loan out.
-
Click Loan this Title.
-
Enter the name and email address of the recipient and click the "Send" button.
The recipient will receive an email with a link to download the book you've loaned. Since it's only a loan, this file will only be available to them for 14 days, after which it will be automatically returned to your ownership.
There are a few important caveats to this process. First, not all eBooks can be loaned out. Whether a book can be loaned or not is dependent on publisher preferences — if they don't want readers loaning books, then the "Loan this Title" option will not be available in the book's options.
Additionally, you can only loan a book that you've purchased, not one that you've borrowed from an Amazon service. Finally, a loan is a one-time deal. You can only loan a particular book out one time, after which it can't be loaned ever again.
Sharing books with family library
In the event that your eBook isn't eligible for direct loaning, there is a little loophole you can use to circulate the proverbial tapes: the Amazon Household feature. If the person you want to loan the book to is a member of your Amazon Household (whether they're actually related to you or not), you can grant them free access to it.
-
Visit the Amazon website in a web browser and log into your Amazon account.
-
Under your account options, select Content & Devices.
-
Under the Digital Content section, select Books.
-
Click the "More Actions" button next to the book you want to loan out.
-
Select Manage Family Library.
-
Select a member of your Amazon Household to grant access to the book.
-
Click the "Make Changes" button to confirm.
As long as this other user has your permission and remains a member of your Amazon Household, they can access and read purchased eBooks freely.