Kindle Skills - Lending Enabled

Now you can share many of your books with your friends and family without sharing your account.

For many of the books available in the Kindle store, it is possible to purchase it, then lend it to a friend. They can keep it for 2 weeks, during which time you will not have access to it. It really is like lending someone a hard copy from your personal library.

Titles available for lending are determined by the publisher. If you are browsing the Kindle store, but haven't purchased the book yet, you can quickly see if it is available for lending by looking at the Product Details below the book cover. Look for the word Lending in bold, then the word Enabled.

I did a little poking around, and there were quite a few of the ones I looked at that had lending enabled. Might be something to consider when you are thinking about purchasing your next book. Lending Enabled means you can get double duty out of it if you want.

To check on books you have already purchased, visit your Account area and go to Manage Your Kindle. Click the + sign to the left of any title so the details will appear. If your purchased book is lendable, you will see a Loan this book button. Click it and fill out the information for the person you want to lend it to, including their personal email address. They will receive an email letting them know how they can "borrow" the book.

No Kindle Required: Your friend doesn't have to have a Kindle (although everyone should have one) to read their borrowed book. Amazon has a Free Kindle app for iPhone, Android, Mac, PC and even the iPad. Actually, while reading a book on a PC isn't very portable, it ain't bad! And it can open a whole new world of ebooks for someone who isn't quite sure about all this yet. All that is required is a love of reading. All they need to do is click the Accept button and if they don't have a Kindle or Kindle app, Amazon will take them through the steps needed to get what they need.

If your borrower is already a Kindle user, they will receive an email letting them know how to pick up their book. If they have multiple Kindles, they can choose where to have it sent (their regular Kindle, or maybe their Kindle for PC or iPhone).

Amazon will keep track of the time for you and your friend, and let you both know when the book will be returned to you and no longer available to your friend. Two weeks though? Should be plenty of time!