Lend and Borrow E-books with EbookFling
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Nook and Kindle owners have the option to borrow and lend e-books already. While the lending process is not perfect on these devices, it gives e-book fans the chance to get more out of their e-readers. EbookFling is an exciting new website that takes the concept a step further. It enables Nook and Kindle owners to borrow books from millions of other e-reader owners around the nation. Here is how the owners defined this service:
With eBook Fling, swap unlimited ebooks with thousands of readers nationwide. Just fling an eBook to others and catch the eBook of your choice…Trade Kindle™ and Nook™ books using your e-reader device, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry™ or Android™ smartphone.
The service is very straight forward to figure out. Users can list the books they own to allow other community members to borrow books from them. When someone wants to borrow a book from another member, the ebook owner is provided with the instructions on how to get the job done.
It is not clear whether the publishers will be open to this idea. Nick Ruffilo, chief information officer for EBookFling, believes they should:
Logically, one could say that publishers can end up losing money… When you borrow a book written by an author you’ve never read before, you may become a fan and buy her other books and maybe her future books too… Books themselves are great marketing. New genres pop up all the time, like steampunk. You may not know what it’s about, but once you get a chance to try it, you might be open to buying it. We’re providing a discovery and marketing venue.
Some publishers have been greedy with their e-book strategy in the past. Considering that e-book buyers don’t get to sell their books back, e-book lending can only encourage more people to adopt e-books. Unfortunately, many publishers won’t enable lending anytime soon.
