From what I understand, Amazon.com is making its own "lending library" available to Kindle owners, a library that includes even some current and past NYT bestsellers. The only major hitch to this service is that the Kindle owners have to have also signed up as Amazon Prime members, giving them: free postage on everything shipped directly by Amazon, Amazon's free movie service, and now, this new lending library. I don't think that this service will work on other devices simply running the Kindle app, but it is definitely something that those who own Kindles will want to consider.
Follow this link to get all the details - and please let me know how it works out for you if you take advantage of the offer.
Thanks.
Well, the other hitch, for any Kindle owners who read a great deal, is that it's only "as frequently as a book a month." Still, it sounds interesting, although it makes me wonder how e-book lending in libraries might be changing in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Library Girl, that a book per month is just a drop in the bucket for an avid reader. I think I'm more surprised that a bookseller like Amazon would do this at all, than anything else.
ReplyDeleteOf course, they may sell more Kindles or Prime memberships this way, something they are counting on to make up for the loss in sales of actual books.
I suppose if you already own a Kindle and an Amazon Prime membership, though, this is a nice little bonus.
This selection they rolled this out with is still a bit weak, I think. It seems they are having trouble getting publishers to sign on (surprise, surprise) as no one seems to know what the compensation model is for this.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of this service and it would be enough to get me to sign-on with Prime (I'm currently on the fence). But none of the 25 books I searched for are currently available. So I'll wait and see.
I'm sure this service will look good on all the packaging though as Amazon tries to sell more eReaders this season than anyone else.
It will be interesting. Trav, to see how this pans out on Amazon's bottom line. It would have to hurt the sales of some books, I would think, and publishers have to be scratching their heads over the whole idea.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it is an old fashioned "loss leader" to get people to sign up for the Prime service. I'm on the fence about that, too, since so many things I buy from Amazon are actually shipped by third party companies...and that shipping is not eligible for the Prime program.
I understand prime members can borrow as many books as they want with no due date. It is more than a book a month-much more. The compensation is not bad either. What it does is get a new author's book out into the hands of the public for an introduction. The term is short and renewable. It is not really a bad deal.
ReplyDeleteDonna, if it's unlimited now, that's a change to the original announcement of the benefits of the program. That would be a much better deal for Amazon customers, for sure, and would have a large impact on the sale of books everywhere, I suspect. New authors would benefit most, I agree. Older, more established ones, are probably a lot less happy about all of this.
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