The age of the ebook is finally at hand. Both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble touted the wild success of their ebook related sales this past Christmas season. In an article titled "Amazon's Bestselling Product Ever: The Kindle 3," by Catharine Smith posted 12-27-10, in the Huffington Post, Amazon stated that the Kindle 3 was their best selling product ever.
According to an article titled "E-Books Outsell Paper Books On Barnes & Noble's Online Store," from the Associated Press that was posted in the Huffington Post on 12-30-10, Barnes and Noble stated that their Nook ebook sales outstripped paper book sales in their online store. Now the issue of ebook lendability is front and center.
How To Lend Ebooks
Both Kindle and Nook ebooks can be lent one time for 14 days. Instructions for lending a Kindle ebook are included in these instructions on Amazon.com’s website. Instructions for lending Nook ebooks from Banes and Noble's are posted on their website’s Nook support section here.
Should Publishers Allow It
Publishers have to take a step back and decide their real exposure to lendable ebooks. A one time loan policy that lasts two weeks is much less exposure than with paper books that can be passed around forever. The lending policy limitations actually protect the interests of publisher more than with a paper book. Hardcopy books have swap clubs, used book stores and donations that help kill new book sales, those things don’t exist with the loan policies of the Kindle and Nook ebooks.
Which Books Are Lendable
In order to determine if a book you want to purchase can be taken out on loan, simply go to the Amazon.com Kindle bookstore, select a title and look at the product details. Under the ASIN product number is a category labeled Lending: enabled, this is where you can determine if you can loan a particular ebook. A similar process exists to determine if a Barnes and Noble Nook ebook can be loaned.
Although this seems to a minor development it is really huge in the effort to move ebooks into the mainstream. Just as music changed when technology such as the iPod and iTunes revolutionized everything about it, books are poised for the same revolution. Ebooks may be the vehicle that saves books from a slow slide into a technological grave. Paper books will be with us for a long time, but when you think about the technology of a hard copy book, it is the equivalent of a vinyl music album.
Have a good time reading and loaning your ebooks.
