We are quite happy with the rise of eBook lending sites, that help facilitate the love of reading from users who have never met each other before. A new entrant to the emerging realm of eBook lending services “Fling” has just opened for business and it allows eBooks that have the lending feature, such as the Barnes and Noble Nook “Lendme” feature and the Amazon equivalent.
The premise of Fling is a free membership site where users can find other users to share books with. Many eBooks have 14 day lending windows in which you can loan out your book and get it back after the expiration period. Fling is a free sign-up and they recommend you choose an email address specifically for lending books so your real email is not floating around. When you join the site you simply list the books you have available for lending and then watch the requests pile in.
When you successfully lend an eBook you earn “Credits,” these credits are used to make “Requests” for other users ebook libraries. If you do not get into the habit of lending books you can pay $1.99 per credit to make a request. Even though it might cost a bit, most people read books fairly fast. If you know you are under the gun to finish a book within the 2 week lending window you are in good shape.
We are aware of many other sites that help users connect with each other to lend and share the love of reading and are happy that sites like Lendle and BookLending exist to help users connect. Although these two sites only cater to the Amazon Kindle crowd, we know of other private communities exist as well to share out books.
Check out eBook Fling today and see what the buzz is all about.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
