Friday, January 14, 2011

Mobile: Authors And Publishers Should Also Lend eBooks To Promote Sales

Lending ebooks are an interesting idea but it shouldn't be. I've borrowed from them as well. And after Barnes and Noble started to allow Nook users to lend books to other Nook owners, it appears that the Kindle can now offer similar feature.  It's likely others will follow as well.

Well, how about the publishers themselves?  Can they also lend out books to readers?  And what if Amazon and the other book sellers want to do the same?

This is an interesting concept that came to mind while I was at a coffee shop and the table next to me happened to be a couple of friends who were talking about one of their Kindle and why the other one should get it so that they can share books.  

Granted, I know nothing about sharing.  Well, I've been told to do it from time to time as a child but not since.  Anyway, one of them appeared to be a writer.  Written many books over his life time.  And while he was talking about his books in the Nook and the Kindle (no mention of Apple's iBookstore, which is lacking in selection compared to others), he said it was harder to get new readers if book stores like Borders go away.

So I thought it would be neat if he could lend some of his ebooks to readers as a way to introduce them to his work.  After a week or two, the book expires but asks the reader if he or she would be interested in more of this author's works.  At that time, it would be for a price obviously.

It would amount to sharing one's work over a Website  Some authors allow their work to be sampled that way.  With the lending method, it becomes easier for the author to control who gets the book to read.

I don't know whether what I am suggesting has already been discussed or is even happening now right  If it is already going on, I think that's terrific. If not, why not?

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