Q: How does eBook sharing work?
A: Amazon announced Kindle eBooks could be loaned out for 14 days, one time only. Not all books, however are lendable. Lendability is decreed by the all mighty publishers. You can send an eBook to a friend, who has 7 days to accept your offer. Once they accept, they can download the eBook to their Kindle or Kindle app and keep it for 14 days. At the end of this loan period, the eBook is returned to you. During the loan period, you will not be able to read the book.
This is all sanctioned by Amazon, more details can be found on Amazon.com.Q: Wait, not all eBooks are lendable? Why not?
A: You're preaching to the choir... But, what can you do? Write stern letters to the publishers, that's what!
Q: Will that help?
A: Maybe. Who knows? But if you write it on parchment in calligraphy using a quill, it will look nice.
Q: What is kbookcycle.com?
A: kbookcycle is a site you can use to find eBooks to lend and borrow, discuss your favorite titles and authors, and discover new books through a network of friends.
Q: What will it cost to borrow a book on kbookcycle?
A: Nothing! Think of us as your public library, except we won't tell you to be quiet. But we will get a small commission if you end up buying anything from Amazon through our site.
Q: How does lending work?
A: Once you find a book you want to borrow, kbookcycle will contact the owner informing them someone would like to borrow their book. The owner will then log into their Amazon account to the "Manage your Kindle" section where they can loan their book to you
Q: Wait, but is my email anonymous?
A: Exactly! Your email address will be tied to the username you create on kbookcycle. Your email is never, ever displayed to the public. Other users will only know you by the username you choose (so make it a good one!). Our magical elves will ensure you get the loan offer from the owner with out anyone seeing your email address. (see our Privacy Policy for more info)
Q: What if multiple people want the same book?
A: Then it's Thunderdome time! Two users enter. One leaves... with the book
Q: Seriously?!?
A: I've just been informed by our lawyers that we are not allowed to do the whole Thunderdome idea. Instead, we will have our magical elves set up some sort of queue system. When you request to lend or borrow a book, you will be added to a queue for that book (queue = line for the Americans reading this). Your place in the queue will be determined by a highly classified elf formula involing the time you requested to be put in the queue and your status on kbookcycle.
Q: What do you mean by status?
A: Your status is determined by the ratio of books you make available to lend out to the ratio of books you borrow. Being in a queue could potentially also affect your status, but to a lesser degree. We will let you know a more precise definition once we translate this Elvish gibberish, in which the formula was written. We also reserve the right to change this formula if we deem it necessary for fairness.