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Kindle Ebooks Free to Borrow for Amazon Prime Members

Marketing Trends, Online Visibility / by

Amazon has introduced a new program for Kindle publishers and Kindle owners who are Amazon Prime members.

For Amazon Prime/Kindle owners

You get a Kindle book to borrow for free each month from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. 

With Prime, Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free including over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers – as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. 

For Kindle Publishers

Amazon has introduced KDP Select. You agree to distribute your Kindle ebook for free to Prime members and exclusively on Amazon for 90 days and you get a share of a pool of money Amazon has set aside to compensate authors for the free loans to Prime members. 

I've enrolled my new ebook, How to Make Your Blog the Centerpiece of Your Business, in the program. So, if you're an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow it for free. Otherwise, it's a whopping $.99 (99 cents!).

Blog Centerpiece of Your Business Kindle ebook

Amazon has also introduced a promotion tool for ebooks enrolled in KDP Select. You can promote your ebook 5 days out of the 90 days it's exclusive on Amazon. Not sure exactly how this works at the moment. However, as an author, it seems to me it would benefit you to offer at least one ebook in the KDP program and take the opportunity to promote it on Amazon. It can only be good for your visibility and introduce you to new readers.

The program launched today, so I cannot report much other than I enrolled one book and it's available now for free to Amazon Prime members. I'll let you know the results I got when my 90 days is up.

If you've enrolled your ebook(s) in the KDP Select program, feel free to post the links here in the comments.

About Denise Wakeman

Denise Wakeman is a visibility strategist, marketer, and experimenter with over 25 years in the online space. She helps experienced professionals transform deep expertise into consistent, sustainable visibility that attracts clients without burnout or hype.
Since 1996, she’s built businesses from the ground up, navigated every twist and turn of online marketing, and embraced new tools (yes, including AI) as they emerged. Her approach combines heart, clarity, and pragmatism: practical visibility habits, honest conversation, and steady momentum.
Denise is the voice behind Your Visibility Edge, where she delivers weekly strategies, AI-powered prompts, and community support to solo business owners who want to get seen (well) not just louder.

Connect with Denise on Facebook,  LinkedIn,and Substack.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. blankLucy Mills

    I’ve made my book available for the lending system, but want to check if Prime users can still choose to *buy* it. A friend of mine is determined to purchase it to support me, bless her, but wants to wait until it’s ‘not free’. Does this mean if she’s a Prime user she can’t buy it even if she wants to?! Can anyone help?

    • blankDenise Wakeman

      Hi Lucy, since Prime members can borrow your ebook for free, Amazon set up a system that pays you for the number of loans you get, based on a pool of money they set aside for this purpose. The amount you get paid is determined by how many times your ebook is borrowed as well as the total number of ebooks borrowed through the lending library for all authors for the month. Typically, you end up with more money per book borrowed, then book sold.  So you get a percentage of the fund set aside ($700,000 in Oct 2012) for every book borrowed. Here are Kindle’s FAQs: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?ie=UTF8&topicId=A6KILDRNSCOBA

  3. blankK.M. Long

    Hi! I would love to introduce you to my novel, The Unfortunate Soul, which is available on the Kindle Online Lending Library.

    What turn of events takes place when an attempt to slay the villain boils down to merely that, an attempt? It is a difficult task, cheating death, however, Ursula the Sea Witch has managed such a feat by a dark twist of fate. Deep, in the furthest nether regions of the sea, lurks the truth behind the sublime villainess’ supposed demise along with her savage pursuit for revenge for crimes that exte
    nd back centuries. A murderous pursuit that will warp and twist the fate of her youngest niece, Triton’s eighth daughter, Koral Lasinger forever in ways that will leave a haunting mark on those she loves most.
    The Unfortunate Soul is the story of the dynamic bonds of love which imprison those that fall prey to its intoxicating ensnarement as well as the persistence of an enchanting evil that has captured the imagination of millions worldwide.

    Here is the link:
    http://www.amazon.com/The-Unfortunate-Soul-ebook/dp/B009IQEWT2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351193369&sr=8-1&keywords=the+unfortunate+soul

    Happy reading!

  4. blankJudy Mikesch

    My new speculative fiction novel, “Somewhere Never Traveled” is just now available from Amazon through the Kindle Borrowing Library.  Three very different people are startled by what happens to them when one, a Marine war veteran, shoots a cougar that has been stalking his uncle’s farm.  The change that happens to them is the first sign that the human race will never be the same. 

    http://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-Never-Travelled-Weavers-ebook/dp/B0075R4R5A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1328571181&sr=8-2
     

    • blankDeniseWakeman

      approved

      [image: Denise Wakeman, The Blog Squad]Denise Wakeman
      Your Online Visibility Mentor
      DeniseWakeman.com

      *Click here to Join the Online Visibility Group for Entrepreneurs
      *Network with business professionals on LinkedIn to boost your visibility on the Web.
      Social: [image: Twitter] [image: Google Plus] [image: Facebook] [image:
      Blog RSS]
      New! How to Make Your Kindle Ebook Stand Out on Amazon

  9. blankAnonymous

    I’m waiting to see how my first free-day e-book promotion on Amazon on Mon., Jan. 16/12, PCT,  will work out.  Good luck to fellow authors who are trying it out too!

    My mother was a WWI warbride who leapt from Porstmouth, England to an aboriginal reserve in Canada’s northern territories. I found 72  love letters from my parents’ transatlantic courtship and pix from the reserve. She trekked 180 miles by cariole toboggan to give birth. Epic love story, timely for winter and Valentine’s Day!
    Margaret
    http://www.amazon.com/Kathleens-Cariole-Ride-ebook/dp/B006NFSYV8

  11. blankCrystal Rose

    I just published a new eBook called Clinically F*cked: The Early Years.

    Inside, you will get to read about a little girl who didn’t have a
    chance. Molested by her father before the age of three and then sent to
    multiple foster homes where she is to be safe. That isn’t the case and
    instead is left to fend for herself, lay in her own urine for days and
    suffer beatings from a raging alcoholic who is not her father.

    This
    is a story of survival. It is my story of survival. Secrets are told
    and revealed that I’ve never shared before. Fear is all consuming when
    you are left only knowing the role of a victim. This little girl has
    grown up and she’s not scared anymore.

    It is available for free for Amazon Prime Members and for the next 5 days, available for free to everyone and can be found at:

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WB9IPO

    • blankDeniseWakeman

      approved

      [image: Denise Wakeman, The Blog Squad]Denise Wakeman
      Your Online Visibility Mentor
      DeniseWakeman.com

      *Click here to Join the Online Visibility Group for Entrepreneurs
      *Network with business professionals on LinkedIn to boost your visibility on the Web.
      Social: [image: Twitter] [image: Google Plus] [image: Facebook] [image:
      Blog RSS]
      New! Blogging Without Dates – The pros, the cons and meeting in the middle

    • blankDeniseWakeman

      Good luck with your strategy! As long as you have a call to action in your ebooks to invite readers to sign up for more info, you should be well on your way to building a fan base.

  13. blankJohn McKenzie

    It was great to find this. It put two books on the five day promotion thing. 
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alma-Mater-ebook/dp/B0052G9R88 and
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/TheBlissBook-ebook/dp/B005RPH1DW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325162785&sr=1-1 
     Before that they were hardly moving at all, but they’ve now been downloaded 400 plus times in the last four days. This was very puzzling and I was wondering how folk even found them. I’d put all ten of my books on the Kindle Prime select thing and didn’t realise you had to have done that to put your books up for free for five days. Still  don’t know how Amazon promotes free books like mine, but I’ll put the other eight up for free (they only allow you to do it two at a time) because I’d rather have them downloaded that just sitting there. My author page is at http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-McKenzie/e/B00584I2Z8/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
    Thank you

    • blankDeniseWakeman

      Congrats on the downloads on your books. There are a lot of sites and fan pages on Facebook that track Kindle free books and promote them so it may be that is where some of the visibility for your books is coming from.

  14. blankNeffmoore

    I just signed up for this program. As I understand it, the “promotion” thing is where your book is offered free, for the time you specify (up to 5 days per month per book). It is free to buy for everyone.

    I offered my memoir, “God Said Not Yet,” about my cancer experience, for two days, and over 1,000 copies were “sold” for free. I don’t make any money on those, but it gets my name and my work out there to people who might not buy my book if they don’t know me. I also have a novel, “Donovan’s Island.” My hope is that many people who got my memoir and liked it will buy my novel. Both are $2.99 on Kindle (free to borrow for Prime members).

    http://www.amazon.com/Donovans-Island-ebook/dp/B006K6QWL4/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1324045927&sr=1-2 

    I plan to offer my memoir for free again this month, and I may do a Christmas Day special for my novel, making it free on that day.I think this is a good way to get your name out there..
    In the 4 days since the free promotion ended, my memoir has been borrowed 27 times

    • blankDeniseWakeman

      Thanks for clarifying the promotion thing. It wasn’t clear to me, but that makes sense.  Congrats on the success you’ve had with your ebook. Do you have a call to action and link in your ebook to direct people to your site or email list? Seems you’ve got a big audience for your topic and it would be a shame to miss out on the opportunity to build a fan base for your books.

  16. blankDeniseWakeman

    Looks like it was a one day freebie. The price has been changed back to the bargain price of $.99. Thanks for your support one and all. 132 free copies were downloaded and it hit #1157 in the Free Kindle Store.

  17. blankChristine

    Oh boy!  Thanks Denise.  I am already a prime member and haven’t taken advantage of the book borrow program yet – this will be a perfect start.  I loaned my Mom my kindle and she seems to have confiscated it so I’ll have to read on my computer.

    • blankDeniseWakeman

      Christine, I bought my mom a Kindle for Christmas last year. You’ll have to let me know how the Prime borrowing program works for you. I haven’t upgraded yet.

  18. blankDavid Newby

    Thanks a mill Denise! I told a few people in my LinkedIn group to get a copy as well. I enrolled my book, How to Trust in God and Achieve the Impossible, into the program. It’s available for $.99 at best here: http://amzn.to/vynbEC Double Rainbow Blessings!

  19. blankDavid Newby

    Thanks a mill Denise! I told a few people from my LinkedIn group to get a copy also. I just enrolled my book in the program. It’s called How to Trust in God and Achieve the Impossible, and it’s either free or $.99. Here is the link to my book for those that may want a copy: http://amzn.to/vynbEC Double Rainbow Blessings!

  21. blankAnonymous

    and the great thing is……NOT just on the USA site but also on the UK site Thanks for telling ME about this offer, Denise .  Looks like Christmas came early!

  22. blankDeniseWakeman

    I just checked on the ebook and it’s now being offering on Amazon for free, to everyone. I wonder how long that will last.  I also used one of my five promotion days yesterday and the image you see in the post appears to reflect the promotion. The info about Prime is not on the page today.

    • blankDeniseWakeman

      I just checked the status of my free ebook and it’s ranked at #3627 in the free Kindle store. Not sure if that’s good or not. There have been 23 “sales.” The key thing to make sure you include in your ebooks on Kindle is a call to action to some freebie that requires the reader to sign up and get on your list. I can see the free kindle ebooks as a good lead generator.