How to share your Kindle-e books with a reading partner | Mint

Let me be clear at the beginning: It is not a ‘how to jailbreak your kindle’ manual. It is also not a Paean for Amazon. As someone whose working life is about editing and reviewing books, I am too aware of the problematic business model, followed by the global Behemoth when it comes to selling books, among other things. Rather, this piece is a PSA species, for those who are unaware of a less visible feature in Kindle devices that enable users to share their library with others. Given Amazon’s tendency to bury such options deep in the ecosystem, it is likely that this hack could be news for many readers. If you want to legally share your library with another user, you can use the Amazon household platform, and it works almost like Amazon Prime’s family plan. Before I get to the nuts and bolts of the process, statutory warnings and ordinary facts. For those who are not yet known, Amazon has a nearby monopoly in the bookselling business, one of the segments the business started with. Currently, the company owns about 50% of the physical and 80% of the digital book market share. Amazon’s e-commerce model, based on aggressive discounting and super-solid delivery, even if it incurred losses, has jeopardized the bookstores of the brick and mortar around the world. The cut -off of writers while Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), the company’s self -publication platform, made book publishing more egalitarian, has also led to a drastic erosion of quality. The terms and conditions for the output of KDP are strict – especially if a writer chooses from KDP’s preferred price model, leading to a sharp reduction in the royal share. In terms of sound books, the royalties are higher in Amazon’s favor. Audible, the company’s audio book platform, takes standard a 60% cut from all books available exclusively. If a writer decides to choose the exclusivity agreement, the share can go up to 75%. A few years ago, best-selling fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson ended up in a pickle with Amazon over the audio book-royal stock for a series he himself published. Amazon apparently conceded somewhat to its conditions, although it is not clear how it changed the overall royal structure for beginners and lesser -known writers. Not a reader’s world that is most shocking to a reader is the fact that you do not own one of the books you buy on Kindle. As the fine print says, you don’t buy the book yourself – like you with a physical book that you can buy from a bookstore – but simply pay for a license to read it. Amazon can at any time remove a book from your library if you violate its terms and conditions, or are forced by the business by others. In 2009, it removed an e-book version of George Orwell’s iconic novel, 1984, from Kindle devices, simply because the publisher who sold the edition does not have the right to do so. In a series of informative videos, YouTuber Jared Henderson emphasized such misconduct by Amazon, including the company that the company could change a cover from a book you bought. Henderson saw this happening when a TV series was based on the fantasy series of Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time. Without seeking his consent, Amazon exchanged the cover of his old Kindle edition with the new one. In a further tightening of the leash, Amazon recently decided to prevent user copies of the books they buy and store locally. This feature gave users the option to deprive and share the digital management rights (DRM) from these files – as you would lend a physical copy of a book for which you paid good money to others, you would like to do so. Caring to share the silver lining in all this is that at least you can borrow at least to one adult and four children in your family. You can either send ‘NE -mail invitation to the person with whom you want to share your library by following the steps described on the Amazon household page. Or else, you can sign up to your Amazon account, undergo accounts and lists, shopping and rental companies and find Amazon household there. Depending on the way you set up the Amazon household account, you can share other digital content from your prime library – games, shows and movies – too much. This is the closest you can share in your digital library with books with your reading partner – even if they are in another city – for now. Until Amazon decides to change again.