eBook lending coming to a site near you!

A while back a common complaints with ebooks was that it was not possible to lend friends your favorite books. With the Nook and the Kindle this has all changed, leading to an unexpected twist of global virtual lending. No longer is it a question of passing your favourite dog eared paper book to your friend, it is now possible to lend your ebook to a complete stranger in a far away city. It’s only a question of getting in contact with this person, which you can now do with ebook lending sites that are arriving on the internet landscape.

Sites, such as Booklending.com, eBookFling, and Lendle.me are quickly gathering thousands of subscriptions for people who want to lend and borrow ebooks. The subscription for these sites is free, as they generate commissions from Amazon when people purchase ebooks that can not be lend on their sites.

The lending sites have drawbacks. Firstly, the possibility of lending ebooks is available only to U.S. users. Another drawback is the limited selection. A large number of book publishers haven’t made their books lendable which restricts the sites selections. Also an ebook can only be lent once and for 14 days.

Not surprising books publishers are starting to cast a nervous eye on this budding activities as they fear that this may deter people from buying paper and digital books. Threat or possibility? Let’s see how the publishing houses respond. I know where I would put my money.

Do you know of any other eBook Lending sites? Let us know.