How to Share Kindle Books with Family and Friends

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Borrow and lend ebooks using Amazon Household and Family Library

Co-authored by Aly Rusciano

Last Updated: June 13, 2024 Fact Checked

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Setting Up a Family Library

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Lending a Book

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Q&A

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Tips

Sharing Kindle books is the perfect way to expand your and your friends or family members' libraries, and all it takes is a few clicks. Read on to learn how to share books on Kindle using Amazon Household, and by lending books you've purchased.

Things You Should Know

The easiest way to share a Kindle book is to use Amazon Household, an Amazon Prime feature.
By setting up Amazon Household, household members can share Kindle books in the Family Library.
Another way is to use Kindle’s “Loan this title” feature, though this feature was discontinued for many users.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Setting Up a Family Library

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1
Create an Amazon Household to make a Kindle Family Library. An Amazon Household can include up to 2 adults with their own Amazon accounts and 4 teens and 4 child profiles created as a part of an adult’s account.^{[1]
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- Go to Amazon Household.
- Select Add Adult to create a Household with another adult.
- Select Add a Teen to create a Household with a teen.
- Select Add a Child to create a Household with a child.
- Once you create your Household, you’ll be asked to review your content-sharing settings with Family Library. Make sure digital book content is selected.
Go to https://www.amazon.com/mycd after setting up your Amazon Household. Select the Content tab, and then click Books.^{[3]
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Select the content you want to share. Click the Select box next to the book(s) you want to share, then click Add to Library to place the item(s) in your Family Library.
- If you don’t see “Add to Library,” select the Show Family Library tab.
Choose your Family Library’s profile to add the book(s) to. Then, select OK to finish the transfer.^{[4]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Lending a Book

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1
Go to the “Manage Your Content and Devices” page. Amazon discontinued book lending in 2022, but some Kindle users claim they can still lend select titles.^{[5]
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Research source} To get started:
- Visit www.amazon.com/mycd to find the “Manage Your Content and Devices” page.
- Click the Content tab to pull up the books on your Kindle.
2
Select a book. Once you’re on the “Content” page, click on the section titled Books. Click the checkbox in the upper lefthand corner next to the book you want to share. Then, select Loan this title.
- If “Loan this title” doesn’t appear, the selected book can’t be loaned. Whether or not a Kindle book can be loaned or borrowed depends on the publisher.
- Keep in mind that you can only lend one book at a time.
If the book can be loaned, clicking “Loan this title” will bring up a new page. Enter the person-you-want-to-loan-the-book-to’s email address and name. There will also be a space to leave a personal message if you’d like. Once all the information is provided, click Send.
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Tell the recipient to look for an email. The person you sent the book to will have 7 days to accept the loaned book and 14 days from accepting to keep it. Once the 14 days are up, the book will be returned to your library.^{[6]
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- You won’t be able to access the book on any device during the loan period.

Community Q&A

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Question

How does the person I'm lending the book to actually get the book on their Kindle?

Jessica Chris

Community Answer

Once you lend the book and ensure you have typed all the details correctly, the book will automatically appear in that person's library.

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Question

I set up a family library. How do I sync the library on the other device?

Jessica Chris

Community Answer

You must join an Amazon Household to be able to set up a Family Library. Make sure your other device is connected to your Amazon Household.

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Question

None of my books seem to be "lendable." Why?

Jessica Chris

Community Answer

Certain books cannot be loaned. Look for books that can be borrowed when you purchase a new book. It will indicate if a book can be loaned on the book’s product detail page.

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Tips

When loaning a book, the recipient doesn’t need a Kindle to read the loaned book. They can download the free Kindle reading app on their chosen device to access the book.

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Remember that when you set up a Family Library, both adults on the account must share one payment method.

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