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How to Loan a Kindle Book in 2024

If it feels like a waste to buy an eBook, read it, and then never open it again, then you’ll appreciate what Amazon has to offer. Fortunately, the company lets you lend Kindle books to other people. Much like a physical book, you can give someone else the joy of reading it without having to buy them a second copy or give them physical access to your Kindle.

The only catch is that the recipient has to be part of your “Household.” This lets you share not only eBooks, but also audiobooks and other digital items you’ve purchased. Amazon used to let you share Kindle eBooks with other Kindle users that weren’t in your family, but that service ended in 2022.

Keep reading to learn how to loan a Kindle book to your family through your Amazon account. Once you’re all set up, accessing your family’s Kindle books takes just a few clicks.

How to Share Your Kindle Book

Amazon provides one method for lending Kindle books. Although they used to let you borrow books from any Amazon user, the only way to do it as of this writing is through Amazon Household. This is a content-sharing program anyone can join for free. 

With it, you’ll be able to pass around Kindle books, audiobooks, apps, and games, as well as payment information (this is supposed to be a family member, after all). Prime members can even share Prime benefits, meaning your household can watch the same movies on their Amazon Fire Stick and other supported devices. And if you have kids on your account, you’ll have direct access to parental control options on their Fire tablet or Kindle eReader.

To get started, you first need to sign up for Amazon Household (those steps are below). Once that’s done, anyone you add to your household can follow these steps to access your books. No manual loaning required; all the books are simply there, accessible to read at any time for as long as you like.

Here’s how to access shared Kindle books:

  1. Open the Digital Content area of your Amazon account through the Accounts & Lists > Content Library menu.
    The Accounts and Lists menu on Amazon’s website
  2. Select Books from the list.
    Digital Content options on Amazon
  3. Select More actions next to one of the books.
  4. Pick an option from the menu. For example, Read Now or Download & transfer via USB.
    More actions menu for a Kindle book

Tip: Don’t have any books to share? I recommend grabbing the free Kindle eBooks on Amazon’s website before they start to cost. It’s a treasure trove of free reads.

How to Set up an Amazon Household

Before you can loan a Kindle book, you have to configure your Amazon Household. Follow along with these steps to get someone else added to your household so you can start sharing each other’s books.

  1. Visit Amazon Household and select Add Adult. There’s also an option to add a teen or a child, but we’ll stick with an adult for this demonstration.
    The Amazon Household home page
  2. Fill out the form with the person’s name and email address they use to access Amazon, then select Continue.
    Amazon Household invitation form for adding an adult
  3. Select Agree and continue. This will activate wallet sharing between your account and the person you’re adding. This is a security measure to make sure you’re only adding someone you trust with your payment details.
    The Share your wallet agreement for Amazon Household
  4. Choose what to share with the person. For the purposes of loaning Kindle books, make sure at least eBooks is selected, then choose Continue. Know, however, that this will share your whole library with this person. If you’d rather pick which books to loan later, then uncheck this option.
    Amazon Family Library content sharing options
  5. Confirm that the person’s information is correct, then select Send Invite to invite them to your Household. You won’t be able to loan books with them until they accept the invite, which they have 14 days to do.
    The Send your invite form for Amazon Household
  6. The person you added needs to click the invite link from their email, and then press Continue on Amazon’s website, followed by Agree and continue to share their wallet with you.
    Amazon Household invite page
  7. They will see the same screen you had earlier, asking which items to share through Family Library: App/Games. Audiobooks, and/or eBooks. It’s your pick.
  8. The person you invited will see a page that says Household joined. That’s it! You can now start sharing Kindle books with each other (see above).

Tip: Don’t have a Kindle? You or your family members can still read and borrow books with the Kindle app for PC. There’s also a mobile app for Android and iOS.

FAQs

Why can’t I loan my Kindle book?

Amazon no longer supports their book lending program. You must be part of someone’s Household in order to share Kindle books.

How many devices can access a Kindle book?

Your Kindle library can be accessed on up to six devices because that’s the Amazon Household limit. However, you can log in to your main Amazon account on as many devices as you want to access the Kindle books on each device.

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