Interested in borrowing an ebook? Check our comparison of BookLending and eBookFling

As ebook lending becomes a growing trend, we see more websites that fulfill the role of marketplace, matching ebook lenders and borrowers.

But who are these websites? And what they offer those of you who want to take advantage of the feature allowing Kindle and Nook users to swap ebooks with each others? We decided to provide you with a comparison of the three websites that seems to lead the ebook lending market - eBookFling, BookLending and Lendle.

At least that was our initial intention. We contacted the owners of these 3 websites and asked them to answer couple of questions, but only Catherine MacDonald of BookLending and George Burke of eBookFling got back to us. Although we wrote couple of times to Jeff Croft of Lendle, we didn't hear back from him. Therefore it's going to be a comparison between BookLending and eBookFling.

We hope you will find it useful and if you have any information or experiences with one of these websites you would like to add, feel free to add a comment!

First, a short video from each of the two websites and then a comparison between the two:







1. Who created the website?
BookLending (BL): Catherine MacDonald
eBookFling (EF): BookSwim

2. Lending Length
BL: 14 days
EF: 14 days

3. Where you're located?
BL: We are Canadians who are currently traveling abroad
EF: New Jersey

4. How many users you have? Are you serving also non-US users?
BL: We have over 19,000 users and we do serve non-US users.
EF: We crossed the 10,000 user mark in less than a week after launching. We've been growing steadily. These are all US-based members with plans to expand as soon as Amazon/B&N open up lending overseas.

5. Is it only available to both Kindle and Nook users?
BL: Yes, only Kindle users.
EF: Available to both Kindle and Nook users

6. Is it a free service?
BL: Yes. You don't need to pay anything to borrow ebooks, no matter if you make e-books available for loan or not.
EF: Yes, but only if other users borrow books from you. You get one credit point for every book you lend which can be used to borrow another ebook. But if you don't earn credit points (i.e. no one wants to borrow your books..), you will need buy credits for $1.99 per credit.

7. Do you need to loan books to others to be able to borrow?
BL: No. There's no such requirement.
EF: No, but then you'll need to pay $1.99 for every ebook you want to borrow.

8. What's your best user-friendly feature?
BL: Members love our Browse by Genre and "Read It Today" features.
EF: eBookFling.com allows members to manage notifications on books in their wishlist so they're not inundated with "this book is now available" emails for books they're not yet ready to read. Similarly, we send out loan requests one at a time, rather than blast all lenders every time someone asks to borrow a book.

9. How many people operate your business?
BL: Right now, we have a core group of two plus our wonderful development team.
EF: 4 of BookSwim's team initially founded the eBookFling.com service and we're expanding. We just hired a social media manager and are on the lookout for an ad-sales person.

10. What Is your business model?
BL: Commission and display advertising based.
EF: Revenue from credits, commission on ebook sales and in the future selling ad space and providing other services (acting as marketing tool for authors and publishers for example)

11. In one sentence - What differentiate you from the other websites?
BL: We're not just a free, fair and easy-to-use platform, but also a community of Kindle book enthusiasts.
EF: A. We manage the entire lend process by masking a book requester's email address which keeps the privacy of all our members while also allowing us to track when a book has been successfully delivered and reaching out to others if the loan never came through. B. Our use of credits as a swapping currency ensures that there is never any deficit of available books to borrow. C. As far as I'm aware, eBookFling.com is the only service with Nook and Kindle titles, allowing for more availability of books.

For more information visit eBookFling at http://ebookfling.com/ and BookLending at http://www.booklending.com/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

On the future of ebook rental - An interview with George Burke, CEO of eBook Fling

Last week eBook Fling was finally launched, offering one of the most interesting marketplaces in a new emerging area - e-book rental.

What is eBook Fling? Here's their description:
A free service where readers across the nation can swap ebooks by simply utilizing the lending capability of the Kindle & Nook books they already own. Wow. How does it work? Anyone with access to the Kindle & Nook apps can borrow and read an unlimited amount of ebooks for free, as long as they're contributing their own Nook or Kindle books. Those without ebooks to lend can purchase a $1.99 credit to borrow any book from an ebookflinger. Lenders earn credits to then borrow other books.

In other words, if you have a Nook or Kindle and you want to take advantage of their option to borrow (and lend) ebooks, but you don't know where you can find other people you can swap ebooks with, this is your place. They're not the first one to offer this service and of course you have many libraries that now offer the option to borrow ebooks, but still it looks like this is the most serious attempt so far to build an efficient ebook rental marketplace. Therefore it has a great potential to shape the future of an interesting part of the ebook market.

The people behind eBook Fling are our good friends from BookSwim with whom we partnered many times in the past. We wanted to learn more about the new venture and asked George Burke, the founder and CEO of BookSwim to join us for a short interview, and here it is:

Hi George. What's your vision for eBook Fling in five years? Do you see it as a complementary service to BookSwim or one that intends to replace BookSwim eventually when ereading will dominate the book marketplace?
I do believe lateral growth can happen world wide, assuming B&N and Amazon release the service in other countries. I also see other popular ebook platforms (like Apple's iBooks and Google Books) launching with lending capabilities, making the service available to more readers.

I truly see this type of service as a testing ground for authors and publishers, perhaps become a paid marketing outlet to reach readers directly. How (or if) to integrate with BookSwim is currently up-in-the-air.

Did you receive any feedback from authors or publishers? Are they for or against a rental service of ebooks?
Honestly, I haven't heard much from authors about what they think. It's a great opportunity for a try-before-you-buy, which actually benefits both readers and (good) authors.by allowing readers to try out something new they wouldn't otherwise have purchased. The author gets a type of exposure that was never possible previously. It's gotta be better than the ridiculous ebook promotion that simply gives away the book for free; not a loan, not a rental, not temporary, but a totally free ebook. This doesn't sound sustainable.

What are the main benefits for readers that will use eBook Fling?

It's a great opportunity for a try-before-you-buy, which actually benefits both readers and (good) authors.

What is your goal from a business point of view (in terms of users and revenue)?
Good question... I don't have much insight into what the ceiling could be. Still only 10% of avid readers even own an e-reading device. This whole model is risky because publishers could take a stand against Kindle and Nook lending all together. But if they begin embrace it as a result of sales from lending, this is going to be one exciting ride.

By the way, what do you think on the new restrictions of HarperCollins on the number of times their ebooks can be checked out in librarians?

I was never too familiar on how the system worked, but had assumed there were licensing limitations and was surprised that something like the 26-lend limit wasn't already in place. I'm told the reason for implementing this was to mimic the lifespan of a physical book, however I'm told that libraries RARELY throw out inventory due to damage and can easily squeeze 50 turns out of 1 copy.

I wouldn't think the 26-lend limit would be so bad, except a librarian friend of mine said the 26 lends must be shared with all sister libraries in the network, so in cases like this, I can see where the limitation can be burdensome to a library (or library network for that matter).

Thank you George and good luck! For more information on eBookFling visit http://ebookfling.com/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Check out our giveaway: free green books and gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim!

Want a $10 gift card for Strand Bookstore, one of the best independent bookstores ever? How about a $25 gift card for the great book rental service BookSwim? How about a free copy of a great green book? Well, we've got them all for you!

Yes, as part of our green gift giveaway, we give readers who balance out 25 books or more by planting trees great gifts that promote green reading! And these are really great gifts - from free copies of books that are are printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper to gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim.

So how it works exactly? Here are the details:

Readers who will balance out 25 books by planting 25 trees will receive a $10 gift card for Strand Book Store of New York City, one of the world's best independent bookstores with over 18 miles of new, used, rare and art books. These cards are good for any in-store or online purchases and they never expire.

Readers who will balance out 50 books by planting 50 trees will receive a “green” book, printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. Readers will be offered to choose from a list of 5-6 books that will be changing occasionally. The books offered are books that participated on our green books campaign last November, which promoted responsibly printed books. You can see the list of books currently offered at http://www.ecolibris.net/gifts.asp

Readers who will balance out 100 books by planting 100 trees will receive a $25 gift card for BookSwim, a Netflix-style book rental .library service, lending you paperbacks, hardcovers and college textbooks.

For more details please visit http://www.ecolibris.net/gifts.asp

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Clean body? Sustainable Sushi? Raw for Dessert?

This is not a list of of daily tasks, but just some of the great green books you can get for free as part of our green gift giveaway:

So how does it work? very simple - when you balance out 50 books by planting 50 trees with Eco-Libris, you can now you can get a free copy of one of these great books (all printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper): Clean Body, Raw for Dessert, Greening Your Small Business, The Simple Little Vegan Dog Book, Sweet Utopia and Sustainable Sushi.

All of these books are printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper and readers can choose from this list the book they would like to receive as a gift from us.


And that's not all:

Readers who will balance out 25 books by planting 25 trees will also receive a $10 gift card for Strand Book Store of New York City, one of the world's best independent bookstores with over 18 miles of new, used, rare and art books. These cards are good for any in-store or online purchases and they never expire.

And readers who will balance 100 books by planting 100 trees will also receive a $25 gift card for BookSwim, a Netflix-style book rental .library service, lending you paperbacks, hardcovers and college textbooks.

More details about our green gift giveaway can be found on the campaign's page at http://www.ecolibris.net/gifts.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Our green gift giveaway: free green books and gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim

Last month we started a new green gift campaign, where we give readers who balance out 25 books or more by planting trees great gifts that promote green reading! And these are really great gifts - from free green books to gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim, the Netflix for books.

So what's the idea? well, For over two years Eco-Libris has been offering eco-conscious readers the opportunity to balance out their books by planting trees. At the same time our company has worked to promote sustainable reading, and reduce books' impact on the environment. So now we're combining the two, with a special giveaway that rewards customers with green gifts that promote green reading, from gift cards for Strand Bookstore and BookSwim to free "green" books, which are printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper.

The campaign will run through 2010 and we hope it will help forward our efforts making reading more sustainable. With all the current hype around the iPad it's still important to remember that over 95% of all books sold are printed on paper and hence the ever-growing importance of making physical books more sustainable.

How you can get these gifts? check out our campaign's webpage at http://www.ecolibris.net/gifts.asp, where you will find all the information including the list of green books that are currently offered.

And don't forget to check out our funny promotional videos (part 1, part 2 and part 3)! are available now.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

4 days left to the Green Books campaign: update on some cool prizes for the participating blogs!

4 days left to our Green Books campaign and we're getting very excited as the clock is ticking towards next Tuesday, November 10.

What will happen then? well, exactly on 1pm EST over 100 bloggers will take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of more than 100 such books! You can see the full list of participating books on the Green Books campaign's page.

We have great blogs participating in the campaign (list of the blogs is available on the campaign's page as well). As a small token of appreciation to their work on the campaign we will give couple of great prizes to the bloggers who will have the greatest number of comments and tweets on their "green" book review.

The first prize is very very cool - a signed copy of Al Gore's new Audiobook "OUR CHOICE: A Plan To Solve the Climate Crisis", courtesy of our friends at Simon & Schuster Audio. They are also contributing four more copies as prizes.

One more prize is coming from our friends at BookSwim, the Netflix for books, who are giving a great prize - a 3-month membership at BookSwim!

We'll be here with couple of more updates until Tuesday, and of course on Tuesday you'll be able to find here a full list of links to all the "green" books reviews.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Vote for BookSwim on Forbes.com's startup competition!

Forbes.com is running the second round of the 2009 Boost Your Business competition. On the line: $50,000 in cash, and $50,000 in advertising on Forbes.com. 20 semi-finalists remain and among them are our partners and friends at BookSwim.

BookSwim rents books like Netflix rents movies, with the convenience of free home delivery and best-sellers guaranteed in stock. As you may remember we collaborate with them in their special offering of gift cards - a tree will be planted with Eco-Libris in honor of every gift purchased.

You can read more about BookSwim on Forbes.com, where you can find their 500-word write-up and watch their 30-second "elevator pitch" video. You can also read what they intend to do with the prize once they get it.

BookSwim is a great green business and we warmly recommend to vote for them!

The vote itself is very simple and can be made at http://boost09.perfectprize.com/voting/. Please don't forget to confirm the link that gets sent to your email otherwise your vote won't count. Make sure you uncheck any boxes so you don't get spam.

VOTING ENDS SEPT 30!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Eco-Libris is collaborating with Bookswim in an holiday campaign!

We are happy to announce on a collaboration with BookSwim (http://www.bookswim.com), the premier online book rental service!

BookSwim, established June 2006, is the first full-service online book rental service lending you paperbacks and hardcovers, Netflix-style, directly to your house, without the need to purchase. Whether it's new releases, bestsellers, or classics, they have something for everyone, with free shipping both ways! Read your books as long as you want — no late fees! Even choose to purchase and keep the titles you love!

Now BookSwim is offering virtual gift cards which are the perfect gift for those who love to read. A tree will be planted with Eco-Libris in honor of every gift purchased. We had done it with BookSwim last year and we're happy to partner again this year to green up their gift cards.

BookSwim are also giving incentives to customers to purchase gift cards between now and December 31, including a $5 gift card to be used by you for every $50 gift card purchased. Similarly, for every $100 gift card you buy, you will receive your own $20 gift card. Additionally, 2 lucky winners will receive a $299 Sony Blu-Ray Disc Player. One entry for every gift card purchase. Check it out at https://www.bookswim.com/gift.html

BookSwim is a great service and as a rental service it also has green qualities, similar to those of libraries due to the fact that it helps to maximize the use of every copy that is already printed. You can read more on BookSwim and the environment here: You can read more at: http://www.bookswim.com/media_kit_vision.html#theEnvironment

So don't forget to check out BookSwim's gift cards - it's a great affordable (and green!) gift for the holidays for every book lover.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Eco-Libris is collaborating with BookSwim on a special holiday gift card program

Eco-Libris is happy to announce on a new collaboration, this time with BookSwim, the premier online book rental service.

BookSwim launched yesterday a Holiday Gift Card Program to sponsor the planting of holiday evergreen trees with the help of Eco-Libris. For every online gift card purchased at BookSwim.com during the 2007 holiday gift season, BookSwim promises the planting of a new Holiday evergreen tree with Eco-Libris.

BookSwim, established June 2006, is the first full-service online paperback and hardcover book rental library club allowing subscribers to rent books shipped directly to their door with no late fees and free shipping.

The company is based in Monroe, NJ but offers book rental service nationwide ranging from hardcover new release novels to classics, nonfiction bestsellers to children's books.

Book club subscription plans range from under $15 to $36 per month and allow up to 11 books borrowed out at a time and returned in a pre-paid bag, but members are also given the option to buy.

George Burke, chief marketing officer, explains the idea behind the gift card: "book rental gift cards make great last minute gifts for parents, for seniors who may not be able to make it to the bookstore or library, kids who need a constant supply of fresh books, and of course friends and coworkers. And now, the Holiday gift giver can be proud of the dual nature of the honorable gifts of both reading and replenishing nature."

You are welcome to check it out at BookSwim's website.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: a great green gift for the holidays!