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Harry Potter e-books go into Kindle lending library

01.01.70 | Philip Jones

The Harry Potter e-books are to be made available to borrow as part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library in the US, with Amazon.com making what it described as a "significant investment" in purchasing the "exclusive" licence from Pottermore to add the seven titles in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

The Kindle Owners' Lending Library is part of Amazon Prime membership, meaning members can borrow the digital titles up to once a month, with no limit on the number of people who can borrow the titles simultaneously.

Amazon.com c.e.o. Jeff Bezos said: "We're absolutely delighted to have reached this agreement with Pottermore. This is the kind of significant investment in the Kindle ecosystem that we'll continue to make on behalf of Kindle owners." Terms were not disclosed, and the e-books will be made available from 19th June.

According to Amazon.com, the Kindle Owners' Lending Library now features more than 145,000 books to borrow. It is not available to Kindle owners beyond the US.

The Potter e-books continue to be available to public libraries via Overdrive. Last week Pottermore chief executive Charlie Redmayne said he wanted to look at ways of encouraging new readers to discover the Harry Potter books, either through library loans or sampling.

Amazon added: "With traditional library lending, the library buys a certain number of eBook copies of a particular title. If all of those are checked out, readers have to get on a waiting list. For popular titles like Harry Potter, the wait can sometimes be months. With the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, there are no due dates, books can be borrowed as frequently as once a month, and there are no limits on how many people can simultaneously borrow the same title—so readers never have to wait in line for the book they want."

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