How to Rent Kindle Library Books That Never Expire

I don’t read a ton of books these days but I do go through phases where I’ll read intensely for a few months and then take a break. I’ve always enjoyed reading and I feel like reading is the best preparation you can do for reading comprehension and standardized tests. Reading a lot has also seemed to help with my writing style. And now that I have more time on my hands, I’ve been reading all sorts of material for personal enjoyment and to improve my writing skills.

About a year and a half ago, someone gave me a Kindle for my birthday and at first I was pretty hesitant to start using it. But after a while, I really enjoyed the look and feel of it and I read it almost exclusively. The great thing about the Kindle is that it’s nothing like reading off a computer screen. I absolutely hate reading large amounts of text on computer screens and I’ll usually print anything over 5-10 pages(not very green of me I know). But when I’m reading on the Kindle I don’t have any problems. It’s just like reading a paperback book and I can read for hours without my eyes getting tired.

Library Books are Awesome

Since I’m pretty cheap, I’ve always been a huge fan of the library. I rarely buy books and I think it’s a complete waste of money since 99% of people won’t read a book twice. I have about 15 books that I own sitting on my shelf with no plans to ever read them again. So when I first got my Kindle, I was a little worried about the prospect of renting e-books, how the hell would that work?

But as the popularity of e-readers has increased, most libraries now offer some type of e-book library where you can browse available titles and put holds on certain books just like with a regular library. The only problem with these e-libraries though is that the selection is somewhat limited and there are often large waiting lists for the popular books.

My Solution: Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

Now that I’m addicted to my Kindle, there’s no way I’m going to pay for an e-book that can’t be legally shared with a friend once I’m done with it. Instead, I’ve devised a system which lets me get almost all the books I want but requires a little bit of planning and cunning. The first part of the plan involves signing up with multiple library services since each branch’s online selection will be independent of each other.

I still have my Los Angeles Public Library and Santa Monica Public Library accounts from when I was a kid in addition to my current San Diego Library Card. And now that I’m a Newport Beach resident, I get to tap into one more library system! So that’s a total of four library systems that I currently have access to. And although there’s some overlap, the cool thing is that the waiting list might be a lot shorter with one branch over another. If the title is available at more than one of the library’s, I’ll set up multiple holds so that wherever it’s available first I’ll get access to it.

2 Week Expiration Dilemma Solved

The second problem I ran into with Kindle library books was the fact that the titles expired in 2 weeks. I can usually polish off a book in 2 weeks but when you have multiple holds, sometimes you get two or three books all at once. Right now, I have four books on my Kindle and they’re all due within 2-3 weeks. Since all the books are rented through Amazon Kindle library, once the expiration date comes up the book will be automatically deleted from your device unless your Kindle doesn’t have access to the internet.

So once I have all the titles I want, I switch the Kindle’s wi-fi off so that it can’t connect to the internet. Once the book is due, it will be deleted from your Amazon Lending account online but it will remain on your device until you turn wi-fi back on and it syncs up with your account. I can already hear the morality police calling and while technically you may be doing something wrong, once the book expires it will be released to the next person in queue so you aren’t preventing someone else from reading it.

There you have it, those are all the secrets I have to getting copious numbers of free e-books delivered to my Kindle for as long as I want. If you’re curious about what’s currently on my Kindle take a look below. I rented all of these books from my local library but if you’re too impatient for that go ahead and buy them and I’ll get a small commission 🙂

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Readers, do you own a Kindle or another e-reader? Have you ever though about renting an e-book or is it too much of a hassle for you? Doesn’t it bug you that you can’t legally transfer e-books once you’ve purchased them and finished reading them?

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-Harry @ PF Pro