Kindle-Only E-Books Purchases, Downloads Hit 100 Million
By PanARMENIAN
Kindle owners have been busy since the debut of the Kindle Lending Library last November, purchasing, downloading, or borrowing titles more than 100 million times, PC Magazine reports.
Amazon announced the milestone on Tuesday, Aug 28 citing popular Kindle-only titles like Helen Bryan’sWar Brides, which has been purchased or borrowed more than 270,000 times, and sat on the Kindle Top 10 list for the past eight weeks.
Other best-selling exclusive books include Karen McQuestion’s A Scattered Life, Easily Amused, and The Long Way Home, each borrowed or bought more than 500,000 times, as well as the entirety of Ed McBain’s long-running 87th Precinct series, which has been snagged more than 250,000 times since December.
Since launching its free Lending Library in November, Amazon has watched as titles have been bought and swapped over and over again from its e-book warehouse.
“We have a huge library of books that are only available on Kindle, and they’re super popular. Exclusive books are another great benefit for Kindle readers, and we’re going to continue to work hard to make sure the Kindle ecosystem is the best in the world for our customers,” Amazon vice president of Kindle Content Russ Grandinetti said in a statement.
The Kindle Lending Library launched with 5,000 titles, less than two months after Amazon formally rolled out its public library book lending program. The latter program allows Kindle users to borrow electronic books from more than 11,000 U.S. libraries.
In June, Amazon released all seven Harry Potter books in its lending library, available in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.