A family friend recently asked me if there was a way to give a Kindle version of my book, The Dragon Rustler, as a gift. I told him, I thought so, but that I wasn’t exactly sure how to do it. Well, as it turns out, Amazon makes it really simple to send an eBook as a gift to anyone.
This is no big surprise really, but having never sent one myself, I didn’t exactly know what was involved. And seeing how the holiday season is rapidly approaching, I figured this would be a good time to share these easy steps.
Step 1: Does the person you are gifting the eBook to have a Tablet or eReader?
Not to be so reductive here, but do they? More than just simply owning one, do they ever read books on the thing? This is actually important to know. I personally know a ton of people who own tablets and refuse to read anything on them. If you’re not sure, I would consider just getting a printed book for now.
Step 2: Select the book you would like to send as a gift
This might actually be the hardest step in the entire process. Does the person like fiction or non-fiction? Realism or fantasy? Romances or war stories? If you’re having trouble deciding, might I suggest a great book called The Dragon Rustler. Just kidding … kinda … okay, not really. But if you are having problems thinking of a good book, looking at the best sellers in a given genre is a great way.
Step 3: Click on “Give as a Gift”
The “Give as a Gift” button is located directly below the eBooks price, purchase buttons, and “Send to Device” buttons on the right hand side of the screen. To be honest, I never even noticed this button before I looked for it. The web team at Amazon has done a good job at making the “Buy” buttons stand out enough that my eyes never really wondered down too far below them.
Step 4: Send the eBook as a gift
Once you click on the “Give as a Gift” button you will be presented with two choices: Send the gift directly to the intended persons email, or send it to yourself. I think both choices have merit. Here’s why:
Email the gift directly to my recipient:
If you send the email directly to the person you are buying the gift for, you can also specify the date it will arrive. I think this is pretty cool really. Say, you know someone is getting a new tablet or eReader for Christmas, you can set December 25th as the date, and that morning they will get an email with the book ready for download. Or if you wanted to give a couple of books to someone for Hanukkah, you can specify which nights you would like each book to arrive on.
Email the gift to me:
If you’re like me, and you like to have an actual gift for the person to open, consider this option. You will receive the email with the purchased eBook’s code to download. Now you can print this and either put it in a card, or wrap it like an actual, tangible, present.
And that’s it. Pretty easy really. But since I wasn’t even sure how to do it myself, I thought I would put this out there for anyone who might be wondering how to gift an eBook, or never even knew it was an option.
If you have any other questions, feel free to post them in the comments, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Thanks,
Anthony
