How to Gift a Kindle Book (And Five Reasons Why You Should)

1. Go to the Amazon Kindle store and search for the book you want to buy.
2. On the right-hand side of the page, underneath the “Buy Now” button, click on the button that says “Give as a Gift”.
3. Now you can select how you want the book delivered. You can either have the gift email sent right to the recipient or to you. If you have the gift emailed to the recipient, you can specify the date you want the email sent, and you can add a personal message. If you choose to have the gift emailed to you, you can then print the email and hand-deliver it.

five reasons to giFt A KINdle book to everyone in your life

1. Avoid the holiday shopping madness

Want to get all your holiday shopping done before the December craze descends? Amazon allows you to select a delivery date for your Kindle book gift. So you can buy ebooks for your whole family in July, and while everyone else is running around in December like their heads are on fire, you can put your feet up and feel smug.

2. Get the most bang for your buck with Deals of the Day

If you’re not already signed up for Book Riot’s Book Deals newsletter, you can do so here. You’ll also find them published daily on the website. We’re talking Kindle books for $2–$3 a pop, friends. Just sayin’. You can buy your bestie five books for $10. They’ll love you forever.

3. Because Kindle books are so easy to exchange

Sometimes you think a person will love a book, and they just don’t. Or, as happens to me all the time, they do love it, but already own it. Sure, it is possible to exchange a book for another at the bookstore, but how many people actually do so? The reality is it’s a whole lot easier to exchange an ebook. If the book you picked is just not their jam, your friend can exchange it for an Amazon gift card and buy the book they want.

4. Because sometimes it’s the only option

Some books do not exist in print. This is especially true in certain genres—romance and fantasy, for instance. There are some truly wonderful books out there that only get published digitally. If you’re limiting yourself to only buying paper books, you (and everyone you gift a Kindle book to) might be missing out.

5. Ebooks make excellent budget-friendly gifts

I love independent bookstores. I owned a small business for seven years, and I know how tough it is to make a go of it. But we live in the real world and most of us don’t have endless amounts of cash. Ebooks are often cheaper than their print counterparts. If you’re buying gifts on a budget, Kindle books are your friend.

six creative ways to gift(WRAP) a kindle book

For some of the book-loving people in your life, the email announcing the book’s arrival in their Kindle library might be enough to fill them with joy. But who doesn’t love unwrapping a present? It’s a delight that should not be reserved for kids alone. Here are some fun ideas to make sure your loved ones actually have something to open (other than an email).

The classic empty box: Wrap a box of any size—the less book-shaped, the better—and put a note inside telling your friend to check their email. You can throw in a ziplock of dry beans or popcorn if you really want to confuse them, or get fancy with some fantastic bookish wrapping paper.

Tuck the gift into a tin of cookies: If you’re handy with a mixer, whip up a batch of cookies, pack them in a nice tin, and stick a card inside inviting your friend to enjoy the tasty treats while reading the book that’s now sitting in their Kindle library.

Or you could use this clever idea, only re-paint your tin with the title of the book.

The mug and/or hot beverage approach: Stick a bow on a mug and tuck a card inside telling your friend that they’ll soon be reading a brand-new book while enjoying a cozy beverage in their new mug. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even put a little bag of coffee or tea in the mug. Want to go the extra mile with a book-related mug? Check out these amazing Harry Potter mugs, fantastic sci-fi mugs, or these generally awesome bookish mugs.

The envelope approach: As a teenager, I always knew the best presents were the ones in envelopes. They were the really special gifts, like a a trip to a show downtown, or breakfast out at my favorite restaurant. There’s nothing wrong with a simple heartfelt card to go along with your book gift.

Wrap up a book, just not the one you’re actually gifting: Wrap a book you own in brown paper (a paper bag is great for this). Then write the title of the Kindle book you bought on the front, and a little personal note (if you want) on the back. Wrap the whole thing up. Just don’t forget to reclaim your book once your friend has opened the present.

Or take a page from a bookstore and gift a Kindle book as a “blind date“. You can write a few clues about the book you’re actually gifting on the brown-paper cover, and then tuck a copy of the email inside.

Get punny: Get creative with the title or subject matter of the book. Giving your mom a copy of N.K. Jemisin’s The Stone Sky? Find a nice flattish rock, draw some clouds on it with a sharpie, and see if your perplexed mother can guess what the present actually is. Don’t be shy; have fun and go wild!

a few other fantastic digital book gifts

Kindle books aren’t the only gift option out there for digital book lovers! Here are a few other great ideas for digital gift giving:

Audible: Audiobooks make fantastic gifts! Audible allows you to give 3, 6 or 12 month gift subscriptions. A 3 month membership is $45—not a bad deal, and a great gift for the running, commuting, laundry-doing book lovers in your life.

Comixology: Comixology is Amazon’s digital comics platform, and it’s excellent. If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the comics lovers in your life, it offers several great options. A Comixology Unlimited membership costs $5.99/month and offers access to thousands of comics. A 3 month gift subscription is an affordable gift that will provide your loved one with hours and hours of comics-reading pleasure.

To gift individual comics or graphic novels, simply search for the book you’re looking for, and click on the “send as gift” button. You can also buy a Comixology gift card. Your friend doesn’t need to be a member of Comixology to redeem a book or gift card; they just need to download the free app.

Kindle Unlimited: For the ebook-addicted folks in your life, consider a gift membership to Kindle Unlimited. For $9.99/month, membership allows access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks. You can gift a 6, 12 or 24 month membership; the cheapest is 6 months at $59.94.

Go forth and gift a Kindle book!