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Old 08-09-2012, 10:18 PM   #41
Skibble
Runs With Scissors
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Posts: 115
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: USA
Device: Kindle Voyage
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeOxlittle View Post
Only problem with that is that some of the books are in Select or the 35% plan and they can opt out of lending, so by culling ALL books, some books that are not set up for lending were listed.
It is my understanding that LendInk was a tool to make it easier for people to find out what their options were to obtain books -- and if lending was one of the available options, to facilitate that. I haven't seen anything to indicate that it was meant to be a curated listing of lendable books only.

I can see why pulling in all results, as opposed to only those available for lending, would be desirable. For one thing, it allows users to confirm lending availability one way or another. If searching for a book title returns a null result, uncertainty remains. Is the book not lendable, or has it simply not been added to the database yet? Did the user input the title wrong, preventing search from recognizing it, or was the title correct? Etc. Listing all books allows users to make sure. They can see the book, and they can see what options are available for reading it.

Which brings me to the point that many of the complaining authors seem to have missed. LendInk's listings included buttons to purchase the books, as well as to request a loan. In cases where a book was not lendable according to its contract, only the purchase button was active; the loan button was not operable. Because of that, authors had nothing to lose and everything to gain by being included in LendInk's search results. Users, upon seeing that the book they wanted wasn't lendable, could use LendInk's purchase link instead. A win for all.

I was not a LendInk user, but the descriptions of how the system worked from people who were users have been consistent, from what I've seen. I feel confident in stating that the authors involved in shutting down this site failed to apply even the most basic forms of logic. LendInk couldn't offer readers anything that wasn't available already, but it could generate more sales for them. These authors bit the hand that was feeding them.

(Edit to Add: If any LendInk users spot an error in this post, please let me know. I welcome corrections. The last thing I want to do is spread bad information!)

Last edited by Skibble; 08-10-2012 at 07:12 AM.
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