How to Give Ebooks as Gifts (Even to People Who Don’t Use Computers)

Giving electronic gifts used to mean giving electronics. Now it means sending a file through cyber space to someone else’s stocking electronic device. I can’t entirely wrap my mind around this, but two things about it I really love:

  1. No wrapping paper mess.
  2. Books…lots and lots and lots of books requiring very little money or shelf space.

So how does one give ebooks as gifts, especially with Christmas around the corner?

How to Give Ebooks as Christmas Gifts (Even to Someone Who Never Reads Ebooks)

Allow me to offer you my simple ideas. (If you’re looking for something complicated, Non-Techie Mama is burying her head in the sand.)

How to Give Ebooks as Gifts

Sending a PDF from your computer:

  1. Write an email to the recipient.
  2. Click “attach file” or whatever your email provider uses, such as a paperclip icon.
  3. Locate and select the ebook you want, which should be easy since you just organized your entire ebook library!
  4. Send the email.
  5. Delete the ebook from your own files. Why? Because you purchased one license to that book, and by having two copies, you would be breaking copyright law and could go to jail forever. Okay, that last part’s a lie, but the authors did work very hard to write that book, and you’re robbing them by duplicating it.

Gifting E-reader Books

  • If you are sending a Kindle book as a gift, check out Amazon’s thorough and simple gifting guide. Remember, recipients do not need a Kindle to be able to read a Kindle book on other electronic devices, such as a PC or smartphone. They can download the free Kindle reading app.
  • If your recipient prefers Nook books (that’s so Seussian), check out Barnes and Noble’s gifting page…although I personally don’t find B&N’s Nook options as user-friendly as Amazon’s Kindle world.

How To Give Ebooks to Non-Techies

Face it, not everyone is totally in love with the technological age. That doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the affordable gift-giving potential of ebooks. Simply print the bundles front and back and package them in an attractive and useful manner. Some ebook authors post the pictures at the end of their books instead of interspersed throughout, in case you want to save ink and skip the pictures. Savvy.

Copyright alert: If you print the entire book to give away, you must still delete it from your files. Otherwise it’s like photocopying an entire book for someone else. Not legal! If you only print a recipe or a poem or a bit of encouragement here and there from different books, that’s no different than copying over a recipe from a hardcopy book. Just make sure you give credit to the author always! At least, that’s how I understand it. If my next post comes to you from the penitentiary, don’t take my advice.

Here are some printed ebook gifting options. Any appropriate ebooks would do. This is just a sampling of my ideas to trigger your creative side:

You get the picture. Print them attractively or practically, and make it the entire gift, add a few supplies or related items, or add it to a bigger gift as the icing on the Christmas cake. You are limited only by your creativity…or by my creativity if you’re not thinking at all.

I’d love to hear your best e-book gifting ideas.

3 thoughts on “How to Give Ebooks as Gifts (Even to People Who Don’t Use Computers)”

    1. Great question, Tara. I will add that to the post.

      If you print out the whole thing and give it away, yes, you have to delete it. Otherwise it would be like photocopying an entire book and giving it to someone–there’s a bit of copyright infringement there.

      If, however, you print, say a few favorite recipes from a few different books, maybe a poem or a few pages of encouragement here and there, that’s no different than copying your favorite recipes out of a few favorite cookbooks and giving them to your daughter-in-law or grandmother! So that approach is just fine.

      At least…that’s what I’m told. If my next post comes to you from the state penitentiary, don’t take my advice. 😉

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