BookLender is an
online book rental company, the first to offer
flat rate
A flat fee, also referred to as a flat rate or a linear rate refers to a pricing structure that charges a single fixed fee for a service, regardless of usage. Less commonly, the term may refer to a rate that does not vary with usage or time of u ...
rental-by-mail to customers in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
Established in 2000 and headquartered in
Vienna, Virginia
Vienna () is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Vienna has a population of 16,473. Significantly more people live in ZIP codes with the Vienna postal addresses (22180, 22181, ...
.
As of 2007, the company stated it had delivered its
millionth One millionth is equal to 0.000 001, or 1 x 10−6 in scientific notation. It is the reciprocal of a million, and can be also written as . Units using this fraction can be indicated using the prefix "micro-" from Greek, meaning "small". Numbers o ...
book and claimed over 13,000 subscribers.
History
The company was founded in 2000 by Douglas Ross, who had previously run a computer systems company, and Andrew Bilinski, who had worked for the
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
,
EDS, and BDM International. Ross originally come up with the idea for Booksfree after selling his company. The company raised
US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
1 million of start-up funding from friends & associates. In February 2009, they shipped their 2 millionth book. On November 2, 2016, Booksfree rebranded itself as BookLender.
Subscriptions to the site have grown from 4,000 in 2002
and 5,000 in 2003 to over 13,000 in 2007.
A majority of Bookfree's subscribers are women.
Business model
The company has been described as "the books version of
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
",
and therefore has a similar business model to
online DVD rental
DVD-by-mail is a business model in which customers order DVDs and similar discs containing films, television shows, video games, and other media to rent, which are then delivery to the customer by mail. Generally, all interaction between the rent ...
companies.
It is also possible to rent individual titles without having a membership.
References
{{Reflist
Retail companies established in 2000
Internet properties established in 2000
Companies based in Vienna, Virginia
Online retailers of the United States
American book websites
Book rental