BookLender
{{Short description|Online book rental company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = BookLender
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| type = Private
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| foundation = September 2000
| founder = W. Douglas Ross & Andrew E. Bilinski
| location_city = Sterling, Virginia
| location_country = United States
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| industry = Electronic Commerce
| products = Book rental service
| services = Online book and audiobook rental service
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| homepage = {{URL|booklender.com}}
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}}
BookLender is an online book rental company, the first to offer flat rate rental-by-mail to customers in the United States.{{cite news | title=BOOKLENDER.COM | url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28465472_ITM | publisher=Washington Business Journal | date=2000-09-29 | accessdate=2008-04-19}}{{cite news | title=Hokies chase the dot-com dream | url=http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/fall01/feature4.html | first=Kimberly | last=Richards-Thomas | publisher=Virginia Tech Magazine | date=Fall 2001 | accessdate=2008-04-19 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418040542/http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu//fall01/feature4.html | archivedate=2008-04-18 }} Established in 2000 and headquartered in Vienna, Virginia.{{cite news|title=Online lending library calls Vienna home | url=http://www.booksfree.com/fairfax_article.shtml | first=Monty | last=Tayloe | date=2007-04-11 | accessdate=2008-04-14 | publisher=The Fairfax County Times}} As of 2007, the company stated it had delivered its millionth book and claimed over 13,000 subscribers.{{cite web|title=Online Book Rental Service Reaches Milestone with Delivery of One Millionth Book | url=http://www.booksfree.com/one_millionth_article.shtml | date=2007-06-08 | accessdate=2008-04-14 | publisher=BooksFree}}
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, EDS, and BDM International. Ross originally come up with the idea for Booksfree after selling his company. The company raised US$1 million of start-up funding from friends & associates. In February 2009, they shipped their 2 millionth book.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} On November 2, 2016, Booksfree rebranded itself as BookLender.{{cite news|title=The Bookmobile Reinvented; Va. Start-Up Booksfree.com Delivers Dime Novels, Adjusted for Inflation | url=http://www.booksfree.com/washpost_article.shtml | date=2002-10-02 | accessdate=2008-04-14 | work=The Washington Post}}
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",{{cite news|title=Book Junkies, Rejoice! | url=http://www.booksfree.com/oprah_article.shtml | date=2007-03-01 | accessdate=2008-04-14 | work=O the Oprah Magazine}} and therefore has a similar business model to online DVD rental companies.{{cite news |last=Andriani |first=Lynn |date=2007-07-02 |title=Netflix Book Model Draws Competitors |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6456823.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080313081005/http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6456823.html |archivedate=March 13, 2008 |accessdate=2008-04-14 |publisher=Publishers Weekly}} It is also possible to rent individual titles without having a membership.{{cite web | title=Available Membership Plans | url=http://www.booksfree.com/available_plans.shtml | publisher=Booksfree | accessdate=2008-04-14}}