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Penguin Group USA revealed today that, as of April 2, it will remove the six-month embargo on ebook titles licensed to libraries and instead offer new titles immediately after they are released in the consumer market.
This column is the first in a two-part series about libraries and their role in the marketing and readership of books. This first part addresses the present conflict.
Do libraries increase book sales or cannibalize them? This is the issue at the heart of the struggle between libraries represented by the American Library Association (whose president is Maureen Sullivan) and the Big Six publishers.
> From the perspectives of authors: Joe Konrath: "The problem is organization. We need someone to act as a liaison between publishers and libraries to run something like this on a big scale. And I believe that person should be paid. How big a job this will be, and how much of a cut they deserve, can be discussed in the comments section. But indie authors need to come together to offer libraries their books, and dealing with 9000 different library systems would be a full time job.
As for my personal view on how publishers deal with libraries, I think Librarian X heaped an appropriate amount of scorn upon them. Greed is hurting libraries, and authors. The Big 6 seem to think they still have control over the industry, and readers, including librarians, will pay whatever high price they charge.
The Big 6 are wrong. More and more libraries are going to stop buying your expensive, expiring ebooks. And that will accelerate the end of the bestseller I predicted years ago.
Libraries want ebooks. As authors, we may soon be in a position to give them our books at fair prices."
"We librarians cannot stand by and do nothing while some publishers deepen the digital divide. We cannot wait passively while some publishers deny access to our cultural record. We must speak out on behalf of today’s — and tomorrow’s — readers.The library community demands meaningful change and creative solutions that serve libraries and our readers who rightfully expect the same access to e-books as they have to printed books. "So, which side will you be on? Will you join us in a future of liberating literature for all? Libraries stand with readers, thinkers, writers, dreamers and inventors. Books and knowledge — in all their forms — are essential. Access to them must not be denied." Read the full statement here: http://www.infodocket.com/2012/09/24/ala-president-maureen-sullivan-sends-open-letter-to-publishers-re-refusal-to-sell-ebooks-to-libraries/
Via Fe Angela M. Verzosa
By Pat Losinski "OK, it’s time for a little tough love for public library leaders. We haven’t been as visionary, vigilant and assertive as we need to be when it comes to mapping our future in the ebook world. And unfortunately, too much of our time has been spent reacting to business models that seemingly reflect only commercial interests, rather than boldly advocating for business models that also serve the public’s interests. Our primary role is to champion the rights of access for our users. Our ebook strategy needs a serious overhaul, and it needs to happen right now. Unless we move quickly, the technology divide that we’ve all been battling the last 20 years will look like a minor skirmish compared to the content divide that is mounting."
The Southern African Online Information Meeting with the theme: "Innovation in an Age of Limits" By Phillipa Mitchell "The SAOIM conference 2012 was a wonderful place for someone on the other end of the book spectrum – that of bookselling as opposed to being a librarian – to immerse themselves." More chronicles here: http://saoug.org.za/category/saoim2012/
Jeremy Greenfield: "As consumers increasingly choose tablet computers over e-readers for e-book reading, the e-book business will be adversely affected, according to a new survey." [...]"Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services at Bowker Market Research, which partnered with BISG on the survey. “Tablets will adversely affect the e-book business in that the tablet is a multifunction device and will therefore draw the reader into non-book activities and therefore cause them to consume books slower and therefore buy fewer books versus a single function e-reading device,” said Gallagher. The survey, conducted among 1,000 e-book buyers in February 2012, has good news for publishers, too. Nearly two thirds of respondents said they spent more money on e-books once they bought an e-reading device of any kind and nearly three quarters said they bought more e-book titles. In the short term, at least, e-book buying continues to rise despite the growing popularity of tablets."
Via nickcarman
Mark Giangrande: Law Librarian Blog: Some Thoughts on the DOJ Lawsuit Against Apple and the Publishers http://t.co/nrAR8jB5... [...]"Apple simply doesn’t want to get into a pricing war with Amazon. The most favored nation clause in Apple's contract with publishers was a way to avoid that and preserve book sales on the iOS platform. As Google plans to create Android tablets, and as Microsoft’s Metro tablets and phones penetrate the market, so will their stores. These billion dollar entities can decide whether they want a price war on digital goods to promote their platforms. That’s the marketing world the publishers face. It’s time they should get used to it. Consumers are buying Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Content, sadly, is secondary."
TechCrunchLibraries protest Random House price hike Aiken Standard AP NEW YORK (AP) -- "The American Library Association is urging Random House Inc. to reconsider its steep increases in the price of e-books for library wholesalers Random House, the country's largest trade publisher, announced earlier this week that wholesale charges for e-books would rise by more than 20 percent for new adult releases and more than double for new children's books. Random House noted that e-books can be "repeatedly circulated without limitation," unlike paper books, which eventually become worn or damaged. Read more: Libraries protest Random House price hike | Aiken Standard
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution http://www.aikenstandard.com/story/f0206-BC-US-Books-Libraries-R-03-02-0352
Nate Hill: "Here is one good way to turn public libraries into centers for community publishing.
Barbara Galletly: "E-books have become a core part of U.S. publishers’ business. Libraries and booksellers have built e-book lending programs. What is the future of e-lending?" "We’re witnessing a sea change in e-book library lending. As more players become involved in the market, the traditional roles of publisher, distributor, bookseller, and library are beginning to blur. One thing is clear, though: As publishers struggle to sell and market their wares in a world of declining retail space, libraries become more valuable. If digital shelf space at libraries proves to have similar effect as its physical counterpart, to serve libraries and their patrons digitally is to cultivate customers of the future."
Calvin Reid: "O’Reilly Media’s Tools of Change conference returned to New York with a typical high profile slate focused on publishing innovation driven by technology and a new vision of just what publishing can mean. This year’s TOC kicked off with an inspirational keynote by actor, director and now digital entrepreneur, LeVar Burton, before turning quickly to the big issues surrounding libraries and e-book lending and a new and breathtaking vision of independent bookselling."
Bad news this week for libraries that want to continue offering new ebooks to patrons. Jane Henderson: "The big New York publishers aren't going to loosen their terms -- at least not right away.
As I understand it, Penguin said essentially that because it is severing its association with OverDrive, a library digital vendor, libraries can't buy new ebooks from that publisher. It is trying to figure out an agreement to allow libraries to continue lending ebooks they have already bought.
HarperCollins already limits the number of times a library ebook can be downloaded. Only Random House provides unfettered access to its ebooks -- and next month it's raising its prices for libraries.
The concern is over whether the publishers will lose money by allowing libraries to lend ebooks. Digital books can, in fact, be pirated and downloaded for free (although that may not be what's happening with OverDrive). OverDrive's links apparently have directed library borrowers to Amazon's Kindle store." Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/book-blog/05da3f24-53fe-11e1-b30a-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1mFJuT1zK
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Librarians and the book industry have different interests. But without getting future generations into the book-reading habit, both will perish, says Stuart Hamilton of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Library lending plays a big if unquantifiable role in nurturing a love of reading. Some even wonder if e-lending is in the libraries’ interests, since it encourages people to stay at home, rather than use them as a public space (one reason why they enjoy taxpayers’ backing). One critic privately calls e-lending the “Librarian Unemployment Act of 2013”. But Pew, a research firm, reckons 62% of American libraries are the only source of free internet access and computers in their communities. Many patrons also come in to ask for help with learning to use their e-readers. The libraries’ story has plenty more pages yet.
When it comes to digital rights, librarians can be awfully cranky—just look at the debate around HarperCollins ebooks. Librarian educator Terry Plum, Assistant Dean of Technology at the Simmons Graduate School of Library ...
Industry specialists will look at the benefits of libraries lending ebooks in a move publishers say will have 'serious implications' for the book trade (RT @CreaticDestruct: RT @CreaticDestruct: Technology continues to disrupt ageing business models.
"Culture minister Ed Vaizey has announced a government review of ebook lending – a thorny issue that publishers believe could have "serious implications" for the book trade.
To be led by publisher and Forward prize founder William Sieghart, the government's ebook lending review will call on the expertise of authors, publishers, librarians and agents, with the novelist Joanna Trollope, the literary agent Caroline Michel of PFD and Stephen Page, chief executive of Faber & Faber, all set to contribute."
By David O'Brien: "Beginning with a brief overview of the history and the current state of the e-book publishing market, the document traces the structure of the licensing practices and business models used by distributors to make e-books available in libraries, and identifies select challenges facing libraries and publishers. Where possible, we have made an effort to incorporate stakeholder perspectives and real-world examples to connect analysis to the actual questions, issues, and challenges that arise in practice. The document concludes with a number of informative resources – including news articles, whitepapers, stakeholder and trade association reports, and other online sources – that might inform future conversations, investigations, pilot projects, and best practices in this space." Paper here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2111396
Pinwheel: "The phrase was very popular, especially in the digital zone, at BookExpoAmerica this year. I wondered why I hadn't heard the term used more often? Apparently, I wasn't the only one" ...
Via The Digital Rocking Chair
"Ever wonder why many of your favorite authors aren't available in an eBook or eAudiobook format from New Jersey libraries? The answer might surprise you..." • Publishers who refuse to sell eBooks and/or eAudiobooks to libraries;
• Publishers who charge libraries as much as 5 times more than consumers for the same digital content;
• Publishers who embargo their content and will not sell to libraries any newly published digital content;
• Publishers who make digital content available in only some formats (ePub but not Kindle for example). For years libraries have worked hand in hand with publishers. That relationship has now changed drastically and we find ourselves unable to deliver the digital content library patrons want."
By Adam Foxman: ROB VARELA/THE STAR Adult services librarian Gladstone Bucknor holds a Sony Reader with the cover of a children's book (photo) "E-book collections are booming at public libraries across Ventura County and the nation, but they’re also the subject of a struggle between libraries and the publishing industry. Concerned about their bottom lines, four of the nation’s largest publishers refuse to sell their e-book catalogs to libraries, and the two others charge extra or limit lending for digital volumes, library officials say. Known as the "Big Six," these publishers are responsible for many of the popular books published nationwide. Many public libraries lease their e-books through a single distributor, Ohio-based Overdrive, and some librarians worry about paying for electronic volumes they don’t own and can’t share among facilities like they can with print books. These challenges are among the hottest topics in the library world, but Camarillo librarian Barbara Wolfe said she isn’t sure how much patrons know about the issue. "I think people will be concerned once they learn about it — those people who cherish libraries and what libraries stand for," Wolfe said. Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/apr/16/libraries-publishers-struggle-over-e-books-boom/#ixzz1sHraZazG
- vcstar.com"
Libraries as Community Publishers: How to Turn the Tables http://t.co/C1tYsCQO via @OUPAcademic #publishing #books... "This is just one option among many possibilities available to public libraries. I am not naive about the need for a library publishing imprint to have at least a basic supporting staff at a time when budgets are tight. But it is at least within arms reach, and it provides opportunities for librarians to grow and engage in new services that have a stronger future than those dealing with analog culture. Having one foot in the community and one in the network, libraries can help define a new cultural commons."
jeff Rivera: "He is arguably one of the most successful bloggers and thought-leaders of our time." Rivera: "A number of publishers have pulled the plug on library editions of eBooks. Do you think that is a wise business decision and if not, how do you see it being a win-win scenario? Seth Godin: "How incredibly silly. Libraries are like the radio for books. Not a money-maker for all, but a great way to spread an idea. I don’t think you can find a single author who suffered any damage at all because too many people took his book out of the library. Ebooks for libraries need to be tweaked, not killed."
Mercy Pilkington: "Bilbary Seeks to Heal the Digital Rift Between Publishers and Libraries." "When ebook platform Bilbary launches sometime in March or April, it will have something that can’t be found in one uniform web location: ebook access from all of the Big Six publishers. Currently, the negotiations surrounding Bilbary’s partnership with those and some 2,300 other publishers are for ebook purchasing, although some of those major publishers are already at work on lending the ebooks to users for a rental fee rather than a purchase price.Founder Tim Coates, the former CEO of Waterstone’s, Sherratt & Hughes, and WHSmith and a long-time advocate for public libraries, developed Bilbary with the intention of bridging the current divide between public libraries who wish to lend ebooks to their patrons and the publishers who have to guard the interests of their companies and their authors."
What Patrons Teach Us—and Publishers Should Learn - http://t.co/bMG7Oo4a via @ShiftTheDigital #libraries #ALIA..." A new report from LJ indicates that it is vital for libraries to connect with digital patrons, especially ebook readers, and satisfying their expectations has a meaningful upside for both the library users and the publishing community.
The report, “Mobile Devices, Mobile Content, and Library Apps,”(http://www.thedigitalshift.com/research/patron-profiles/) a part of LJ’s ongoing Patron Profiles series, points out that even though digital users—defined as a patron who uses a smartphone, ereader, or tablet—remain a minority, they are, nonetheless, more active than the general patron not only in digital services but also “in virtually every metric of library activity.” As such, they could guide librarians in understanding the intersection of their print holdings and their growing digital collections.
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