Libranda: the Spanish Armada, or how NOT to sell eBooks

[Logseman]

With trumpets and fanfare, the eBook site Libranda has opened as a Beta. Its proclaimed goal is to bring a convenient ebook selling platform to the Spanish market, with the support of the biggest and most prestigious national publishing houses.

What's the situation of the Spanish eBook industry?

The Spanish eBook industry is practically inexistent. To be quite clear, the legal frame which strengthens the right for a private copy and allows copyright-infringing distribution of books as long as no profit is sought, plus the strong leaning of Spaniards to ignore copyright as a matter of fact (Spain leads the statistics of so-called piracy in the European Union) is hell on earth for the big publishing companies who oligopolise the market. In fact, they have shown absolutely no interest on ebooks while devices like Jinke's Hanlin, Netronix' EB600 and Hanvon's N516 and N518 were being already sold locally by rebranders, aside of people acquiring Kindles and Sony devices from abroad.

The existing players like Luarna and the big national retailer El Corte Inglés have not (or can't have) devoted aressources into their ebook shops. In the case of ECI, they have mainly given effort in selling rebranded hardware (they're retailers after all), and in the case of Luarna they're simply too small to be a real game-changer. They don't have the big blockbusters, which are kept by the publishing houses.

As of today, any best-seller we can imagine is easily found on a myriad of websites... all of which are part of the so-called darknet. It is so not only because we Spaniards are prone to infringe copyright, but because of the sheer lack of offer. To add insult to injury, some books which have been amortized hundredfold are now more expensive in their electronical edition than in paperback. Libranda promises to solve that kind of problems.

To be continued...

[Logseman]

How does Libranda work?

Here come the first shortcomings: Libranda is NOT a selling platform for the end user. The publishing houses, unlike in the US model, do not sell directly to the customer. Libranda, at the moment, is only useful for the end user as an eBook advertising site, and to check if a certain book has a digital edition. Libranda is a database destined for WHOLESALE purposes. No sales can be had from Libranda, in spite of the big fuss around it. Here we have a scheme of how it works:



0. Books and metadata are preloaded on Libranda's servers.
1. User enters in the ebook store (each store has its own database, so the user must log in separately for every store) and places a purchase order for the book.
2. Libranda processes the purchase order.
3. Libranda sends a download link which contains the book to the ebook store.
4. The store forwards said download link to the customer.
5. The customer clicks on the link, Adobe Digital Editions opens (not to forget, ADE requires its own registry process) and the book, now protected with DRM Adobe ACS4, is available to the customer.

In essence, Libranda has no use for an end user, the user must register in two different places (ebook store and ADE) if s/he wants to purchase one book, and of course, the book is DRM'd with a program which requires Windows or Mac to work.

To be continued...

[Logseman]

What are the consequences of Libranda?

Let us check available well-known books from famed authors, following one reputable Spanish blog for ebooks, lectoreselectronicos.com.

Author: Julia Navarro (best-seller author)
Title: Dime quién soy (latest book)
Hardback: €22.71
ePub: €16.99
Discount=25%

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón (best-seller author)
Title: El juego del ángel
Paperback: €13.78
ePub: €10.49
Discount=24%

Author: Manuel Mugica Lainez
Title: Bomarzo
Paperback: €11.35
ePub: €9.99
Discount=12%

Author: Stieg Larsson
Title: Millenium Trilogy
3 hardback books: €64.13
3 ePub files: €54
Discount=16%

After this small exposition I ask you, my audience: does this make any sense?

[HarryT]

Just goes to demonstrate what a devastating effect copyright infringement can have on legitimate publishing. Remove the incentive to legitimately sell a book, and the inevitable result is that the book will not be sold. To legalise copyright infringement where there is no profit sought is sheer madness.

[Jellby]

We already knew Libranda wouldn't sell to the final user, it said so in their said before the official launch.

I agree it's currently of almost no usefulness, but I hope it will eventually serve at least two purposes:

1. Help getting publishers, stores and retailers into the ebook business, and ensuring some kind of uniformity.

2. Allow the users to easily search for ebooks and online stores.

It's not the best solution, it won't cure cancer, but it's better than nothing, and at least they use ePUB and not PDF

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

To legalise copyright infringement where there is no profit sought is sheer madness.

On the other hand, to criminalise backup copies, format shifting and lending to friends is not better. Common sense and law don't get on well, I'm afraid.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Jellby

On the other hand, to criminalise backup copies, format shifting and lending to friends is not better. Common sense and law don't get on well, I'm afraid.

I agree.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Just goes to demonstrate what a devastating effect copyright infringement can have on legitimate publishing. Remove the incentive to legitimately sell a book, and the inevitable result is that the book will not be sold.

The biggest disincentive are geographic restrictions. Turn away the legitimate buyer and the alternative of least resistance is followed.