Library skips publisher, goes directly to author

[kennyc]

Libraries have complained publishers aren't always willing to sell e-books to libraries. When big publishers do, they often charge high prices, especially compared to discount rates libraries get for traditional books. [...]

Enter Jamie Larue. He runs the eight libraries in Douglas County, south of Denver. Larue came up with an idea that could revolutionize the publishing world. His libraries have begun buying books directly from authors and publishing them as e-books.

Audio of the show at:

http://www.cpr.org/category/colorado...ome_Publishers

[image by mendhak via Flickr]

[John Carroll]

That's very interesting. I don't see it being wildly successful, but it's interesting how many people are starting to come up with brand new angles for ebooks.

[Katsunami]

It's no more than logical

The one thing a publisher was needed for, the one thing that an author couldn't really do himself, was publishing (printing and binding). He'd be able to hire an editor, if he wanted to, for example, without the use of a publisher. He could even distribute books himself if he wanted to, altough the publisher would make this easier.

Now, the ebooks take the "publishing" out of making books. One can create ebooks directly from the writing software, and distribution doesn't require any effort at all; uploading the book to Amazon and other webstores instantly makes it available to the entire world.

One could wait for parties such as libraries to also skip the publisher step, especially if it's a well-known author of which they already have books.

[kennyc]

I think in the past and certainly currently it is more the marketing (if it's even done) and distribution that the publishers do. The copy-editing is often farmed-out to the same copy-editors that authors can (and should) hire themselves. The old-time editing such as took place for Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and others doesn't happen these days (from what I know). Marketing and distribution channels are still pretty much in control of (under the thumb of) the big publishing houses. Ebooks and channels are getting there via Amazon and others, but there's still a way to go.

I'm unsure about this library thing -- it might be great for local publication/exposure but it certainly wouldn't have exposure someone like Amazon has.

[BearMountainBooks]

There's a Houston Library working on such a program as well. My books are scheduled to appear when they get the program up and running, but it's running behind...

Basically, libraries are having problems fighting the existing system (mainly overdrive) and are looking for cheaper ways to obtain books.

Several libraries have also worked deals with Smashwords to purchase the top 10k selling books (or somewhere in that neighborhood.)

[SteveEisenberg]

withdrawn