MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - HarperCollins to libraries: we will nuke your ebooks after 26 checkouts

dkperez · 03-08-2011, 06:58 PM

>As much as I dislike HC's new library policy, I fail to see what's so awful >about trying to make money to stay in business. It's really not evil to >attempt to turn a profit.

>I have a hard time to see why people is upset. A lot of countries have a >system were the library pay a certain amount each time somebody borrow >a book. In Sweden for example they pay $0.20 each time. That would be >around $5 for 26 times (of course you have to buy the paper book or >ebook also). Maybe a bit less than for the Harper Collins eBooks but it >seems to me that people are complaining about the principle and not the >actual cost.

I'm not sure where the idea that anyone is saying it's "awful about trying to make money to stay in business"... But, lets look at publishing (and I state right up front that I AM NOT A PUBLISHING EXPERT)...

A publisher gets a book from an author, edits it, advertises it (maybe), and prints a bunch of copies on expensive machines using expensive people on expensive paper in expensive bindings. Then ships those books to book stores and/or libraries. And as I understand it, the publisher gets back the copies that don't sell... So, there is some fixed cost for the book, and some variable cost for every hardcover copy. Perhaps they sell the book for $25. And make a profit doing so.

The book has already been edited, formatted, and whatever.

At some point later, the publisher prints ANOTHER bunch of books on expensive machines using expensive people on less expensive paper and paperback bindings. Then ships those books to book stores and/or libraries. And as I understand it, the publisher gets back the copies that don't sell... So, there's (hopefully) minimal additional fixed cost since the book has already been edited, corrected, formatted, and whatever, and a variable cost for each copy. And the publisher sells the paperback for $5.00 and again, makes a profit.

Now they create an epub copy. The book has already been edited, corrected, formatted, advertised, and whatever. There is NO cost for the expensive machines, no cost for the expensive printing people, no cost for shipping, no cost for returns. There may be some advertising cost, and I presume a variable cost to pay the author for copies sold. And yet, the publishers ALREADY cry poor-me and demand that the ebook STILL cost twice (or more) as much as the paperback, nearly as much as the hardcover, and that retailers like Amazon and B&N are NOT allowed to set prices. For a copy that you CANNOT legally hand your wife, sister, mother, or whomever to read when you're done. That you CANNOT carry into your local Half-Price Bookstore, sell, and recoup some of your expense.

And now HC decides they STILL aren't profiting sufficiently, and wants to artificially "age" the digital copy so it becomes unusable after some (extremely few) number of loans. I don't know about your library, or whom they're lending to, but from conversations with the librarians here, I'm being told they ROUTINELY get 200-300 loans of a book before having to replace it.

So, YES, I hope people are absolutely infuriated by the principle, since it means the already underfunded libraries will be further restricted in what they are able to offer for this medium. So, I presume I'm missing something intuitively obvious to the more informed in this forum, but I find HCs action repugnant and smacking of outright piracy.

Do the publishers "age" audio books?

03-08-2011, 06:58 PM	#47
dkperez Groupie Posts: 184 Karma: 1047931 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: nine	>As much as I dislike HC's new library policy, I fail to see what's so awful >about trying to make money to stay in business. It's really not evil to >attempt to turn a profit. >I have a hard time to see why people is upset. A lot of countries have a >system were the library pay a certain amount each time somebody borrow >a book. In Sweden for example they pay $0.20 each time. That would be >around $5 for 26 times (of course you have to buy the paper book or >ebook also). Maybe a bit less than for the Harper Collins eBooks but it >seems to me that people are complaining about the principle and not the >actual cost. I'm not sure where the idea that anyone is saying it's "awful about trying to make money to stay in business"... But, lets look at publishing (and I state right up front that I AM NOT A PUBLISHING EXPERT)... A publisher gets a book from an author, edits it, advertises it (maybe), and prints a bunch of copies on expensive machines using expensive people on expensive paper in expensive bindings. Then ships those books to book stores and/or libraries. And as I understand it, the publisher gets back the copies that don't sell... So, there is some fixed cost for the book, and some variable cost for every hardcover copy. Perhaps they sell the book for $25. And make a profit doing so. The book has already been edited, formatted, and whatever. At some point later, the publisher prints ANOTHER bunch of books on expensive machines using expensive people on less expensive paper and paperback bindings. Then ships those books to book stores and/or libraries. And as I understand it, the publisher gets back the copies that don't sell... So, there's (hopefully) minimal additional fixed cost since the book has already been edited, corrected, formatted, and whatever, and a variable cost for each copy. And the publisher sells the paperback for $5.00 and again, makes a profit. Now they create an epub copy. The book has already been edited, corrected, formatted, advertised, and whatever. There is NO cost for the expensive machines, no cost for the expensive printing people, no cost for shipping, no cost for returns. There may be some advertising cost, and I presume a variable cost to pay the author for copies sold. And yet, the publishers ALREADY cry poor-me and demand that the ebook STILL cost twice (or more) as much as the paperback, nearly as much as the hardcover, and that retailers like Amazon and B&N are NOT allowed to set prices. For a copy that you CANNOT legally hand your wife, sister, mother, or whomever to read when you're done. That you CANNOT carry into your local Half-Price Bookstore, sell, and recoup some of your expense. And now HC decides they STILL aren't profiting sufficiently, and wants to artificially "age" the digital copy so it becomes unusable after some (extremely few) number of loans. I don't know about your library, or whom they're lending to, but from conversations with the librarians here, I'm being told they ROUTINELY get 200-300 loans of a book before having to replace it. So, YES, I hope people are absolutely infuriated by the principle, since it means the already underfunded libraries will be further restricted in what they are able to offer for this medium. So, I presume I'm missing something intuitively obvious to the more informed in this forum, but I find HCs action repugnant and smacking of outright piracy. Do the publishers "age" audio books?