Quote:
Originally Posted by dkperez
According to the librarians where I live, they feel caught in the middle. Demand for ebooks has increased astronomically, but the publishers are making fewer and fewer titles available.
And, (I have no idea whether it's Overdrive or publishers doing) the prices for ebooks is significantly HIGHER than the library pays for hard cover books.
I've seen in this thread references to ADA and right of first purchase. Is the US law so far behind that it doesn't cover ebooks as well as "printed" books? And if so, is there any indication that something will be done soon to address the war on libraries currently in process by the publishers?
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The cost of ebooks *is* higher. That was the first attempt (I believe) of publishers to reconcile the costs of overdrive, getting in the program and trying to figure out how they could make money on at least a sale. The same thing is basically how audio works--some of those audio books are very, very high because the publisher has a large number of upfront costs and does not expect to be able to sell a large volume amount. So they charge much more for the products. They well-know the audio will be "recirculated" and "resold" multiple times.
Now, I am not a big fan of publishers, but having looked over some of the costs and what contracts I could see and having formatted books and looked into requirements, I honestly think if I were a publisher I'd be looking for a different solution to getting books into the hands of readers (other than overdrive). And I suspect that is what they are doing. Either another vendor so that there is some competition or doing it from Penguin's own site. I don't think it's a war on libraries, I think it's a desperate attempt to get books into circulation and make some recurring revenue. Now how much is fair for lending/borrowing is another story. And look, in the long run if publishers can't afford the program, that means they aren't getting paid and authors aren't getting paid and that is only going to delay books more.
I'm not sure what you're referring to as right of purchase as I'm not even sure it applies to hardcover, but that could be my ignorance. I do know that the ebooks are not SOLD, they are licensed and licensing laws are more typical with software and anything electronic than a sale.