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Originally Posted by faithbw
By the time my library purchases e-books of this novel, it probably will have been out for a few months. It isn't likely that having an open license of this e-book will cannibalize sale of the novel as it will have already been available for months for purchase to individuals.
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Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson remains on the New York Times bestseller list (eBook nonfiction #14) after 22 months. It still doesn't seem to be available as a English library eBook, despite being available as a Spanish eBook from libraries in 24 US states:
http://search.overdrive.com/ti/b2301...book#searchLib
The book you mentioned also seems destined for a long bestseller run.
Simon and Schuster could have idiots for executives, but, more likely, is making a research-based business decision concerning cannibalization. As a library eBook patron, I wish it wasn't so hard to borrow Simon and Schuster titles (few available, and AFAIK only through the inconvenient 3M Cloud Library). But I can't say they are wrong. They need -- and I, as a nonfiction reader, need -- long-running bestsellers like
Steve Jobs to make up for other outstanding titles which don't earn back the advance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by faithbw
If libraries have to spend so much money buying multiple licenses for popular books it doesn't leave nearly as much for them to buy licenses for other e-books.
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You don't have to do that. Before McNaughton started renting books to libraries, I doubt many libraries bought multiple copies of popular books (am I right?). Perhaps I am a little elitist in a my preferences regarding how libraries should spend their acquisitions budgets.* There always will be hard choices. Suppliers to government will always try to make a significant profit. And compared to, oh, say, Microsoft, or scientific journal vendors, Simon and Schuster profit margins are modest.
If libraries become as convenient as bookstores, author incomes, already low, will plummet. I don't see any way to get around that, or reason to blame publishers for trying to prevent it.
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* In my defense here, if one is needed, no library just gives the borrowing public what it wants. If it did, the magazine and video sections would be filled with pornography!