Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl
I primarily read books from the big publishers. The ability to borrow ebooks takes away from the purchase of ebooks for me. If Overdrive was not an option, then I would buy the ebooks that I wanted to read regardless of the price. My choices are driven by a desire to save money rather than budget limitations.
I used to spend more than $500 on ebooks each year. The high price of ebooks due to agency pricing is what drove me to look actively for other sources. The number of books available through Overdrive has significantly expanded over the years. The ease of borrowing and getting the ebook on your reading device has also improved.
Now I only buy an ebook if it is not available to me via Overdrive or subscription services. If I cannot borrow an ebook, then I don't look for the same book via a paper-copy at the library or a used bookstore copy. I buy the ebook. I may choose to read a different book. Also, I often ask my library to purchase the ebook in question.
So far this year I have spent $57 on ebooks, mostly due to book club obligations. The value of ebooks that I have borrowed in 2017 is roughly $420 from Overdrive and $185 from Scribd (after subtracting the monthly fee).
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Maybe I mis-stated my point. Your Overdrive lending is to buying ebooks what lending from a library is to buying pbooks.
In that sense whether or not you're using Overdrive doesn't change the market share of ebooks vs. paper books - as you yourself point out, you wouldn't go to a library if Overdrive didn't have an ebook, you'd buy the ebook.
The question we wanted to address was whether ebooks are losing steam in "taking over the market". You're an ebook consumer anyway; the fact that you use Overdrive doesn't "undercount" ebook-sales, because your equivalent on the pbook side of the equation is the guy who goes to a library.
My point was that we need to compare actual sales to actual sales, not pbook sales to Overdrive lending. That's why people referring to KU or similar services in order to point out how great ebooks are really doing are completely missing the point.
And you made my point for me better than I did.
So thank you,
Matt