Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Or maybe it's simply there is no price that can compete with free, so the price of ebooks has no effect on library lends.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jhowell
I think that a lot of factors have made borrowing more appealing to a lot of people, myself included. Most people have no further use for a book after they have read it once.
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I can't speak for everyone, but this is how my buying patterns changed due to agency pricing. First I should mention that "not having any further use for a book" was also often the norm before eBooks. That's why you used to have all those "exchange" used paperback book stores where you could trade in two books for one. So this is not anything new.
Before agency pricing, Amazon (and Barnes & Noble, probably matching Amazon) would often have major publisher eBooks on sale — sometimes they would be incredibly cheap. I think I bought the
Lord of the Rings all-in-one set for $4.99, and
The Hobbit for $2.99 (or maybe it was $1.99, can't remember exactly). I got the
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus for about $5 or $6, even though I had already bought the hardback book. Even big,
current best-sellers would go on sale cheaply. I think I bought the "Hunger Games" trilogy for $4.99. I used to buy quite a few books "spur of the moment" simply because they were on sale. Sometimes, if I really wanted the book, I would pay the "normal" price of about $10 for it.
That's no longer the case with agency pricing. If some book catches my attention I'll look at the price tag — $16? No thanks. I'll put in a hold at the library if I really want to read it. I may still buy books that I want to keep for the higher prices, but the "spur of the moment" books, or general novels that I'll read and "chuck" won't get bought at these prices. It's a personal thing, I guess, but I can't see paying (essentially) hardback book prices for these novels. I still pick up some cheap independent publisher eBook novels that are on sale.
So, are major eBook publishers losing money because of lending libraries? Only if you count
selling to libraries as a "loss." While I borrow books from the library, that's
not a loss of a sale for the publishers. If the book wasn't available at the library, I wouldn't read (or buy) it at all. And, if not for agency pricing, I
may have bought it outright when on sale in the past.
It's another case of corporations not recognizing the importance of changes in the market and, instead of adapting, trying to "hold back the tide." Now, as they raise their prices to libraries (or limit copies) some of them are lowering prices to book buyers — realizing too late that eBooks can be produced by just about anybody.