08-17-2009, 09:06 PM | #1 |
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Public Lending Right as a model for ebook pricing
I just wrote a blog post about Public Lending Rights and how I think they could serve as a useful model for pricing ebooks.
What you get when you buy an ebook is a lot more akin to what you get when you go to a library than what you get when you go to a bookshop. You can’t lend it to friends, you can’t sell it, you can’t keep it as an ornament on your living room shelf. And yet you can read a library book for free but if you want to read the ebook you have to pay almost as much as, if not more than, you would for the physical book. The system slightly falls over with the fact that the rates are pitifully low in most countries. Some back of the envelope calculations: The public lending right rate per borrowing in the UK this year was 5.98 pence. When you consider that author royalties are usually at least 5% and books in the UK usually cost at least £5 then at the very least the author is losing out on over 75% of their royalties each time someone borrows a book. And that’s a best case scenario for the author! If their royalty is 10% and the book is retailing at £10 then they’re losing almost 95% of their royalty. How much would you be willing to pay just to read a book as opposed to own it? |
08-17-2009, 09:11 PM | #2 |
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Odd. In the US, public libraries are free. You check out a book, you have a week or two to read it, and only if you do not return it in time do you have to pay (usually like a dime or something a day).
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08-17-2009, 11:08 PM | #3 | |
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PLR's website is at: http://www.plr.uk.com/ The US doesn't appear to have an equivalent; according to Wikipedia 15 countries do, mostly European but also including New Zealand, Australia and Canada. |
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08-17-2009, 11:14 PM | #4 |
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Yeah, in the US, authors only get paid for the sale of the books to the library.
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08-18-2009, 08:56 AM | #5 | |
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08-18-2009, 09:47 AM | #6 |
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Well, you can lend it to friends. You just have to make sure it is returned to the library on time.
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08-18-2009, 10:04 AM | #7 |
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What is it that you find odd, Hellmark? The idea that authors should be paid when their books are borrowed from the library?
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08-18-2009, 10:25 AM | #8 | |
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08-18-2009, 10:31 AM | #9 | |
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08-18-2009, 11:23 AM | #10 |
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If you want to be that nitpicky, many libraries aren't city run, but often at a county level. I was meaning free as in, no payment needed to check out a book.
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08-18-2009, 11:45 AM | #11 |
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08-18-2009, 11:48 AM | #12 |
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According to post #3 above, 15 countries have a similar system.
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08-18-2009, 11:51 AM | #13 |
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It is just a completely new concept for me. Being from the US, were nothing like that is done, it seems a little strange, much like most things are when you experience them for the first time.
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08-18-2009, 11:53 AM | #14 |
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08-18-2009, 12:03 PM | #15 |
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Look at my earlier post. While creators of works in public libraries do get money in Denmark, it is not, and have never been intended as, a reimbursement. I was wondering if this might not be the case in other places as well.
Edit, added: It's a way of giving government support, like grants. Last edited by Ea; 08-18-2009 at 12:05 PM. |
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ebooks, libraries, public lending right |
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