HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Circulations

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Wow. My future SOP for acquiring HC books: 1) Library 2) Darknet 3) Either don't buy it or only buy it if it is a ridiculously cheap price.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Incidentally, I'm going to be cynical and say that I deeply doubt that if HC gets their extra money for the 26 loan expiry fees, they're going to be sharing the largesse with their authors.

Short of outright fraud, how could they not share? Another sale is another royalty; it's pretty straightforward.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Short of outright fraud, how could they not share? Another sale is another royalty; it's pretty straightforward.

Count it as some form of overhead. Administration fee for the cost of the new lending model or whatever. Maybe the author gets a tiny bonus pittance, but the bulk will go to maximizing shareholder profits.

But like I said, I'm very cynical about the way that North American corporations are basically legally required to act like sociopaths and try and screw everyone at every opportunity in order to make more money.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes, this is strange. If somebody download a book and are not allowed to do it there is people making the moral argument that the author looses money and it is wrong to download. But concerning library people seem to think they have the right to register at remote libraries and lend books an infinite amount of times and the author will not get any money for that and that is OK.

I'm all for authors getting paid for their work. But I know I - and many others here - are protective of our libraries. I for one was able to feed my love for books at an early age only because of libraries. As others have said on the various threads about this (and/or at DearAuthor and SBTB), that "subsidized" habit when I was young and poor became a well-paying one now that I'm a working adult. How many authors have made money from me now because of my access to their work (or their predecessors' work) at the library?

I really think that screwing libraries in the short term will screw the publishers and authors in the long term.

And I can't help but wonder...if the library hadn't been there at that time, if the books I wanted to read hadn't been there, would I be the reader I am today? Would I have found other interests instead? Because I have to admit - the books they made me read in school were definitely NOT what made me love reading...

[Barty]

Originally Posted by amjbrown

I am not sure whether it has been covered already, but I expect eBook borrowing would naturally be higher than the equivalent pbook levels. I will worry less about trying the first couple of chapters if I can just download the digital bits. I tended to read the first few pages in the library before lugging the thing home! That will eat through those 26 loans faster which will cause more concern.

Interesting times.

amjb

You make a great point. I walk to the library so I have to consider rather carefully what books I check out since I will have to lug them home in my backpack. Even if you drive, that is still a trip you have to make. With e-library, Im guessing people just check out whatever looks interesting without too much thought. It's just point and click. Don't like it return it. No harm no foul, right? Or so people think.

This is a total ripoff. How are you going to make people aware every time they check a book out how costly it is.

[Darqref]

Everything in this thread seems to be dependent on the relationships between a library (or library system), Overdrive, and major publishers.

Are there other lending systems for ebooks that libraries could use? For example, does Smashwords have any standard way to get their books into a library? I realize that the product of major publishers has some implied level of quality, and that librarians want to control the content of their collections, but how do small publishers get ebooks into a library?

I know that several years ago, Baen books offered to let library systems load out their webscription programs, but at that time there were no systems in place to support that, and Baen didn't want DRM applied to their books. Has anyone come up with a better, or at least different method?

For reasons that are obvious given their previous actions, I don't expect Amazon to want to sponsor or be involved with a library loan program, but maybe Smashwords would?

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by Darqref

Are there other lending systems for ebooks that libraries could use?

Not really. In German speaking countries of Europe they have "Onleihe" (a portmanteau of Online + Leihe, the German word for loan), but they are as much a regional monopolist as Overdrive seems to be in the US.

I suspect other countries have similar systems, but I am not aware of much competition in that field. (I'd love to learn more.)

[wyndslash]

unfortunately, except for school/university libraries, community libraries are almost non-existent here, as far as i know. so i'm not completely familiar with the library system and if they charge membership fees? (oh, and our national library is practically empty, according to my siblings; it's a sad state of affairs)

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Why didn't HC just decide to disallow library borrowing for all their e-books? At least that would be honest.

Because that would be unambiguously bad PR.
This is an action they can quite easily explain by analogy to paper books, and have a large proportion of the general publc think they are being reasonable. And if there is more resistance than they expected they can just fiddle with the number a bit and look concilatory, while everyone had implictly accepted the underlying principle of self-destructing books. Even here at mobileread there have been a significant number of response along the lines of 'well maybe 100 would be ok'

[queentess]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Because that would be unambiguously bad PR.
This is an action they can quite easily explain by analogy to paper books, and have a large proportion of the general publc think they are being reasonable. And if there is more resistance than they expected they can just fiddle with the number a bit and look concilatory, while everyone had implictly accepted the underlying principle of self-destructing books. Even here at mobileread there have been a significant number of response along the lines of 'well maybe 100 would be ok'

I don't see anything inherently wrong with changing a pricing model on digital content (which is "forever") to mirror physical goods (which deteriorate). Much as everyone around here loves to hate publishers, I think they provide valuable services and I would like to see them remain in business. I do have a problem with publishers raising the prices to such extremes that libraries are unable to buy ebooks. There has to be a happy middle somewhere.

[wyndslash]

Originally Posted by queentess

I don't see anything inherently wrong with changing a pricing model on digital content (which is "forever") to mirror physical goods (which deteriorate). Much as everyone around here loves to hate publishers, I think they provide valuable services and I would like to see them remain in business. I do have a problem with publishers raising the prices to such extremes that libraries are unable to buy ebooks. There has to be a happy middle somewhere.

yes, i hope they reach a compromise where everyone is happy D: unfortunately, everyone always wants their way. *sings the frank sinatra song*

[sufue]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

And I can't help but wonder...if the library hadn't been there at that time, if the books I wanted to read hadn't been there, would I be the reader I am today? Would I have found other interests instead? Because I have to admit - the books they made me read in school were definitely NOT what made me love reading...

Hear hear!

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Why didn't HC just decide to disallow library borrowing for all their e-books? At least that would be honest.

That's what Macmillan and Simon & Schuster have done -- no ebook sales to libraries permitted.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by queentess

I don't see anything inherently wrong with changing a pricing model on digital content (which is "forever") to mirror physical goods (which deteriorate). Much as everyone around here loves to hate publishers, I think they provide valuable services and I would like to see them remain in business. I do have a problem with publishers raising the prices to such extremes that libraries are unable to buy ebooks. There has to be a happy middle somewhere.

Yeah, but 26 is a small amount. Most physical books are still in great shape after 26 checkouts. Most ebook libraries are small, and copies are constantly checked out, so in about a year's time, it is possible for a book to have already hit 26 checkouts.

Originally Posted by starrigger

Short of outright fraud, how could they not share? Another sale is another royalty; it's pretty straightforward.

In many areas, they get royalties each time the book is checked out.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I have no idea if it will make the slightest difference, but I've gone into the four digital libraries websites that I have access to and sent the following comment via their "Contact Us" form.

Just did the same for the three I belong to...

Thanks for posting your message!!!