Library E-Book Lending Poses Rising Problem for Publishing Industry

[Raphi'Elohim]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Same here. If I had to regularly read eBooks on tablets or smartphones I wouldn't read eBooks. I know some people love to read eBooks on LCD screens. More power to them — but it's not for me.

My personal opinion is that serious readers don't read on tablets and smartphones no matter how much they protest to the contrary ostensibly that they are not dilletantes. For instance, Bill Gates is a serious reader who reads 50 books a year and to people like us the only serious argument is real physical paperbooks vs eReaders and the former devices don't even play a factor in the consideration. I chose the eReader route and Bill Gates chose real physical paper books route.

Tablets are ok for reading highly technical documents from specialized periodicals for short bursts. These periodicals are generally not as long as books in page numbers.

I actually have a mix of real physical books and ebooks on my eReader but I gave most of my physical books away, for free, to a used bookstore.

[DiapDealer]

People just suck.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Response from Overdrive CEO, Steve Potash: "Macmillan publishes a work of fiction"

Gosh, exactly whose ox is getting gored here? Not exactly surprising that the guy who is making money off library ebooks isn't happy. Note that the complaint is that McMillian didn't publish the data underlying their decision. Since when does any company do that?

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

People just suck.

Except for those who post here, with a few exceptions both ways.

[cfrizz]

I was NEVER a first release book buyer, I always waited for the paperback. When those became too difficult to read I switched to free fanfiction. Then I got my first Sony ereader and PC software in 2010 and haven't looked back.

When agency pricing took over, I switched over to self published and have been there ever since. A good many of my favorites are now self published. I also utilize the library, when the book finally comes to me I read it. Any book I purchase, gets stripped and placed in my collection.

If they want to drag out the library release, I couldn't care less, I will find something else to read, at a price I'm willing to pay and a good many of them are free starters. If I like it I will get the rest of the series when the price is right.

Also with over 1700 books in my procession, I have no problem with rereading old favorites!

[issybird]

A post has been deleted. Please eschew topical political analogies.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

They certainly didn't exclusively sell DRM-free ebooks. I bought them when available, sure. But the vast majority of ebooks I bought from Fictionwise had DRM. And they were called Secure eReader ebooks. PDB formatted for the eReader application.

This. Fictionwise also owned the eReader.com (previously Peanut Press) website. At some point, that also sold the eBookwise reader (oh, those were the days - I loved that reader, but that sucker was heavy!) and the DRM associated with it.

[fjtorres]

Make of this what you will:

https://overdrivesteve.com/macmillan...rk-of-fiction/

Macmillan, a global publisher of science fiction and fantasy, offers a catalog of many great works of fiction. John Sargent’s recent letter to Macmillan authors, illustrators, and agents, regarding Macmillan’s changes to their library lending terms for ebooks, and the justification for the same, is another work of fiction. This work of fiction was used to justify a new policy to embargo newly released titles for library lending for 8 weeks from date of publication. Rather than creating demand for a new title with ebook marketing and then delighting readers with access to each new Macmillan title on the day of publication, libraries large and small, as well as library consortia, will be permitted to purchase only one (1) copy of each title. The story of how they arrived at this discriminatory practice that denies access to an author’s new work is a doozy.

For the Tor ebook catalog, fewer than 100 units of recent titles were sold to libraries nationwide. Added to the reality of the few available units, the library lending model is self-limiting. How a few dozen copies of an ebook that only one user can borrow at a time or wait weeks to borrow impacts retail sales is a mystery. When Mr. Sargent was asked for data to support this conclusion by the Wall Street Journal in its July 25, 2019 article, Mr. Sargent “declined to be more specific.” The reason is clear, the Tor experiment was unremarkable.

In 2015, a similar test was conducted with unremarkable results. This test used best-selling titles from several UK publishing houses in a study, jointly commissioned by the Society of Chief Librarians and The Publishers Association, funded via the British Library Trust and Arts Council England. The results were predictable. The study concluded that withholding new ebook titles for library users to borrow had no material impact on retail sales. From the study results: “Commercial impact: From publishers, there is no evidence that the pilot damaged their e-book sales.” See: https://www.publishers.org.uk/EasySi...spx?alId=18916

Most critical:

For all the Macmillan ebooks that libraries acquired for lending, 79% expired and were removed from library catalogs because the two-year term limit occurred first – not because they were checked out 52 times. The data of actual lending of Macmillan ebook titles by public libraries supports an underutilization of the inventory. The average number of times a library loaned a Macmillan ebook during the 2-year term for each title was 11.5 times (far from 52 checkouts). Using this data, the average cost to the library to lend the title was $6.07 for every time a title is borrowed, 5 times the figure shared in the WSJ story.


Furthermore, this includes users who never opened the title or read it – so the cost for every “ebook read” is still higher. This 11.5 average checkout includes Macmillan best-sellers such as Fire and Fury and others, which by all accounts is an outlier and overperformer. For the vast majority (75% of Macmillan catalog of titles during the 2-year term) an ebook was checked out an average of 8.3 times each.

Note this is the Overdrive CEO. He has real world numbers. Plus, it's his business under attack.

Much more at the source.

(Don't skip the comments.)

[fjtorres]

There's also this, via CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/02/opini...est/index.html

Librarians to publishers: Please take our money. Publishers to librarians: Drop dead.

That's the upshot of Macmillan publishing's recent decision which represents yet another insult to libraries. For the first two months after a Macmillan book is published, a library can only buy one copy, at a discount. After eight weeks, they can purchase "expiring" e-book copies which need to be re-purchased after two years or 52 lends. As publishers struggle with the continuing shake-up of their business models, and work to find practical approaches to managing digital content in a marketplace overwhelmingly dominated by Amazon, libraries are being portrayed as a problem, not a solution. Libraries agree there's a problem -- but we know it's not us.

The American Library Association has denounced this model using strong language, but perhaps it's time for libraries to do more than grumpily go along with whatever gets foisted upon us. Sixty-four percent of US public libraries are members of consortia for e-book purchasing. Maybe it's time we got together and decided to spend more of the public's money with businesses who want to do business with us, who don't just consider us "a thorny problem," while also not understanding how we operate.

More at the source.

(I remain skeptical libraries will do anything but gripe.)

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Make of this what you will:

https://overdrivesteve.com/macmillan...rk-of-fiction/





Most critical:




Note this is the Overdrive CEO. He has real world numbers. Plus, it's his business under attack.

Much more at the source.

(Don't skip the comments.)

Let's just say that it's his ox whose getting gored and his business model that is being threatened. He may have real world numbers on the number of books that are lent through Overdrive, but he certainly doesn't have the real world numbers of how many ebooks are being sold, nor does he have any real world numbers on the changes in ebooks sales in a comparison basis.

My question is if his business model threatens the livelihood of the authors, why is that fine, but it's not fine for the authors the window books in an effort to boost sales? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm suppose to say those evil publishers and not mention the authors, most of whom are barely making a living.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Raphi'Elohim

My personal opinion is that serious readers don't read on tablets and smartphones no matter how much they protest to the contrary ostensibly that they are not dilletantes. For instance, Bill Gates is a serious reader who reads 50 books a year and to people like us the only serious argument is real physical paperbooks vs eReaders and the former devices don't even play a factor in the consideration. I chose the eReader route and Bill Gates chose real physical paper books route.

Ok, I'm going to bite. You have an opinion, just like you have an asshole...everybody has one.

Just curious as to HOW you came to the conclusion about the seriousness of the reader by the contraption used to read.

For example, I read as many or more books than Bill Gates...some years (this year for sure). But I highly doubt that I'm getting the same quality of reading as Bill because of WHAT he chooses to read vs the genre mind-candy that I mostly read.

I wouldn't describe either one of us as "serious" as it relates to the reading part. I'd say he is reading to expand who he is and I'm reading to entertain myself. As an IT person, most of my "reading for improving myself" isn't contained in books. It's web articles, blogs, github documentation and the like. Even videos. Technology is changing so fast that by the time someone writes a book about it, it's dated. So....I'm discounting all that type of "reading" and sticking to whether or not "serious" applies to reading books at all. And if so, why would it be a comment on the reading device and not a comment on the reading content?

When I first got my iPad, it coincided with a new job that started off with 7 weeks of training. We had books/manuals that were 2 to 4" thick that we covered...each week. While everyone else dealt with those heavy books, I got the pdf's and read on my iPad....the original iPad. I had my own set of those books but left them in my hotel and read on the iPad and took the iPad to class.

I have a tv. I have a phone in my pocket. I have EVERY distraction imaginable....and that applies to whether I'm reading a book or reading on my phone or tablet. If I need distraction free reading, my task is the same whether I'm reading on a tablet or phone...or book. I turn off the distracting devices or put them in "do not disturb mode".

My tablets and phones give me MORE abilities to read than a physical book or an eInk device. I don't have any problems whatsoever reading for hours at a time. I have yet, in all these years, to be foiled from reading because of a battery running out of power....because I know how to plug my devices in at night. Or recharge them during the day (in the case of a phone. My tablets all easily last for a day of reading).

So....back to you. Just wondering what the basis for your "serious reading is done in paper or eInk" opinion given I KNOW you've heard plenty of testimony such as mine on this topic already.

[Barty]

I use the library wait list as my own personal to-read / reminder system. When the book is available in a few weeks or months, I get an email and remember oh yeah that's a book I want to read. So easy and convenient. In the meantime, I have no shortage of things to read.

Basically, the only reasons to buy are: 1) it's an author you love and want to read right away and/or directly support financially 2) it's a hot book you want to read now to join in the discussion 3) it's something you'll want to re-read 4) it's on sale or free.

Otherwise there are no differences between a bought and borrowed ebook. They're going to read exactly the same. A used ebook isn't going to be beat up or marked or stained or torn. You can't legally resell it give it or lend it to someone else.

I also have online access to three different library systems just in my area, even though I couldn't realistically patronize them all in person.

I suppose having to finish it within 7 days for a new, in demand book may be problem but that's about it.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Note this is the Overdrive CEO. He has real world numbers. Plus, it's his business under attack.

Much more at the source.

(Don't skip the comments.)

I commend him for providing actual data.

[leebase]

Hard to give him that much credence given his poor logic on Macmillan must be lying just because they didn’t give more info about the data. Then argue there was barely any Tor books in libraries. Why all the hubab if the volume for the libraries is too small to matter

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by leebase

Hard to give him that much credence given his poor logic on Macmillan must be lying just because they didn’t give more info about the data. Then argue there was barely any Tor books in libraries. Why all the hubab if the volume for the libraries is too small to matter

Depends on who you want to believe.