Overdrive CEO describes it's action following Harper Collins changes

[queentess]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Indeed. I'm not sure why selling to libraries benefits book companies.

But people have a sense of entitlement that they can read for free. (And rent movies and videos).

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be a great way for publishers to get the word out about their authors and create people who read for pleasure and will buy their product in the future. It must be those entitlement people.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I'm thinking, though, that maybe a boycott is exactly what HC wants--they want people to buy e-books, not read them for free, and this way they get to pretend that it's the libraries who are choosing not to carry their books.

Yep, I doubt they see this as a bad result.

[pietrocrazy]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Yep, I doubt they see this as a bad result.

A lot of people will simply choose not to buy the book and end up not reading it at all. Maybe the most well-known authors will see an increase in their sales, but other authors will suffer. The advantage of a library is that you can try out new authors and new genres without worrying about wasting your money on something you won't like.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by pietrocrazy

A lot of people will simply choose not to buy the book and end up not reading it at all. Maybe the most well-known authors will see an increase in their sales, but other authors will suffer. The advantage of a library is that you can try out new authors and new genres without worrying about wasting your money on something you won't like.

For eBooks you can now do that with free samples of the first X% of the book, I wouldn't be surprised if the publishers considered that an adequate replacement.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

For eBooks you can now do that with free samples of the first X% of the book, I wouldn't be surprised if the publishers considered that an adequate replacement.

I can do the same thing with pbooks by just walking into any bookstore and standing there and reading the book. That doesn't replace libraries.

[aagstn]

Originally Posted by queentess

Effectively delisting them. I like this.

I like it as well. Libraries should follow that up by not buying their paper books either. Libraries make up a big portion of books sold and losing library sales for paper books might wake Harper Collins up.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by aagstn

I like it as well. Libraries should follow that up by not buying their paper books either. Libraries make up a big portion of books sold and losing library sales for paper books might wake Harper Collins up.

No, if anything, it would just make HC stop selling e-books to libraries entirely. Which I think would be a worse result.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by aagstn

Libraries should follow that up by not buying their paper books either. Libraries make up a big portion of books sold and losing library sales for paper books might wake Harper Collins up.

No, I think they should still buy HC paper books for their patrons to read so that said patrons won't be boosting HC paper/e-sales due to total library unavailability for the books they read.

But they should get fewer multiple copies of the titles than they normally would have. Just enough to be a noticeable drop, without affecting service and driving borderline book-buyers to spend money on HC books because they can't read them for "free", which I'm sure HC would love.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

No, if anything, it would just make HC stop selling e-books to libraries entirely. Which I think would be a worse result.

That would be a good thing. Who needs HC anyway?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

For eBooks you can now do that with free samples of the first X% of the book, I wouldn't be surprised if the publishers considered that an adequate replacement.

I've seen some of the free samples from B&N. The problem there is all the crap before the book actually starts. So by the time you get to where the book actually starts, there's not enough there to make an informed decision. So you still are undecided. Like an internal ToC on an ePub takes up space that could other wise be used for more sampling and less junk.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

That would be a good thing. Who needs HC anyway?

Well, that would mean that 3 of the big 6 publishers' e-books wouldn't be available at libraries. If a few more publishers drop out, libraries may not bother with e-books at all.

[The Old Man]

I notice an ebook library I frequent has a lot of new Harper Collins listings including many Agatha Christie.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Well, that would mean that 3 of the big 6 publishers' e-books wouldn't be available at libraries. If a few more publishers drop out, libraries may not bother with e-books at all.

And isn't that just what the publishers really want?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Well, that would mean that 3 of the big 6 publishers' e-books wouldn't be available at libraries. If a few more publishers drop out, libraries may not bother with e-books at all.

I'd rather do without than play into the hands of a publisher.

[pietrocrazy]

Originally Posted by Catlady

And isn't that just what the publishers really want?

They may think that's what they want, but in the long run it's a terrible idea. When people can't get what they want the easy way (libraries), they'll content themselves with getting it another way (file sharing). Then they'll complain about how piracy has ruined the industry, when in fact they could have prevented their own ruin if they'd had the foresight to use new technologies appropriately.