Biblio Bites (Mini-Sode #1) - The MacMillan Ebook Fracas

[breaking news music]

We interrupt our regularly scheduled book commentary for an important news bulletin!

From time to time, I like to shed light on a real-life aspect of libraries for you, my virtual patrons. I did this before during Library Card Sign-up Month, but that was attached to a regular episode, and this cannot wait until my next installment. This information is especially for those of you who check out ebooks from your local library.

If you check out the most recent and popular digital titles, you are probably already aware that the e-queue can sometimes be long. Well, one publisher in particular is determined to make you wait even longer, and this is scheduled to go into effect on November 1.

First, let me catch you up to speed on how publishers and ebooks work with libraries currently – VERY BRIEFLY, I promise.

In the United States, there are a handful of trade publishers. They are Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and MacMillan, and they are known as the Big Five. These five have smaller publishers and imprints under them, so if you don’t recognize MacMillan, for example, you might recognize Tor (publisher of sci-fi books), or St. Martin’s Press, or Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Then again, maybe you never look at the spine or the copyright page, like I do). [NERD!]

Librarians in charge of collection development and purchasing at your local library are aware of what the newest and more-than-likely popular titles will be. Let me give you a concrete example. Say Stephen King has a new book coming out. He’s a popular author, so there will surely be a lot of people who want to read this new title right when it comes out. Libraries, in order to keep that hold list down, will order multiple copies of that new book so that more patrons can access it sooner. Six months to a year from now, if the popularity has died down, the library will weed out some of those copies in multiple ways – lend to another consortium, sell them in the library’s bookstore, and so on. This is how it has worked for a long time. And they can do this, because it’s just like when you buy a print book; it’s now yours to do what you want with it. (There are also lend-lease licenses and such, but those are different and we won’t muddy the waters with those right now).

Ebooks are a slightly different animal. Libraries pay much more for a digital copy than you might on Amazon. But, just like when YOU download an ebook, it can be taken away at any time. And in fact, most ebook licenses that libraries get, at exorbitant rates, are only for so many months or a cap of downloads, whichever comes first. And each digital copy can only be borrowed one-to-one, just like a print book.

So, ebooks were already a bit of a sticky wicket for libraries, but they are another way to maintain equitable access for everyone – a major tenet of public libraries.

MacMillan is instituting an embargo on ebooks starting November 1. This means that libraries will only be able to purchase ONE ebook copy of a title at release, and then will not be able to purchase any more for another eight weeks. It does not matter whether you are a huge library consortium with multiple branches or a small library in rural Iowa with two staff members and only open three days a week – the agreement will be the same for both.

You might ask, Nikki, why are they doing this? The short, pithy version is that the CEO of MacMillan, John Sargent, is a douchebag who doesn’t understand how libraries work. Back in July, Sargent sent a memo about the increase of ebook lending in libraries – according to their numbers, 45% of the ebook lending was from libraries. He saw this as a terrible thing, saying, “It seems that given a choice between a purchase of an ebook for $12.99 or a frictionless lend for free, the American ebook reader is starting to lean heavily toward free.”

Let me pause for a moment. First of all, the original copy wasn’t free, it was paid for by the library system, which is paid for by taxes, paid for by the community, and so on, and so forth. Secondly, $12.99 for an electronic copy of a book that I a. don’t know if I’m going to like or b. don’t completely own as the publisher can pull the copy at any time, is STEEP, buddy. This is why people patronize libraries; it’s no risk to try a book from there, because I can just bring it back if I don’t care for it. You can’t really return an ebook, and you sure as shit can’t sell it to anyone else.

Anyway, he finishes by saying that these new terms to protect the value of books but also “ensure the mission of libraries is supported.” Hmm, how is that possible? You’re hamstringing a library from providing equitable access to all. Sure, they can order more print books, as there’s no embargo on those, but for those who rely on ebooks, such as disabled patrons, this becomes a serious hardship. And again, no one is stopping a patron from buying their own book, but full price for ebooks is cost-prohibitive for many.

So, again, libraries will be able to purchase one ebook of a new MacMillan title during the first two months of release. Their concession is that it will be half the price of a regular ebook copy ($30 instead of $60 – think about this for a second, won’t you? That price point?), won’t expire, and again, is a one-to-one checkout model. No other copies for eight weeks. After this, MacMillan will allow libraries to purchase additional copies. These will be full price ($60) but at metered access, which means after two years or 52 check-outs, whichever comes first, the copy will expire. So, if the book is still immensely popular, that library system will have to continually purchase copies.

Libraries have been trying to get the word out about this, because it really is difficult to wrap one’s head around. In addition, the libraries are the ones who are on the front lines about this, not MacMillan. If you try to get a popular book and now you realize there’s only one copy and you’re in a queue 300 people deep, who are you going to complain to? Not MacMillan and certainly not John Sargent. Nope, you’re going to bitch at your local branch that they’re not listening to what the community wants; why do we only have one copy of James Patterson’s or Nora Roberts’ latest book when so many people want it?

Okay, Nikki, you might be saying. We hear you. But what can we possible do? There isn’t much time.

You are correct in the time constraint. However, there are a few things you can do.

There is a petition at ebooksforall.org; you can sign it. You can contact MacMillan directly and let them know that libraries are not the enemy here. Make sure your local library is informing patrons about this as well. My local library consortium has a splash banner about this titled “Where is my ebook?” and has a page with infographics and steps you can take as a patron (a few of which I’ve outlined above already). In general, advocate for your local library whenever possible, anyway.

I will post these links in the show notes. If you are not comfortable writing, at least sign the petition, and make it a goal to tell at least two people about this. In fact, you can just point them to this episode.

Do I think anything will change? No, I’m sure on Friday, November 1, these events will proceed as scheduled. HOWEVER, by drawing attention to this, we might stop MacMillan from setting a dangerous precedent. Of the Big Five, MacMillan draws a smaller slice of the pie, so it might not affect as many popular authors and titles, though it will for some. However, in my personal opinion, I think it will be a lot worse for all of us if say, Penguin RandomHouse or HarperCollins decides to follow suit.

We return you now to our regularly scheduled programming. Thanks for listening.

Sources:

American Library Association. #ebooksforall. https://ebooksforall.org/

Sargent, J. (July 25, 2019). Memo to MacMillan Authors, Illustrators, and Agents. Publisher’s Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/ARTICLE_ATTACHMENT/file/000/004/4222-1.pdf