Pricing people out of reading

“The real problem with ebooks is that they’re more “e” than book,” says Art Brodsky, A former chairman of the Montgomery County Library Board, an advisory group that promotes a strong and vibrant library system in the United States.
The collusion of large ebook distributors in pricing has been a public issue for a while, but more importantly we need to look at how they are priced differently to consumers and to libraries. This, says Art, is how ebooks contribute to the ever-growing divide between the literary haves and have-nots.
“We need to stop thinking of and talking about ebooks as books, and more as we would an app or a software package: Ebooks are computer code that display text and pictures instead of instructing our tablets to do some task. Not only can we not legally fiddle with such proprietary software, but we can’t “buy” it, either — we lease it, according to terms and conditions set by the manufacturer.”
It may be a long-term lease, but a lease just the same. There are limits and restrictions on use for all ebooks, and confusingly, those limits and restrictions vary depending on which company is offering the product.”
The other way ebooks reinforce the divide is through their pricing structures. The only ones who win are the big e-tailers, not the authors or even the publishers and definitely not the libraries.
“Publishers, too, are subject to the pricing (and other whims) of big e-tailers. This issue was at the heart of the antitrust case between Apple and Amazon, where Apple was found guilty of price fixing for working with publishers to raise the prices of ebooks because publishers were angry that Amazon had set prices too low.”
Pricing has changed the game for library access altogether because ebook distributors have radically changed the pricing from that of regular books.
“Take the example of J.K. Rowling’s pseudonymous book, Cuckoo’s Calling,” cites Art.
“For the physical book, libraries would pay $14.40 from book distributor Baker & Taylor close to the consumer price of $15.49 from Barnes & Noble and of $15.19 from Amazon. But even though the ebook will cost consumers $6.50 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, libraries would pay $78 (through library ebook distributors Overdrive and 3M) for the same thing.”
We requested a feedback from Overdrive on this comment in a South African context, but have not heard back from them as yet.
Random House increased its ebook prices to libraries 300 percent last year, and HarperCollins limits the number of check-outs per ebook. This means libraries have to lease another “copy” when they reach a certain threshold.
The whole situation goes against the very nature of what a library is supposed to be.
A library is an organized collection of sources of information and similar resources, made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing… A library is intended for use by people who cannot afford to purchase an extensive collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research.
Author Cory Doctorow is a big supporter of libraries, recognizing them as the one institution “whose only interest is in promoting authorship, books, and knowledge to the exclusion of things like shareholders or Kindle ebook sales and lock ins and ad sales.” He wants libraries to have his books, and to be able buy ebooks “the same way you buy books, the same way I buy books.” He says on the Authors for Library E-books campaign website.
“Ebook consumers should be able to lend and resell ebooks the same way we do with physical books — only then can an ebook truly be a book, with all the world-opening possibilities it offers,” says Art, who is also is a communications consultant and library advocate.
This would put ebooks within the reach of many more people through libraries (which also lend e-readers); through subscription services like scridb; through lower prices that resale books would bring; and through simple borrowing or even donating of books.
“When we think of most e-enabled technology, we think of creative destruction, a kind of disintermediation that removes extra steps from common activities. With ebook technology, however, all we’ve got is extra layers — in pricing, in lending, in access — essentially, the destructive without any of the creative. Except maybe for a privileged few.”

The Abomination of Ebooks: They Price People Out of Reading | BY ART BRODSKY10.02.139:30 AM

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