“Libraries are Not the Enemy:” A Guest Post from Wendy the SuperLibrarian on the Macmillan eBook Embargo

This guest post is from Wendy Crutcher. Wendy, aka SuperLibrarian, has been blogging since 2003, and was Romance Writers of America Librarian of the year in 2011. She’s been a collection development librarian for over 20 years, and has been working to educate patrons on how libraries work for even longer than that.

Many of you have been talking about the Macmillan eBook embargo, and what you can do about it. We are beyond fortunate to have her guest post today to give context and some history to the issue, and to enable us to identify what we readers can do next to help out.

If you’re an avid reader, you may have already heard about the Macmillan eBook embargo, which goes into effect for libraries on November 1. The details, simply put:

  • Libraries will be allowed to purchase one ebook copy of new release Macmillan titles during the first two months. This license will cost $30, will not expire, and follows the standard eBook checkout model: Someone has it checked out? You have to wait. Oh, and this option is only available during this two month window. One copy. For two months.
  • After two months is up, and only after that, can libraries purchase additional copies. Price point will be around $60 and will include metered access. Metered access means that these additional licenses will expire after 52 check-outs or two years, whichever comes first. Once expired, libraries will need to repurchase if they wish to maintain more copies in their collection than their single perpetual access license they bought during the two month embargo period.

On the surface, libraries are pleased we at least have the opportunity to buy one perpetual access copy now. But the rest of it? Hot garbage. John Sargent, Macmillan’s CEO, has gone on record as stating they have data that points to libraries eroding away sales. That because we’ve made eBook lending “frictionless” readers are no longer purchasing, they’re borrowing and that libraries are giving borrowing privileges to anyone who bats their eyes at us.

I’m not sure what Sargent considers “frictionless” but the reality of the situation is that libraries have been paying exorbitant prices for eBooks for a while now. I wish I could say that $60 for a metered access copy is abnormal.  It’s not. Jennifer Anne/@Kidsilkhaze on Twitter has been posting comparisons of library prices for print books and ebooks for recent bestsellers. Long wait lists on eBook copies are also far from unusual. I’m sure you’ve seen some astonishing wait lists for titles you want to read.

Library collection budgets have, in my personal experience, remained stagnant for years. As time has marched on, libraries have looked at those same budget figures and tried to figure out ways to purchase not only paper and digital, but the additional formats continuously landing on the market. Which we want to do, because libraries are all about access. One copy for the first two months will not only be felt hard by large urban libraries, but also by smaller libraries who joined consortiums in order to have the mere opportunity to provide eBooks to their patrons.

This decision also further marginalizes disabled communities who rely heavily on digital formats. Many people are unable to hold physical books, or are unable to read without having the ability to adjust the display or the text size, and therefore need access to books in digital formats.

Sargent also seems to be unaware that libraries aren’t “free.” People pay taxes to support the library service in their communities. So for him to think we’re going to pass out library cards to people not paying into the system is ignorant in the extreme. I’ve been a collection development librarian for 20 years. I have handled budgets both small and large. Believe me when I say that every librarian’s top priority is their paying constituency. If you live 3000 miles away and aren’t paying to support my library system? You’re not going to get a library card. Money has to be changing hands somewhere, even if it’s behind the scenes, in order for anyone to access a library’s services.

So where is Sargent getting his data? The answer is we librarians don’t really know, since Macmillan hasn’t been forthcoming in sharing.

However the elephant in the room is Amazon. Because, of course it is. Look, I get annoyed with the Amazon Boogeyman SkyNet talk as much as the next person, but in this case? If you check out an eBook via your library’s Overdrive platform and want to read it on your Kindle device, you need to go through Amazon’s back end to complete the checkout. Therefore, they have some data and they are now the fifth largest publisher.

For added fun, Amazon completely excludes selling digital anything to the library market. Is the book part of Kindle Unlimited? An Audible Exclusive? Published by one of Amazon’s imprints? Well, patrons are out of luck, because that means libraries literally cannot buy it in digital or in some instances, in any other format. At all.

If I could say anything to Sargent and the people who make similar decisions to limit access to digital books in libraries, it’s this: Libraries are not your competition. We are a PR department who you have never, ever paid. I live in a dense, urban area. Seriously, there are like eleventy billion people where I live. Not every city has a bookstore. Now think about flyover country? Sure as shootin’ they don’t have easy access to physical bookstores.

A white tshirt with TEAM LIBRARY in black letters But you know what they do have access to? Libraries. There are an estimated 116,867 libraries in the United States and over the past ten years libraries have spent an estimated $40 billion on digital content. Now consider all the debut and midlist authors whose books libraries are buying. How many of us as readers, even considering we’re avid readers, plunk down retail prices on unknown-to-us authors? However, libraries routinely buy and promote debut and midlist authors. We provide exposure and help create a fanbase. Embargoes and higher mark-ups make this incredibly difficult to keep doing.

Libraries aren’t the competition nor are we unreasonable. We get that publishers need to turn a profit and we want authors to make a living. Libraries aren’t the problem; the problem is competition from other distractions and the now-set reader expectations that eBooks shouldn’t cost more than $2.99. Libraries didn’t do that. We’re literally creating demand for the product. One of our cornerstone principles is to create lifelong, enthusiastic readers and learners. Plus there’s actual data that library users are also book buyers.

The worst part about all of this is that this policy is no good for anyone, well, other than Amazon who will benefit mightily by driving a larger wedge between publishers and libraries. Any policy that limits access to new books hurts readers, it hurts authors, and it hurts the publisher.

Oh, sure, some readers will get frustrated and simply buy the book, assuming they have the means to do that. However, the more likely outcome is that readers will get frustrated, simply move on, and forget about the book entirely to the point of never reading it. Which is not what we want at all.

What can you as a reader do?

Consider signing the petition at ebooksforall.org or contact Macmillan directly. As an avid reader and book buyer, let them know your opinion on their library digital policy. Many local library systems have also been emailing patrons about the Macmillan embargo to encourage patron advocacy as well. Your local library may already have been in contact with you, asking for your help.

You can also advocate for your local library and by extension, libraries in general. Make your local electeds aware of the importance the library plays in your life and in your community’s well-being.

You can also contact your representatives regarding the American Library Association’s report, recently delivered to the House Judiciary Committee regarding the shenanigans in the library digital market that create anticompetitive behavior. Make them aware that what this report outlines is important to you and how current practices are affecting you and your community.

In a perfect world libraries would have the ability to purchase both perpetual and metered access licenses with a pricing model that makes sense. It shouldn’t be a utopian fantasy that the relationship between libraries and publishers would be symbiotic, not contentious. But when publishers limit library access to books through embargoes and unfair pricing, as I said, it hurts readers, it hurts authors, and ultimately it hurts publishers themselves.

We need to ask ourselves, if libraries lose, who exactly will end up winning?

Sarah: I can’t thank Wendy enough for taking the time to write this, especially as it’s incredibly frustrating and difficult to distill so much history and conflict into a few paragraphs.

What about you? Have you been following this story? Has your library been in touch with you about the Macmillan embargo? 

Comments are Closed

  1. Kelly says:

    What an interesting article, I had no idea. It seems that like digital music, that publishers can’t quite figure out how this market needs to evolve with technology and how society evolves with it. You’d think that paper publishing would start to get too expensive because of the environmental costs, at least. My family is made up of lifelong readers, but my parents now being both retired have recently become active, enthusiastic members of my city library. My father (catching up on years of missed reading no doubt) is consuming digital books by the dozen. He was quite annoyed to find out that he had to wait for a digital copy of a book the first time he went to check out- some lists were 50 people long! My mother, who still prefers that handheld feeling, can get books in her preferred format from the library, too. Are they still purchasing books? You bet- my mom has a close collection of friends who get book hand me downs from time to time. Every time I go home, it’s have you read this or do you want any of these books? This encourages more reading, more discovery of new authors and more people seeking out your product. My friends still lament the closing of borders books, which was a Friday hangout staple between going to a movie or restaurant. Libraries allow for knowledge and access to the very thing publishers are selling and should be celebrated rather than priced out.

  2. Darlynne says:

    MacMillan and other publishers are the personification of ignorance–clueless about readers and libraries. Granted, their sole customer has always been stores, but you’d think they’d wonder occasionally about what happens downstream and how readers behave. There’s a wealth of data that doesn’t penetrate their silo.

    I’ve been following this topic, but Wendy’s post reveals the situation is more dire still. It’s possible to borrow a digital book for 21 days, which would immediately cancel all but one more reader during the 30-day embargo. This is nuts. I’ve signed and shared the petition.

  3. Karen Witkowski says:

    It’s crazy. I signed & shared the petition.

  4. Becca says:

    I don’t think MacMillan understands the market confluence between library users and book purchasers as you indicate. In my N of one, I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on ebooks that I first read from the library. Usually, if I read a book from the library that I’m pretty sure I’m going to want to read again, I buy the ebook version. Also, if I’ve read a few in a series from the library and really enjoyed them, I’ll buy the entire series in ebook. If I’ve read a bunch by an author I really like, they become an autobuy for me.

    Many of the books I’ve purchased after reading from the library aren’t cheap either. I may buy a lot of books on sale because $2.99 isn’t that much of an investment for something that looks interesting, but for books I want because I enjoyed it so much the first time, spending $10-15 is a pretty regular occurrence.

    Finally, getting books from the library makes me more likely to purchase books in general. There are a lot of books that I’ve purchased that I wouldn’t have been willing to spend the money on without assurances that I’d enjoy it. The library gives me the opportunity to vet my purchases. I had one book that I preordered because I loved the author’s first book so much, and I hated the book I preordered. I wouldn’t buy as many books as I’ve read if I ran the risk of spending $10-15 only to end up hating the books. My reading paths would narrow, and I’d read less overall. Easy access to library books lifts all boats.

  5. Lil Marek says:

    There are no more bookstores in my neighborhood. The closest one is 20 miles away, so I no longer by books by browsing through the shelves. Even when I could easily visit a bookstore, I did most of my “browsing” at the library. Every author whose books I buy either for myself or as a gift is someone I first read via the library, and many of those I borrow as ebooks since there are more of those available these days.
    Publishers should be encouraging, not discouraging, availability of their books through the library. That’s where they will find the book buyers these days.

  6. SonomaLass says:

    I hesitated to sign the petition only because it required a phone number, and I am very wary of giving mine out. But a friend pointed out that I could just put my area code and 555-5555, so I did. Because as much as I love my Kindle, and I do read e-books from my library that way, I agree with everything Wendy says here.

  7. HeatherS says:

    I’ve been following this for a while. My library sent out an email to all patrons, letting them know about this. I’ve been telling everyone I know.

  8. mel burns says:

    I read on a KIndle Fire but I always checkout Epub because I prefer Overdrive’s format, and my last Kindle dies I will buy a mini ipad. There are so many authors I used to auto buy that have disappointed me, well I have pretty much stopped buying books without reading them first. Library read first then IF it is fabulous I buy it locally in print. I’ve stopped buying books from Amazon almost completely and I canceled Audible because of the unethical practices of Amazon’s Brilliance Audio. They removed thousands of audios from Overdrive and library catalogs a while back and I’m still mad about it. And where Netflix Hulu and PBS offer shows to libraries Amazon DOES NOT.
    Macmillan is making a huge mistake! Most people who read start at the library, the library is the gateway especially for young readers who are just figuring out their preferable genre.
    And what about senior citizens who live on social security? The library is a lifeline for enjoyment of books and films and periodicals.
    John Sargent is an evil person, this is abominable!

  9. MaryK says:

    “So where is Sargent getting his data? … Macmillan hasn’t been forthcoming in sharing.”

    That seems really shady to me. If they have data to support their position, wouldn’t they be falling over themselves showing it to people?

    The trend toward more trade paperbacks and the accompanying higher ebook prices has caused me to start using the library more and now they want to limit library access. It would be super ironic if this anti-library campaign caused a resurgence in used book stores. I doubt it’ll happen since most people seem to prefer ebooks these days, but I can hope.

  10. LMC says:

    I am so glad you are covering this topic! Ms. Crutcher so clearly defined the issues. Our library has been encouraging patrons to sign the petition.

    Thank you!

  11. hapax says:

    @Nan de Plume #10 – I agree with most of your points, but just as an FYI, many libraries cannot legally enter into a system with royalties per borrow (although such arrangements are in effect in the UK and I think other EU countries). It is annoying because it means that we cannot offer out patrons many different kinds of materials (there are movie and music subscriptions that work on this model as well) but we cannot enter into a contract without knowing in advance how much taxpayer money it will cost.

    Also, as I constantly have to tell disappointed patrons, we will not purchase POD paperbacks. While they are great for individuals who prefer print to digital format (I have bought many for myself), they unfortunately do not hold up to library circulation, and typically fall apart after a couple of checkouts. 🙁

    None of this negates the splendid OP, or MacMillan’s anti-reader actions. I just wanted to point out that libraries don’t really have as many options as people think we do.

  12. Ren Benton says:

    @Nan de Plume: MacMillan had a self-publishing platform (Pronoun). They killed it 18 months after they acquired it. Publishers aren’t interested in the maintenance, quality control, and fraud liability that comes with such a platform, nor are they keen to provide an outlet for what they see as competition for their traditionally published books.

    Every self-published author who uses Smashwords and D2D for wide distribution is available to Overdrive and other library services worldwide (unless they opt out of those channels because they’re on the “libraries steal my money” side). Any self-published author who chooses to enroll in KU is choosing not to be in libraries.

  13. Big K says:

    The library hooked me on J.R. Ward. Now I think I own all of her books, or darned close. I even have a separate shelf for all the extra h’s. And I never would have purchased even one if I hadn’t read a library copy first.

  14. LauraL says:

    My rural county library keeps a good selection of new print books on hand and offers e-Books. A patron can wait months for a requested e-Book because of the limited budget. Like others, I try new authors through a library loan. I have a hard time paying $12.99 and up for an e-Book or trade paperback for an unknown quantity and hate to think of waiting even longer. Petition signed and shared.

  15. Pre-Successful Indie says:

    I’m not in libraries because I have a “readership” of maybe 10 people, and it would be a delusion of grandeur to bother. (#longtaillife)

    BUT. As a reader, I finally joined my local library a while back, and it has been fantastic. I don’t think that I’m at all personally responsible for whatever issues the print industry has. Why blame your customers? I don’t get it. So if I don’t buy EVERYTHING, or I want to sample first, I don’t count as a customer at all? Why?

    I’m not a malfunctioning ATM. I get to buy or not buy whatever I please, because that’s how the free market works. There’s no need for animosity.

    On the other hand, it’s also hard to balance my words along the “books are magic” / “books are product” spectrum, because ultimately? They’re both, to different people. Which is fine.

  16. Janine says:

    I just don’t think Macmillan really understands how library users think. If the library doesn’t have a copy of The Testaments, I’m not going to run out and buy it at retail. I’m going to check out something they do have, and MAYBE I’ll come back around to it six months later. For something really big, I’ll probably remember it still exists, but for a new or lesser-known author, the one who really needed that new reader…sorry, they just missed out on the sale they would have made to me someday once I got to know their work. If I were, say, a SF writer working for an imprint like Tor, I would be livid about now.

  17. Stefanie Magura says:

    @Wendy, Aka Super Librarian:

    Thank you for the post. I would like to add however that the disability community of which I am a part, blind/VI/Dyslexic has it’s own systems to check out books. I’m thinking of Bookshare which provides E-books to those populations for a set fee or for free if you are a student or part of a library system. Therefore, these populations could be supplementing public library checkouts from places such as Overdrive with these. Could is the operative word here, because I have run into lots of situations where those who are disabled don’t even know of these resources. I’m not sure if my library still does, but does anyone’s offer access to the Bookshare service? I’ve never gotten it through there, since I was buying it already. For what it’s worth, the books provided to Bookshare are traditionally published, or at least from what I can guess and for reasons I’m beginning to understand through this post and other things I have learned online. I don’t think the library services for the blind allow self-published material either although interestingly, I have seen translations of such show up, so I guess if those can count as a completely different work or if the translations were traditionally published?… These were I’m guessing Spanish translations of English self-published books. I’m not comfortable with the language to say more than that.

  18. Susie says:

    I shared and commented on social media but let me say here that I love this article and thanks for it. When looking to re-release my mother’s backlist and her new books, I made libraries a priority.

    All but ONE publisher and all agent/publishers who courted “the estate of Edith Layton” (me and my brothers) said libraries were bad/they didn’t want to sell to them. I chose Untreed Reads in large part because they are PRO library. As they responded today on Twitter, “We wouldn’t still be here 10 years later without library support! We keep our books under $5 with no pesky restrictions on number of copies to purchase or how many times an ebook can be checked out. Libraries have enough to deal with!”

    I’m in this to let people have access to books, not to get rich, but that said, I see with my own habits and with my kids… if I discover an author I love at the library, I then become a buyer of the books.

    Thanks for having this post to educate us about what some publishers are doing, and giving an expert take.

  19. Lisa F says:

    Marvelous reporting from one end to the other on thsi.

    As a frequent library user, the embargo is ridiculous and will kill their sales in the end.

  20. lils says:

    After years of collecting hard bound books.for $25 each, filling up numerous book shelves my buying habits changed. I bought a hardback of a formerly autobuy author, only to be disappointed. I realized that many of the books I own were read once or twice. Around this time I was laid off. I switched to the library as my source of books.

    The result is that I don’t have to find a spot for another book case. Around the same time I started reading ebooks. Unlike physical books I can’t sell an ebook. And although I have purchased a lot of ebooks I have again found that I don’t re-read many of the books I own.

    Borrowing from the library allows me to read books without adding to my collection. It also allows me to read books published at a price over $7.99. I’ll admit that before I knew libraries operate under such different rules for purchasing ebooks, I was hoping to buy the ebook for the library at the price I would pay. Win win. I would get to read the book and not have it sit in my collection. Even after donating three carloads of books, I still have all the bookshelves full of books.

    All this to say I may have to read newer library books in physical format rather than the instant gratification of an ebook, but not being able to borrow an ebook isn’t going to drive me to change my habits and purchase more books. And I’d much rather have a way to donate ebooks to my library.

  21. […] this is a really popular audiobook in my library system. Mild break here to link to some articles about what’s going on with Macmillan and libraries and ebooks and audiobooks because serious the […]

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