Last Wednesday (24th October) Justin Tomlinson MP hosted a seminar on e-books in the House of Commons. The seminar, entitled ‘The Last Page or a New Chapter for Libraries and Publishers’ brought together various stakeholders in the library world to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by libraries in light of the rise of the e-book.
Sales of e-books rose 366% in 2011, to £92 million, and now consist of 8% of the market. I have no doubt that this figure will continue to rise day by day. At the same time, sales of physical books in the first half of 2011 fell 10% to a 10 year low. I think there is little doubt that e-books are here to stay.
The APPG gathered together a group of four panellists to give their views on the this contentious issue:
• Richard Mollett, Chief Executive of The Publishers Association
• Steve Potash, CEO of Overdrive
• Christopher Platt, Director of Collection and Circulation Operations at the New York Public Library
• Olivia Cole, Literary Editor of GQ, Editor of Spectator Life, poet and contributor to The Evening Standard
The audience was made up of individuals from across the library and publishing world, each with their own views and opinions on how best to tackle this challenge.
One of the main concerns that arose was that there is a general misconception of the e-lending model. Most models follow the one copy-one loan model that is recognisable in traditional book loans. Participants were also keen to ensure that any strategy going forward is based on evidence and real-world data, not ‘what ifs’.
The New York Public Library is working with Harvard Business School to carry out important research into e-book lending and the effect on sales. It is vitally important that this research is taken into consideration as part of the review of e-books and e-book lending. Pilot schemes and models that are currently running are collecting and sharing data amongst members, and this must also be made available to the Sieghart Review.
There is no consensus about how e-books lending should be delivered. Suggestions raised included discussion of an advertising model, similar to that of YouTube, where authors, publishers and advertisers could all pay for page impressions. There was also disagreement between participants as to whether there should be one national e-book library services or different services provided by different local authorities. Having a national service would be more efficient than a series of local e-libraries, through shared back office costs and vastly increased purchasing power. However, other participants pointed out that small local services might be more nimble and better able to innovate to meet the demands of readers and new technology. Amazon’s lending programme must also be considered in any discussion, as now that Amazon sells 40% of books in the UK it is a major player in any publishing or literary debate.
There was a lot of debate as to whether e-books lending should be chargeable, with the point being made that if you can afford an e-reader, you can afford to pay a small amount for content. Others countered this supposition, saying that next year will see the introduction of a £10 e-reader, which will mean that it e-books are much more widely accessible. Furthermore it was pointed out that e-books can be read on existing devices such as PCs, tablets and smartphones, all of which are already widely available in many homes.
However, without charging and with the squeeze on local authority budgets, it was unclear how e-lending could be fully rolled out. Christopher Platt pointed out that the decision to invest in e-books is not currently straightforward for libraries, as current prices mean multiple physical books can generally be purchased for the equivalent price of one e-book. Suggestions included central government paying, local authorities increasing funding to libraries (both unlikely), libraries diverting funds from traditional books to e-books, publishers providing e-content for free or charging. Another suggestion was that an advertising model could be introduced, similar to that of YouTube, where authors, publishers and advertisers could all pay for page impressions. One interesting idea was the introduction of a two-tier model for e-books, with people able to ‘queue jump’ if there were willing to pay a fee. Those who were not would have to wait longer to access the e-content.
Concerns were raised over whether the introduction of e-lending would divert library funding away from traditional books and that the physical book stock would become reduced in the future. Justin Tomlinson MP made clear that whatever decision was reached on lending for e-books, traditional lending must remain free so that everyone has access to a library.
Author representatives were understandably anxious about how e-book rental will create a revenue stream for content producers and suggested that it would be a good step forward if the Digital Economy Act 2010 were implemented to allow for PLR payments on e-books for authors. Justin Tomlinson MP suggested that if a charge were introduced, part of this could be used to compensate authors and publishers, part could go towards new e-book and traditional book stock, and part could be used to help fund library outreach programmes.
There was clear understanding of the need for publishers and authors to protect their revenues, but as yet there is no agreed funding model in place to compensate those who make their works available through libraries in e-book format, especially with regard to backlist stock. Different publishers have come up with different agreements with libraries and there is a real risk that if e-books are widely, freely and remotely available, consumers will never again purchase an e-book. Click-to-buy links are being run in certain locations, giving publishers and booksellers direct access to potential customers. Another suggestion was that of ‘windowing’, similar to the film and music industry, with big-name releases being restricted from e-lending for a certain period after release.
Christopher Platt pointed out that in the USA libraries couldn’t get hold of all the e-books that they wanted because publishers were being cautious in supply. If consumers couldn’t find the e-book that they wanted at the library, then they tended to go out and purchase a copy. Mr Platt suggested that retail sales for e-books in the US had been stimulated because of e-book lending by libraries, however this must be treated with caution. If an acceptable model is found for e-lending and libraries had all the e-books that they wanted, it is likely that retail sales would fall.
The overriding consensus of the meeting was that e-books are here to stay, and that everyone in the sector must be pragmatic and help put in place a sensible system for e-book lending and content reimbursement.
