Comments on: Publishers Have Met the Enemy, and It is Them

By: Mr. Kat

Mr. Kat — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:32:52 +0000

…um, if libraries are author’s best firends, isn’t it a bit obvious where this can go? Authors will have the power to reach out directly to libraries and sell direct. Libraries are unfortunately woefully behind when ti comes to their acocunting departments, their aquisitions departments, and their websites in handling this new insurgence of direct contact. So there might be a couple writer guilds who develop out of this, an organizing of book writers to better market their products withouth the influence of the moguls who take their rights away from them. End result, these organizations would provide authors with a direct link to libraries, and customers, and libraries would have a place to browse organized offerings, select and purchase materials for their patrons – most likely, upon the demand of patrons. Ten or twenty or 100 patons request the title, the library buys a copy or 100 copies, or whatever they need to keep up with the demand…or perhaps even RENT copies!!!

What it all comes down to, is the fact that the giants are no longer the gatekeepers.

And DMA is like an unbreakable lock at a lockpicker’s convention. Every lockpicker is going to take a crack at it, until it’s cracked, and then they’ll work on DMA2, and when that’s cracked,they’ll work on DMAX. After that there will be VirtualLock, and they will crack that too. CloudLock will be as brainless as a Apple IIE without a floppy disk – it wil lalso be cracked. Thus has been the cycle of things.

By: J

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:35:43 +0000

That was intentionally hyperbolic and Oprah was just an example. Seriously, though, if a public library limits its collection to items that are “educating and supporting education” that cuts out pretty much all recent popular fiction and a lot of children’s materials. Now that 85% is looking a little more realistic for a some libraries I know.

By: Smith

Smith — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:06:55 +0000

85%? Way overstated. I bet the total is more like 15-20%. Which is still alot.

By: J

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:17:31 +0000

Mary Jo: “Just where are the authors in this discussion?”
No matter how much authors may love libraries, the only ones who can afford to (suicidally) speak out against their publishers have names like Rowling and Grisham. For what it’s worth, though, author John Scalzi has been quite free with his opinions on the matter. For example:

“This asinine jockeying over electronic book prices has very little to do with what’s actually good or useful for anyone other than the manufacturer of a piece of hardware…who also happens to be a book retailer.”

Effing: “Libraries should get back to their core of educating and supporting education. Screw the bestsellers.”

While I agree with the sentiment, it’s going to be hard to justify asking for level funding when 85% of your patrons disappear along with Oprah’s picks.

By: Bob Watson

Bob Watson — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:18:32 +0000

Best seller authors who are now popular may not need libraries to provide publicity (or at least think they do not), but authors who would like to be best selling authors do. It’s a rare author who writes a best seller on the initial try, and even then it’s almost always with massive publisher-provided publicity.

The reader/author/publisher/library/bookstore ecology is, I think, more complex than any one actor knows.

By: will manley

will manley — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:08:50 +0000

Effing…great point. No one can stop libraries from ordering books available for sale. But if bestselling authors do organize and decide to bypass publishers, they can also turn their back on direct marketing to libraries and can certainly refuse to offer institutional discounts to libraries. What kind of digital lending rights would they give to libraries? Probably none. My point is that in all the brouhaha over the current Harper Collins controversy, no one seems to be talking about the rights and needs of authors, and to me that silence is ominous. Factor in the decrease in retail bookstore outlets and the diminishing purchasing power of libraries, and authors are definitely going to be exploring radically new ways in which they can get fair compensation for their work.

By: Roger Verdi

Roger Verdi — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:38:27 +0000

Very intersting to see the comments regarding this and musical scores.

I’m a musician and mostly lapsed librarian.

In the last few years, many orchestras I work for are relying on public domain files to get copies of parts for performances.

That way they bypass the huge expense of renting parts–we all know libraries are under siege financially, imagine what most orchestras are going through.

It also saves time and effort on the part of the orchestra librarian–no more need to send out parts in advance via US mail. Now many just send links to public domain files.

This has been a great, great boon for individual study as well. Time was, to find a part to a lesser known work could be quite labor intensive. Now, it’s much simpler.

The question of markings in the scores is one to consider. But, if you want to find bunch of publications rife with errors, that sure as heck distort the composer’s intent, look through the scores and parts of some of the leading music publishers!

By: the.effing.librarian

the.effing.librarian — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:34:29 +0000

Will, unless those couturier authors publish in China, I’m guessing that we would buy their books like any other person. How can you cut out libraries when you sell your books to anyone? I might need to pay a little more, but I’ll still get the book. Or I’ll buy used. Or “pre-owned” for the fanciest works. Those publishers and authors can ignore how libraries fit into the publishing ecosystem, but we have a lot of money to spend.
Libraries are in a bad position and have been for 25 years because we buy what our patrons want, but these are the same folks who keep Kim Kardashian on the cover of People,so what can they know.
Libraries should get back to their core of educating and supporting education. Screw the bestsellers. Watch what would happen to them if libraries held back our tens (hundreds?) of thousands of orders.
Libraries should collectively be a huge player in publishing and these people should bend to smooch our collectively huge behind.

By: B. A. Binns

B. A. Binns — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:14:43 +0000

This sounds terribly short-sighted. Libraries have always been a friend of authors and publishers, and a major market. People who want their own copies will still buy their own, whether eBook or print. People who need libraries will be the ones who lose out.

By: William Webster

William Webster — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:46:09 +0000

Sorry Will, but, to include libraries in with publishers is a dis-service to libraries, they will just buy from the author, like everyone else when it goes that way. Libraries buy books, many books, they do not publish. I like the model tho, there are many publishing packages for computers, and if an author cuts out the middle man, i.e. “Publisher” they can then drop the price, sell more, and a library can afford to buy more and loan out multiple copies of digital books, e-books, and hardcover at a time. If one has the digital image of a book, they can then just print a hard copy to loan, or replace a lost/damaged/stolen copy, as long as the number of licenses for that item can be tracked then nobody gets ripped off. Publishers will just have to deal with a shrinking author base.

In fact, one should just be able to login to your favorite libray, or any that are available on-line, check out and read a book thru a web browser, or client, as long as no one else is reading it at the time, and just pick it up where you left off the last time. With all the new tablets, netbooks, and smartphones out there, one may never have to carry a hard copy again. Notice i did not say purchase, there are a few books that i would still buy for keeps, and store digital ones locally, or in the “cloud” as they say, if i had a virtual office/desk somewhere.

I do computers, and the possibilities are endless and we are just now starting to grasp some of them, and some are not even thought of yet. The sky is the limit and we should embrace everything that would allow reading to be more prolific, turn on the light and get kids reading earlier buy making it easier to get a book, not harder. If you make books available to smartphones and gaming consoles, lol, they would probably read more.