Tradpub vs libraries

I have thoughts about this:

As of November 1, 2019, Macmillan Publishers only allows libraries—no matter the size of their city or town—to purchase only one copy of each new eBook title for the first eight weeks after a book’s release. This change in policy greatly reduces accessibility of library materials to you, our customers.  

San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) and Ramiro S. Salazar, our Library Director, who is also the Public Library Association President have joined American Library Association (ALA) and Urban Libraries Council (ULC) as well as libraries across the nation in a fight to reverse the decision of Macmillan Publishers. Unfortunately, even with strong opposition, support from city and county leaders across the nation and more than 186,000 petition signatures, Macmillan has implemented its new policy.  

As a result of this change in policy, SAPL has joined other major library systems in a business decision to suspend the purchase of Macmillan Publishers titles until the restrictive policy is either reversed or Macmillan comes to the table to discuss options that will continue equitable access to eBooks for our customers. As demand for digital content grows, we cannot idly accept Macmillan’s new eBook policy. Offering only one new eBook in San Antonio, for a library serving almost 2 million people at 30 locations, will deny timely access, extend your wait times and discourage readership.  

Macmillan titles represent approximately 7 percent of the San Antonio Public Library’s eBook collection. While this is a fraction of SAPL’s digital eBook collection, we continue to be concerned about additional publishing companies following suit with similar policies which will become an even greater issue for eBooks in the SAPL collection. We will continue to purchase print copies of Macmillan titles as this policy does not affect that format.

Traditional publishing is dying, and it's not because of libraries. It's because the whole vertically integrated publishing market is a 20th century relic, and the ossified structure can't adapt to market changes or shrink proportionally in response to a long-term decline in profits.

What are those market changes? They are:

• Low-cost ebooks Amazon's rise to dominance
• A rival resale submarket
• Independent publishers and self-published authors

If you can buy 20 to 30 books (ranging in quality from bad to great) on Kindle for the same price as one brand new hardcover book (which is not guaranteed to be any good), the former makes more sense from a consumer's perspective.

Beyond the publishing world, there's competition from TV, movies, video games, and other digital forms of entertainment. You've heard this before, but attention spans are getting shorter as our daily lives become more integrated with technology. And I think people value their time more than they value their money. They'd rather drop $10 to see a 2-hour movie than drop any amount of money to spend 12 hours reading a book.

So from where I sit, this targeting of libraries by Macmillan misses the mark. It's ill-considered at best, petty at worst.

On the other hand, I think Macmillan's new policy is too lenient. If readers are so excited about reading a new book that they can't bear waiting, they can shell out the hardcover price to read it on its release date. To read a book for free, waiting 8 weeks is a small price to pay. Heck, I would say waiting a year is still worth it. It's not like there are no good books lying around to read in the meantime ([cough] Seeds of Calamity [cough]).

If I were in charge of Macmillan, I wouldn't let any version of my books find their way into libraries until the initial print run is over and the paperback versions are hitting the shelves. This would maximize my hardcover sales, since hardcovers have the highest profit margin.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments. I'll reply to you as soon as I can. I invite you to read the first 4 chapters of my new sci-fi book, Seeds of Calamity, for free. If it piques your interest, get yourself a copy at Amazon. I appreciate the support!