Comments on: ATG Article of the Week: Need Library E-Books to Feed Your New Gadget? Here’s the Answer http://www.against-the-grain.com/2013/02/atg-article-of-the-week-need-library-e-books-to-feed-your-new-gadget-heres-the-answer/ Linking librarians, publishers and vendors Sat, 18 May 2013 19:36:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: David H. Rothman http://www.against-the-grain.com/2013/02/atg-article-of-the-week-need-library-e-books-to-feed-your-new-gadget-heres-the-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-42095 David H. Rothman Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:45:16 +0000 http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=24937#comment-42095 Many thanks for the link and the open-minded comments. The statistics are from the U.S. Labor Department, and some recent ones are at: http://www.bls.gov/cex/2011/Standard/income.pdf Labor says: "Reading includes subscriptions for newspapers and magazines; books through book clubs; and the purchase of single-copy newspapers, magazines, newsletters, books, and encyclopedias and other reference books." That definition appears at http://www.bls.gov/cex/csxgloss.htm. To be technical, reading apparently isn't under "Entertainment" as officially listed, perhaps because so much of reading is for other purposes. Also to be exact, note that the household reading figure apparently does not include textbooks, but that still shouldn't make much difference in terms of the scope of the problem. I couldn't agree more that publishers should consider such depressing news to be a wake-up call! I want to see much MORE money spent on books. The way to do this isn't to jack up prices or otherwise give consumers less value, but rather to grow volume and work with libraries and others to expand the book market, which, as you can see, is pathetically small right now. Please note that, as author of seven books published by houses ranging from St. Martin's and Balllantine to a tiny press in Tennessee, I am highly sensitive to the issues of fair compensation and advocate a mix of business models to encourage a diversity of content. While I am approaching the digital library issue from a public interest perspective, publishers and writers could benefit hugely. Imagine---typical households now spending several thousand a year for entertainment and just a bit over $100 for books and other reading. Outrageous. More openness to new business models---and lobbying for bigger collection budgets for libraries---could help change that. Not "disruption" but rather smugness about the status quo is the real threat to publishers of all sizes. Also of interest: --A national digital library endowment: How America’s billionaires could be modern Carnegies for real http://librarycity.org/?p=6800 --A partial reproduction of the above on James Fallows's site on TheAtlantic.com http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/infrastructure-watch-buffett-as-the-next-carnegie/273263/ --Dwarf-sized public e-libraries vs. abundance: Listen to veteran publishing guru Brian O’Leary and librarian Sarah Houghton http://librarycity.org/?p=6691 --Toward a Library-Publisher Complex for the digital era: Where the money is for both sides http://librarycity.org/?p=6553 --With so many U.S. kids in poverty, a national digital library and hardware program could be a godsend for children’s e-book publishers http://librarycity.org/?p=4879 I'd love to hear from publishers, librarians, products and services vendors, and others---I'm eager to answer questions and otherwise engage in friendly dialogue and learn from others. Yes, I did follow up with a note to Tom Allen, but have yet to hear from him. I hope that he and his colleagues at the Association of American Publishers will keep open minds. I'm in Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac from AAP and would be delighted to meet with him and his colleagues in person. Thanks, David Rothman Cofounder and Editor-Publisher, LibraryCity.org 703-370-6540 Many thanks for the link and the open-minded comments. The statistics are from the U.S. Labor Department, and some recent ones are at:

http://www.bls.gov/cex/2011/Standard/income.pdf

Labor says: “Reading includes subscriptions for newspapers and magazines; books through book clubs; and the purchase of single-copy newspapers, magazines, newsletters, books, and encyclopedias and other reference books.” That definition appears at http://www.bls.gov/cex/csxgloss.htm. To be technical, reading apparently isn’t under “Entertainment” as officially listed, perhaps because so much of reading is for other purposes. Also to be exact, note that the household reading figure apparently does not include textbooks, but that still shouldn’t make much difference in terms of the scope of the problem.

I couldn’t agree more that publishers should consider such depressing news to be a wake-up call! I want to see much MORE money spent on books. The way to do this isn’t to jack up prices or otherwise give consumers less value, but rather to grow volume and work with libraries and others to expand the book market, which, as you can see, is pathetically small right now. Please note that, as author of seven books published by houses ranging from St. Martin’s and Balllantine to a tiny press in Tennessee, I am highly sensitive to the issues of fair compensation and advocate a mix of business models to encourage a diversity of content. While I am approaching the digital library issue from a public interest perspective, publishers and writers could benefit hugely. Imagine—typical households now spending several thousand a year for entertainment and just a bit over $100 for books and other reading. Outrageous. More openness to new business models—and lobbying for bigger collection budgets for libraries—could help change that. Not “disruption” but rather smugness about the status quo is the real threat to publishers of all sizes.

Also of interest:

–A national digital library endowment: How America’s billionaires could be modern Carnegies for real
http://librarycity.org/?p=6800

–A partial reproduction of the above on James Fallows’s site on TheAtlantic.com
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/infrastructure-watch-buffett-as-the-next-carnegie/273263/

–Dwarf-sized public e-libraries vs. abundance: Listen to veteran publishing guru Brian O’Leary and librarian Sarah Houghton
http://librarycity.org/?p=6691

–Toward a Library-Publisher Complex for the digital era: Where the money is for both sides
http://librarycity.org/?p=6553

–With so many U.S. kids in poverty, a national digital library and hardware program could be a godsend for children’s e-book publishers
http://librarycity.org/?p=4879

I’d love to hear from publishers, librarians, products and services vendors, and others—I’m eager to answer questions and otherwise engage in friendly dialogue and learn from others. Yes, I did follow up with a note to Tom Allen, but have yet to hear from him. I hope that he and his colleagues at the Association of American Publishers will keep open minds. I’m in Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac from AAP and would be delighted to meet with him and his colleagues in person.

Thanks,
David Rothman
Cofounder and Editor-Publisher, LibraryCity.org
703-370-6540

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