I know I haven't put up a post for ages. That's because why read me when every man and his dog is now an expert on ebooks?! Opinions about ebooks are everywhere - on the online news sites, industry web sites, e-newsletter services. The twitterworld is full of ebook profiles and there are tweets-a-million about all things digital. Whether it's on social networking or media sites, comments about ebooks are everywhere you look. There is no other news in the publishing world anymore. We've lost sight of so many things and I'm seriously wondering if we've forgotten what to say. What else is happening out there? Take away ebooks and digital strategies, there's a long pause. Occasionally someone reverts back to metadata and bibliographic workflows. Perhaps physical distribution. Outsourcing maybe? But where are news stories about service, responsiveness, account management, promotions, content, the people that make this industry (other than the usual suspects). No, it's all ebooks, ebooks, ebooks.
You listen to a podcast or an interview with an author, and it's almost the headline after the story. "Oh, and it's also available as an ebook." Yippee! Congratulations to you, dear author, and wow dear publisher, I'm so impressed! Did you say it like that in the past - oh, and it's also available in trade paperback | audiobook | hardcover. No, you didn't really focus on the format. It was in the marketing blurb and in bibliographic databases. But ebooks are so hip and happening now. But to me, ebook is another format. It's something to respond to consumer demand - give readers the "p" or the "e" - and encourage them to read. Sales patterns will change over time and your business will refocus accordingly. But let's make sure there's lots and bells and whistles now around it. Let's put out media releases and in sales kits to our customers - also available as "e". Yes people rejoice with me. Just remember the story of the publisher who did that, proudly announced ebooks in their promotion and then struggled with all the library calls - having totally forgotten the library market, library ebook vendors, and library suppliers. Ah yes, what works in the consumer space doesn't always work in the library space. Does it Harper Collins?
Yes, you've read this far and I congratulate you. I'm a jaded woman. After eight years speaking digital and fluent "e" for the library market, I'm totally bored by all the stories and tidbits that I see about ebooks. I almost yawn now. Ebooks are finally in the consumer mindset but at the same time it's become boring for me. All industry articles focus on either "e" or POD. Yes, they've fascinated me for years but I'm over it. I'm over ereading devices. Every second person I know has a Kindle. A freakin' Kindle of all things. Another sale to the giant that is Amazon. Why Kindle? I ask. It's the only name they knew. And it's another gadget - one that they'll use a lot, download a heap of books for the device, but in two years time will they still be reading from it?
Maybe that's the thing. I've encouraged, supported and promoted all things "e" for the library market. Great for reference products and scholarly books. Having digital content in an academic library is a no-brainer. And I've helped with content acquisition for our ebook partners in other channels. Naturally I'm eagerly awaiting the Blio product from Baker & Taylor for the library market - and have been involved with Australian publishers on that too. I think it's just the consumer space that's finally caught up. But it didn't just catch up. It's flooded the market. It's all anyone in the industry wants to speak about. There are publishers left, right and centre trying to be digital gurus and show leadership in the industry. There's digital directors on board with the trade houses now but goodness sake, do these people know the ins and outs of all sales channels in the market. Do they truly understand everything from bibliographic workflows through to selling a book. Yes, there are a couple in the ANZ market that do - and they know who they are. As to the rest of you, seriously....? You've hopped on the ebook bandwagon and you are probably really good sales & marketing people but do you have detailed knowledge about what goes on in all the markets in which you operate. Having worked with you all, I don't think you do. YOU think you do. But not all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. We both know it. So don't try and bluff me.
I think I'll just sit back and watch all those downloads, all those zillion articles, all that restructuring, repositioning for the digital world ahead, the names Amazon, Apple, Overdrive, Kobo and others mentioned to the point of adnauseum, and pop on the lounge with a trusty book to escape the same articles that are churned out every day. Did I mention the format I'm reading these days? After two years of my e-reader at a personal level (as opposed to professional) it's more than likely to = shock, horror = be a physical book. The ereader gets a workout for holidays but the rest of the time it's rather dull, lifeless and boring. Yes folks the great novelty has worn off. (After costing me a small fortune in downloads and still dozens and dozens of unread books on the device) I'm now cuddled up with the old-fashioned thing. Remember it? The book. No "e" in front. Ah, those were the days my friends, those were the days.
Showing posts with label libraries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label libraries. Show all posts
13 July 2010
A learning curve for many publishers
How times have changed. I've been having ebook discussions with publishers now for well over seven years. Granted, they are discussions based around the library platform and working with our library customers. Not always a publisher’s favourite type of customer particularly with their requirements. There’s always access issues, pricing models, and various sticking points in any ebook agreement with libraries. What a library wants and what a publisher is willing to offer nearly always varies - and varies dramatically in some instances. As a leading trade publisher said to me, I'm currently selling 30 copies of this book to this library consortium. You think I'm prepared to sell one for the same price but have 30 people access it all at the same time? I don't think so.
But taking libraries out of the equation, ebook discussions with publishers are now very very different to seven years ago. They are listening more. They are engaging more. However if you listen really closely, the verbs they use often sound the same. You get used to listening for the "doing words". When discussing ebooks – whether for direct to consumer, retail or library models – I am still hearing the words like "daunting", "challenging" and phrases like "experimenting with ebooks" or "experimenting with a variety of business models". There’s nothing definite about ebooks. Everyone is looking at this in a slightly different way. The one thing they have in common – is that they are now looking at them. And taking them seriously.
In many ways, Amazon paved the way. Took over the US ebook market and then released The Kindle to the rest of world. There was a surge of interest when the Kindle came to Australia. But I’m putting it down to Apple and the consumer response to the iPad that pushed publishers further. After years and years, ebooks were at the top of their “to do” list. Finally! Everyone’s thinking of them, everyone’s talking about them. The world has gone “e” mad. We’ve got Kindles, Apples, Sonys, Kobo, Blio, Google Books. And no doubt more on the horizon.
We finally have Digital Directors on board with many trade and academic publishers locally. If not, there’s an ebook project manager. When you talk about ebook production, you have people on board who know what you are talking about. If you start talking about DADs, publishers here are aware of their options. There’s only a few names that crop up but I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I am that when you mention DADs to a publisher, they now know what the hell you are talking about (Digital Asset Distributor).
The publishing environment is learning. We're moving on – still slowly when you’ve been talking “e” as long as I have. But it’s moving, and I’m grateful. And while content has been predominantly backlist, many publishers are working on simultaneous release. Ebooks are becoming part of the production process. Publishers have concentrated on digitising their core content. It's been a learning curve for many publishers. File format has been a subject of interest and everyone is learning as they go along. Publishers are thinking about hardcover, trade paperback, paper and e. They are getting content management systems in place, contract negotiations are moving along, ebook vendors are part of the supply chain, and publishers are looking at the digital world in a different light.
But there are still concerns. Imported titles are top of the list. Where do they stand in the “e” world and how are local publishers being compensated for sales generated in the ANZ market. There are more discussions to be had and much to learn along the way.
30 June 2010
Exactly how is this supposed to work?
In an ever-increasing e-world, what is the role of publisher, distributor, sales agent - when everyone wants a piece of the sale. When you talk to publishers, the industry advice is don't buy the print book without guaranteeing the ebook rights. But Australia's supply chain for ebooks still has a long way to go. We've of course got the ebook vendors - EBL, Ebrary etc - with established distribution models for libraries. And in the case of EBL, Ebooks Corporation provides a wide range of services to publishers as well as fulfilment to individuals wishing to purchase titles. You've got readwithoutpaper.com which is powered by OverDrive, Kobo is making inroads with their exclusive deal to The Red Group, and we've got Blio coming in the months ahead from Baker & Taylor.
At the end of the day, however, the publisher still has to work with multiple vendors to get the digital content out there. So what happens with existing distribution agreements? Traditionally they wouldn't have included any ebook component. It's a physical book, going in and out of a warehouse. Widgets in. Widgets out. But if a press uses a distributor here for their traditional book, and then by-passes them by providing content to the Kobo's, the Blio's, the OverDrive's of this world, what role does the distributor have? Are contracts being updated to get a piece of the ebook pie. Afterall, in many circumstances the distributor or sales agent has done the pre-publication work, the reps have sold into the bricks and mortar stores, there's been marketing, advertising, promotions, publicity. All for the physical book. At the distributor's cost. So if the sale comes through readwithoutpaper, how is the commission or sales percentage being paid to the distributor?
It's a very different scenario if you are a first tier publisher, a local subsidiary, to being a second and third tier distributor. In the case of the latter, your contact in the traditional book supply chain is with the Sales Director, the Operations staff, Service people, marketing people, editorial. Authors. Everyone who's job it is to get the information to you and then the printed book in a timely manner.
But when the publisher or originating source has a Digital Director who's job is to put content in and out of platforms, they don't always have the full picture. They are tasked with the job of ensuring the content goes to as many sources as the company designates are appropriate. I'm assuming they are focusing on just the big guys and it's still a relatively small group. But what's going to happen when it explodes? Will there always be a dozen or so players in the market that has the ebook supply chain sewn up or will every man and his dog get into the act.
At least with book distribution, the supply chain is not very complicated. When you start putting more and more into the ebook mix, the distributor (who has the exclusive rights to all materials published) is not always at the front of their mind. Remember I'm thinking about the second and third tiers here.
What is the model that is working for people? Do the traditional book distributors eventually become just a sales & marketing office for the publishers they represent? Surely when you are speaking "e" that's not going to keep people in business. Everyone wants a cut, and it's the ebook vendors that get the larger slice. If local operators were solely working off a percentage of a percentage, surely that's not a sustainable model. I guess we don't know what percentage will go from p to e - and how soon that will be. And I'm talking the general reader here, not the student. The student expects "e". The library is "e-preferred". And what will happen when the patron driven model in libraries really takes off? What effect will that have on publishers and ebook sales? I'm all for getting collections right and managing budgets, but publishers will want more.
But back to the ebook mix. The existing print distributors want a slice. Ebook Vendors want a bigger slice. Publishers want their mix. And let's not forget the author who created the work. Exactly how profitable do we expect this supply chain to be? A new business model is emerging.
I welcome comments here on the blog as to how this is all working in reality.
At the end of the day, however, the publisher still has to work with multiple vendors to get the digital content out there. So what happens with existing distribution agreements? Traditionally they wouldn't have included any ebook component. It's a physical book, going in and out of a warehouse. Widgets in. Widgets out. But if a press uses a distributor here for their traditional book, and then by-passes them by providing content to the Kobo's, the Blio's, the OverDrive's of this world, what role does the distributor have? Are contracts being updated to get a piece of the ebook pie. Afterall, in many circumstances the distributor or sales agent has done the pre-publication work, the reps have sold into the bricks and mortar stores, there's been marketing, advertising, promotions, publicity. All for the physical book. At the distributor's cost. So if the sale comes through readwithoutpaper, how is the commission or sales percentage being paid to the distributor?
It's a very different scenario if you are a first tier publisher, a local subsidiary, to being a second and third tier distributor. In the case of the latter, your contact in the traditional book supply chain is with the Sales Director, the Operations staff, Service people, marketing people, editorial. Authors. Everyone who's job it is to get the information to you and then the printed book in a timely manner.
But when the publisher or originating source has a Digital Director who's job is to put content in and out of platforms, they don't always have the full picture. They are tasked with the job of ensuring the content goes to as many sources as the company designates are appropriate. I'm assuming they are focusing on just the big guys and it's still a relatively small group. But what's going to happen when it explodes? Will there always be a dozen or so players in the market that has the ebook supply chain sewn up or will every man and his dog get into the act.
At least with book distribution, the supply chain is not very complicated. When you start putting more and more into the ebook mix, the distributor (who has the exclusive rights to all materials published) is not always at the front of their mind. Remember I'm thinking about the second and third tiers here.
What is the model that is working for people? Do the traditional book distributors eventually become just a sales & marketing office for the publishers they represent? Surely when you are speaking "e" that's not going to keep people in business. Everyone wants a cut, and it's the ebook vendors that get the larger slice. If local operators were solely working off a percentage of a percentage, surely that's not a sustainable model. I guess we don't know what percentage will go from p to e - and how soon that will be. And I'm talking the general reader here, not the student. The student expects "e". The library is "e-preferred". And what will happen when the patron driven model in libraries really takes off? What effect will that have on publishers and ebook sales? I'm all for getting collections right and managing budgets, but publishers will want more.
But back to the ebook mix. The existing print distributors want a slice. Ebook Vendors want a bigger slice. Publishers want their mix. And let's not forget the author who created the work. Exactly how profitable do we expect this supply chain to be? A new business model is emerging.
I welcome comments here on the blog as to how this is all working in reality.
05 March 2010
Trying to get a piece of the ebook pie
OK. I've worked in this publishing industry for some 20 years now and the past seven years in library supply, I've worked with thousands if not tens of thousands of publishers and suppliers. We have to have a business relationship with every possible vendor as our library customers expect it. We are here to service our customer's needs and meet all their collection development requirements. From new title alerts to promotional material to books on profile to shelf ready services, we have to provide the full mix. The full kit and caboodle as you can imagine.As the country's leading supplier to academic and public libraries, we are used to working with publishers and suppliers of all different philosophies, business models, customer service principles, business etiquette, professionalism, organisational efficiency. You name it, we know the ins and outs of our purchasing partners. We know what makes them tick. What they do well, what they don't.
Then along comes ebook vendors. A different model. We've worked out the library workflows and watch the dollars transfer from print to e (as you would know if you saw my presentation at the Digital Symposium recently - see last post for full text of my talk). But library ebooks are one channel. Ebook vendors targeting the direct user - either with (or without) a bookselling partner - seem to be coming out the woodwork. Every day there's a new one "getting into" ebooks. Is it my imagination because are they all starting to look and feel the same?! We have Kobo in one corner (great talk at the Symposium BTW Michael!). We've got Blio in another but of course they're not interested in getting content from Ingram Digital because of fierce competition and will go direct where possible to publishers for ebook content. We've got the mighty Amazon, Sony, and of course Google. There's Overdrive who power various booksellers sites as well as the Australian readwithoutpaper.com There's ebooks.com Now O'Reilly is getting in on the act! And so on and so forth.
Ebook vendors launch with all their marketing spin and "bells and whistles". But put them all together, stir them up a bit, and what do they really offer that's different for the end user? With all the larger players, the interface looks pretty similar, the ordering process is usually a few easy clicks, the content isn't remarkable - if it's in ebook format, it's usually there. How do you stand out? If you are an ebook vendor what attracts your customers to you above everyone else?
If you're Amazon, you got in early and got marketshare. You've got millions of loyal customers. Fiercely loyal. You've got the data, the purchasing history, and the clout. And if you're Apple? You've got something everyone has on their wishlist - the iPad. But how are you going to distinguish yourself with ebooks? How are you going to think and act like a bookseller, like a publisher? Amazon's being doing it for years. Apart from already having millions of customers ready and waiting, what are you going to offer that is different to everyone else?
For example, when I think about ebooks, marketing and distribution, I know what I want from my ebook supplier. As an individual who reads ebooks, I can tell you I want a superior browsing service, I want to be able to find titles of interest quickly, clicks to relevant genres, my favourite authors, click click click. I want to see an image, a good description, recommendations, information about the author, and possibly a preview. Has the book won awards? Does the ebook vendor really know books? Can they get the metadata and the target marketing down to a fine art. They have the technology and the customer demand for the e-reading experience. They won't last if they don't get the customer experience right. But when everything starts looking and feeling the same, will we ever get to know them inside out and back to front? I don't think so.... the game has moved on.
19 February 2010
My Presentation at the Digital Symposium
Ebooks and libraries: two subjects that are often discussed separately but when taken together produce such a wide range of reactions from publishers. In many ways, publisher responses to ebooks for libraries actually help define the publisher, their business model, the way they approach their content, and the role they play in the full supply chain. It is easy to identify those that are dynamic and those that are traditional or tied to the “mother ship” overseas as is often the case. Those who are willing to engage with the full spectrum of customers - in our case, libraries - and those that won’t. Those who are preparing for the digital future and those we feel will be left behind.
As many of you know, James Bennett has been supplying public and academic libraries for over 40 years. With digitisation, we’ve seen one of the most challenging periods of our history. If we rewind the clock back only seven years, it was a time when library suppliers were selling dozens of multi volume reference sets to our customer base - encyclopedias with price tags in the thousands. Multi volume reference sales were priority products with targeted marketing campaigns and good margins. Fast forward to today and print reference sales have been cut dramatically as libraries opt for online versions, a site license, perhaps a direct relationship with the content provider, and in some cases no purchase at all because patrons choose to use freely available web content. Trading terms are very different. The goal posts have moved.
Of course it made sense for the reference market to shift to online as the product could be kept up-to-date, thereby making it more valuable to the library patron. Some libraries still order a print version but we’ve seen a massive shift to online reference. One of the leading players in the reference market kindly advised us prior to this Symposium that in Australia a staggering 75% of their sales are now from their online products. The sales channel has evolved.
This discussion is not about digital reference. I use the example merely to highlight what’s happened in the last few years. For library suppliers, it was digital reference that prepared us for the ebook world. It was a sign of things to come…
James Bennett entered the digital world in 2003 with our own ebook platform – Etitle. Allen & Unwin was the major publishing partner and a handful of other publishers supported the product in its early days. Targeting university libraries – a small market in terms of numbers but large in annual dollar spend – we offered only Australian scholarly and academic titles. Back then, publishers were concerned about their existing contracts and ebook rights, they cited lack of resources and time to review, there were issues with conversion costs, return on investment in such a small market, when to issue the ebook, pricing models, file security and of course the cannibalisation of the printed work.
These issues haven’t changed. The marketplace did. Etitle became superseded as bigger players entered the academic library market. Being solely Australian, Etitle could not compete with the larger players who had the breadth of product libraries wanted – US, UK, European published materials as well as Australian content where it was available. Ebook vendors with hundreds of thousands of ebooks on offer – as opposed to our hundreds. In the past five years, the major ebook players have become well and truly established in the academic library supply chain. EBL – Ebooks Library from Ebooks Corporation based in Perth, Netlibrary, Ebrary, Myilibrary from Ingram, Dawsons in the UK and Blackwell Book Services came up with their own products. Publishers too created their own platforms, investing money in digitisation even when their ebooks were already in the portals of the ebook vendors, but it was about controlling the content and having direct access to the end user.
We supported ebook platforms where available however this was complicated with the single e-ISBN issue that we now needed to address. Yes, silly us! We used the ISBN as the primary identifier in our database! Despite recommendations from the international ISBN agency, not all publishers created a separate ISBN for their ebook vendors and this created more than a headache or two for us as an onseller of these products across multiple platforms. We entered a whole new bibliographic world, one that was slightly more complicated when we started selling both publisher portals and via ebook vendors. Which platform did the customer have? Where was the order to go? With so many technical workflows and with limited time today, we’ll save the e-ISBN issue for another day, another soapbox.
The academic publishers in the room would know that James Bennett has been an agent for EBL for several years now. A few years ago EBL sat comfortably in our Top 30 suppliers, then the Top 20, the Top 10. Astounding growth figures – from 2008 to 2009 270% growth in dollar value, 578% in units. This year ebook sales continue to track between 100-200% growth on previous periods. They have become a major supplier to our business and to our libraries.
If we go back a few years, ebook sales were a little hit and miss. We’d get a six figure sale one month and then nothing for months. Academic libraries were moving more slowly than we originally anticipated to “e” – often using special budgets - and we were all navigating the ebook waters together.
As we worked our way through bibliographic data issues we also had to come to grips with different margins and different workflows. Receiving and invoicing processes had to be totally reworked for ebooks, afterall you aren’t physically handling anything! New title workflows, promoting through our kit service for example, the role of the sales representative, all had to be reviewed. And of course, over time, ebook sales started coming out of the library monograph budget. Sales patterns were changing.
Ebooks are now part of our daily workflows for our customer base. These days, academic libraries are very experienced with ebooks and ebook selection. They understand digital reference and ebook requirements for their patrons. Some like Charles Sturt University prefer to order “e” over the “dead tree”. Many are talking about simultaneous release and ordering “e” only. YBP Library Services now offers ebooks on their approval plans and believe around 10% of publishers are actively pushing simultaneous release. The delay in providing both formats is being noticed by key libraries and library vendors. Libraries ask us to put pressure on publishers to bring both to market at the same time particularly with overseas based university presses. Once they know about the “p”, students, academics and researchers are searching the library catalogue for the “e”. Their expectation is that it will be available. But publishers delay – and hope to get two bites of the cherry. This is not going to last. The larger libraries will continue moving to “e” in line with demands of their patrons. It’s their level of expectation that is pushing us all forward and publishers will have to address it sooner rather than later.
In addition to reading ebooks via the nominated ebook platform, academic libraries are also looking at the handheld devices. QUT for example is looking at trialling ebook readers this year. The library currently offers 60,000 ebooks across most subject areas. An additional 10,000 titles will be made available to patrons in 2010. While their policy has been formed around ebooks being available on their network they are now looking at the next stage of development and take a leadership position with students and staff.
As the academic library market matures with regard to ebooks, the public libraries start experimenting. In many instances they have been slower to adapt, with the exception of larger libraries – Gold Coast, Brisbane, Yarra Plenty, Sutherland. Those that service a wider demographic and have the book budget available for print, ebook and audio.
As Australian publishers stalled on making ebooks available to libraries, players like OverDrive in the US have done quite the job sewing up the larger library accounts here thank you very much. When we speak to OverDrive’s customers, they advise us the audio downloads are currently the most popular of the products offered. Nevertheless we know OverDrive is now engaging Australian publishers in discussions about content and paying more attention to rights. They got into the market first and like the other ebook vendors have an extensive range to offer their client base. We are seeing the pattern repeated in the public library sphere, albeit some six or seven years later than the academic.
Ebook interest – mainly due to the content that has been available and the slow take-up of e-readers – has been small but that will change as more content is made available and the level of reader interest picks up. And of course the launch of the iPad changes the landscape yet again. At the supply chain meeting at the Frankfurt Book Fair last year one of the most senior representatives said the ebook world will change with the entry of another player and in his words “It will be Apple, it will be cool, and everyone will want one”.
Nevertheless where libraries are concerned, e-reading devices are not essential. For those who don’t know how it works now, a reader taps into the library’s website, searches through the catalogue, selects the relevant title and checks out their ebook. Using the freely available Adobe Digital Editions Reader, the content is downloaded within seconds to the patron’s computer. They can then transfer it to an e-reader, if they have one, or can read on screen. Say the book you wanted to read was The Slap. When the book is downloaded, your computer and your e-reading device clearly shows the time remaining for the loan. At the end of the period, the book expires and is no longer accessible either on the computer or on the device. It’s accessible, convenient, easy, quick and what’s more, to the library patron it’s free. For libraries, it’s already the digital reality.
While the user doesn’t pay, it’s worth mentioning the EBL model (as referenced with this example) is not a free for all. Each copy of a title comes with a restricted number of access days per year. If a title is extremely popular with students, the library’s access runs out and that library needs to purchase an additional copy of the ebook. Translating that same arrangement to the public library market, a large public library such as Yarra Plenty in Melbourne or Sutherland in Sydney would need to purchase multiple copies of an ebook version of a Matthew Riley title, just as those same libraries now purchase multiple copies of print editions.
Access models vary. Some ebook portals don’t let you “borrow” the title if it’s already out i.e. a single user model. Others allow multiple concurrent access depending on loan periods purchased by the library or the original pricing. Some ebook portals allow short-term loans, rentals even. There are many considerations from printing, downloading to computers and devices, the whole DRM spectrum that ebook vendors must take into account based on the publisher’s requirements. One of the popular offerings from EBL is the demand driven model i.e. automatic or mediated purchase based purely on patron demand. We know only too well that what libraries often want and what publishers are prepared to give will naturally vary. But when hasn’t it? There is a lot of work in developing a successful ebook model that pleases all but it can be done.
Another plus for ebooks is that patrons no longer have to wait for the physical book to be returned to the library, no more holds. A popular author can be accessible to readers without these delays. But it’s more than timing, it’s about providing library readers with the content they require. It’s about servicing additional markets. A library in Queensland told me a few months ago they are responsible for some islands off the coast and on one of those islands is a disabled man. He finds it very inconvenient to come ashore as he is in a wheelchair. He has asked the library about ebooks and is currently reading them from a variety of sources. An avid reader and supporter of his library, he wants them to provide him with an ebook service. Some public libraries also mentioned keeping their readers longer. Young adults, particularly females, give up on the library in their teens and don’t come back until they are parents with their own children. Libraries want to keep these people reading and if reading ebooks on computers, hand-held devices, mobiles are the way to do it, then that’s what they want us to consider. Libraries, like their suppliers, are looking at their role in the wider book supply chain and the services they can offer their community.
Ebooks get a lot of column space as we all know. Meetings we have with publishers are totally devoted to ebooks at times. But they are still not mainstream in public libraries. We’ve done a lot of research and we can see why this is. Expectations differ across the board. Some libraries want to engage, others don’t want to consider ebooks, devoted to the printed word as they are. For many there are budget restraints.
With regard to content there is no common ground – well apart from all wanting Twilight! If it wasn’t Stephenie Meyer, it was whatever the book of the moment was. Last year libraries wanted The Slap. A lot is author driven. Tim Winton was a popular request. When you start breaking it down further, there isn’t a lot of common ground. Movie adaptations and classics were popular but libraries were divided when it came to popular science, computing, cooking, foreign language, childrens, reference so on and so forth.
Some public libraries were very uncertain about the role of ebooks, some are preparing for ebooks, some are buying e-readers with little understanding about acquiring content, some don’t want to think about it. And then there are those that do – they want to provide patrons with ebook content and as the leading library supplier in this country, we are who they come to for answers and solutions. Whether it’s “p” or “e”, libraries generally work with only a few chosen vendors. It is the library supplier who must be able to provide the library with what they require for their collection development needs. It’s about consolidation and supply chain efficiencies, regardless of format. We offer them more than supplying a product. We must provide the service, the workflow, the access to content, and competitive and efficient distribution for “p” and “e”. Not every library can afford the outlay for EBL or OverDrive. So library suppliers need to look at how content can be sourced and priced for libraries factoring all of the publishers issues in terms of availability, accessibility, security, and sales models – to name but a few. These are challenging and interesting times for all of us.
Libraries are generally early adopters and we’ve seen this in the academic market. The public market will catch up in the years ahead. Publishers should remember libraries are one of the most important ebook markets at present to consider as part of their ebook strategy. The role of the library supplier or vendor in that market is another piece of the puzzle. Talk to us about libraries – we know our customers, we’re visiting them constantly. And please please please if you haven’t already, get your digital strategies underway. Content is king. It’s what libraries and their readers want. Your competitors will take advantage of the growing ebook market in the trade, direct, and library markets. Are you prepared to be left behind?
As many of you know, James Bennett has been supplying public and academic libraries for over 40 years. With digitisation, we’ve seen one of the most challenging periods of our history. If we rewind the clock back only seven years, it was a time when library suppliers were selling dozens of multi volume reference sets to our customer base - encyclopedias with price tags in the thousands. Multi volume reference sales were priority products with targeted marketing campaigns and good margins. Fast forward to today and print reference sales have been cut dramatically as libraries opt for online versions, a site license, perhaps a direct relationship with the content provider, and in some cases no purchase at all because patrons choose to use freely available web content. Trading terms are very different. The goal posts have moved.
Of course it made sense for the reference market to shift to online as the product could be kept up-to-date, thereby making it more valuable to the library patron. Some libraries still order a print version but we’ve seen a massive shift to online reference. One of the leading players in the reference market kindly advised us prior to this Symposium that in Australia a staggering 75% of their sales are now from their online products. The sales channel has evolved.
This discussion is not about digital reference. I use the example merely to highlight what’s happened in the last few years. For library suppliers, it was digital reference that prepared us for the ebook world. It was a sign of things to come…
James Bennett entered the digital world in 2003 with our own ebook platform – Etitle. Allen & Unwin was the major publishing partner and a handful of other publishers supported the product in its early days. Targeting university libraries – a small market in terms of numbers but large in annual dollar spend – we offered only Australian scholarly and academic titles. Back then, publishers were concerned about their existing contracts and ebook rights, they cited lack of resources and time to review, there were issues with conversion costs, return on investment in such a small market, when to issue the ebook, pricing models, file security and of course the cannibalisation of the printed work.
These issues haven’t changed. The marketplace did. Etitle became superseded as bigger players entered the academic library market. Being solely Australian, Etitle could not compete with the larger players who had the breadth of product libraries wanted – US, UK, European published materials as well as Australian content where it was available. Ebook vendors with hundreds of thousands of ebooks on offer – as opposed to our hundreds. In the past five years, the major ebook players have become well and truly established in the academic library supply chain. EBL – Ebooks Library from Ebooks Corporation based in Perth, Netlibrary, Ebrary, Myilibrary from Ingram, Dawsons in the UK and Blackwell Book Services came up with their own products. Publishers too created their own platforms, investing money in digitisation even when their ebooks were already in the portals of the ebook vendors, but it was about controlling the content and having direct access to the end user.
We supported ebook platforms where available however this was complicated with the single e-ISBN issue that we now needed to address. Yes, silly us! We used the ISBN as the primary identifier in our database! Despite recommendations from the international ISBN agency, not all publishers created a separate ISBN for their ebook vendors and this created more than a headache or two for us as an onseller of these products across multiple platforms. We entered a whole new bibliographic world, one that was slightly more complicated when we started selling both publisher portals and via ebook vendors. Which platform did the customer have? Where was the order to go? With so many technical workflows and with limited time today, we’ll save the e-ISBN issue for another day, another soapbox.
The academic publishers in the room would know that James Bennett has been an agent for EBL for several years now. A few years ago EBL sat comfortably in our Top 30 suppliers, then the Top 20, the Top 10. Astounding growth figures – from 2008 to 2009 270% growth in dollar value, 578% in units. This year ebook sales continue to track between 100-200% growth on previous periods. They have become a major supplier to our business and to our libraries.
If we go back a few years, ebook sales were a little hit and miss. We’d get a six figure sale one month and then nothing for months. Academic libraries were moving more slowly than we originally anticipated to “e” – often using special budgets - and we were all navigating the ebook waters together.
As we worked our way through bibliographic data issues we also had to come to grips with different margins and different workflows. Receiving and invoicing processes had to be totally reworked for ebooks, afterall you aren’t physically handling anything! New title workflows, promoting through our kit service for example, the role of the sales representative, all had to be reviewed. And of course, over time, ebook sales started coming out of the library monograph budget. Sales patterns were changing.
Ebooks are now part of our daily workflows for our customer base. These days, academic libraries are very experienced with ebooks and ebook selection. They understand digital reference and ebook requirements for their patrons. Some like Charles Sturt University prefer to order “e” over the “dead tree”. Many are talking about simultaneous release and ordering “e” only. YBP Library Services now offers ebooks on their approval plans and believe around 10% of publishers are actively pushing simultaneous release. The delay in providing both formats is being noticed by key libraries and library vendors. Libraries ask us to put pressure on publishers to bring both to market at the same time particularly with overseas based university presses. Once they know about the “p”, students, academics and researchers are searching the library catalogue for the “e”. Their expectation is that it will be available. But publishers delay – and hope to get two bites of the cherry. This is not going to last. The larger libraries will continue moving to “e” in line with demands of their patrons. It’s their level of expectation that is pushing us all forward and publishers will have to address it sooner rather than later.
In addition to reading ebooks via the nominated ebook platform, academic libraries are also looking at the handheld devices. QUT for example is looking at trialling ebook readers this year. The library currently offers 60,000 ebooks across most subject areas. An additional 10,000 titles will be made available to patrons in 2010. While their policy has been formed around ebooks being available on their network they are now looking at the next stage of development and take a leadership position with students and staff.
As the academic library market matures with regard to ebooks, the public libraries start experimenting. In many instances they have been slower to adapt, with the exception of larger libraries – Gold Coast, Brisbane, Yarra Plenty, Sutherland. Those that service a wider demographic and have the book budget available for print, ebook and audio.
As Australian publishers stalled on making ebooks available to libraries, players like OverDrive in the US have done quite the job sewing up the larger library accounts here thank you very much. When we speak to OverDrive’s customers, they advise us the audio downloads are currently the most popular of the products offered. Nevertheless we know OverDrive is now engaging Australian publishers in discussions about content and paying more attention to rights. They got into the market first and like the other ebook vendors have an extensive range to offer their client base. We are seeing the pattern repeated in the public library sphere, albeit some six or seven years later than the academic.
Ebook interest – mainly due to the content that has been available and the slow take-up of e-readers – has been small but that will change as more content is made available and the level of reader interest picks up. And of course the launch of the iPad changes the landscape yet again. At the supply chain meeting at the Frankfurt Book Fair last year one of the most senior representatives said the ebook world will change with the entry of another player and in his words “It will be Apple, it will be cool, and everyone will want one”.
Nevertheless where libraries are concerned, e-reading devices are not essential. For those who don’t know how it works now, a reader taps into the library’s website, searches through the catalogue, selects the relevant title and checks out their ebook. Using the freely available Adobe Digital Editions Reader, the content is downloaded within seconds to the patron’s computer. They can then transfer it to an e-reader, if they have one, or can read on screen. Say the book you wanted to read was The Slap. When the book is downloaded, your computer and your e-reading device clearly shows the time remaining for the loan. At the end of the period, the book expires and is no longer accessible either on the computer or on the device. It’s accessible, convenient, easy, quick and what’s more, to the library patron it’s free. For libraries, it’s already the digital reality.
While the user doesn’t pay, it’s worth mentioning the EBL model (as referenced with this example) is not a free for all. Each copy of a title comes with a restricted number of access days per year. If a title is extremely popular with students, the library’s access runs out and that library needs to purchase an additional copy of the ebook. Translating that same arrangement to the public library market, a large public library such as Yarra Plenty in Melbourne or Sutherland in Sydney would need to purchase multiple copies of an ebook version of a Matthew Riley title, just as those same libraries now purchase multiple copies of print editions.
Access models vary. Some ebook portals don’t let you “borrow” the title if it’s already out i.e. a single user model. Others allow multiple concurrent access depending on loan periods purchased by the library or the original pricing. Some ebook portals allow short-term loans, rentals even. There are many considerations from printing, downloading to computers and devices, the whole DRM spectrum that ebook vendors must take into account based on the publisher’s requirements. One of the popular offerings from EBL is the demand driven model i.e. automatic or mediated purchase based purely on patron demand. We know only too well that what libraries often want and what publishers are prepared to give will naturally vary. But when hasn’t it? There is a lot of work in developing a successful ebook model that pleases all but it can be done.
Another plus for ebooks is that patrons no longer have to wait for the physical book to be returned to the library, no more holds. A popular author can be accessible to readers without these delays. But it’s more than timing, it’s about providing library readers with the content they require. It’s about servicing additional markets. A library in Queensland told me a few months ago they are responsible for some islands off the coast and on one of those islands is a disabled man. He finds it very inconvenient to come ashore as he is in a wheelchair. He has asked the library about ebooks and is currently reading them from a variety of sources. An avid reader and supporter of his library, he wants them to provide him with an ebook service. Some public libraries also mentioned keeping their readers longer. Young adults, particularly females, give up on the library in their teens and don’t come back until they are parents with their own children. Libraries want to keep these people reading and if reading ebooks on computers, hand-held devices, mobiles are the way to do it, then that’s what they want us to consider. Libraries, like their suppliers, are looking at their role in the wider book supply chain and the services they can offer their community.
Ebooks get a lot of column space as we all know. Meetings we have with publishers are totally devoted to ebooks at times. But they are still not mainstream in public libraries. We’ve done a lot of research and we can see why this is. Expectations differ across the board. Some libraries want to engage, others don’t want to consider ebooks, devoted to the printed word as they are. For many there are budget restraints.
With regard to content there is no common ground – well apart from all wanting Twilight! If it wasn’t Stephenie Meyer, it was whatever the book of the moment was. Last year libraries wanted The Slap. A lot is author driven. Tim Winton was a popular request. When you start breaking it down further, there isn’t a lot of common ground. Movie adaptations and classics were popular but libraries were divided when it came to popular science, computing, cooking, foreign language, childrens, reference so on and so forth.
Some public libraries were very uncertain about the role of ebooks, some are preparing for ebooks, some are buying e-readers with little understanding about acquiring content, some don’t want to think about it. And then there are those that do – they want to provide patrons with ebook content and as the leading library supplier in this country, we are who they come to for answers and solutions. Whether it’s “p” or “e”, libraries generally work with only a few chosen vendors. It is the library supplier who must be able to provide the library with what they require for their collection development needs. It’s about consolidation and supply chain efficiencies, regardless of format. We offer them more than supplying a product. We must provide the service, the workflow, the access to content, and competitive and efficient distribution for “p” and “e”. Not every library can afford the outlay for EBL or OverDrive. So library suppliers need to look at how content can be sourced and priced for libraries factoring all of the publishers issues in terms of availability, accessibility, security, and sales models – to name but a few. These are challenging and interesting times for all of us.
Libraries are generally early adopters and we’ve seen this in the academic market. The public market will catch up in the years ahead. Publishers should remember libraries are one of the most important ebook markets at present to consider as part of their ebook strategy. The role of the library supplier or vendor in that market is another piece of the puzzle. Talk to us about libraries – we know our customers, we’re visiting them constantly. And please please please if you haven’t already, get your digital strategies underway. Content is king. It’s what libraries and their readers want. Your competitors will take advantage of the growing ebook market in the trade, direct, and library markets. Are you prepared to be left behind?
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