Mastodawn

Grassgoth Jul 11, 2023

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is

As a former librarian I wish a very friendly Fuck You and Die to book publishers. They are the scum of the Earth.

They hate libraries. Did you know that they induce artificial scarcity by making libraries pay for each digital copy of a book? Despite ebooks being infinitely replicable, they make libraries pay for more than one copy at a time. Publishers deliberately force a limit on the supply of digital library books to extort more money out of libraries for popular titles.

In addition, publishers lobbied (in the UK) to make library ebooks only work through their apps on mobile and PC, and not compatible with any Kindle/Kobo/etc so people wouldn’t get a good experience. There is a cartel — made primarily of a company called Overdrive. Their app is absolute buggy dogshit. A far cry from the breezy and simple interface of an e-reader.

But it gets worse. Original proposals from the publishers wanted it so that service users could only download ebooks while physically in the library, thus negating the convenience of them!

Despite ebooks being cheaper to produce than a traditional book and infinitely reproducable, Overdrive will sometimes charge more for an ebook than a supplier would charge for the equivalent copy.

Publishers would have lobbied against the invention of public libraries if they could. And take it from me — public libraries are one of the few open spaces left on this planet where one can just exist at without needing to pay for anything.

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

Also libraries pay royalties to authors every time a book is borrowed. If you borrow a book from the library, you are not only supporting a public service but you are also supporting the author too!

Jessamyn Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Wow I am fascinated by the compare/contrast aspect of this with the US. Here we do not pay royalties per-lend. Do you have Libby there or do you have the old Overdrive app? I am #StillMad that they sunsetted the Overdrive app here. Some people like to read ebooks on their laptops!

amd Jul 10, 2023

@jessamyn @yassie_j I was going to say this.

IANALibrarian, but I’ve never heard of this and it sounds great to have authors get a cut…

But our poor underfunded libraries would get even more taxed by adding this cost.

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

@amd @jessamyn in the UK, public library issues are pooled together and the statistics sent to the Dept for Culture, Media, and Sport. DCMS then pays authors the relevant royalties based on the amount of times their works have been issued!

13 barn owls in a trenchcoat Jul 11, 2023

@yassie_j @jessamyn @amd I get paid via an independent body called ALCS, and even magazine contributors get a small payout for lending, copying and citation. (Those who retain our copyright - publishers love to make us give that up.) Even applies to foreign writers published in the UK!

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

@jessamyn Libby is the new thing, but there is still a cartel with the other corporations (RB, for example)

mathew Jul 11, 2023

@yassie_j @jessamyn At least in the US, I can borrow books via Libby and read them on my Kobo reader — they just turn up magically when I sync. Or I can even borrow them directly from the Kobo, but I find it easier to search for things on a device with a more typing-friendly screen.

@yassie_j @paul_ipv6 Really? I’ve never seen such a line on my royalty statements. Did I not know about something t I should have included in the contract? Are there model contract clauses I should know?

I say this as an author and a fan of libraries. I love having my books be accessible in libraries.

Sam Strong Jul 10, 2023

@adamshostack @yassie_j @paul_ipv6 Its nothing to do with your publishing contract or royalties. You have to register for it separately. See here: https://www.bl.uk/plr/registration-service

Register

Apply and register for UK & Irish PLR, information on eligibility and payments

The British Library

@SamStrong @yassie_j @paul_ipv6 Thanks! That’s really interesting. (Since I’m in the US, it doesn’t apply and I’m not aware of an analog here. )

Sam Strong Jul 10, 2023

@adamshostack @yassie_j @paul_ipv6 I can’t imagine the federal government trying to organise such a thing. Maybe some of the more left-leaning states have an equivalent?

Janis Weiher Fox Jul 11, 2023

@SamStrong Wow--that was interesting! Who ends up paying for it (taxpayers? publishers?).

Sam Strong Jul 11, 2023

@ThisFox Apparently it comes from “Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport funding” so yeah taxpayers.

Mark Saltveit Jul 13, 2023

@SamStrong @adamshostack @yassie_j @paul_ipv6

Does that apply to authors from other cou tries who have books in UK libraries?

The Evil Microwizard Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Is this the case in all countries...? From what I can see in the US, authors only receive royalties on book purchases.

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

@evilmicrowizard I mean, I can only speak for the UK (as I said in the post). in the UK, public library issues are pooled together and the statistics sent to the Dept for Culture, Media, and Sport. DCMS then pays authors the relevant royalties based on the amount of times their works have been issued.

The Evil Microwizard Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j That is awesome! 😎👍 Of course the US doesn't bother to do anything that would be directly beneficial to an author that way 😩

Rad 💛🤍💜🖤Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Thanks for the added note, I was thinking 'but what about the authors'. The clarification is appreciated!

Joe Ortiz Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j I saw your thoughts and you're spot on cue on this. It's why publishers and the copyright cartel want libraries to die and if there's a opportunity, they'll take it.

For example: Since 2020 when the lawsuit was filed, I have posted a long thread on the publishers and the copyright cartel's quest to kill libraries as we know it in the USA per the Hachette vs. Internet Archive case. https://mastodon.sdf.org/@joeo10/104332840359528864

Also this piece is a good one: https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/libraries-copyright-internet-archive-lawsuit/

Joe Ortiz (@[email protected])

Activists rally to save Internet Archive as a lawsuit from publishers threaten to shut it down https://decrypt.co/31906/activists-rally-save-internet-archive-lawsuit-threatens If people are smart, it's time to archive the Archive right now. In other words, fork it and turn it unto a decentralized platform. I hope someone out there is working on that. Plus you have to think libraries need some decentralization as well as this lawsuit could kill libraries as we know them. #library #libraries #books #reading #archive #decentralization #web

Mastodon @ SDF

LisPi Jul 11, 2023

@yassie_j Huh I didn't know that.

Miss Michaele Jul 11, 2023

@yassie_j I did not know that libraries pay royalties to authors!

Janis Weiher Fox Jul 11, 2023

@yassie_j Your libraries pay royalties to authors per checkout? How would the publishers have access to your library database to do that?
Ours don't in the US. The author & publisher are paid when the book is initially purchased, but that's it.
I've never heard of royalties per checkout for library books.

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 12, 2023

@ThisFox in the UK, public library issues are pooled together and the statistics sent to the Dept for Culture, Media, and Sport. DCMS then pays authors the relevant royalties based on the amount of times their works have been issued!

ManniCalavera Jul 12, 2023

@yassie_j In Germany, the fee applies only on physical books (I think based on sale, not on lending, but I am not sure). For the E-Books, the fee does not exist.
Naturally, the publishers made a campaign against public libraries, because you can read there for free, seemingly endangering the already precarious authors. These, having no clue about the fee, and that E-Book-licences are more lucrative for publishers, let themselves being roped in to campaign for the interest of publishers.

@IanAMartin HAS MOVED!Jul 13, 2023

@yassie_j Canada does not have royalties per lend of books, no matter the format.

As a former (very) small press publisher, I was appalled at the approach large houses took to libraries. I have even heard that supplying libraries were ‘nothing but massive loss of sales.’ Because people who borrow from libraries will never buy a book in their lives, apparently (which is hogwash).

I •always• have libraries the wholesale rate for books, which is unheard of, yet to me seems the right thing to do.

Rafa Font 🌻 🇪🇺 🏀Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j This explains the apparent stupidity of having to get a loan for the only available copy of a book in a digital library. It's just the implementation of the publisher's limit. Thanks for this information.

Woodswalked Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j
As a current library cataloguer in the U.S. I would like to add that this holds for this side of the pond as well.
*nods emphatically*

FallsMom 🌻Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Ebook example--area library "bought" ecopies of recent big book Spare, enough to fill their request ratios. Spent abt $5,000. After 6 months--they are left owning just a single copy of the eaudio book, no ebooks--publishers only want libraries to have a sort of rental agreement. 😠

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

@FallsMom yeah, the greed is hardcore.

mray Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Boy am I happy you didn't start ranting about the software industry. Your character limit would be exhausted in no time 😉

CoolBlenderKitten Jul 10, 2023

@mray @yassie_j
🤣🤣👍

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

@mray Hahaha. You sure? I got 10k chars over here!

odd_megan Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j wana add to this: as an academic, academic publishing is the absolute worst. We write research as a part of our sallary from our university, we dont get paid to do peer review, then the publisher charges an extortionate rate to even see our work, even for online only journals! these publishers do the oposite of what academia exists to do: disseminate knowledge. They profit by keeping knowlage, which belongs to all mankind under lock and key. its vile

Full Metal Archaeopteryx Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j
Also, in the US, they limit the number of loans per ebook. Once the library hits the limit, they have to repurchase it.

Those limits are set very low, as in less than ten loans per.

Then there are the embargoes: some publishers won't sell the library new releases until so many months after issue.

CoolBlenderKitten Jul 10, 2023

@DelilahTech @yassie_j
Incredible.
Capitalism sucks so bad
Just image what a wonderful life and society we all could have if not for some who feel they need to press every last cent out of everything

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

@CoolBlenderKitten @DelilahTech yes, I believe this ebook “cap” applies in the UK too. I remember sitting in a meeting and being told that if a book was too popular, it would cost us more to “stock” it digitally. I imagine that publishers would put DRM on physical books if they could.

Shannon Kay Jul 11, 2023

@DelilahTech @yassie_j This is so weird. They don’t limit loans of physical library books, do they?

Janis Weiher Fox Jul 11, 2023

@DelilahTech @yassie_j Not all ebooks have a limit here in the US. The most popular titles typically do, although a few years later you may be able to get them without limits. The lowest limit I've seen was more like 40 checkouts. I see time limits (12, 18, or 24 months) more often than I see # of checkout limits.
For my school library, I only purchase books without time of # of loan limits. I'm able to get quite a lot of them.

CarlG Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Simple solution is that as a requirement of your copyright, you must sell (not license) to all public libraries ebooks at the lowest rate you sell any version (electronic or physical) of your book, without expiration or limits on how many times it can be loaned out (i.e. no lifetime limits, but limiting each purchase to one simultaneous loan is logical).

Sam Strong Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Amazon were keen to support libraries via the Kindle platform?

nantucketlit Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j I've been saying this for a year! The e-book situation is absurd. It would be better for libraries to put more of their e-book budget into funding free and open e-books, rather than licensing to appease corporate greed. How did we get to a situation where e-books are harder to share than physical books?

expat Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j RMS was right, again. He warned us about ebooks ~20 years ago. The “Amazon Swindle” he calls it. Books at school libraries are often jailed in #Proquest, a walled garden Cloudflare site. So access is exclusive before you even talk about software. Then indeed, closed-source apps that exclusively reachable through Google is another layer of exclusivity.

expat Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j The front lines of the fight should be to keep paper books around just because we can probably never fully liberate ebooks to that degree. And sure we should fight ebook shenanigans as well but paper books are our stronghold.

public universal fox Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j I love libraries so much! I used to read SO MUCH, but the pandemic and other stuff ruined my focus such that I just no longer read, but I can do audiobooks, and I love getting them from my library (free, they take up no space on my devices, super convenient, etc)

Bernd Sonneck 🌞Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j ☝️Conan The Librarian!

Orange Lantern Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j In Germany print publishers lobbied to artificially up the prices of ebooks to match or exceed the printed version, so as "not to give them an unfair advantage". Unfair to whom?! Your laziness and lack of business acumen?!
Publishers are scum.

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

@orangelantern accessibility is nothing against publisher greed.

Orange Lantern Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Worst is, public opinion was mainly in favor of it, because for some reason printed books are something to preserve at all costs. But not by improving the old thing but by hindering the new thing. That is so quintessential german, the moment you suggest something could be different in the future, the possessed screaming starts. Even if it would be better.

Demon Queen Lucretia Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j weirdly it's not even just Overdrive that the libraries run through, I've had to use two other separate apps for my local library, both had different sets of books and neither worked very well.

Yassie > moved to 0w0.is Jul 10, 2023

@rezzyreksya yep! We used to use three different services, but now consolidated with Overdrive.

geobeck Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j
I remember when digital music first appeared. Record labels would deduct the same publication, distribution and loss costs from royalties for digital downloads as they did from physical media. I imagine book publishers are the same.

Gillinger has moved Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j Is this why I have to use the absolutely useless #Borrowbox app? Impossible to conduct proper searches, slow, graphic heavy, weighted towards best sellers and so called "popular " books, can't differentiate between fiction and non fiction, need I go on? I absolutely hate it!!!

Joan of Contention 😷Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

(Instant follow - thank you!)

Shachihoko Jul 10, 2023

This is why I was all-in on the Internet Archive's side of that lawsuit by Big Publishing.

maiamaia Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j in wales, selection is just kids' stuff & app is useless

Hyphlosion Jul 10, 2023

@yassie_j I hate Libby so much because of this. Long lines and a forever wait to borrow a digital book is ridiculous.