The library e-book market is heating up, with Big Five publishers granting more flexible terms to libraries, says Library Journal.
In the past, publishers feared that consumers would not buy e-books if library books were available. Now they’re wising up to research showing the opposite is true. Libraries are good for e-book sales.
On top of that, retail sales of e-books are not growing as quickly as in the past even though the long-term direction is still up.
The result is that publishers will insist less on what Steve Potash, CEO of OverDrive, the biggest e-book supplier to libraries, call “one-copy, one-user or metered access.”
Already OverDrive has been working with publishers to make possible special arrangements for book clubs. As an advocate of the cell phone book club concept, I’m delighted.
The slow-down in retail sales could also mean more attention to sales of trade books to schools.
