From Awareness to Funding Part II (The Probable Supporters)

The last post on the report on From Awareness to Funding (an OCLC report) focused on the first 60 pages. Those pages primarily discuss the non-supporters.

The next section covers the Probable Supporters. The Strong Supporters section, briefly mentioned, spoke of community members who strongly supported the library, but did not necessarily use the library extensively (it comes later). They understand the value of the library and the benefit to the community.

However, the Probable Supporters support the library because they use the library. The Four categories of probably supporters are:
Just for Fun
Kid Driven
Library as Office
Look to Librarians
Greater Good

JUST FOR FUN
"The Just for Fun respondents are the heaviest users of the library, reporting an average of 36 visits per year."p 71

"While the Just for Fun voters are the heaviest users of the library, they are the least likely of all Probable Supporters to vote in favor of an increase in library funding. p 71"

That matches the Financially Strapped as two categories of heavy library users that are the least likely in their categories to fund library initiatives. This group obviously favors the library and would support it in an election, but I wonder where the line is crossed for this group to go from supporter to non-supporter (the bad economy affects this). Furthermore, one identifies it as a need, but can't afford more, whereas the Just For Fun don't identify the library as a need, but a want.

"They see the library as a place to relax, hang out and socialize with others and recognize the library’s role as a community gathering place. However, they are not as emotionally connected to the library as other segments on the Probable Supporters tier and are less likely to support it financially. p 71"

Does that mean they like it, but consider it frivolous?


I have to say, I find it odd whenever respondents state the top thing they check-out are non-fiction titles when my circulation data states otherwise. (you'll see this pattern throughout)

In my library's master plan study, the results here were similar. The majority of people stated they checked-out non-fiction and used reference the most of any other service.
My stats say Fiction/Bestsellers and DVDs.

"The Just for Fun segment represents almost a quarter of all library visits (23.9%).p75"

This part was interesting:
"The Just for Fun segment has a greater awareness of what is available at the local public library than average for all voters. In particular, its members see the library’s Internet access as a big draw and they love to read. They have the same positive associations with the library that are common across all Probable Supporters segments but have less of an emotional connection than other segments on this tier. Compared to other Probable Supporters, Just for Fun respondents are less likely to see the library as a place that helps them improve intellectually, creatively or personally. The library is a place to hang out and socialize, and Just for Fun respondents value the library’s role as a community gathering place and social hub.p 76"

Does this mean library initiatives for making the library a community space creates high usage, but doesn't create any more support?

This seems to explain the the phenomenon I remarked on in the first part of this post. We have high usage, but funding comes a bit more slowly.

Is the community hub a bad idea if it doesn't translate into community support?

"The library is seen less by Just for Fun respondents as a place to better themselves intellectually, creatively or personally. p. 79"

Just for Fun respondents have a tendency to be uninvolved in the community, but make a point of voting in local elections. Their their voting habits tend to be liberal and respondents are the least likely Probable Supporters to definitely vote yes for a library referendum

KID DRIVEN
"Kid Driven respondents visit the library more than average with 19 visits reported annually. They are typically accompanied by at least one child. They regularly check out materials for children and participate in the children’s programming. Kid Driven respondents are willing to support the library financially because of the role it plays in educating and inspiring their children to be the best that they can be. p 80"



"The Kid Driven voters are emotionally connected to the library, seeing it as offering an
exciting and diverse experience that inspires them and helped shape their identity.
They hope the library will do the same for their children. p. 85"

Back to the emotional connection discussion. They understand the power of the library to transform. The value their children's education and library's potential to help. Parents are some of the best advocates of the library. They can physically see the advantages demonstrated in their child's advancement.


LIBRARY AS OFFICE
The library as office segment takes advantage of the library's technology and resources. It "fulfills a practical function and is more about knowledge than a personal connection".

"Library as Office respondents are more likely than other segments to operate businesses or work in the same towns where they live. They have a tendency to live in smaller, rural towns across the Midwest. p89"

18 visits annually




"The Library as Office voters feel that they always leave the library having learned something new. Their connection to the library is practical rather than emotional and their ideal library would offer services tailored to the business user. p 93"

Library as office segment see the library as a resource; it has the tools they need. They are very knowledgeable and are aware of library tools with little or no assistance. They use the Internet because of limited access at home and like library environment. They like the learning environment. It's all practical, it's about information, but there is no personal connection.
There is no transformational connection.

Library as Office wants more business support. I liked this part, very detailed. This is a careful line to cross for libraries. If you are dedicated to small business support, the office resources provided to the public are critical, but are very time consuming and costly. In this case, the library duplicates some of the resources you can find at a local Office Max.

"The Ideal library: A resource for small businesses: Provides all of the resources a small business would need, including free temporary office space, computers with Internet access, phone, copier, scanner and fax machine. It would also provide access to online databases like ABI/Inform as well as other business-related resources like books about finances, marketing, etc. Resource for tax preparation: Provides tax forms, access to tax preparation resources and step-by-step guidance during tax season Workforce training center: Provides instructor-led classes on entrepreneurship, presentation skills, computer skills, sales generation, financial planning, marketing and other business-related topics in order to improve the workplace skills and marketability of community members" p 95

They are more likely to be Friends of the Library. (That explains the Friends support for me. Lot's of business buy tables, donate money, but may not come to dinner or library.)


LOOK TO LIBRARIANS

"Look to Librarians voters have the foundation of a strong emotional relationship with the library and they see the library as a place where they can better themselves intellectually and feel like they belong. They also see the library as a place to escape from everyday life. p 97"

"...this is the only segment to rank public libraries as the number-one priority for an increase in taxes across all seven public services surveyed, outranking the police and fire departments and public schools. p 97


"Look to Librarians voters volunteer in their community and at the library and are active participants in local organizations. They have a long-standing and ongoing relationship with the library. This relationship has led to a strong emotional connection and a sense of belonging. p. 102"


GREATER GOOD

Although this group uses the library infrequently with only 4.5 visits a year, its members believe that the library plays an important role in serving the needs of the community and can be a great source of pride.p. 107



The Greater Good respondents see the library as a noble and necessary institution, a source of pride in a community and a place that brings people together. They believe that the library turns people into thinkers and achievers instead of passive participants in life. p 112

This covers up to page 112. Part III will cover the rest and summarize.

From Awareness to Funding Part I

I have been waiting to review this document for a while. From Awareness to Funding is an OCLC report that surveys who supports libraries and why. It also surveys why people don't support libraries and why. I enjoy getting information on how the public perceives and uses the library. We went through a similar process when we developed our 20 year master plan and our bond referendum. Both identified key issues for the library and helped us pass our bond.


Some of the points in the document provide keen insight to why referendums and levy votes fail. Some of the points I don't agree with as I see them as points very difficult to convey, such as explaining where the library gets its money. Some financial analysts cannot clearly decipher and explain the complexities of the local taxing system. It is difficult to do that without appearing too obfuscate. The density of the annual report is enough to scare anyone away.


Some highlights for now:

(Introduction: Funding the mission)"While successful in raising demand, the majority of library campaigns have been aimed at promoting library services and driving library use,not increasing library funding."


YES!!! This is where my library is right now. We have huge increase in demand, but we are very slow to catch up to it.

"Our hypothesis:U.S. public libraries are facing marketing and advocacy challenges that have been faced by other ‘super brands.’ Lessons learned and successes achieved can be applied to increase library funding. Utilizing marketing and advocacy techniques targeted to the right community segments with the right messages and community programs, we can improve the state of public library funding."

There were eight important findings derived from the quantitative research:


1. Most people claim they would support the library at the ballot box—fewer are firmly committed to it.


2. There is a lot that people don’t know about their public library.


3. Library support is only marginally related to visitation. Advocating for library support to library users focuses effort and energy on the wrong target group.


4. Perceptions of the librarian are highly related to support. ‘Passionate librarians’who are involved in the community make a difference.


5. The library occupies a very clear position in people’s minds as a provider of practical answers and information. This is a very crowded space, and to remain relevant in today’s information landscape, repositioning will be required.


6. Belief that the library is a transformational force in people’s lives is directly related to their level of funding support.


7. Increasing support for libraries may not necessarily mean a trade-off of financial support for other public services.


8. Elected officials are supportive of the library—but not fully committed to increasing funding. Engaging Probable Supporters and Super Supporters to help elevate library funding needs is required.p 24

"Respondents who have the strongest beliefs that the library is a source of transformation are those who are most passionate about the need to protect, support and fund the library." (p 25)

"Instead, the research indicated a need to appeal to both the heart and mind of the potential voter, positioning the library as an important part of the community’s infrastructure that plays a key role in providing equal access to resources vital for thriving in today’s digital world. (p25 "
Overall, I have marketed the library and advocated for the library. We are embedded in the community, people see our value.The friends group makes $25,000 that goes right into library projects. We passed a bond by 66%. However, the traffic exceeds the funding right now. It always will in government. I wonder what the breaking point is.

I liked the breakdown in this pyramid for library support:

FINANCIALLY STRAPPED
"The Financially Strapped generally believe that the public library already has sufficient funding. The Financially Strapped segment is more than twice as likely(53%) as the average for all voting respondents (23%) to believe the library should be able to operate on its current budget. This segment is not willing to increase taxes for library funding." p 48

Generally, the Financially Strapped won't pay for extra funding. I can understand that without all the graphs and charts. If you can't make ends meet, you can't afford another dollar no matter WHAT the value is. It's called being nickled and dimed. (I have to say look at that discrepancy near the bottom. That's a 22% difference between those who attend literacy programs and those who would support additional funding.)

DETACHED
"The most defining characteristic of this segment is its members’ lack of involvement with their local public libraries and with their communities as a whole. The Detached segment is the least involved with their library of any voting segment. They use the library less than other segments and do not see its relevance to the community. p 50 "

I see this as a problem with a new segment of the population moving in. With the recent housing boom, many communities are seeing many new faces. Have those faces been integrated into the community? A bedroom community could have this problem. A community in which the residents go elsewhere for shopping or other amenities hurt that community as a whole, not just the public library.

"The Detached segment tends to have higher household incomes than average, with 29% having an annual household income of $100,000 or more,compared to 19% of the total voting respondents. p 50 "

This also fits with my community. We have had a housing boom with more white collar households.It has been difficult to engage them or even to get them to shop in town. This is mostly due to them moving to the northern side of town and commuting to work and leaving to go shopping on the weekends.

"They are more likely to have Internet access at home than other voting respondents and think that the information provided by the Internet is as good as that provided by the library.p50 "

"Not only are the Detached respondents uninvolved with their local libraries, they are uninvolved with their communities. They pay less attention than average to issues around local politics and the local economy, and are less-frequent consumers of local media. The Detached segment tends to believe that everyone in their communities has Internet access. They fail to recognize the library’s role in providing equal access to technology for community residents.

With higher than average income, the Detached segment is better able to afford an increase in taxes to support public services than many other segments. But lack of connection to or interest in the library and their communities make them unlikely to support tax increases to fund the library.p 50 "

I can understand this. If I don't use it, why should I pay for it? This is the segment that want to lower taxes. Some would say, "I don't want to pay to help the poor or someone else." What if some Library Directors fell into this category?


The Web Wins
The web Wins section is a no brainer. This is the biggest, "Isn't everything on the web?" segment you always hear. Librarians try to get this segment by placing library services online. Sometimes I wonder if some librarians are getting too far into this realm. (As in using the web so much that they don't use their own library.)

I will post a second post and an overall summary...

Management is easy, it's like having 50,000 bosses

I read three great articles about management yesterday. Two from Library Journal and one from the Sites and Soundbites blog. The general theme is the difficulty in being a manager and the difficulties caused by managers. Managers will cause a majority of a library's problems (or any organization) since the decisions they make influence everything. That's why my tag line is,

"An executive is a person who always decides; sometimes he decides correctly, but he always decides."

The inherent problem is when you make the wrong decisions or you make decisions based on your ego. Who does this benefit? How will I do it? Who are you thinking of when you are making a decision? Is it what the community wants, your staff wants, or something that you want? In the end, the average employee has one boss, but a good boss answers to 50,000 people.

I don't agree that it is an impossible job. In fact, it is a very rewarding job. You aren't gathering small accomplishments here. You can make a huge impact. It comes from stuffing your own ego and doing what everyone wants. Figuring what that is, gathering resources, and implementing is the tough part.

Do you know your community?

The pressure on the library director is knowing the community. Making a move, starting a program, speaking with community members, all, of which, are part of establishing that relationship. Most librarians are liberal. Many of the ideals of librarianship set forth by the American Library Association are liberal in nature.

Some of the problems with library directors in trouble stem from a lack of understanding in relation to a conservative base or a group that they may not understand or agree with. It may have nothing to do with the library director's viewpoint, but if concerns are not addressed, things tend to blow-up.

A few years ago Jo Ann Pinder was fired by the Gwinnet County Library Board. This drew a very heated discussion from the library world and from a conservative group that pushed her out. There is a great deal of detail here and here. She was fired without cause. Some would say she was unfairly fired, others would say that she didn't listen to a growing community group that criticized her direction.

Who is right here? It isn't for me to say. It makes me wonder as to whether some library directors look to serve the community or look to serve what they think is serving the community. If there is enough people to push through something like this, it begs that question.

Which brings me back to The Impossible Job post:

"The principle is valid. However, few administrators or the members of their governing authorities have the tolerance and flexibility needed to maintain the balance of power and still make the right policy and operating decisions. Few have learned how to navigate the troubled waters when administrators disagree with their bosses on the board. Yet I remember a strong director who was faced with board opposition to acquiring video formats because it competed with a local store wisely agreeing to acquire the library collection from that store. The discount in purchasing locally was a bit lower, but everyone was happy."

What is worth it?
We can also discuss the fotonovella controversy of the Denver Public Library. This actually prompted our own review and the major vendors also reviewed the content they made available for libraries. The Phoenix Public Library dealt with a very serious controversy regarding the library's filtering. Again, it forced us to review our policy. Is resistance to this need worth it? Is the complaint valid or unreasonable?

Library directors have their own set of feelings about how things should be. The question becomes is it worth it to resist this demand. Do you stand on principle or do you make the change because the community demands it? If you are not on the same page with the board or the public, then you are perceived to be out of touch. If you do nothing to address known concerns, it will only lead to a big blow-up.

It takes engagement whether it is the public or your own staff Slow Leadership: Why People Resist Change:

"If you would take the time — and be honest and sincere in your efforts — you could ask people for ideas and be assured they will come up with most of the solutions required for them to do their best, both for themselves and for the good of their team and organization. Asking employees improves their self-esteem, motivates them, and empowers them. They take ownership for finding solutions and making change. Asking communicates: “I value you as a person. Your opinion is important to me/us/the team/the organization.”

"I will bend like a reed in the wind."
OCLC talks about Environmental Scans and what the library needs to be doing in the community. We talk of strategic plans and ways to integrate the library in the community. The truth of the matter is that we need to provide the collections and services the public wants instead of what WE think it wants.

From Library Journal: Check Your Ego at the Door

"The ego, we concluded, can be a very damaging thing. Inflated. Overbearing. Egos create rules for rules’ sake. Egos complicate procedures and keep good people down. Egos squash good ideas and can take the best of an organization and turn it on itself."

It should be more of a discussion as to whether the staff is available to provide such a program. Once the personal opinion of a director thinking what he or she wants to do, rather than the community, problems occur. Why don't you do this? Why don't your provide that?

The reality is, every complaint, every concern must be addressed. It must be addressed in a way that demonstrates an understanding of the issue and a response or review, then follow-up. It shows that you care about everyone and when librarians talk about every reader his/her library, this is when that principle matters the most.

Why would you want to deal with all of that?

It isn't for everyone. Many librarians went into their field from other jobs. Their hope was to escape the politics that may be more prevalent in the private sector. If that is the case, they would hate management.

It's worth it if you want to make change on a larger scale. My library can make moves for the community's biggest needs. It is interesting on that type of programs we put out on a specific need and how many other organizations begin to put that out, or put it out at the same time. It demonstrates a need that is identified and where organizations can collaborate. If you are creative, like working with people, and have a high stress threshold, management is for you.

It isn't an impossible job. It is a job that requires delayed gratification. Working towards building a new library takes years. New programs, new services, building changes, technology changes, all take planning to develop, fund, and implement. Knowing where to get money, knowing where to re-allocate resources (including staff), and the ability to influence others and be influenced by all will lead to great success. I have been fortunate enough to be able to build one library, renovate another, and in a few years, build a new main library. It is an impact I can see that is much faster than average. It is that success that makes the job really wonderful.

The Future of Books, Book Piracy, and Digital Rights Management

There is a specter haunting the publishing industry, the specter of scarcity. Scarcity no longer exists. Electronic copies can be made and are being made quite rapidly. This wasn’t always the case with books. It used to be music and movies that were exposed to this threat. They were always electronic. One could easily pirate the works and share them. Someone somewhere had to purchase the CD or DVD then share it online. It is now starting to happen with books at a rapid pace.

As books become digital, the model needs to change. One fact to consider about the future of the book is the fact that books have been printed for 500 years. However, its creation has been electronic for the last 20 years. The industry is fully computerized just like any other. With the rise of e-reader devices, this electronic creation can now be read on devices easily. It can also be distributed just as easily as music and movies.

From this description, one could conclude that from the author’s computer to online as the easiest step. Two things get in the way, the majority of people still want a book in print, and placing something online creates a fear of piracy and lost sales. The e-reader is creating an increased level of piracy because one can purchase either device and then has to purchase additional content, often at the same price as a print book. Why would anyone want to do that? They begin to turn to sites like Gutenberg and Manybooks.net, but there are only so many classics one can read. They soon turn to piracy.

Books are freely available online and they are good books that are only a few years old like The World is Flat, Freakonomics, and Never Let Me Go. Countries that do not have strict digital rights management laws can post this information and anyone in any country can download these books. Depending on what country you live in, this can be illegal. The publishing industry is facing what the recording industry and the motion picture industry have experienced. The reason why this is happening is the proliferation of e-reader devices like the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and others. This will soon force publishers and authors to re-think their strategies.

How does the industry change?
How the Book Publishing Industry Should Reinvent Itself by Dave Balter
For publishing, it would work something like this:
• Authors self-package their book entirely on their own.
• Authors distribute digital copies of their books for free to attract readers and to identify a market. They use self-distribution tools to sell as many books as they can.
• Based on the response, the publisher determines which books to pick up, and pays a licensing and distribution right and uses their relationships to distribute a product that has developed an initial marketplace of buyers (note: great new potential business model for some plucky entrepreneur: track the ‘response’ of free book downloads as a data set for publishers to review opportunities).
• Publishers take the completed product, make tweaks as author and publisher feel necessary, print more and distribute them through the strength of their partners.
END SNIP

Balter suggests authors place their books online to see if there is any interest. If there is, then there is money to be made. Others have suggested that this model would work great for up and coming authors who need to have their works distributed. Even pirated work for a new author is great since someone cared enough to pirate it. If they are good enough for someone to steal, it is good enough for someone to purchase it.

Another suggestion:
Bits, Bands and BooksBy PAUL KRUGMAN
For example, she described how some software companies gave their product away but earned fees for installation and servicing. But her most compelling illustration of how you can make money by giving stuff away was that of the Grateful Dead, who encouraged people to tape live performances because “enough of the people who copy and listen to Grateful Dead tapes end up paying for hats, T-shirts and performance tickets. In the new era, the ancillary market is the market.”
END SNIP

Krugman states money can be made on ancillary items related to the book. As another author pointed out, the author doesn’t exactly reap the benefits of these extras. They get paid for the book and may get some royalties for someone alternative marketing. Again, this goes back to if the book is really popular it can make money on its own in many different ways. This model may work more for the established author who can make money off of their brand name.

How do authors change?

Some ideas for established authors:NYTIMES Pogue's Posts
The e-Book Test: Do Electronic Versions Deter Piracy?
What finally brought me around, though, was an e-mail from Kevin Kelly, a founding editor of Wired:....
“If you can’t retrieve the actual data, then I challenge you to complete the experiment. Take one of your books you have historical sales data for, release a viral PDF version and then measure what happens. Then either celebrate or curse the results — but at least it will be based on evidence.“My guess is that if you take the challenge to release one of your books in free PDF form, that even by using your column or blog as a platform to announce it, that (a) it won’t spread or duplicate as far as you might first imagine, and (b) it will elevate or at least not depress your sales.
END SNIP

This experiment should work. The idea that an established author can distribute a free copy of their book and it will only increase its sales. This is exactly what public libraries do. We provide a free copy of the book and this only enhances sales. I had a patron come in and I recommended a new author based on what she was looking for. She LOVED IT. She then bought the whole back catalog for that author and requested us to do the same. So if that author lost money on the first book, the author could have doubled or tripled its sales based on the free copy. Libraries do this now, why doesn’t it work online?

Engst furthers this idea:
No, David Pogue, Ebook Piracy is Not a Givenby Adam C. Engst
Supply and demand are inextricably linked, and if there's no supply for the demand Pogue freely acknowledges, it's easy to see how someone could feel relatively little guilt in downloading or sharing an illicitly acquired copy. I'm not justifying such behavior, but the harder you make it for someone to buy an easily replicated digital commodity, the more likely they are to share that commodity as a way of making things easier for others. Look at the parallels in the music industry. Apple made legitimate purchases of music both easy and inexpensive via the iTunes Store, and anyone who was on the fence about whether it was acceptable to share music suddenly had a viable alternative. Providing a legitimate purchase path for electronic versions not only generates revenue, but also reduces illicit copying.
END SNIP

So if you choose not to make a free copy and the book is popular, people will find a way to get it. The fact that the Kindle and the Sony Reader are so locked in on the formats that they can read, people will pirate online works to make it compatible for their devices. They want to use their devices and not look like schmucks that purchased an electronic device that has nothing on it. Furthermore, you CAN’T put anything on it unless you shell out the same amount of money you would have to purchase the print copy.

I can’t get what I want on my device

Pogue reviews the comments on his E-book test article:
NYTIMES Pogue's Posts Readers have their say about e-publishing debate
• “All you have proven is that there is pent-up demand for an electronic version of your book. Your conclusion is only valid IF you had a legitimate electronic version to sell, and people chose to get the free one instead of the paid one. You haven’t given them that choice. They used the pirated electronic version, because it is the only one.“The same principle was true in the pre-digital world. People could read the book for free from the library, but many of them would still choose buy a copy. Even if your book was on a pirated site, people (like me) would buy a legitimate non-DRM’d electronic version if you sold it. Until you do, you cannot make any claims about digital piracy from personal experience, because you haven’t done a valid test.”

From the comments:

Off-topic, but related to Kindle and ebooks. I’m intrigued by the Kindle, but having an expensive device that’s basically empty until I make purchases is a little off-putting. One of the joys of the Ipod has been to digitize my own CD’s and fill up the Ipod with my choice of music, at no further charge and with only a small expenditure of time. Is there anything new out there, or on the horizon, so I can digitize my own books. The book scanners I’ve searched for have been either very expensive or very slow.— Posted by Charles Slater

Again, it is frustrating to purchase an e-reader and then not being able to put your favorite books or books you want to read on it without buying the format. I can purchase an Ipod, burn a CD that I have ALREADY purchased and put the music on there. I can’t do that for books I already own. It would be silly to destroy your books to make an electronic copy for your reader so people turn to piracy.

Then there is the price issue. Seth Godin provides a random thought as to why the book prices are the same for electronic and print.

Seth's Blog: Random Thoughts About the Kindle
Once you have a device that lets you get any book in a few seconds, one that eliminates both paper and inventory (the two enemies of every publisher and bookstore) then the marginal cost of a book drops dramatically. And as we learned at the iTunes store, when something costs a buck, it's a fundamentally different purchase than when it costs $10 or $20.
END SNIP

Why does it then cost the same, or even close. Making digital copies cost near to nothing, which goes back to the problem of scarcity. The publishing industry had a problem when it produced too many book. This led to bookstores throwing perfectly good books away because they had more supply than demand. The electronic version would allow publishers to control that a bit more, but it certainly can’t argue that there isn’t enough or it costs too much to make more.
Non-compatible formats hurt sales and drm protection further hurt sales. I am not sure how much evidence is required to convince the publishing industry of this. The modern business model is provide it for free and if it is good enough, people will pay for it. Now we just get horror stories about how people cannot access their favorite books. People want to buy the book, the publisher wants to sell the book, but something seems to get in the way…

Teleread:How real people buy, read and use e-books—and how freebies can help By Ficbot
So, the tally for this batch of reads?-One sale that could have been two sales had publishers not been so protective of their book that they failed to make the sequel available in a format I could read on my device
-One sale that was regretted and will not be repeated because I could not transfer it to my device
-One freebie I opted not to purchase for myself but may in future purchase as a gift
-One gifted book which gained a sale for one of the author’s other works
One freebie I opted not to purchase but which put the author on my radar for future purchases
-So, freebies and borrowed or gifted books do pay off. And format stinginess does not pay. I would have finished the Roberts (and perhaps bought others) had I been able to read them on my eBookwise. And if that sequel was available, it would have been a sure sale.
END SNIP

There were several lost sales in this experiment. Publishers are beginning to get wise, but are they too small to make a dent, particularly against businesses like Amazon?

Blackstone Audio phases out audiobook DRMPosted by Cory Doctorow
All this raises the question: when will Audible -- the largest audiobook retailer in the world and the exclusive provider of downloadable audiobooks for iTunes and Amazon -- drop the DRM on its audiobooks? I was shocked a month ago to hear from Amazon that they would not carry the Random House Audio audiobook of my NYT-bestselling novel Little Brother because it was only available as an MP3. Official Amazon policy on audiobooks still seems to be no DRM = no dice.
END SNIP

Even though a business model works, they cannot be successful because Amazon blocks the door. That is a scary prospect since Amazon seems to want to corner the market on book publishing and sales. Then it becomes, do what we say or else. That’s very scary.
Are there rebels in our mists? Print on Demand books are becoming popular with the Espresso book machine. Overall, this machine doesn’t produce a lasting print copy, more like a cheap paperback. These are available in some libraries. This is a way someone can get a copy of any book they want and print it out. Think about working this with local authors trying to get attention, collaborate with this machine and put it in a library, and any local library can help local authors get the attention they deserve.

Blackwell's to launch 'clicks and bricks' book retailing
Lindesay Irvine
Blackwell's is to become the first high-street bookseller in the UK to offer print-on-demand books while customers wait. The innovation will be delivered by an "Espresso Book Machine" (EBM), which can print and bind any one of a million titles.Set to be piloted this autumn in a branch that is yet to be announced, the chain plans eventually to install EBM machines in all 60 of its shops across the UK. The machine can currently print about 40 pages per minute, but a newer model due later this year is expected to double that speed.
END SNIP

Are books worthless?
The above articles discuss how the publishing industry can transform, how authors can make money for themselves in a digital book world, and the simple reasons why the publishers and the authors are both losing money. There is another factor not discussed, the worth of the book over time.

Once a book is published and run its course, the book loses its value. All books lose steam. Working in a library I can see how many books we weed out because we need the space for the new. After about two to three years, the books lose a great deal of value and this creates an interesting situation. Some books are being placed online by book pirates after two to three years, but does this increase sales of a book that will only be dead without the piracy?

Sites like Bookyards can provide links to authors that have a major fan base. It isn't illegal for them to host or point to websites that provide free drm-free e-books online mostly because copyright varies from country to country. In a recent correspondence, I found that after two to three years, most books published can be found online. It is a scary revelation.
Furthermore, most books published today will not have a fan base after two to three years. I know I work in a library that weeds books. After so many years, the books are no longer read, the marketing fails, and unless the author is extremely popular, or continues to put out great work regularly, the author can fade away. In my weeding process, I surveyed different sites to resell the books to. We typically have a Friends of the library booksale in which books are sold at 25 cents for paperback and $1 for hardcover. Some of these books you can't give away. Many of the sites I visited priced the books I was weeding at 0. That's right, after a few years many books are worth NOTHING!!!

An author gets attention through controversy. If their book is banned, it only draws more people to try to get a copy. The less that the book is available, the more people will want it. The same goes for electronic books, if the format isn’t available, people will pirate it. If you don’t offer it for free, people will try to get a copy even more. By providing a free copy, it will generate interest that will lead to sales. After the book has passed its prime, providing a free copy will only continue the interest in the book and the author. That will only lead to a lifelong love of the book and the author and will provide funding for the industry for years to come. If the book is cut off, not published, and not available, the book and the author will fade into history. They go out with a whimper.