You can add Penguin to the list of “Big Six” publishers refusing to sell digital copies of their books to libraries.
Penguin announced on Monday that it will no longer sell digital books for new titles, and has disabled the ability to download ebooks in Kindle format in ALL of its titles. This is so frustrating to me! One of my big gripes with the Kindle was always that it used a proprietary format and that Amazon wouldn’t allow Kindle books to be lent in libraries. As of September 21, that changed, and it was HUGE for both libraries and library users who owned Kindles. Circulation statistics for ebooks went way up, and libraries spent a big chunk of money buying Kindle books. Now that Penguin has disabled Kindle functionality, I hope it also plans to refund some money and offer an apology for leaving libraries to deal with huge numbers of irate library patrons. Further, now Random House is “actively reviewing” its policy- although it’s hard to know what that actually means.
So here’s where we are with the “Big Six” publishers. Macmillan and Simon and Schuster refuse to sell ebooks to libraries at all. Hachette, and now Penguin, decline to sell frontlist titles in digital format, Penguin has disabled Kindle functionality, and HarperCollins requires libraries to re-license an ebook after 26 circulations (although that’s apparently under discussion). Who exactly are the winners in this situation?
Frankly, this stinks for pretty much everyone. Surely, publishers, authors, libraries, and readers can come up with something workable? Even if there are compromises that need to be made, it would be nice to find a way to make things come out with the sunny side up.
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