====== libraries are not the enemy ======
>If I could say anything to Sargent and the people who make similar decisions to limit access to digital books in libraries, it’s this: **Libraries are not your competition. We are a PR department who you have never, ever paid.** I live in a dense, urban area. Seriously, there are like eleventy billion people where I live. Not every city has a bookstore. Now think about flyover country? Sure as shootin’ they don’t have easy access to physical bookstores.

>But you know what they do have access to? **Libraries**. There are an estimated 116,867 libraries in the United States and over the past ten years libraries have spent __an estimated $40 billion on digital content__. Now consider all the debut and midlist authors whose books libraries are buying. How many of us as readers, even considering we’re avid readers, plunk down retail prices on unknown-to-us authors? However, libraries routinely buy and promote debut and midlist authors. We provide exposure and help create a fanbase. Embargoes and higher mark-ups make this incredibly difficult to keep doing.

<wrap hi>Source: [[https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2019/10/libraries-are-not-the-enemy-a-guest-post-from-wendy-the-superlibrarian-on-the-macmillan-ebook-embargo/|Libraries Are Not the Enemy by Wendy, SuperLibrarian]] ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20250318172735/https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2019/10/libraries-are-not-the-enemy-a-guest-post-from-wendy-the-superlibrarian-on-the-macmillan-ebook-embargo/|archive]]) / Noted: 2019 November 16 / Discuss: [[https://tozka.dreamwidth.org/34899.html|On Dreamwidth]]</wrap>