An introduction to e-book business models and suppliers

Abstract

IntroductionWhen an e-book is acquired, it must meet customers' needs, providing not only the content that is wanted, but also making sure that it can be made available where and when it is required, and at a price which provides best value for money. There are many different suppliers in the e-book marketplace, and it can be difficult to determine which can offer both the best value and the best content and service to their users, as well as meeting the terms and conditions for approved suppliers set by the library's parent organisation.This chapter aims to help the library make an informed choice by reviewing some of the issues to be considered when choosing an e-book supplier, including: the different types of suppliers and formats  the content that they can provide  the range of current business models  the issues to consider when reviewing and negotiating licences. SuppliersThere are many different suppliers of e-books to libraries. Some are established players in the library supply chain for printed books, including both major publishers and vendors such as Coutts (MyiLibrary), Dawsons (Dawsonera), and Swets. Others 1-2-2 are established as providers of other types of online content, including aggregators such as EBSCO, who recently acquired the NetLibrary e-book platform. There are also specialist e-book aggregators, such as Bloomsbury, EBL, ebrary, andOverDrive. In addition, there are suppliers which focus on providing e-books to the consumer market, including e-book specialists, online retailers such as Amazon, and high-street booksellers such as W H Smith and Waterstones.As well as having different suppliers, the library and consumer markets also have different supply models. The consumer market is dominated by sales of e-book downloads. Primarily designed for offline mobile use, these are published in various formats suitable either for proprietary e-book readers, such as the Amazon Kindle, or for generic devices such as laptops. Downloads are sold outright for the user to keep, although further use may be controlled by Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. Consumer e-books therefore follow a retail model similar to online music sales and the role of the supplier is essentially limited to the sales transaction.In contrast, the library market focuses more heavily on an online e-book supply model. Instead of buying e-book downloads and then making the files available for users to access offline at any time, the library pays for access to e-books which are hosted on a third-party website. In some cases, the e-books must be accessed fully online at this website, either because the supplier's business model does not allow downloads or offline access, or because the added features of the e-book depend on it being delivered whilst connected to the internet, for example reference books which depend on an online search interface. In other cases the library user may be able to 1-2-3 download the e-book from the website to be read offline, although unlike retail ebooks this is usually a temporary down...

Livros digitais licenciados e os modelos de negócios transitórios

“…Embora o modelo de Aquisição Perpétua represente familiaridade e conforto aos bibliotecários (SERRA, 2014), com o entendimento que o título fará parte da coleção sem necessidade de custos adicionais ou renovações (MORRIS; SIBERT, 2011), existem restrições para sua aplicação como, por exemplo, o alto valor dos licenciamentos (GRIGSON, 2011;SHEEHAN, 2013), ou a não aderência dos fornecedores a esta modalidade.…”

“…Estes fornecedores possuem ou representam títulos de diversas editoras, e os disponibilizam por meio de plataformas proprietárias, nas quais ocorrerá a leitura das obras. Apesar de alguns fornecedores permitirem a seleção de títulos de forma individualizada, usualmente ofertam a transação comercial de pacotes de publicações, permitindo a contratação de diversos títulos com descontos competitivos, se comparado com as versões impressas das obras (GRIGSON, 2011;MORRIS;SILBERT, 2011) ou a aquisição individual no formato digital.…”

“…Este modelo, porém, pode apresentar pagamentos frequentes aos fornecedores, uma vez que o conteúdo foi licenciado, porém é necessário manter o acesso à plataforma onde ocorre a leitura (ALBITIZ; BRENNAN, 2012;GRIGSON, 2011), cuja manutenção pode exigir ajustes financeiros periódicos.…”

Modelos de negócios para e-Books em bibliotecas universitárias

“…Destacam-se, no mercado editorial brasileiro, alguns modelos de negócios para bibliotecas universitárias, conforme Grigson (2011):…”

Obstáculos para expansão do uso dos e-books na sociedade brasileira

“…Dessa forma, como cita Barros (2013) as licenças são regidas sob "as leis dos contratos, não exatamente as leis de direitos autorais, e como tal podem impor restrições adicionais". Grigson (2011) observa que a maioria dos modelos de negócios impõe limite para o uso, limitando o número de usuários que podem acessar o e-book, ao mesmo tempo, ou o número de vezes que o livro pode ser acessado dentro de um determinado período de tempo. Grigson (2011) complementa "alguns limites dos editores recaem sobre a capacidade dos usuários para baixar ou imprimir todas ou seções de um e-book".…”