The Macmillan Boycott
Before I tell you my situation, I should preface this conundrum by saying that I’m firmly on the side of the American Library Association. As an author, as a reader, as a human.
In case you haven’t been following the story, Macmillan, one of the biggest publishers, has been putting restrictions on libraries in order to try to drive sales. Their most recent restriction was to state that libraries were only allowed to purchase one copy of an e-book for the first eight weeks. Macmillan believes — based on anecdotal evidence — that 8% of people will purchase an e-book if they can’t obtain it easily. So they’re hoping that ridiculous wait lists for popular titles will drive people to purchase their own copy. After eight weeks, libraries can purchase multiple copies, though those copies cost a lot more than personal copies and the license needs to be continuously renewed.
So that’s the situation. Some libraries — including libraries in our area — are responding by not purchasing any Macmillan e-books. Some are not purchasing e-books ever, and some are waiting a certain amount of time. Still others are not purchasing any Macmillan titles, period––e-book or paper. Instead, they are funneling that money towards publishers that are willing to work with libraries and keep books accessible.
So this is my conundrum.
I started reading a trilogy. It’s by a lesser-known author, and her books are well-received but not big sellers. I love the books so far.
She is published by Macmillan.
Our library has the first two books in the trilogy. It doesn’t have the third book, which came out a few months ago. I can put in a request to have them purchase it, but doing so means that I am asking the library to fiscally support a business that is treating libraries and library patrons poorly. Our library’s policy at the moment: “Macmillan Publishers has recently introduced a ‘1-copy only’ embargo of all their new eBook titles for the first 60 days of publication. Because of this change, we will not be purchasing any Macmillan titles until 60 days after publication.”
So, technically, it’s after the 60 days. But. I don’t feel right putting in a purchase request for the paper book or the e-book.
Which leaves me with a few options.
(1) Purchase the trilogy. That was my original plan before I found out the third book was missing from the library. I would like to own the trilogy AND I would like to support this lesser-known author because I think her voice is important. BUT purchasing her books means that I am giving money to Macmillan.
(2) Stop reading the trilogy. This is what I normally do when a book is difficult to get. There are too many books on my to-be-read list. I can just skip to the next book in the pile and never make a dent in all the stories out there that I want to consume.
(3) Purchase the books from a used book shop. The author doesn’t get any extra money but the publisher also doesn’t get money. The drawback is that these books aren’t big sellers, and it will be difficult to find a copy in a used bookstore. Abe Books has copies for sale online, though I’ll be purchasing the books, sight-unseen. Which always makes me a little nervous with used books.
(4) An unknown option that I haven’t thought of yet but which you may supply in the comment section.
It’s a really hard decision. The author in me wants to go with option 1. It’s what I hope other people would do for me. After all, she has no say over her publisher’s choices and these choices were made long after she started working with them. She doesn’t have clout at the publisher; she isn’t one of their cornerstone authors. She is exactly the type of author who is hurt the most by things like this.
What would you do? And what do you think of this whole Macmillan mess?
13 comments
Write to the author and explain the problem. Perhaps she will be able to give you a prepub copy? Maybe in exchange for a review? Maybe in exchange for the cost of shipping? She can also provide feedback to the publisher or possibly start shopping for a new publisher who doesn’t choose to throttle her work.
I don’t agree with Macmillan. They are showing the worst kind of corporate greed…putting restrictions on libraries is unconscionable. I do have sympathy for the author to a point, but then authors need to speak up, as well.
I would probably find it used online if I were in your shoes. If you really want to finish the book. I personally purchase a lot of used books that way, and have always been more than happy with it. I was so sad that ebay closed half.com because it was a great way to get used materials.
If I was really annoyed that I couldn’t get it through the library I would probably just move on.
For the record, I agree with the library’s stance on this. I signed the petition that was circulating as well.
Personally, I’d probably purchase used – sort of the best of all worlds, but I’m also not particularly picky about condition stuff as long as I can read it and it’s not horribly torn up (I actually kind of enjoy finding other people’s notes or highlights).
I am firmly on the side of the American Library Association. I understand that Macmillan has to make money, but this is ridiculous – people have been loaning out and passing around books for a long time. That it’s applied to the specific format of e-books is so frustrating personally – I read e-books much more these days than paper copies because I find it easier to hold my place/change the font size depending on what I’m doing (I’m starting to think I may need reading glasses, sigh)/take it anywhere with me. But libraries can purchase as many hard copies as they like – no one could stop that. To me, e-books shouldn’t be treated any different than the hard copies.
Yikes.
I buy used books a lot (miss half.com) bc I read a lot of little mystery series the library doesn’t necessarily carry and I’d rather pay 3-4$ vs 7-8. I’m not expecting perfection but I’ve never got a book where the condition was way worse than the description. I should also say I buy only paperback books not hardcover so I don’t have experience buying those used. I like to read in bed and I can’t stand holding a heavy hardcover book. Thriftbooks is pretty good.
Also better world books.
Inter Library Loan – see if your library does that to get a physical copy from a library that already has a copy. No additional money is going to MacMillan.
Also, people donate books all the time. So a library might get a copy that way. Look at libraries out of your area that you are able and willing to join.
I understand the boycott and your feelings about Macmillan’s decision. I would do #2 or #3.
So frustrating!
But look…the library is still purchasing from Macmillan, right? Just not within the first 60 days. So, request the book, because the library system is going to spend their budget for Macmillan regardless, and you might as well benefit from it. If they weren’t buying at all, I would say to choose one of the other options.
I’d be more concerned about supporting the presumably struggling author (you said she’s a smaller author) than my worry about corporate greed (I can only worry about so many of those at once. So, with that in mind I’d buy the book, either used or new depending on how I felt about it. Now, I at this point tend to only purchase things for my Kindle because I have an entire room overflowing with books and it’s a lot better for my poor unusuable hand since the kindle is lighter than most actual books. I still prefer a regular book however, so if that were an option? And I really enjoyed the trilogy? I’d buy the whole trilogy because I tend to re-read books I enjoy. I don’t bother with the library because our library NEVER has what I want to read. LOL They’ll have one James PAtterson book from 15 years ago that I read 15 years ago as an example…Hard Pass. Perhaps they aren’t all like that. And I sure don’t have the time to go from library to library hunting a book when I can download it in 2 seconds…..and have it read in 2 hours.
So I love all the answers. And I sat with this all day. I was about to reach out to the author — that was a brilliant suggestion — but felt super shy about it. So… I called a bookstore that had the first book in stock, and they special ordered the other two in the trilogy. So I can go to the bookstore and pick up all three on Friday. (Please please please let the second and third books get there by Friday. If not, the store said they could mail them to me and just pay the shipping when I’m in the store getting the first book.) So the independent bookstore gets their cut. The author gets her cut and the sales rank figures. (Helps her if her agent tries to sell her next book.) And, yes, the awful publisher gets their cut. But I’m focusing on the first two instead of the third.
Can I encourage you to reach out to the author anyway? I mean, if it was your book, wouldn’t you want to hear from your readers about this?
I hadn’t heard about this and it IS quite a conundrum. How to read what you want to read and support the content creator but not reward the bad-actor publisher?
I like the suggestion to reach out to the author, if only because *I* would like to know that someone cared that much about my work and about appreciating my work.
Were you able to get all 3 books?
Pardon me. I have spent the day mistakenly thinking it’s Friday. Womp womp.