The Tangled Web

1
The Tangled Web

• Publishers and aggregators e-book pricing
  models
• trying to please everybody
• Linda Bennett
• linda_at_goldleaf.co.uk

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Pricing e-books the issues for publishers
customers?

• Individual users / purchasers want flexibility,
  particularly the option of buying parts of the
  book, or leasing the whole book for a short
  period
• Librarians often expect e-books to be cheaper
  than print or even free
• Librarians want simultaneous user access per
  title (not one copy, one user)
• Librarians want more high-demand material to be
  available in e-format, particularly textbooks
• Some librarians prefer aggregated collections to
  publisher-specific collections
• Some librarians want one platform, not several
  different platforms from different publishers
  thus there is a continuing role for the e-book
  aggregator

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Pricing e-books the issues for publishers?

• E-books cost at least as much to produce as print
• The publisher should be paid appropriately for
  allowing simultaneous library user access per
  title
• The publisher should be paid appropriately for
  making high-demand material available to
  libraries in e-format
• Making e-books available through different
  channels and allowing flexibility of choice are
  generally supported by publishers appropriate
  methods of remuneration have to be found

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What about aggregators?

• They are secondary publishers
• They reduce the time and effort needed to
  regularly check websites for updates wikipedia
• They enable librarians to deal with fewer
  intermediaries
• They help publishers to increase their
  customer-base, by providing more routes to market
• They are very useful scapegoats!

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The simultaneous usage debate

• Only a tiny percentage of e-books (mainly
  monographs) are ever viewed simultaneously by
  more than 2 or 3 people
• T F has allowed up to 5 simultaneous users per
  title, which would seem to cover most current
  eventualities
• Why not therefore allow unrestricted simultaneous
  usage?
• Because so far most publishers have not made
  many textbooks available as e-books. If they do
  make more textbooks available, they need the
  restriction in order to preserve existing
  revenues
• If the librarian wants more simultaneous usage
  per title, the fair solution is for them to buy
  more e-copies of that title

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Selling e-books the options1. The retail model

• End-user buys discrete copy of e-book in chosen
  format, via publishers or booksellers website,
  often using a prefabricated electronic retail
  service
• Refinements may be offered on purchase of whole
  book read-only read, view and print,
  slice-and-dice, etc. or the option to compile a
  book from several different publications
• Whole e-book price usually similar to hardback
  price, with premium charged for part-book sales
• Some publishers are now offering pay-per-view as
  well as outright sale to individuals

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Selling e-books the options2. The direct
library sale model

• Library / organisation buys a copy of the e-book
  in perpetuity
• The price charged for the e-book usually bears
  some relation to the price of the print version
• A maintenance fee for access to the platform may
  also be charged

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Selling e-books the options3. The subscription
model

• Library / organisation gets access to a
  collection by paying an annual subscription
  (site licence). There is usually a minimum
  order requirement
• Some publishers allow full multiple user access,
  some simultaneous access to a specified number of
  individuals, some dont allow it
• Discounts are often given for multi-year deals
• Prices are set according to subject area and the
  number of titles offered, and may also relate to
  the size of the institution, the number of FTEs
  requiring access to the collection, or some kind
  of banding arrangement
• The relationship to the print price may be
  tenuous or non-existent

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Some e-book aggregators

• NetLibrary
• ebrary
• Ebooks corporation / EBL
• MyiLibrary
• Books24x7
• Knovel

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NetLibrary

• Oldest and biggest aggregator
• Holds approximately 120,000 titles, plus
  journals, audiobooks, e-Content
• Core model one book, one user
• Also offers collections
• Frequently runs special offers and deals

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E-books Corporation / EBL

• Approximately 80,000 titles
• EBC offers consumers a retail model
• EBL
• Main model is outright sale
• Online or offline access
• non-linear lending limited multiple concurrent
  use (325 lends)
• Short-term loan libraries can rent a book to be
  used by a single patron for a short period

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MyiLibrary

• 60,000 titles
• Single and multi-concurrent user book pricing
  (one-off or subscription one-off most popular)
• Single and multi-concurrent user pricing for set
  collections
• Individual publisher bundle arrangements
• Annual subscription options for bundles and
  collections
• Content can also be delivered in chunks
• Special offers

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Books24x7

• Online access only
• XML not PDF
• Specialist titles aimed at businesses and
  academia Computing, Engineering, Business, HR
• Subscription model only
• Individual
• Corporate / institutional
• Access sold to complete collection or six
  individual collections
• Price based on number of users

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Knovel

• 800 reference works and classic texts in Science
  and Engineering
• Core customers are corporate, academic,
  government. Some retail
• Knovel Library. Core model subscription
• Lowest level of access by subject area (17
  subjects)
• Access can be obtained on concurrent user or
  enterprise (relevant user) basis
• There are individual title outright sale options
• Knovel Publishing Platform. Publishers offering
  content on this set prices for end-users.
  Options range from pay-per-view to institutional
  access

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Some e-book publishers

• Elsevier
• Springer
• Taylor Francis
• Wiley
• Oxford University Press
• Cambridge University Press

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Elsevier Science Direct

• Annual subscription for all serialised content or
  reference works
• Upfront payment option for site-wide access to
  handbooks. Small annual charge from second year
  onwards. Additional payment charged for new
  volumes coming on a yearly basis and any new
  ancillary material
• One-time payment for standalone reference
  works, without continuing annual fees tied to
  updates. When a new edition appears, the library
  is alerted and offered another one-time payment
  choice
• Pick and choose option for book series, handbooks
  and major reference works allows the library to
  make its own choice
• One-time payment option for subject collections
  (there are 18 of these)
• All one-time payments have to represent a minimum
  spend of 1,000
• Books from Science Direct can be purchased
  regardless of whether or not the library has a
  Science Direct site licence

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Springer

• Springer e-book collection won prize for best STM
  Information Product of 2006
• Main model is outright purchase, with modest
  hosting fee
• Subscription model available for specific
  collections
• 15,000 titles available, with 3,000 to be added
  each year, in 13 subject categories
• Once a library purchases the collection, its
  users are allowed unlimited simultaneous access
  in perpetuity
• Integration with Springers e-journals collection
  via SpringerLink

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Taylor Francis

• Retail model
• Outright purchase by title. 16,500 titles
  available in four different formats
• eSubscribe instant online access to e-content
• DX Portable offline access to subscribed /
  purchased e-content
• ePrint / e-Copy micropurchase facility
• eCompile create your own e-book facility

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Taylor Francis

• Institutional model
• 30 online e-collections available (or
  do-it-yourself collections)
• Each collection may be accessed by outright
  purchase or annual subscription
• Subscriptions based on 25 of print cover price
  for titles in collection
• Up to five simultaneous users allowed
• One, two or three year options, with discounts
  for multi-year deals

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Wiley Interscience

• One-time fee option
• Institution builds customised collection (min 20
  titles)
• Pays once for ongoing access for all titles
• Pricing based on list price of hardbacks
• Discount based on institution size / number of
  titles purchased annually
• Unlimited concurrent usage

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Wiley Interscience

• Flexi-Subscription Option
• Institution builds customised collection (min 20
  titles)
• Annual flat fee determined by institution size
• Ongoing access for any title licensed for 3
  consecutive years with no further charge
  (auto-subscription)
• Titles added midway through subscription year
  charged at full annual rate part-year counts
  towards auto-subscription
• Titles can be added, deleted or swapped at
  renewal date, subject to 20-title minimum rule

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Oxford Scholarship Online

• Fully searchable full text of about 1200 titles
  in four subjects (added to at the rate of 200
  titles annually)
• Librarians can choose to purchase or subscribe to
  either the full collection or individual subject
  modules
• Subscriptions negotiated on a site licence basis
• One-time purchase fee gives access in
  perpetuity (plus modest annual hosting fee)

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Cambridge Collections Online

• Payment by subscription only on a site licence
  basis
• Substantial minimum order required, on a
  by-collection basis (i.e., titles from each
  collection require a different subscription)
• Rationale the payment model is flexible,
  straightforward, easily-understood and easy to
  administer

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E-book pricing models is it possible to cut
the Gordian knot of complexity?
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JISC / CHEMS Feasability report (Oct 2006)

• Do libraries prefer to buy from aggregators or
  direct from publishers?
• Do they prefer bulk collections, e-books in
  subject groups, or individual titles?
• Has there had been any change (since 2004) in
  preference for
• purchasing by subject or by collection from
  either source?
• Across the sector purchasing individual titles
  has been, and will continue to be,
• the favoured approach
• The second preferred model is to buy subject
  collections from aggregators
• Large general collections from publishers are
  least popular

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Gold Leaf straw poll study January 2007

• 78 academic librarians were contacted to find out
  if they would buy a collection of titles from one
  specific publisher
• 42 responses received within one week
• 19 favoured access to a collection from this
  publisher 7 didnt know 9 were negative, but of
  these only two preferred access to the titles via
  aggregators - the other 7 said they werent
  strong enough in the subject concerned to justify
  the expenditure on e-books for it at all
• 7 didnt answer the question

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Gold Leaf straw poll study January 2007

• All forty-two respondents answered the question
  on their preferred pricing method
• Of these, 50 preferred an outright sale model
  and 50 preferred a licensing model
• Several said that the ideal would be to have the
  choice a licence option to start with, then
  outright sale if the collection proved popular
• Their comments showed a general dislike of
  aggregators pricing models and / or restrictions

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• Are publishers better than aggregators, or
  aggregators better than publishers? The
  customers view

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Recap what is the best e-book pricing model?

• Flexible
• Simple
• Affordable
• Profitable
• Brandable!

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The Tangled Web
Publishers and aggregators e-book pricing
models trying to please everybody Linda
Bennett linda_at_goldleaf.co.uk