Why Terry Deary Is Wrong: The Case For Libraries
From The Huffington Post:
If someone too poor or otherwise unable to buy a specific product is given that product for free, has the product’s creator lost a sale?
In most instances, I’d argue, the answer is no. You can’t lose money that doesn’t exist in the first place, or which your potential customer is unable to spend on whatever it is you’re selling. What you’ve lost, if anything, is a specific product, and therefore the opportunity to sell it to someone who can pay.
If Lamborghini were to give me a free car, for instance — or if some altruistic third party were to do so instead — then either they’ve lost the money they could’ve earned by selling that specific vehicle elsewhere, or they’ve lost the opportunity to sell to me directly. In the latter instance, though, they haven’t lost a sale, because someone actually did buy the car; and in the former instance, while they might have lost a sale, they haven’t lost my sale, because the chances of my being able to afford a Lambo in this lifetime, let alone wanting to buy one if I could, are slim to none. The only way for Lamborghini to lose my sale, therefore, is if I were both willing and able to buy a car from them, but elected not to — and even then, I’d still be within my rights as a consumer to look elsewhere.
I mention all this because Terry Deary, author of the Horrible Histories series, has not only said that libraries are defunct, but accused them of stealing the income of authors – “cutting their throats and slashing their purses”, as he rather dramatically has it. “Books aren’t public property,” he says, “and writers aren’t Enid Blyton, middle-class women indulging in a pleasant little hobby. They’ve got to make a living. Authors, booksellers and publishers need to eat. We don’t expect to go to a food library to be fed.”
. . . .
But let’s return to Deary’s primary argument — that his 500,000-odd library rentals represent some 500,000 lost sales — and why it’s so inaccurate: first, because it assumes that he gained no sales by virtue of readers encountering his books in the library and later deciding to buy them; second, because it assumes that everyone who borrowed his books was similarly able or inclined to buy them, and only went the library route out of sheer cheapness; third, because it likewise assumes that the figure of 500,000 borrows corresponds to 500,000 discreet individuals; fourth, because it ignores the fundamentally obvious point that many, if not most people will try all sorts of things for free for which they’d never readily pay money, or for which they wouldn’t pay money without a free sample first; and fifth — and specific to Deary’s case — because his books are aimed at a middle-grade audience, meaning that his readers and the persons who actually hand over money are overwhelmingly two different sets of people, with the latter tending (one suspects) to be the parents and relatives of the former.
. . . .
All my life, I’ve been a patron of libraries. Even now that I’m an adult with my own disposable income, I still use them. Why? Because, not unreasonably, I’m reluctant to outlay money on unknown authors if I can sample their works beforehand for free. My book-buying budget is limited, and I want to make the most of it: now that I have a Kindle, I’ll often download sample chapters, and when I have time to browse through bookshops at leisure, I’ll read the first few pages to help me make a decision, but ultimately, neither method guarantees that a book will be worth my time and money.
And so, I’ll try the library: that way, I lose nothing on books I don’t like, but can still discover new authors — and once I’ve discovered an author I like, their books go on my ‘automatic purchase’ list. Tamora Pierce and Sara Douglass are both authors I discovered through libraries in my early teens; thus hooked, I proceeded to buy their entire respective works, even the titles I’d already read, because the idea of not owning them was insupportable. Libraries are an investment in the creation of new readers, and if Deary thinks for a second that nobody has ever bought his books as a direct result of having encountered them first in libraries, then I’d venture to suggest that he’s in the wrong profession.
Libraries don’t inhibit a writer’s profits: they add to them — not just through the PLR scheme, but through the creation of new readers and the maintenance of a literate, book-hungry populace.
Link to the rest at The Huffington Post and thanks to Louisa for the tip.
, Amazon will pay Passive Guy a small affiliate commission on any of your purchases.
The library has aided my book discovery far, far more than the bookstore ever has.
+1 to infinity and beyond.
It’s okay that the Terry Dearys of this world are stupid and short sighted–so long as they don’t get to impose their foolishness on the rest of us.
I can’t count the number of writers who ended up on my auto-buy list because I first discovered them at the library. I deliberately use the library that way, and I strongly suspect that the kind of person who doesn’t understand that is the kind of person who doesn’t read much to start with. Or maybe is an immortal with Lamborghini money, thus having no need to ration time and money.
What Margaret says is probably also true for me. However, I assume that most addicted readers are like me: they get their books at the library first. Only if the library doesn’t have the book will they buy them. And then they may buy them used (no income to the author). If there were no libraries (free or partially reader-supported),I would have to buy my books. As I said, I’m addicted.
The way I see it, an author’s income derives from those who aren’t library patrons and buy their books in stores or at airports on a whim or because the book is a big hit and their friend are discussing it, or (a much, much smaller group) because they are an author’s true fans and want to own his/her books.
As an author (not of middle grade books but of the kind libraries are fond of buying), I would feel a tad better if we had some sort of system like other countries, such as Canada, which pay an author a token borrow fee.
*ponder* Libraries are really a lot like second-hand bookstores, though, only better, because there’s no default option to just keep the thing. You sell it once to the library, and then the library loans it out. It’s a lot like selling to a “Read once, re-sell” reader, and then there’s buying-and-selling back to the second hand bookstore, and the author sees nary a penny of that, either.
It’s true that the library isn’t getting any benefit (till they prune and sell at the annual library sale, yum) of “reselling” the book, unlike the hypothetical used bookstore, but the book does remain in circulation longer, too — it’s less likely to get bought and forgotten in a pile and never re-sold, thus improving the chances that someone who loves it will go out and buy a second copy.
…it’s nearly 1 in the morning, so that may be a bit convoluted, darnit.
There are hundreds and thousands of thousands of public libraries in the world; and they basically have to buy books all the time as part of their mission, and sometimes multiple copies at the same time.
Unlike the average consumer.
So yeah, the guy’s an idiot to call for the destruction or diminished buying power of a huge chunk of his potential steady paying customers, under the illusion that this will somehow gain him customers.
He acts like books spoil or go out of style. A book lent or resold might not gain me a sale today, but it might gain me a sale tomorrow. Better yet, it might gain me a resurgence of popularity as a new trend hits and my books happen to be on topic or someone with a very popular blog rediscovers me, etc, etc. The point, which is even more relevant with Ebooks, reading never goes away. And good books never die.
And what about kids, how are they meant to fall in love with books, discover authors, genres, the basic pleasure of reading? Are kids meant to rush out and spend their pocket money on Terry Deary’s books without trying them first? As a child, I’d read a book a week from my library. Yes, I’d buy books, but my pocket money didn’t stretch far and if the only way to access books was to buy them, I doubt I’d have read more than four or five titles a year.
Historian Marc Morris gives Terry Deary a great poke in the eye over his attitude:
http://www.marcmorris.org.uk/2013/02/a-letter-to-terry-deary.html
Oh thank you so much for the link to that very great poke in the eye to Deary from Morris – it made my day!
Adding my thanks! Nice and pithy take down.
LOL I always read about 30 books a week. My pocket money was zilch. Now I’m an adult. I buy books. Yes, there is a connection.
You read 30 books a week as a kid? When did you have time for homework?
Man, I thought I was doing well when I ordered ten or twelve books a month from Scholastic Book Club and read a new book from the school or public library every few days.
I was one of those scary kids that didn’t have homework. I finished all my work in class and read through my history book a couple of times for fun. Yeah. One of those kids. :shakes head at self:
Beyond the points other commenters have made, this guy’s also ignoring that libraries have bought the copies they’re lending—and that popular books get used enough to get worn out and then can get bought again.
and then can get bought again.
Exactly! Most local libraries, big and small, have annual used book sales. I used to go all the time, but I’m trying to cut back. I have to many books now and am backlogged on my reading list. Plus I’m trying to add indies to my read to review lists along with my old faves. It’s just too much temptation. But… oh man… the first time I went to the annual Houston used book sale. WOW! The George R. Brown convention center devoted an entire, huge room to book, books, books! My dad and I just about had strokes as we entered and couldn’t decide where to start. We spent way too much money that day and I never read them all.
Interesting fact, libraries are responsible for keeping a number of books in print over the years. When I worked in a bookstore years ago, a publisher rep informed me that a number of works had gone out of print. The reason, the reduced budgets of libraries, reduced their ability purchase replacement copies. Without the library buying replacements, the publisher was not print new copies. So without libraries a number of books would stay in print in years to come.
I would think that since Terry Deary writes for kids, a significant part of his sales come from libraries. Even though I was a voracious reader growing up, I didn’t buy books, and my parents didn’t buy me any books either. I got them all from the library.
Judging by the bags, stacks, and trollies full of kids’ books that I see going in and out of my closest public library, I don’t think many parents could afford to buy all the books that children read! I know my parents couldn’t have done it.
I read from 5 to 10 books every 2 weeks from the time I was 7 years old to to my 18th birthday. They all came from the library. I mostly didn’t get an allowance, and didn’t have a job until I was 18. I received a few books as birthday presents. But . . . once I had a job, books were on my budget. I bought more and more as I earned more. Without all those library books, would I have become an avid reader? Methinks not.
Sales aside, libraries are publicly supported so that anyone, rich or poor, can have access to learning and works of culture. It’s a lot like the idea of publicly funded education: it helps us all far more than it costs (though it could be better… different topic.)
All avid readers I know will buy their own copy of a book they love if they can afford it. Maybe selling children’s books makes this harder, I don’t know. Yes, you deserve to make a living wage if your product is good enough. If what you earn isn’t enough (it sounds like it isn’t for Mr. Deary) then the better answer is to write more and get better at it.
Children’s books haven’t been hit by the ebook switchover like other categories have, but once it goes, profits will be there for the taking. Maybe Mr. Deary would benefit from preparing for that.
It’s a lot like the idea of publicly funded education: it helps us all far more than it costs…
Seriously! Who wants to live in a world largely populated by hordes without access to education and books? It would be awful! Get a grip, people!
(I realize there are places in the world like this. I’m grateful I don’t live there!)
Well, funnily enough, it looks like Terry Deary doesn’t think public school are any use.
“I’ve no interest in schools. They have no relevance in the 21st century. They were a Victorian idea to get kids off the street.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Deary
A complete analysis would have to include people who are not poor and do have the means to buy the book. It would also have to acknowledge there is significant movement between income quintiles. So someone who is poor now may not be poor in the future when they could buy the book.
This. For years we were dirt poor and though my husband and I are avid readers we couldn’t afford ANY books. So we got all our reading material from the local library. Now we’ve had an upswing in our fortunes and we’ve bought more books than we had for a very, very long time. Many of the books we’ve bought recently have been books we borrowed from the library and fell in love with. Some of them are newer works of authors we first encountered through the library.
Ditto, I own hundreds of books by authors I discovered for free in the library. The libraries of today curate the readers of tomorrow. And I’ve gotten a lot of readers who’ve purchased based on word of mouth from people who’ve read for free, so I can’t complain.
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The problem with electronic loaning is the data is too easy to see how many copies of a book were read. Physical hard covers live about 100 borrows before they are replaced, but they are also replaced for abuse like dropped in the tub or the puddle at the bus stop so publishers (and authors) never really knew without huge effort how many readers had their book. Now they know it almost up to the instant and some view it closer to piracy than marketing. For me, libraries are the best marketing medium out there.
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As an indie without paying for Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly reviews (used by most library collections personnel to stock their shelves) how to get my books in the libraries even as free donations?
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I use libraries for several reasons. One, I read over a hundred books a year, and my book budget doesn’t accommodate my buying all of them. I buy about half of them and get the other half from the library or as giveaways (I receive a lot of free paperbacks via conferences & contests).
Two, I use the library to try out books and authors I’m not certain about. Mostly debut authors, or books a little outside my preferred genres, or authors whose books I used to buy regularly but whose last book or two was disappointing, so I’m checking to see if they’ve improved (if they have, I’ll probably buy the book after reading the library copy just to add it to my collection).
And three, there are times when I go to Amazon to buy a book and discover that the price is far higher than I think it’s worth. So I navigate instead to my library’s website and put it on hold.