Penguin Suspends Library E-books, Citing Security

NEW YORK — One of the country's largest publishers, Penguin Group (USA), has suspended making e-editions of new books available to libraries and won't allow libraries to loan any e-books for Amazon.com's Kindle.

"We have always placed a high value on the role that libraries can play in connecting our authors with our readers," the publisher announced in a statement Monday. "However, due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we find it necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners."

For non-Kindle users, the policy does not affect e-books already on library catalogs. Penguin's authors include Patricia Cornwell, Ken Follett and Ron Chernow, and new books include Sue Grafton's "V for Vengeance" and Rep. Michele Bachmann's "Core of Conviction."

The publisher did not cite any specific titles in its release and did not immediately respond to requests from The Associated Press to clarify its security concerns. Among publishers, "security" has traditionally referred to piracy, but this time it likely means Amazon.com's Kindle lending programs.

The online retailer is allowing its special Prime members to rent one book a month from a selection of titles provided by it. Penguin and other publishers declined to participate but discovered their books were still being included, a policy denounced as illegal by the Authors Guild, which represents published writers.

Meanwhile, Amazon has formed a partnership with the country's top library e-book supplier, OverDrive Inc., that vastly increases the Kindle's presence in libraries and encourages patrons to visit Amazon's website and buy books.

OverDrive posted a statement on its website that it had been asked by Penguin to "disable the `Get for Kindle' functionality for all Penguin e-books."

Besides being worried about Amazon's power in the digital market, publishers have long been concerned that allowing library patrons to download e-books might harm sales. Simon & Schuster and Macmillan don't make any e-books available to libraries, and HarperCollins has restricted their usage, a policy that angered libraries when announced last year.

OverDrive CEO Steve Potash said Monday that his company and Penguin were "in the process of looking at new terms" for libraries but declined to say what the terms were.

While borrowing e-books from libraries has become more difficult, buying books – Penguin's included – through libraries is becoming easier. Starting Monday, patrons using the New York Public Library's website who wish to purchase a title can click a Buy it Now tab that links to participating sellers. The library receives a portion of the proceeds, and Potash said he expects the program will soon expand nationwide and into Canada and the United Kingdom.

Sellers involved so far are Barnes & Noble; BooksOnBoard, an independent e-store; and Amazon.

CORRECTION:: The Associated Press erroneously reported on the publishers involved in Amazon.com's Prime lending program, which allows members to rent one book a month from a selection of titles. Books from Penguin Group (USA) are not included.

Comments

[jayes]

09:30 AM on 12/10/2011

What if books were like music, and most authors had to put on shows to make money?

- maybe lectures or some equivalent?

[madeashell]

01:41 PM on 11/23/2011

This $$$ is all Penguin is interested in. The supposed 'security' issue is a non-issue. There is no way one can 'steal' a e-book downloaded on a Kindle. You cannot even attach a usb cable and upload to your PC/laptop either because of the Kindle formatting. Penguin is probably planning on charging more $$$ from libraries if they want to use the Kindle format. Another typical publishing company who think libraries (public, universities, etc.) have plenty of money to blow on acquisitions, NOT!

[Cael]

08:58 AM on 11/23/2011

This is where Kindles proprietary version could cause real issues for Amazon. If more publishers jump on the bandwagon to punish Amazon by creating rebook in only epub format it will either kill Amazon's ebook store or force them to support epub.

I actually hope this happens, they need to support the standard and it was a very bad business decision to not. They put themselves against the wall with this. If they supported epub back a couple years they probably would have killed off a big chunk of their competition and made more money in the ebook market then they are now.

[AngryHarpy]

05:32 AM on 11/23/2011

Nothing on the site about Anne McCaffrey's death. I'm pretty disappointed.

[ChelleAgain]

09:36 AM on 11/23/2011

They'll get to it ... eventually.

[jabailo]

03:33 AM on 11/23/2011

I'm at the point where my $79 Kindle is the only way I will read.

Paperback books are really terrible awful technology. Too tiny type. Smelly glues. Cheap spines that break.

With my Kindle I can set the font size and type, search, skim, lay it flat on a table, hold it in my hand, lay it easily on the shelf on the ski climber at the gym, read while eating...

Modern books are nearly unusable.

[Redhunteur]

06:27 AM on 11/23/2011

"Modern books are nearly unusable."

Hilarious...

[Thomas McGuire]

12:48 PM on 11/23/2011

"Modern books are nearly unusable."

Riiiight

[SvrWx]

02:06 AM on 11/23/2011

I was really jumping on the Kindle Bandwagon until I suddenly realized that my wife wouldn't be able to read the book that I had just finished unless she borrowed my Kindle or she bought the book separately for her Kindle.

Now I think I'll go back to the old fashioined way...buy a normal paper book and when finished give it to my wife/child/library/ or put it in a local coffee shop for others to enjoy.

[ChelleAgain]

07:55 AM on 11/23/2011

Any Kindle registered to the same account has access to the same books/library. Whether or not she has her own Amazon account, if you share the same taste in books you should probably have the Kindles on the same account. When I buy a book i think we'd both like, I send him his own copy. (A book can usually be on 6 devices at once.) If you think you'll be reading the same book at the same time, then all you have to do is turn off the Whispersync, which updates all devices to the last page read.

[Dallas Dunlap]

10:01 PM on 11/22/2011

From what I have read, Penguin seems to have a problem with ebooks generally. They seem to charge as much or more for their ebooks as for the printed versions.
I don't know what the security issue might be. Obviously, some of the ebook formats could be pirated, but Amazon's proprietary Kindle software seems to be hard to hack. And books aren't like music. There is a lot less demand for pirated books.
Besides, printed books can be scanned and turned into printed files relatively easily.
Libraries are a good thing, and there isn't a substantial difference between ebooks and printed books as far as copyright security is concerned.

The Cabin: A time travel adventure
Dallas Dunlap
Kindle Edition

[dougbdl]

08:08 AM on 11/23/2011

Ebooks are the easiest thing to pirate, and that is a major problem for the publishers. You can download the entire NYT bestseller list in 20 seconds.

[Dallas Dunlap]

09:26 AM on 11/23/2011

That's probably true, but printed books can also be pirated by scanning, although the process takes a little longer. And, aside from the best sellers, I just don't believe that the motivation is there.

[AnaM]

07:29 PM on 11/22/2011

Just buy the printed book!

[kerriberri]

08:37 PM on 11/22/2011

Dost thou not grasp the concept of a Library, young one?

[AnaM]

08:49 PM on 11/22/2011

I do understand the concept. I just find that the fuss in the comments is a little over the top. Every company has the right to withhold a product until it irons out the problems that it has. In other articles I've read, there have been issues with e-book formatting (editing issues, spelling errors, etc, etc). There are no hard copy versions of Penguin books? I find that hard to believe.

[JustSerge]

07:01 PM on 11/22/2011

Remember that half-a-year-old buzz about forcing libraries to buy e-books again after 26 lends?
Google for "This Library E-Book Will Self-Destruct After 26 Checkouts", if you missed that.
I'm more than sure, this is what the fat cats are trying to negotiate behind the closed doors now.

It's time for publishers, but even more for authors, to re-think their business model, the concepts of ownership and whole idea of copyright. We are at crossroads now, moving towards either society of wizards, or slaves. It's all about literacy, love to read, and access to knowledge.

Writers, catch the wave, go Creative Commons, find new ways to earn living with your creativity!
Go away from these big publishers! They make more harm than use nowadays.

If authors and readers unite and take some real action, like boycotting no-ebook-lending crooks, or convincing everyone to get rid of their shares (no, I don't believe in pure public protests), the stocks will fall, investors get nervous and bloodsuckers will have to either accomodate to new reality, or die out. Their time is over, but it takes a punch to shatter even a rotten wall.

I hope there will be some serious action. Because otherwise it will mean this society is really heading to a new Medieval Age...

[talos72]

07:20 PM on 11/22/2011

After more than a decade of legal wranglings with the record companies and digital music, content creators still have not come to grips with the realities of digital media. We are still, for the most part, using out-moded copyright laws that are simply not as applicable with the current technology. Again, instead of content creators (publishers, music corps, film studios) trying to really understand digital media and markets their attempts have been to fight consumers and technology: at the end of the day the only reality is the companies and intellectual property laws either evolve with the technology are are left behind.

[JustSerge]

10:01 PM on 11/22/2011

I refuse to believe anyone on a decision-making level does not understand or unable to make proper judgements. Crowds of elite people, the most educated and talented, are competing for these positions, little make it to the top, they should be best of the best. No, they cannot be THAT stupid or shortsighted. It's priorites that demands squeezing out profits in old ways, as much as they can, while they can, just because they can.

It reminds an oil industry attitude: we could start winding down dependence on fossil fuels 25 years ago, we could have clean energy everywhere now, but why deprive shareholders of their hard-earned revenues? Rather welcome to global warming, OK?

It's all about educating people who ACTUALLY create and consume. We CAN crack down on the middlemen to kick them ouf of the food chain, or have them playing fair - they are at our disposal, not other way around. Digital publishing combined with social media brought a huge power to writing and reading public, and we'd better pick it up before "they" do it "for us", as they always do. We still have a possibility to vote with a wallet and change the things, but it may not last long.

[DarleenMB]

06:41 PM on 11/22/2011

Keep going. You'll be out of business very soon.

My husband and I are avid readers. We each own a Kindle. We buy print books, borrow from the library AND BUY EBOOKS. But publishers like yourself are quickly making it onto our boycott list.

Been nice knowing ya.

[kerriberri]

08:41 PM on 11/22/2011

They do tend to forget that readers are literate, don't they?

Your boycott idea may very well work; I'll join you, fellow Kindler.

A librarian posted a good long post about Penguin's long history of "library abuse," somewhere further down (MSchlagel) that makes a convincing argument for a widescale boycotting of Penguin.

[LightShadow62]

05:06 PM on 11/22/2011

My wife uses the e-library system and the books are date stamped and become unusable after the return date. Sure it is possible for someone to hack the date stamps but it is also possible for someone to simply distribute a scanned copy of a paper book.
This is about them trying to figure out how to make more money out of it, pure and simple.

[MSchlagel]

05:00 PM on 11/22/2011

“We find it necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners." Translation: our stockholders are upset that they may lose money to e-media so we are going to take our publishing ball and play somewhere else.

Penguin Publishing is frankly lying. I am a librarian and there is very little evidence that Penguin respects our institutions whether the format is print or electronic media. They are notorious for overcharging on print materials and shipping fees. They package public domain materials with new introductions and charge up to 13 times the fair market price of the text. They consistently price electronic texts at 30-65% over the hard cover cost. Damaged materials are delivered and then customers are require to prove the damage occurred in transit before replacement is given. Their customer service system allows you two options: the option to write an email they will ignore or the option to speak with a personal representative who will hang up on you during "transfers." This is nothing more than hubris from a company whose spokesperson cannot even be bothered to hide a corporate interest.

[Roshi98]

12:21 AM on 11/23/2011

Completely false. There are LEGITIMATE security concerns that EVERY publisher is wary of and Penguin, which is owned by Pearson (the largest publishing house in the world), is taking the lead on ensuring those gaps are closed.

The onus is on the hosting environment to adequately protect the content, not the publisher/content provider. What would happen to libraries if all the sudden there were no cataloging system and anyone could walk in, take a book, and never have to check it out at your desk? We're talking essentially about the same thing here.

And books don't cost a lot because of gouging, they cost a lot because there are about 20 different versions of the same book required throughout the market. The educational market is the worst with various state standards and customization demanded around the country, but the same even applies to college textbooks and even trade editions. Many people outside of publishing have very little idea how expensive the overhead is to produce books and how slim the profit margins actually are.

So I would suggest, good librarian that you are, that you try to do a little more research into what actually drives publishing and costs rather than simply assume the worst through your anecdotal experience.

[ChelleAgain]

08:14 AM on 11/23/2011

Yeah, what would the woman surrounded by books, in a "learned" professional, and who sees publishers practices first hand, know about this matter?

[NHBill]

04:33 PM on 11/22/2011

For the record most of the major best sellers are available on the Pirate sites in your favorite format.

[DarleenMB]

06:42 PM on 11/22/2011

Well that's fine except, in my book, that's stealing. I would MUCH prefer the idiot publishers use their heads, drop the price of ebooks to something approaching REASON and then I'll buy them, thank you very much.

[DRaymond]

04:15 PM on 11/22/2011

I have been using the Overdrive for Kindle but the only flaw I can see with the 'security' is that the rental period is over the book is removed from the kindle the next time it connects via WiFi. So if I am not quite finished with a book at the end of the lending period I will shut off the WiFi until I finish reading it. But since that also means I cannot get new books it it never more than a matter of a day or two. I think part of the real concern is that paper library books wear out after a certain number of readings and need to be replaced. e-books will never wear out.

[kerriberri]

08:44 PM on 11/22/2011

Turning off the wifi (or 3G) will also prolong your reading time between charges : )

[Blarg]

12:33 AM on 11/23/2011

Especially if you subscribe to any blogs, which can be updated several times a day, or at least updates can be checked for several times a day. I find one day after a subscription to a single kindle blog eats more battery power up than half a dozen days with no blogs. Now that I have a blog, I only turn wireless on briefly once every day or two.

[EmilyRose 85]

04:13 PM on 11/22/2011

Aww, I'm really enjoying my library's Kindle ebook lending program (even if the waiting lists are monstrous). I hope they resolve the issues soon.