This DBW video interview with Harper Collins CEO Brian Murry may prompt the more cautious among us to replay it for nuance.
Perfer to read it rather than view it? Here are a few tasty library-specific quotes Murray served up to Digital Book World’s Ric Fahle:
Libraries are a really important channel for HarperCollins. We’ve talked about discovery of books and libraries are where a lot of discovery happens in many communities across the country. So HarperCollins is committed to that library channel…
(W)e’re trying to balance the needs of all of our stakeholders. So librarians and their patrons are stakeholders, as are authors, and as are booksellers. As this business transitions from physical to digital, it’s forcing us to think about different business models and try to make sure that all of those stakeholders have a role to play in the future.
So when we were looking at the library channel, the idea of having almost a subscription model is actually a unique business model. Right now, it is the only channel where we have offered this kind of business model.
We’re struggling to find the right business model that can work for libraries. The rationale behind it was, “let’s find something that’s unique and different that libraries might adopt,” and we put it out there and we’re now listening to everyone to see what they have to say. We’re going to continue to listen over the coming months and we encourage librarians to try it to see if it works.
Read more at DigitalBookWorld.com: HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray Interview on Library Ebooks | Digital Book World