The Greatest Threat to Amazon May Just Be Libraries. Instead of turning the members of its community away for an eBook that is already borrowed, the library is ideally situated to sell them the eBook they wished to read, right when they wished to read it. There is nothing stopping a library from becoming an eBookseller. Now, take this one (small) step further. Let’s enable the “owner” of the eBook to donate it back to the library when they have finished. The library knows they sold it, right? The library can “re-acquire” the right to the title pretty easily given the fact that the library is the issuer of the DRM for the eBook. This simple program would:
- Increase the number of eBook copies available for the library to lend;
- Keep publisher’s happy as the eBook licenses have been paid for;
- Provide the “donor” of the eBook with a tax write-off;
- Contribute in a very meaningful way to the local community via eBook sales.
- If you want to get super aggressive, let’s add periodical subscriptions to the mix and execute the same model.
Publishers openly lament the power Amazon holds in the market. Libraries (with help from the publishers) may just be the next (and most credible) threat to Amazon. Whether libraries and publishers realize it or not, well, that’s an entirely different question.
Vince Writes: Libraries as content publishers and part of the marketplace? While we have certain local advantages, I don't think we are any 'threat' to the juggernaut that is Amazon.
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