AskWCPL

Many different factors affect whether we purchase specific titles as eBooks or eAudiobooks.

• Publishers charge libraries much more for eBooks and eAudiobooks than a consumer would pay for them. The biggest factor impacting how many eBooks and eAudiobooks we can purchase for our collection is the price set by publishers. Library eBooks can be borrowed repeatedly up to a limit on the number of checkouts and/or a time limit.
  
  An eBook that you might see on Amazon for $9.99 (or even less if it's on sale) could cost anywhere from $40 to $100 or more per copy for a library to buy. Also, the newest books by popular and best-selling authors, which have the most demand, are often priced at the higher end of that range. For example, James Patterson’s titles are often $75.00 in eBook or eAudiobook and Stephen King’s new titles in audio are usually $100-$130 per copy. By contrast, the average price we pay for print books is about $15.00 per copy.
• Publishers have different purchasing models for how they sell to libraries. Some sell them with a limited number of checkouts or with a built-in expiration date of one or two years. Publishers are continuing to change their sales and lending models for libraries, often limiting access and/or increasing prices. Once a title expires, we must determine how well it checked out and pay again to re-purchase it again.
• eBooks for library lending are sold differently than eBooks for private consumer use. Not all publishers sell eBooks to libraries for public use (such as Amazon's Audible original titles), and some publishers do not make their new eBooks available for libraries right away.
• We purchase adult books in four different formats: regular print, large print, eBook, and eAudio. Buying books across multiple formats, plus the increased cost for eBooks and eAudio for libraries does present a challenge to what we can purchase.

There is some good news! We have been able to increase our budget for eBooks and eAudio over the past ten years or so, and we’ve continued to grow these collections.

As of June 2024, our digital collection contains over 145,000 items. This includes over 20,000 eBook titles (with over 80,000 copies), over 10,000 eAudio Book titles (with over 55,000 copies), plus more than 5,000 eMagazine titles with unlimited checkouts.

Using tools from our vendor, OverDrive, we highlight eBooks and eAudiobooks that are Available Now for Adults, for Teens, and for Kids, as well as many Always Available eBooks and about 400 Always Available eAudiobooks on the OverDrive website and in the Libby mobile app.

If you'd like to submit suggestions for a specific title for us to consider purchasing as an eBook or eAudio book, you can submit a Materials Request in your online account. Our Selection Librarians will see if it’s available to us and review it for possible addition to our collection.