eBooks – BIG

The Toronto Public Library (TPL) has become the first system in the world to hit 50 million digital checkouts since its launch.

As reported by CTV News, Beth Godlewski, a senior collections specialist at TPL, spoke about the record and how TPL got there.

The library launched its online book-borrowing system in 2007 using OverDrive. It took five years to hit one million borrowed books, but digital book borrowing skyrocketed shortly after. In 2020, TPL said it set a record with eight million borrows.

Godlewski said TPL broke that record the next year, with 9.8 million checkouts. Moreover, she said that TPL was “close to a million ahead of anybody else.”

“We’re leading the world. Have been for nine years straight,” Godlewski said. “What can we say? Toronto, we always say, is a city of readers.”

For those wondering, the 50 millionth digitally-borrowed book was ‘A Town Called Solace,’ by Canadian author Mary Lawson.

Godlewski told CTV News that the pandemic helped spur an increase in borrowing ebooks and audiobooks. Digital checkouts spiked about 30 percent between 2019 and 2020. There’s also been uptake from borrowers who hadn’t used TPL’s physical collections, and Godlewski noted that baking and crafting books became much more popular too.

In total, there are about 230,000 books in the TPL’s online collection.

The library also shared with CTV News what the top borrowed ebooks of all time in Toronto were:

The Goldfinch
The Girl on the Train
Becoming
Educated: A Memoir
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Handmaid’s Tale
Talking to Strangers: What we should know about the people we don’t know
Gone Girl
Little Fires Everywhere
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

If you haven’t tried OverDrive for borrowing digital books, check out MobileSyrup’s guide on how to use it here. You can access OverDrive through smartphone apps like Libby or on e-readers.

Source: CTV News

Google will lower the cut it takes from subscriptions on the Google Play Store to 15 percent “starting from day one.”

The change marks a significant shift for the company, which previously charged a 30 percent cut of subscription revenue in the first 12 months before dropping to 15 percent for subscriptions that continue beyond that point. The change will come into effect starting January 1st, 2022.

Additionally, Google said it would change the service fee in the ‘Media Experience program,’ which will see the fee drop as low as 10 percent for ebooks and on-demand music streaming services.

However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman pointed out on Twitter that the change doesn’t apply to in-app purchases, such as for digital goods sold in games.

Google is lowering its cut from all subscriptions on Google Play to 15% from 30% — from day 1. The reduction previously only took effect on the first $1 million in revenue and for users who subscribed longer than a year. Change doesn't apply to in-app-purchases (games) however.

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) October 21, 2021

While the change is overall good, it’s also worth keeping in mind the likely catalyst. Google positions the change as addressing “developer needs,” but it comes as Google faces down antitrust lawsuits over its Play Store practices.

Just this year alone, lawsuits have accused Google of illegally trying to control Android app distribution, paying developers to keep them on the Play Store and attempting to keep Netflix using in-app purchases by offering the company a special deal. Google also reportedly considered purchasing Epic Games to make the “contagion” of distributing apps outside the Play Store go away. While Google says the change is to help developers, it may also be an effort to avoid scrutiny over its Play Store practices.

It’s also worth noting Apple has been dealing with antitrust allegations over its App Store in recent months as well. The Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit resulted in Apple being required to allow developers to use other payment processing systems if they wish. A similar ruling in another lawsuit saw Apple allow developers to use email to offer alternate payment methods to customers.

Both Apple and Google previously rolled out new rules that reduced the cut each company took from 30 percent to 15 percent for developers who made less than $1 million USD. The move was criticized both for poor implementation and for being an attempt to stave off regulator scrutiny.

Source: Google