Creating a throwaway to post this.

I used to work for a big player in the digital books space.

This article is riddled with unsubstantiated claims. I can tell you for a fact that as digital library lending grows, publisher (and author) revenue declines on a per sale/borrow basis. It is not the same as physical lending. The difference in friction is massive, customers love painless instant book delivery.

Imagine being an author and seeing your units increasing but your earnings not.

Something fundamental needs to change with digital library licensing, it is on an unsustainable path. Macmillan tried windowing (ie for the first x weeks new releases can only be purchased, kind of like movies only being available in theaters at first) but the backlash was fierce and they abandoned it looking like a bully as COVID swept the globe. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/l...