An Open Letter to Sara Lloyd at Pan MacMillan

Hi, Sara.

Lendle here. We’re a web-app devoted to creating a culture of reading around the ability to lend and borrow Kindle books. Maybe you’ve heard of us?

You might be interested to know that thousands and thousands of Lendlers are super excited to purchase books (including books from MacMillan) in order to read them, yes, but also to share the experience with others who will, in turn, buy more books.

We recently read an article on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) which, frankly, left us gobsmacked. Apparently, the publishing industry is meeting because it finds itself “competing vertically and horizontally against all other media…” The takeaway, it seems, is that the industry is competing against games like Angry Birds.

We respectfully disagree. The publishing industry needs look no farther than the publishing industry to understand the competition. There’s a real lack of vision which should, we think, be your biggest focus going forward and this meeting only furthers our belief that the industry is intentionally avoiding the root of the problem. 

You are quoted in the TUAW piece and from there we discovered that you are a key player in Pan MacMillan’s The Digitalist — an emerging issues blog with a focus on e-reading.  We hope this means you’ll welcome an open communication about the roadblocks your customers are facing when it comes to enjoying MacMillan content in a digital setting. 

You say:

We have just been constrained by book covers, but we can now evolve further. The only difference now is that we won’t always make things that look like books.

To be honest, we’re not entirely sure what that means. We do think, however, that the focus — at least for now — should be on making the things that currently “look like books” more compelling for those of us that look like your customers.

Are you aware of the restrictions put on Kindle (and Nook) books? Are you aware that MacMillan has, in one fell swoop, revoked the lending license on hundreds of books? Do you think this is what your customers want?

We write to you because the media does not seem particularly interested in this topic. Issues surrounding reading may not be as sexy as those surrounding the music and movie industries, and this means they’ll never see the same amount of attention.

Sadly, this also means that your customers have almost no voice and, in turn, publishers and retailers are doing pretty much what they please. Who’s listening?

We invite you to take a look at Lendle. We’re designed from the ground up to be a discovery site. To provide incentive (and a means) for our users to purchase new books and to spread the word about authors they love. We have no interest in being known as an outlet for free books.

Most importantly, we aim to make reading fun.

We’re also inviting our users to pass this along and/or bring it to your attention. This may not be easy, as we can’t find any useful contact info for you or anyone else at The Digitalist. We sincerely hope this open letter finds an audience and we’d love to open a dialogue with MacMillan or anyone else in the industry who would like to tackle these issues head-on and in a constructive manner.

Incidentally, your favorite book? Not available for lending.

Sincerely,

The Lendle Team

The Digitalist on Twitter: @thedigitalist

MacMillan customer service: customerservice@mpsvirginia.com