Overdrive is the largest digital distributor for public libraries and they power audiobook and ebooks collections. In the past, libraries wanted a bunch of books by a bestselling author, they had to pay for each title individually. Each publisher has different rates, some books expire after a certain number of loans, while others don’t have this, but the ebooks are more expensive. Best sellers are popular for a couple of months and then taper off, as new titles come out. Some do stand the test of time, such as Colleen Hoover’s most recent books, which have been on the New York Times bestsellers list for over a year, but this is the exception, not the rule.
The most popular method for libraries to buy audiobooks and ebooks for their patrons is under the one copy, one user model. This is why wait lists can be weeks or months, there isn’t enough quality stuff to go around, sure the libraries can spend more, but only the largest libraries have the budget for this sort of thing. I am talking about libraries that at least loan out one million titles per year, in 2022 the Toronto Public Library loaned out over seven million digital titles, and the costs add up.
In order to appeal to smaller libraries and schools, Overdrive launched Max in April 2022. OverDrive Max, is a digital book access model developed to meet growing reader demand. Under the OverDrive Max model (also known as metered concurrent use), libraries can stock bundles of up to 100 loans for popular digital books with no expiration date. With each Max title, the cost to serve each reader is typically the lowest available cost for libraries and schools for lending the ebook or audiobooks.
Ebook and audiobook publishers offering catalogues in the OverDrive Max model include Blackstone Publishing, Lerner Publishing Group, RBMedia/Recorded Books, Christian Audio, Britannica Digital Learning, Allen & Unwin, Springer Nature, Open Road Media, Rosen Publishing, Bearport Publishing plus dozens of others. OverDrive Max complements the “cost-per-circ” model that leading publishers offer libraries and schools from OverDrive Marketplace including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and others.
At the London Book Fair, the largest publisher event in Europe, Overdrive announced that over 400,000 ebook and audiobook titles are available under their Max brand. Notable 2023 additions to the access model include the full catalogue from Abrams Books, including the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney; Garfield, Peanuts and Lumberjanes comics from BOOM! Studios; A Thief Among the Trees from Sabaa Tahir; a popular romance from Marie Harte, and many more.
I think there is something to the Overdrive Max system. It is tremendously cost-efficiency and its the ability to eliminate long wait lists. The ability to buy one book or a bunch of books that expire over 100 loans, means that until that threshold is reached, they basically have no expiration date. I can see lots of schools using Max, and lots of English programs have certain books that kids have to read each semester. These books tend to be baked into the curriculum, so a revolving door of students, who want to read on their phone, tablet or e-reader, can.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
