California libraries close to ebooks deal with self-pub site Smashwords

Califa, California’s largest library network, is about to strike an ebook deal with self-publishing site Smashwords, Library Journal reports. The partnership would bring about 10,000 self-published ebooks into Califa’s 220 libraries. Califa would “purchase about 10,000 of the company’s top titles for about $3 a title.” Some of the titles could cost less, though: Smashwords CEO Mark Coker recently told me that the company will soon allow its authors to set their own ebook prices, and said “a lot of them are going to want to offer libraries lower pricing…or will want to offer their books for free to libraries.”