Quote:
Originally Posted by mr ploppy
Except it doesn't. It is easily removed, and it only takes one person to do it. At that point you have an unauthorised product that is much more appealing than the authorised one. Especially after someone proofreads it. The way to compete with piracy is NOT by offering an inferior product at a higher price.
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I know that. You know that. It's publisher's that haven't figured it out, which is why I talked about "dubious value".
Mind you, I think we need to keep in mind that MR readers are a sophisticated audience.
We know most DRM is easily removed, and know how to to it or how to find out how to do it. I don't the larger market for ebooks is that savvy.
But ultimately, I assume the majority of the market is honest and pays for value. Theft has always been there: retailers call it "shrinkage" - stock not on the shelves for which there isn't a sales receipt - but somehow they survive.
You make money and stay in business by
providing value, charging a fair price, and making it as easy as possible for the customer to give you money. I know one author who commented years back that he had electronic editions of his books and had seen perhaps a couple of hundred dollars in royalties from them. No surprise: his publisher was one who "didn't get it" about ebooks, and it was hard to discover he
had ebook editions, let alone buy them.
Ultimately, convenience rules. Amazon is successful providing ebooks despite DRM because of it. They charge prices the customer considers reasonable for ebooks, and if you have a Kindle or device running a Kindle app, you can purchase, download, and read a new book at any time, day or night. Instant gratification!
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Dennis