Tor/Forge Books Announces DRM-Free E-book Store

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Even though I'm not interested in dedicated romance novels, I did join to encourage the entire DRM-free discounted direct-buy thing, and hopefully they add some more historical fiction selections I'd actually get around to reading.

You could always buy some of the Jane Austen fanfic for the cracktastic awfulness of it all.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Personally, I think that people will maintain the status quo and buy from the store attached to their device for convience sake but I could be wrong.

I think this is very likely with a few exceptions:

1) the store attached to their device does not offer the desired ebook.
2) the store attached to their device offers the desired ebook, but another store offers the same ebook significantly cheaper or for free.

Because, really, if you have an ereader with wifi, what could be more wonderful and convenient than wireless delivery? Sure, I'll download and convert if I can save a lot of money or get an otherwise-unattainable e-book. But I can't legally convert (in the US) if the book is DRM-infested.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

I am so uninterested in having to go to 87 different publisher's stores to find the books I want. Other than the Liaden books and Lois Bujold (both published by Baen) I have no idea (and couldn't care less) who publishes my other favorite authors.

You wouldn't have to . Just go to Google.
The procedure.

1. Turn on the computer
2. Open a browser window.
3. Type favorite author's name into browser window.
4. Author's name, with link to publisher site comes up.
5.Click on link
6. Click on Buy button
7. Enter credentials.
8. Click Proceed
9. Download the book to your device
10. There is no step 10.


You can do all that without getting out of your night clothes or leaving the house. How hard is that? Toddlers use almost that same process to buy iPad games on iTunes-sometimes to the dismay of their parents.
Tor.com could make it easier still by going the app route. They could ( and most likely will) develop Tor.com mobile and web apps. Open the app, search for the book, and buy it with one click.
There may be problems with publishers going DRM free. But finding and buying the books you want will not be one of them.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Joykins

You could always buy some of the Jane Austen fanfic for the cracktastic awfulness of it all.

Feh. I'm not paying for that when I can get cracktastically awful Jane Austen fanfic for "free"* online. Some of it might even be better written than the published stuff.

So far I've been spending my money on the more historically-oriented romance authors whose works I've read before (maybe they'll put some Heyer on sale again this year) and using a few credits on the most-promising looking new monthly feature thing. But since apparently you can use credits on retroactive book selections since the month you joined, I'm probably going to be hoarding them more in the future if none of the monthly stuff looks interesting enough and go back and scoop an older feature if it looks decent in comparison.

* Assuming my time and brain cells are worth nothing.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

One of the great things about EPub readers is that people are suppose to be thrilled to be able to shop at a multitude of stores. Why do people discount that Kindle users might not be lured to Kobo or BN? Why assume that Kob and Nook users will be lured to Amazon but not the other way around?

And it wouldn't be all that inconvenient if those store would email your purchase to your Kindle too.

Personally, I think that people will maintain the status quo and buy from the store attached to their device for convience sake but I could be wrong.

I'd guess that's right, but you always have those folks who wish to leave a retailer for various reasons (B&N and Kobo would need to improve their CS ) and more options are always good.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

One thing is could offer is multiple formats for the same price. "Got a Kindle, but want a Kobo? No problem with DRM-free multiple format ebooks from TOR.com"


[EDIT: It's a good thing I'm not an advertisement copywriter...]

Don't want to be locked away behind Amazon's walled garden, buy from Tor and get the ePub free.

[JSWolf]

One way to keep Amazon in check is to put eBooks up with DRM but without elsewhere. That would stop a lot of people from buying from Amazon.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Don't want to be locked away behind Amazon's walled garden, buy from Tor and get the ePub free.

If the books are DRM free you aren't locked in anyones garden.

[stonetools]

But BN, Sony, and Kobo can sell DRM free Mobi. People enjoyed the Borders and Barnes and Noble card for buying books, remove Agency Pricing and all the sudden you could have a e-book version of the discount card. Kobo does well with EPub readers because of its coupons, remove Agency pricing and now Kobo can sell DRM free Mobi books with the coupon.

Yes, Amazon can match a fair amount of that but I am sure there are ways of making it more challenging. Don't drop the price per book but bundle Stephen King novels and sell the set lower then Amazon does.

The problem here is this assumes that the competing bookstores stand on an even playing field when it comes to finances and being able to sustain losses on discounts. They don't. Sure, BN could do those types of bundles -and go bankrupt trying to sustain those discount schemes. A BIG reason why Amazon was able to dominate the market so much was because they could discount the price below break-even ,whereas other bookstores could not. At least , so say most business analysts.
Now that has changed a little. BN now has Microsoft as a sugar daddy, and Kobo has Rakuten. But most analysts think Amazon can and will out discount everybody-on non agency priced books.
Now Tor.com will offer agency priced books that Amazon can't discount. If Amazon wants to make money on those books, it will have to offer them at agency price + margin. Tor.com can just sell them at agency price.
Of course, if Amazon wants to be an SOB (and it so often does), it could just match Tor.com's price, and not make any money but maintain market share and deprive customer of a reason to go to Tor.com. Hold on folks, it will be a bumpy ride.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

If the books are DRM free you aren't locked in anyones garden.

Not everyone converts.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Not everyone converts.

And that's fine, but if the titles are DRM free they have that option and therefore aren't locked in, they can open the gate anytime they wish.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

However, on the current topic... I fully expect Tor's DRM-free store to fail. And then I expect it's failure to be trotted out as evidence that publishers responded to consumer cries for DRM-free books and then those same consumers wouldn't put their money where their mouth was.

As someone who is not impressed with Tor's pricing, especially with blacklist books and new releases, I don't expect to be buying more Tor books than I do now (which is very rarely). I know Scalzi's new book will be DRM-free, and sold at the usual ebook retailers, so it appears some or all of their ebooks will not be sold at an exclusive Tor ebookstore.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

If the books are DRM free you aren't locked in anyones garden.

The whole walled garden business is BS anyway. People are Amazon customers because they WANT to be Amazon customers, because they understand that Amazon offers a great retail experience. The format geeks and the anti DRMists who think that the chief reason that Amazon is retaining customers is through format and DRM lock-in are deluded, to put it mildly.

[BeccaPrice]

Originally Posted by stonetools

You wouldn't have to . Just go to Google.
The procedure.

1. Turn on the computer
2. Open a browser window.
3. Type favorite author's name into browser window.
4. Author's name, with link to publisher site comes up.
4.5 Separate out which is the author's blog, which are sites that simply mention the author, which are review sites, which are ads, and any other junk that comes up before the publisher's site comes up.
4.75 Click on lots of sites trying to find one with a buy button and the lowest price.
.
.
.

so unless the publishers refuse to sell to Amazon or any other aggregator, it's just a lot easier to go to megabooksite.com.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

And that's fine, but if the titles are DRM free they have that option and therefore aren't locked in, they can open the gate anytime they wish.

But not everyone wants to convert nor do they know how. They don't know about Calibre. You are assuming far too much. Sure a lot can convert and even strip DRM. But a lot cannot and do not. So if it's not sold in the native format needed, it won't sell to some.