Tor, a MacMillan imprint going DRM free

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

Wow, the executives at those publishers that plan to direct sell to consumers must not realize how incredibly naive that is:

I believe I stated later in that thread that competing with Amazon was possible, but difficult. Maybe you didn't read that far.
If you had done a little more research , you would have found that I started a thread discussing how publishers might want to break Amazon's hold on the ebook retail market by direct marketing to consumers DRM free.
You would also find that I explained why publishers wanted DRM . That would take some research , though. Maybe you should try it.

[elcreative]

What a great thread... just wish some people would make their minds up... all over MR, we have preaching of the evils of DRM and now a major imprint is abolishing it - cries of joy and great celebration - not really, more moans and groans...

[ATimson]

I wonder if this is going to make a dent in their ebook sales over the next few months? I know there's a handful of titles that I was going to buy that are indefinitely postponed until this is in place...

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by stonetools

I believe I stated later in that thread that competing with Amazon was possible, but difficult. Maybe you didn't read that far.
If you had done a little more research , you would have found that I started a thread discussing how publishers might want to break Amazon's hold on the ebook retail market by direct marketing to consumers DRM free.
You would also find that I explained why publishers wanted DRM . That would take some research , though. Maybe you should try it.

My apologies, I must have been distracted by your usual condescending tone and worse grammar. Be advised though, in future I shall endeavor to hang off each of your carefully selected words in whatever fallacy laden post you decide to grace MobileReads with. I'm also going to take your advice on research and go back and read every one of your past posts so I can pick up the pearls of wisdom you've so graciously cast for unworthy swine, such as myself, to pick up and try (with my limited intelligence) to interpret.

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by CRussel

This will actually move me towards buying a few TOR books since I've essentially avoided them. The combination of over-priced plus DRM was just too annoying, so I kept my SF buying to Baen, primarily. Obviously, I'd like to see them move their prices more inline with Baen as well, but this is an important and much welcomed step. (And it's not that DRM kept me from doing what I needed to do with a book - Apprentice Alf took care of that - but it was the principle.)

Yeah, and Night Shade and all the cool little publishers that have sprung up and get tracked here.

[Blue Tyson]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

I remember years ago reading a lot of TOR books. Just like ACE books. Maybe that was before the internet and Amazon.

Well years ago they were a bit more cutting edge, too. More corporatised parent means editors have less choices quite likely.

[ATDrake]

Here's an interesting blogpost by Tor-published author Charles Stross, who, apparently, was consulted somewhat by the Tor/Macmillan people regarding this due to his earlier one about Amazon: More on DRM and ebooks

Last week's blog entry on Amazon's ebook strategy went around the net like a dose of rotavirus. And, as we can now see from Tor's ground-breaking announcement I was only just ahead of the curve: people at executive level inside Macmillan were already asking whether dropping DRM would be a good move. Last week they asked me to explain, in detail, just why I thought abandoning DRM on ebooks was a sensible strategy for a publisher. Turns out my blog entry on Amazon's business strategy didn't actually explain my full reasoning on DRM, so here it is.

I've really only read Stross' Penguin/Ace-published stuff, but when Tor goes DRM-free and has decent pricing, I think I'll have to try his alternate timeline-switching space opera merchant clan series.

[Blue Tyson]

Heh, well the first couple of those were Tor webscriptions way back when. They are pretty good.

[Iphinome]

*does the happy dance*

[TheSFReader]

And in the French, Spanish and Italian Kindle Stores, Amazon still doesn't display any ebook DRM status...
More about it on my blog :
Almost 6 months later, still no DRM indications on the FR/IT/SP Kindle stores

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

Wow, the executives at those publishers that plan to direct sell to consumers must not realize how incredibly naive that is:

I'm not sure the "naive" is the right word, but it would be a backward step to sell only direct to customers. The main reason I like to buy from Amazon is that it's a "one stop shop" for everything. I'm much less likely to buy a book if I have to take the trouble to go to a different site to buy it; I'd probably buy a different book from Amazon instead. If Tor decide to sell through their own site, that's great - as long as they also sell through the major eBookstores.

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not sure the "naive" is the right word, but it would be a backward step to sell only direct to customers. The main reason I like to buy from Amazon is that it's a "one stop shop" for everything. I'm much less likely to buy a book if I have to take the trouble to go to a different site to buy it; I'd probably buy a different book from Amazon instead. If Tor decide to sell through their own site, that's great - as long as they also sell through the major eBookstores.

I think the "naive" was tongue in cheek based on the context of the quote

It would be a step back to sell direct only because publishers are not and likely won't be for some time experts in retail. Retailers know their customers and likely spend (the good ones anyway) a lot of time working out exactly how high they can take a price to maximise their profits.

That said, having a direct outlet means at any time a publisher can turn around to a single store and say that the terms offered are unacceptable. the fact the books are DRM free means that stores customers can at least still get the books. I think it might (nothing is certain ) give the publishers a little more freedom to manoeuvre in the future.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JoeD

It would be a step back to sell direct only because publishers are not and likely won't be for some time experts in retail.

No, it would (for me, anyway) be a step backwards because I don't want to have to go to a different website to buy books from each different publisher. I like buying from a single bookstore which stocks books from ALL the publishers. It's a matter of convenience for the consumer.

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, it would (for me, anyway) be a step backwards because I don't want to have to go to a different website to buy books from each different publisher. I like buying from a single bookstore which stocks books from ALL the publishers. It's a matter of convenience for the consumer.

Yeah, that's an issue also.

BTW I was missing a comma in my original post, I meant it would be "a step back to sell direct only, because" I didn't mean it was the only reason but that only selling direct would be an issue because of that reason. Didn't notice til I read your response though

I do think publishers need to sell through other online stores as well as their own. Much like how pottermore could do with the books being purchasable via other stores without having to sign up for yet another account.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, it would (for me, anyway) be a step backwards because I don't want to have to go to a different website to buy books from each different publisher. I like buying from a single bookstore which stocks books from ALL the publishers. It's a matter of convenience for the consumer.

But would it be a step back, truly? If all the publishers got together to create a single website then it would still be one-stop shopping.