Quote:
Originally Posted by bhartman36
Of all the things on the list, the only one I have a strong opinion on is #10. I think he's dead on that DRM will still be with us at the end of 2011. I think he's wrong on the way the DRM problem will end, though.
I'm not a supporter of DRM. I wish it could go away. I'm just getting started with selling my writing, but nothing I've ever offered up for sale has had DRM on it. But my profits at this point can be measured in sacks of White Castle hamburgers -- and not those fancy large sacks, either. But if I had real money riding on my writing -- say, I was hoping that my writing could help pay the mortgage (or in my case, rent) each month -- I'm not sure I'd be so eager to have my stuff out there DRM-free. Even in the small circles I roll in, I've heard of two authors (one a family member) who've been blindsided by having their books appear on multiple pirate websites. I have no faith in my fellow man's ability to abide by the eighth commandment.
Publishers and authors will feel better about releasing DRM-free material when piracy subsides, not just when e-book sales pick up. Why? Because it's hard to be excited that 500 more of your books than last month were sold when 5,000 more of your books than last month were stolen. It only makes sense to be excited if sales go up without a similar rise in piracy. It's also not a fair comparison unless you track the same book DRM'ed and non-DRM'ed.
I don't know what the solution is, but I don't think immediately removing all DRM and calling piracy a boogeyman is it.
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Authors/Publishers who use DRM are loosing sales by default with those of us who don't want to fuss with it. Yet I've brought a fair few Smashwords titles and even though I know how, I haven't passed them around, uploaded them anywhere or done anything remotely close to pirating.
DRM treats everyone like a criminal, and for better or worse the culture of books most people are used too
doesn't equal a sale for every reader. In my family, my aunts, myself, my grandmother, my mother, we have enough books to start our own library branch. But a lot of them are second, third or even sixth hand. I've been a member of the local library since I was four. In HS the school library was so frequented by me that they started buying books I'd like because I ran out (I love those librarians) and I'm sure dozens of kids have read them since.
You're just not going to get a sale for everyone who wants to read it. You might even loose out as people become more aware of the downsides of DRM, and if they don't want to deal with the fuss of it especially if they decide to change devices down the track. Also, for those who do buy the book - plenty of information is easily found about cracking the locks and some of them you don't need to crack, there are other methods of getting the text out of a locked up book.