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How about this: Ditch DRM, and let a buyer enter an owner name at purchase. Put in the book a note, "This books belongs to [name]. If this isn't you, and you enjoyed the book, please consider buying your own copy to support the author", and ALLOW people casual sharing with family and friends.
The TOS now forbidding sharing books with ANYONE is ridiculous. Letting your husband read a book you bought goes against the letter of Amazon TOS. Really. Read them with your common sense switched off, just taking in the content.
Just as ridiculous is the idea that someone lending their book to someone else must be a lost sale, and nothing else. They might be a won reader.
Someone who never heard of the author and read a book after a friend let them read it for free might start buying books by that author.
How many books could you sell to someone who never read at all until they gave in to a friend's "here, I'm sure you'll love it, go on, try!" while pressing a book on them?
Publishers should stop only worrying about getting as large a piece of the cake as possible, and try enlarging the cake.
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