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Do you have any evidence that DRM has improved business--has removing DRM hurt sales, or has adding DRM increased sales?
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Do you have any evidence that non DRM books would not have sold more if they had DRM?
I can ask questions too.
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There's wild speculation about how removing DRM *could* result in mass file-sharing that kills incomes--but that's not how DRM removal has worked in any other part of the industry, or other industries, that have tried it.
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Funny I remember a lot of piracy/casual sharing of non DRM music files after 1997. THat was the very reason music companies instituted DRM- to try to stop that. Now it didn't work because the horse was out of the barn by the time it was tried- but casual sharing/piracy most definitely hurt the industry as even an anti DRM study had to admit. That's evidence.
NOw you pretty much admitted above that you expect large scale casual sharing to follow the abandonment of DRM. You also argue that casual sharing is fine for obscure auithors and pass over in silence its likely effects on best selling authors. Finally, you admit that only significant success of non DRM publishing has been a single publisher offering fiction in one genre, a speciality non fiction house plus a few indie authors. If you think that's evidence enough to risk the future of publishing industry, fine. I don't-and the folks with actual skin in the game don't either. It's easy for some guy on the Innternetto commit the livelihoods of millions in the publishing industry to gamble. Not so easy for the people in the industry .