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There's an element of trust and risk in publishing in any form. I found this over decades in my former life at the sharp end of mass-read daily journalism. All things considered, what you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts.
A treebook can be scanned and copied almost as easily as an ebook (ask the admirable Project Gutenberg which employs the system legally and generously to great effect).
From a publisher's (and an author's and editor's) POV, I think DRM-free ebooks worth the risk for the good will it generates. As far as I know, our own policy has never been abused yet and print and ebook sales are in very good shape.
Bigger houses with blockbusters by brand-name authors may feel some cause to differ. But I ain't so sure.
The greatest recent publishing phenomena is, arguably, JKR's Harry Potter Books. She flatly refused to allow her publishers to offer ebook editions -- yet every single Potter tome was freely available for download from pirate sites within a day or two of hardback release, they swamped the marketplace before paperback releases of the titles.
Plainly these must have started as scans from the treebook pages. Plainly legitimate sales didn't suffer. I believe, though, JKR is now re-thinking her stance against ebooks and that there's a ready market of HONEST buyers awaiting them with bated breath.
It's all a matter of a little give and take. Give the honest customer all due respect and full right of ownership ... and take the risk. That's certainly what we've done and intend to continue doing.
If a book I want to buy carries DRM padlocks, that shouldn't matter to me because my English language books tend to be owner-use exclusive anyway ... but I do feel insulted by the implied lack of trust.
Cheers. Neil
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