Quote:
Originally Posted by frahse
Good luck selling that here on Mobileread.
the strangest thing about this anti-DRM Mobileread group is that most think that the great majority of book buyers think exactly as they do and also are as fanatic about it so as to take action. There is no real sense of proportion. I would guess that the real fervent anti-DRM attitudes, habits and actions account for no more than 5% of eBook customers and probably is much closer to 1%. Even less.
DRM allows us the luxury where 95 to 99% of people cannot email their books to their friends.
Now I understand some authors, who feel the same way as we do, not standing up and being counted because they might also get pounded.
I don't give out my personal information for that reason. I don't want to become a "cause celebre" I don't want to chance even a 1/4 percent reduction in the bottom line.
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I'm not trying to sell my point of view (just my books really) but I agree--despite the rather large number of people here who post about DRM... actual people who don't buy books with DRM is very, very small. Actual people who are even CONCERNED about DRM is small from what I've seen in practice and in other forums. I took a lot of the advice to heart here when I first read and joined, but that doesn't mean I shut my eyes. I watched other authors, sales, trends and so on. The vast majority of people (and some of the other forums have very educated, techie participants) don't care about DRM. It doesn't stop them from buying. They don't even regard it as a nuisance.
I've never bought the argument that pirating help exposure and I've read all kinds of things about that topic too. After observation, it appears to me that pirating helps the pirate sites gain an audience and helps those who download free stuff get free stuff. It doesn't result in word of mouth sales, reviews or very many future purchases (some people may buy other books from that author, others will just download the next from the pirate site.) Again I come back to--there is simply no reason to leave off DRM and there is no reason for me to want my books to be pirated.
I've talked to enough people who pirate music to glean that the vast majority of them who download pirated music do it on a regular basis. It becomes a habit. They may also purchase music, but the music they buy versus just "grab a copy to see if I like it" does not usually mean they then go buy the legit copy.
But again, I'm not really trying to convince anyone. Just noting that the patterns I've seen have not convinced me that avoiding DRM on my books has helped sales in any way. Those authors who applied it and always have--they're selling based on the work and it doesn't seem to have hurt their sales. The ONLY complaint any of them report is when they are Amazon exclusive--and that has little to do with DRM--the buyer wants to be able to buy it right from B&N or whichever retailer. DRM is not mentioned because usually the buyer doesn't know whether it has been applied or not.
So in the end, when it comes to buying a work...it seems to me the actual product matters (do I want that book), where it is sold (whether it is sold where that person shops) and the price matter far more than DRM to the vast majority of buyers.