Quote:
Originally Posted by meeera
I do expect B&M shops to not spend time and money on useless security measures that inconvenience their customers and drive up prices.
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Having to wait in a checkout line far more inconveniences me than DRM.
Now, I have heard of the rare bookstore, perhaps located on an island, which keeps it's doors unlocked and operates in an overnight self-service mode. If it works, I think it's a tribute to the people of that island, rather than to the bookstore.
Going back to the Tor situation, Tor is an imprint -- a brand name -- of big five publisher Macmillan.
People who like science fiction and fantasy might be induced to look more favorably on a book just because it is Tor-branded. In that sense, being DRM-free probably helps give people a good feeling about that brand, and helps with sales.
Contrast Tor with another Macmillan imprint, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Because the content of Farrar, Straus and Giroux is so miscellaneous, no one is going to be influenced to read a book because it is from that imprint. So it makes sense to give Farrar, Straus and Giroux books the moderate protection which comes with DRM, even at the price of alienating an extremely tiny group of people who have brand awareness when reading a Farrar, Straus and Giroux title.
Or it could be that you Tor readers are just better people than Farrar, Straus and Giroux readers like yours truly. I have no evidence at all otherwise. But whatever the reasons , Macmillan is making a business decision, not a moral one, when it comes to which imprints will get DRM.
It's in our interests as readers that they make the right business decisions so they can have as strong an infrastructure as possible to produce the books we like best.