Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
The problem is that, I suspect, you have no data as to what the effect is on sales.
|
Such data doesn't really exist--no matter which side of the argument one comes down on. No one can know what they can't know. We have publishers who
believe DRM is absolutely necessary to protect sales and we have publishers whose data seems to support the idea that going DRM-free has not harmed their "overall sales" (compared to an imaginary number that they believe their current sales should be comparable to).
But that data, and that data's "effect on sales" isn't as relevant as many would have us to believe. If there are
enough sales, then there are enough sales. That's the salient point. Piracy numbers are irrelevant to whether or not your (the publisher's) book(s) are generating enough sales to be sustainable.
The only real quantifiable data concerning DRM's effect on the industry is the fact that it costs money/resources to add and/or license it. And the fact that it (the encryption kind that restricts the customer's use of the file) pisses some (potential) customers off and inconveniences them. The rest is conjecture that we
can't know (until we see if the industry can indeed continue without it--just as it did with other industries who were entirely convinced it couldn't
possibly).