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Old 06-19-2009, 11:29 PM   #8
Elfwreck
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
Hint for Tor: they can only compete with Baen if they sell DRM-free ebooks. (Why do I suspect the "headaches" involved in setting up an ebook store center around DRM, rather than site layout or payment security? Oh, maybe because those things matter for pbooks too, and apparently they think they've got those parts covered.)

For DRM'd ebooks, they're competing with BoB, Diesel, and to some extent, Fictionwise. (Am I supposed to mention Coolerbooks here, or can I ignore the one that can't even get its info to display properly, and the default settings often say the book you've selected isn't available?)

And all of those (except CB) have a solid following already, including in the F&SF niche markets. Although it'd be nice if new Tor books were available as ebooks, I don't have much faith in the future of an ebook store that has to publicly deal with complaints about bad DRM problems, in addition to any other negative feedback. (Bad formatting/OCR errors, etc. Which they won't have for new books, but if their backlist is made available, problems will pop up.)

With Tor.com's blog/forum interaction, every small hassle or problem with the store will be dragged to public view, analyzed intensely, and hauled away to other blogs for continued discussion when/if Tor decides it's no longer appropriate to host complaints on their own site. Without DRM, it's easy to say "here's the new version of the book--have fun." Or, "oops, that one's really not ready. Here, have a free substitute and/or store credit." With DRM, it's more complex than that... and DRM tends to carry with it more paranoia and suspicion that the customer is out to "scam" the business; the tone for dealing with complaints is different.
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