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rhadin · 02-11-2010, 10:31 AM

Let me once again address geo restrictions.

First, I am not a publisher, I am an editor.
Second, I live in the U.S. and have never found geo restrictions to be a problem so I didn't think of them.
Third, even had I thought of geo restrictions, I would not have included it in this poll because it is not something I am interested in at this time.
Fourth, the problems queried about are problems that a publisher can resolve; geo restrictions are not resolvable unilaterally by a publisher.
Fifth, there seems to be a real lack of knowledge about geo restrictions on MobileRead. This is not solely a publisher problem -- geo restrictions are an primarily an author/agent problem. Authors and their agents sell rights to publishers. They rarely sell worldwide rights because few publishers are capable of distributing physical books worldwide. eBooks are not inseparable from pbooks. No publisher today is willing to purchase only pbook rights and leave the ebook market to someone else. Consequently, until authors and their agents are willing to sell worldwide rights to a single publisher, it is unlikely that geo restrictions will disappear.
Sixth, the reason why authors and their agents do not sell worldwide rights is that they can get more money by selling geo-restricted rights and reselling rights to additional publishers in other geographical areas. For a single publisher to purchase worldwide rights would mean an increase in costs to the publisher. To distribute worldwide would also mean an increase in costs. An increase in costs will mean an increase in retail price.
Seventh, without having purchased worldwide rights, a publisher cannot wave a magic wand and suddenly do away with geographical restrictions. OTOH, a publisher can unilaterally choose to remove DRM, have a book edited, fix formatting problems.
Eighth, the poll asks specifically "which of the following" -- it does not ask "of all the possiblities that you can think of". So this is a relative poll, not an all-encompassing poll. There are lots of possibilities that are not included, such as that someone's allowance isn't big enough to allow them to purchase an ebook and that someone only reads freebies from Mobile Read.

02-11-2010, 10:31 AM	#43
rhadin Literacy = Understanding Posts: 4,833 Karma: 59674358 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: The World of Books Device: Nook, Nook Tablet	Let me once again address geo restrictions. First, I am not a publisher, I am an editor. Second, I live in the U.S. and have never found geo restrictions to be a problem so I didn't think of them. Third, even had I thought of geo restrictions, I would not have included it in this poll because it is not something I am interested in at this time. Fourth, the problems queried about are problems that a publisher can resolve; geo restrictions are not resolvable unilaterally by a publisher. Fifth, there seems to be a real lack of knowledge about geo restrictions on MobileRead. This is not solely a publisher problem -- geo restrictions are an primarily an author/agent problem. Authors and their agents sell rights to publishers. They rarely sell worldwide rights because few publishers are capable of distributing physical books worldwide. eBooks are not inseparable from pbooks. No publisher today is willing to purchase only pbook rights and leave the ebook market to someone else. Consequently, until authors and their agents are willing to sell worldwide rights to a single publisher, it is unlikely that geo restrictions will disappear. Sixth, the reason why authors and their agents do not sell worldwide rights is that they can get more money by selling geo-restricted rights and reselling rights to additional publishers in other geographical areas. For a single publisher to purchase worldwide rights would mean an increase in costs to the publisher. To distribute worldwide would also mean an increase in costs. An increase in costs will mean an increase in retail price. Seventh, without having purchased worldwide rights, a publisher cannot wave a magic wand and suddenly do away with geographical restrictions. OTOH, a publisher can unilaterally choose to remove DRM, have a book edited, fix formatting problems. Eighth, the poll asks specifically "which of the following" -- it does not ask "of all the possiblities that you can think of". So this is a relative poll, not an all-encompassing poll. There are lots of possibilities that are not included, such as that someone's allowance isn't big enough to allow them to purchase an ebook and that someone only reads freebies from Mobile Read.