drm protection

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I honestly don't know. Some good obviously or they would be out of business. And pbooks are still read although maybe not by us

I would not like to see the effect on global economy if all the publishers, printers, bookstores, and other industries that depend on pbook/newspaper/magazine publication and distribution go out of business. Major newspapers are already discussing shutting down the printing presses. Whole areas whose main industry is pulp and paper would be devasted.

I got an ebook reader because books aren't sold in the town I am currently in, and I am glad that I did, but it takes very little thought to realize the vast number of people whose livelyhood depends wholly or partially printed works distributed daily.
Bound to happen but hope it is a very gradual process.

Helen

There won't be any reason to get upset over the economy if we keep cutting down trees and destroying our forests so people can read the newspaper since we'll be more concerned with the lack of oxygen

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I would not like to see the effect on global economy if all the publishers, printers, bookstores, and other industries that depend on pbook/newspaper/magazine publication and distribution go out of business.

I'd be worried, but I'm still in mourning for the buggy whip manufacturers.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

There won't be any reason to get upset over the economy if we keep cutting down trees and destroying our forests so people can read the newspaper since we'll be more concerned with the lack of oxygen

Paper forests are sustained, it's companies like McDonalds clearing the rainforests that you really need to worry about.

[Robert22]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I honestly don't know. Some good obviously or they would be out of business. And pbooks are still read although maybe not by us

I would not like to see the effect on global economy if all the publishers, printers, bookstores, and other industries that depend on pbook/newspaper/magazine publication and distribution go out of business. Major newspapers are already discussing shutting down the printing presses. Whole areas whose main industry is pulp and paper would be devasted.

I got an ebook reader because books aren't sold in the town I am currently in, and I am glad that I did, but it takes very little thought to realize the vast number of people whose livelyhood depends wholly or partially printed works distributed daily.
Bound to happen but hope it is a very gradual process.

Helen

Thanks for responding Helen,

As technologies change, it's inevitable that some industries will dwindle and disappear as others spring up and take their place. The thing is, do you want to support (by paying much higher prices) for stuff that does nothing valuable and could even imped progress because fewer people can afford it? I don't mean to sound cold hearted. One of things that raises civilization in general is literacy, and I can't help but think that cheaper books are good for most everyone (but obviously not the publishers).

[SensualPoet]

Publishers -- and the eco-system they are a part of -- perform a vital role in bringing a steady stream of quality books to market. It is NOT enough to have a writer, an editor, a website and an ad to become a well-known author and have the ability to prosper.

It is true the publishing landscape is changing, particularly as the distribution system changes; the publisher's role and services provided will also change. I believe it is naive to consider the author/editor as the white hats and the publisher as the blood-sucking black hats ... few authors are good at the roles publishers provide and good publishers can help a good author become a great one.

[J. Strnad]

Well, one obvious factor is that your book is $2.99 at Amazon and Smashwords while it's priced at $3.96, $4.70 and $3.89 at the other retailers respectively

.

This is true now. The price reduction at Amazon and Smashwords is pretty recent, though. And BTW, it's only at these two outlets because I can deal directly with them and make the change. B&N and Kobo are through Smashwords. Still, I completely see your point!

Hey, Fbone...is your name a Don Martin reference?

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

.

Hey, Fbone...is your name a Don Martin reference?

Don Martin? The cartoonist?

If it makes for a funny story, then yes!

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Robert22

But when you decide to read a particular book, how often is your decision based on the fact that Random House is the publisher? You may partially base reading a book on a publisher if that publisher specializes in a genre that you like.

Not just genre, but quality & style within a genre. Even before I got involved with ebooks, I knew I could barely tolerate anything by Llewellyn but I needed to keep aware of their publications because they were going to be hot topics for discussion. I could trust Weiser to have accurate info in their books, and would be willing to try a new author published by New Falcon if the blurb was on a topic I had an interest in. Harper Collins published some feminist Pagan books that were pretty much top of their niche. New Page was... apparently stuff that couldn't get past Llewellyn's editors, and considering Llewellyn brought us the "ancient Irish potato goddess," that's a frightening concept. Capall Bann was the trustworthy UK publisher of Pagan/occult books; they weren't directly available in the US.

So why do we need publishers for ebooks again?

"Publishers" we probably don't need. We do need editors & promoters, and people sort among genre styles for very specific tastes.

"Mysteries" is a biiiig genre; a publisher (or whatever it winds up being called) could specialize in several types: closed suspects stories where everyone's on a train or a boat, or manhunts where suspects scatter across the country, or romance crossovers where the tensions build between one suspect and the mystery-solver, or thrillers where the focus is on the horrific acts as much as finding the person who commits them. A publisher's logo on the cover (or the download link) would let you know "all clues for this mystery will be given to you by halfway through the book so you can figure it out for yourself; no final-chapter secrets." Or "maybe they *won't* catch the bad guy; sometimes he gets away before they figure him out." Or maybe, "lots of clever, snappy dialogue, and no boring technical details; light fun reading only." Or it could mean "the historical details will be excruciatingly accurate."

A lot of readers aren't even aware of those kinds of conventions; they just know they like books in a couple of series, and tried something else by a Famous Author and didn't care for it.

*Someone* needs to do that level of fine sorting, and a lot of us would prefer to leave the task to someone else, rather than read a third of a random book before discovering it's not to our taste.

I knew I could enjoy anything by New Falcon, and was likely to cringe at anything by Llewellyn. There were exceptions--Llewellyn's published a handful of terrific books--but I could count on word-of-mouth to tell me about those, and otherwise bypass their whole catalog.

As self-publishing grows, we need more, not less, genre-sorting and filters. We don't need publishers to control access anymore, but we still need someone to say, "you there, don't waste your time with these--they're well-written, but you're probably not interested." I don't have time to read a sample of every new book released, not even in my favorite genres. I want *someone* to put them into categories.

For now? I read a lot of fanfic. That gets levels of categorical tagging that mainstream publishing doesn't even imagine.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Publishers -- and the eco-system they are a part of -- perform a vital role in bringing a steady stream of quality books to market. It is NOT enough to have a writer, an editor, a website and an ad to become a well-known author and have the ability to prosper.

It is true the publishing landscape is changing, particularly as the distribution system changes; the publisher's role and services provided will also change. I believe it is naive to consider the author/editor as the white hats and the publisher as the blood-sucking black hats ... few authors are good at the roles publishers provide and good publishers can help a good author become a great one.

I agree completely. If the landscape ever changes to the point that I need to leave my publisher behind, that will be a sad day. Not saying it couldn't happen, but I'd hate to see it.

Publishers help develop new writers and offer both editorial guidance and (to some degree) financial support. Something else publishers do is develop new editors. Do you think people are born knowing how to edit, or that they learn it in college? No, most good editors get to be that way by working at publishing houses that give them guidance and support, as well as authors. (Though they tend to be pretty stingy on the financial support; editors aren't paid well, as a rule.)

[J. Strnad]

Don Martin used the name "Fonebone" when he needed the name of a dentist or a demolition company or somesuch.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

[lost66615]

i bought a ebook with drm 30day to read so i took out the drm i say if you can buy a paperback you can read it any time with drm ebooks should be the same

[Worldwalker]

For example, Fonebone's Chair.

The problem I'm seeing, from a reader's point of view, is that instead of concentrating on developing great writers (and great editors), publishers are completely abnegating that role and concentrating solely on marketing. They don't care about polishing up diamonds in the rough; they don't have the time for that any more, apparently. Instead, they just want paste delivered ready to use, and they'll slot that into their planned marketing. The larger the publisher, it seems, the more likely they are to discard the idea of creating good books in favor of the idea of creating good buzz. Then they wonder why readers don't think we need publishers to tell us what's hot right now.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Don Martin used the name "Fonebone" when he needed the name of a dentist or a demolition company or somesuch.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

I've always read it as Fartbone, but that's probably because I'm from Yorkshire. It's what we call the coccyx.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

The problem I'm seeing, from a reader's point of view, is that instead of concentrating on developing great writers (and great editors), publishers are completely abnegating that role and concentrating solely on marketing. They don't care about polishing up diamonds in the rough; they don't have the time for that any more, apparently. Instead, they just want paste delivered ready to use, and they'll slot that into their planned marketing. The larger the publisher, it seems, the more likely they are to discard the idea of creating good books in favor of the idea of creating good buzz. Then they wonder why readers don't think we need publishers to tell us what's hot right now.

The publishers I know, and my experience is limited strictly to SF/F, do still care about working with authors to make better books. Still, I hear you about the apparent lack of care at times. I think there's always been, and always will be, an undefined category of books that are really just "product" to be marketed. It usually seems to be the big sellers, which are geared to the lowest common denominator (which is part of what makes them big sellers). That's always been a part of the publishing ecology: bestselling books (trashy or otherwise) make the big profits and enable publishers to take on riskier or less profitable books. Whether that part of the ecology will remain sustainable or not, I don't know.

[HamsterRage]

I'll give step by step instructions:

Buy one of Jeffrey Carver's books, and if it has DRM on it that you need to get rid of you can contact him and he'll send you a DRM-free version.