DRM Good or Bad?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Doctorow, who releases his works under Creative Commons, is doing fine.

But it's worth noting that Mr Doctorow essentially gives away his eBooks as a promotional vehicle to sell paper books. I doubt whether his business model would be viable were he to sell only eBooks.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But it's worth noting that Mr Doctorow essentially gives away his eBooks as a promotional vehicle to sell paper books. I doubt whether his business model would be viable were he to sell only eBooks.

Which is some evidence toward Elfwreck's argument that passing around free ebooks generates fans and future sales for the author.


As a consumer benefit, I should probably point out that Doctorow's free stuff showed me that I DIDN'T care for him, and will probably NOT spend money on him, but I'd have more ill will if I had had to spend money to learn that.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Where are the high sales numbers for any author whose works aren't pirated?

Is it mean of me to point out that it's so easy to pirate eBooks that if an author's work has not been pirated, the most likely reason is that the books are so bad that there's no wonder they're not selling?

Originally Posted by ApK

Which is some evidence toward Elfwreck's argument that passing around free ebooks generates fans and future sales for the author.

There's a famous interview with Neil Gaiman floating around on the internet, where he mentions that when he started giving away books for free without DRM, the sales numbers for his other books went up as a result. He apparently sees it as a form of book lending and free advertising.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Been hiding under that old rock during the last few days? We just had the Harry Potter ebooks come out without DRM, only protected by watermarking.

You got me there!
Truthfully, and I can add thankfully as well, I don't track Harry Potter. I tend to dismiss it out of hand though of course I did peruse one of the first books, and actually went to see a movie after a friend raved about it. The movie belongs in the Saturday morning kiddie group genre.

I can argue that DRM is in general for "protection of the product" and watermarking is an age old form of protection, and I suspect that something else is afoot, but I am not going to waste very much time on figuring out what this new Harry Potter move is about. I am sure the MR people will figure it out.

Still I was interested enough to look up when the books first came out, and found this in Wikipedia.
"Since the release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on 30 June 1997, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide.[2] The series has also had some share of criticism, including concern for the increasingly dark tone. As of June 2011, the book series has sold about 450 million copies, making it the best-selling books series in history and has been translated into 67 languages,[3][4] and the last four books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history."
They have been out starting about 15 years ago.

I do know that there were many complaints over the years that the book wasn't available legally as an eBook. Rowling preferring the old standard of dead trees, dust, mold and mildew and that slightly sweet spell. (oops, must have been Freudian, "sweet smell.")
She has made a few Billion on Harry Potter so perhaps now she is becoming altruistic like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

Perhaps this is a new marketing ploy designed to...? Time will tell.

So I will change my challenge to "Tell me of 10 significant authors that eschew DRM." (((... and I will spare the whole place ... Genesis 18)))

Or let me put it another more telling way. After my first Billion, I myself will eschew DRM. That is a pledge.

[JSWolf]

The problem is that a lot of authors are locked into a contract where they have no choice about the use of DRM. I don't think we'll see authors demanding no DRM until they get to renegotiate their contracts.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by frahse

So I will change my challenge to "Tell me of 10 significant authors that eschew DRM."

You have still to define "significant".

Is an other significant after she made billions of $? Or after he wrote something that changed a whole genre, even though he never earned that much money? Or would she be significant if she managed to aquire a loyal fanbase that buys all of her books? Or managed to become a small publisher and help aspiring authors to publish their books?

Also what JSWolf said. There might be authors who would gladly offer their books without DRM if they could since they know it's a nuisance and a slap in the faces of their honest customers and never doing anything to fight piracy or help sales.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by frahse

So I will change my challenge to "Tell me of 10 significant authors that eschew DRM." [I](((... and I will spare the whole place ... Genesis 18)))

As mentioned, you haven't defined "significant." Sold a million books? Made a million dollars? Won international awards? Is paid guest speaker at conventions? Is known and respected by everyone within a genre? Without criteria, I'm rather fishing here.

Where do you draw the line between "midlist author" and "significant author?"

1. J.K. Rowling, author of the book with the highest initial print run in history. (Deathly Hallows had a first run of over 12 million hardcovers.) Books recently released at Pottermore; watermarked epubs without DRM.

2) Harlan Ellison, with 11 Hugo awards, 3 Nebulas, and at least 5 "lifetime achievement" awards in various fields: Several books available as non-DRM'd multiformat at Fictionwise.

3) Lois McMaster Bujold, 4 Hugos, 2 Nebulas; 3 novels on the NYTimes Bestseller list; Vorkosigan series is available without DRM through Baen.

4) Diane Duane, author of the very popular YA "So You Want to Be a Wizard" series, several Star Trek novels, more than a dozen other books. Sells ebooks without DRM at her own site.

5) Cory Doctorow, whose Little Brother won four different awards, as mentioned, gives away ebooks for free to promote print sales; is willing to sell them at other sites but has been having problems finding commercial sites willing to accept Creative Commons releases that override their TOS.

6) Larry Niven, 5 Hugos and a Nebula, author of Ringworld, creator of the Kzinti and the Known Space 'verse which were added to Star Trek's animated universe, author of the short story "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex;" has many books available at Baen.

7) Joe Konrath, over 15 novels, a few dozen short stories; poster-boy for self-published ebookery. Probably not "significant" by most people's measures, except for the "made $140,000 in 30 days" details. Konrath proves (and says, over and over) that an author's success isn't measured by access to the NYTimes Bestseller list or prestigious literary awards.

8) Mark Waid. (Never heard of him, you say? He writes in fields where the author's name is in tiny text underneath the larger company logo and even larger series name.) He wrote "The Flash" comics for DC for 8 years; worked on many others; has a 25 year history in comic books. Publishes comics titles with Top Cow at DriveThruComics.com; starting his own digital comics site next week.

9) Maya Banks, award-winning romance author, sells through both Agency publishers and Samhain Publishing, which doesn't have DRM.

10) Victor J. Banis, who's been called the "godfather of modern popular gay fiction," publishes through MLR press and other LGBT-friendly companies without DRM.

[ignacio ferrer]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

1. J.K. Rowling, author of the book with the highest initial print run in history. (Deathly Hallows had a first run of over 12 million hardcovers.) Books recently released at Pottermore; watermarked epubs without DRM.

Which leads to the question: are watermarks better than DRM?

[HarryT]

Watermarks ARE a form of DRM.

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Watermarks ARE a form of DRM.

Perhaps, but they won't stop you lending or giving the book to someone else, unless I've got the wrong idea about a watermark.

[HarryT]

Very true, but they make a book traceable; they are very much a form of digital rights management. Watermarking is often referred to as "social DRM", in that it's a non- technological barrier to giving someone a copy of a book.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ignacio ferrer

Which leads to the question: are watermarks better than DRM?

Yes. (I won't quibble about whether they are or are not a form of DRM.)

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Very true, but they make a book traceable; they are very much a form of digital rights management. Watermarking is often referred to as "social DRM", in that it's a non- technological barrier to giving someone a copy of a book.

Yes I suppose it could be construed as such, but I think the main concern of most writers here is the physical restraints it places on a book.

[Freeshadow]

I'd quite welcome some watermark standard for epubs.
Even for doing private marks. Back in the old days things like these were not called social DRM but ex libris stamps.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

I'd quite welcome some watermark standard for epubs.
Even for doing private marks. Back in the old days things like these were not called social DRM but ex libris stamps.

Yes, exactly. I'd like a nice 'bookplate' in my ebooks, showing when, where and for how much I bought them.

Of course, watermarking isn't just the visible stuff. Apparently there's all kinds of clever stuff going on with file names and coding and tags and order of CSS and things.