Kindle store: Indies avoid DRM to reach wider audience

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Not a lost sale but it probably is a (technical) copyright violation.
To some people "free" = "PD", "freely redistributable", etc.
And, unless explicitly stated, it isn't.
Most free ebook promotions are only "free to you, today".

DRM'ing (in-copyright) freebies can drive that home without having to preach. Kinda elegant, actually.

It probably is a violation and even though I say something in the copyright about "buying" your own copy and no redistribution no one really reads those things anyway. I don't think readers who "share" books care or realize they are in violation. They see it as them doing someone else a favor. They are merely giving their friends something they enjoyed. Most don't have any idea that "starving artist" applies to authors.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I've posted before on these topics to say, "I'm a writer and NO ONE has ever asked me about DRM. They don't ask me whether I have it, have never complained, etc." Well, recently I made a couple of my short stories free on kobobooks. Lo! Behold! Someone actually wrote me and mentioned that one of the stories had DRM and did I mean to use it.

I explained to the reader that I have put it on about half my books (really as an experiment). For a freebie, I don't want people emailing the book (or any other book come to think of it) because it affects visibility. If people email the copy, I don't get the visibility at the vendors, and visibility is highly coveted by any writer.

At any rate, I removed the DRM from the freebie since there was a request (after some 5 years of doing this)! I have no real beef with or without DRM. The reader didn't either and seemed to have a very good understanding of why it was important for fans to download from the vendor sites.

I can see why DRM may be more of a conundrum for those who only publish in electronic formats.

If the book is published in paper than the person can always buy the paper copy if they are strongly against DRM.

Of course there are many who want, even demand, the easy transferability of the paper copy and the convenience of an ebook whatever the cost to the author

Helen

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I've posted before on these topics to say, "I'm a writer and NO ONE has ever asked me about DRM. They don't ask me whether I have it, have never complained, etc."

To be honest, I suspect that people who know about DRM don't care. This could be because they remove it without giving it any thought (the Calibre plugins will do it automagically when you add a book), or they know the issues and they've decided that they aren't relevant to them. People who don't know about DRM won't know to complain. In either case, you're unlikely to get anyone complaining.

I have no real data to back this up, it's based on anecdotal evidence, but that's my theory, for what it's worth.

Originally Posted by John Carroll

As an author, my biggest concern is that my readers can read my books as easily as possible. Therefore, I never add DRM, always allow lending, allow sampling and allow libraries to get my books at the same price as everyone else.

Same here, for more-or-less the same reasons. I do think the idea of DRM-ing a freebie is an interesting idea, though.

[BearMountainBooks]

The kicker for me is that I do get asked fairly frequently "how do I email a book to a friend?" Sometimes it is in reference to my own books and other times it's just because I have a book blog. Sometimes it's on a forum. The point being, a lot of people don't realize they aren't supposed to do it. So there are inadvertent copies being emailed when people don't stop to think. They feel they own it and decide to give it to a friend. Same as they used to do with a paperback. Only they aren't going to remember 6 months from now that they already gave it away once. So they can end up doing it multiple times and it's all just inadvertent unless someone points out they aren't supposed to do it (or it has DRM and it then requires more than drag and drop).

Shrug. I have no idea if DRM has helped or hurt my sales. None. I kind of suspect that it doesn't matter to most people for exactly the reasons you state. Those who care get rid of it. Those who don't know about it, don't care about it.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

It probably is a violation and even though I say something in the copyright about "buying" your own copy and no redistribution no one really reads those things anyway. I don't think readers who "share" books care or realize they are in violation. They see it as them doing someone else a favor. They are merely giving their friends something they enjoyed. Most don't have any idea that "starving artist" applies to authors.

I don't think most people realize the true cost of this type of favor doing.

If someone gets a book from Cousin Gertie, and mentions it to their mother who has been wanting to read this book then probably they would give her a copy. Mum mentions it to a friend or 6 in the daughter one-upmanship game and soon they all have copies. One mum says to her daughter look at the book I just got on my ereader/computer from Janice's mum. Why don't you give me any ebooks. Daughter looks at book and says wow, that is what our next book club selection is. Gimmee Gimmee, then we won't have to buy it.

You can't do this with a paper book although many have been scanned and pirated. Without DRM I think the cost of inadvertent unpaid for distribution could be higher than direct piracy and without a shred of guilt being felt.

I have had people I barely know mail me ebooks. I'm afraid I don't give them a lecture, mostly I just don't say thanks, and when asked tell them they might get in trouble, but I don't try and get past the blank look.

And I do share my books with my mother. Same kindle account, same Adobe ID and when she visits for a bit she generally leaves her reader behind and uses one of mine. Pretty legitimate AFAIK but some may disagree. I did get asked by her to send a book to a friend of hers and told her why it wouldn't work on their reader. I could have sent it without DRM, but didn't. Lucky for me my mother and her friend are fast approaching 90 so that was the end of that.

To reiterate, the vast majority of people are used to sharing links, lending paper books, and just do not see the larger picture. Good guy book sharing is kind of like pyramid sales, except the pyramid starts at the top and the base just keeps getting wider. Gertie buys a book on Friday, 3 more people have it on Saturday,9 on Sunday, 27 on Monday and 81 on Tuesday, 243 on Wednesday, 6561, 19683, 59409 etc. Around 80,000 copies total in 8 days and that is assuming no one has more than 3 friends

Helen

[BearMountainBooks]

Helen, that's exactly what I see when I talk about the discussions on the forums. Newbies ask the question all the time. BECAUSE of DRM they tend to learn that they can't do it and WHY. They usually understand and very few complain. Most "get" it. But their instinct is to share it.

I don't personally have an issue with family members 'passing' books around. For that matter, if a person wanted to lend a book once and understood and somehow marked it that way, I wouldn't care if it was their friend down the street. Human nature, being what it is, means that people aren't going to remember they lent it once. Or twice. Or three times. And if they don't think twice about it, then that one book, if it's well-liked, is suddenly "lent" or given away...just as you describe.

And it isn't that authors are mean or greedy. Whether we are traditionally published or indie published we make very little per copy. And we need to eat every day. So even if we have a great month or two, it turns out we want to eat on month three as well.

Most writers have more than one job. I don't expect the reader to know or care about that fact, but the DRM does seem to keep the accidental lending and sharing down a bit. Because for a lot of writers, if we don't make enough money at it, we can't keep writing. Some of my very favorite writers stopped writing because there really are more financially rewarding careers.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Some of my very favorite writers stopped writing because there really are more financially rewarding careers.

Like streetsweeping or bus driving

Personally, I think that without the currently slightly inconvenient DRM there
would be very few 'popular' ebooks published.

And of course authors have a choice, as do people who buy the books. The fact that the majority of visibly financially successful authors and publishers opt in seems to indicate that they have made a decision and feel that they are gaining by it or losing less. A bit harder for the smaller (sales wise) authors and publishers. Kind of a guessing game and hoping that you are making the right decision.

I read posts all the time saying that people hate DRM because they fear that they may not be able to transfer their books to another reader. It is far more important to them to be able to read the same book well into infinity, then to keep the author who wrote that book wanting to write more books. A book in the hand is more important to them than the book in the authors mind. Me I want the next book and the next and the next.

Sometimes I think books are overpriced (compared to all the other books) so I don't buy them. Same with cheeseburgers Damn that cheeseburger DRM anyway. I've never manage to successfully lend a cheese burger and get anything back but a greasy wrapper.

Helen

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

And I do share my books with my mother. Same kindle account, same Adobe ID and when she visits for a bit she generally leaves her reader behind and uses one of mine. Pretty legitimate AFAIK but some may disagree.

Helen

Why would they?
That is exactly why Amazon lets you have 6 *active* reading devices per account. Sharing books within the immediate family is part of the expected usage pattern.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Why would they?
That is exactly why Amazon lets you have 6 *active* reading devices per account. Sharing books within the immediate family is part of the expected usage pattern.

Well, it is an arbitrary number that AMAZON decided upon--without consulting authors, publishers or copyright. They sort of invented that license. Now I happen to think it's reasonable, but the reality is that it probably should be up to the author. Then again, once we decide to sell on a retailer's site, we are essentially agreeing to partner with them and we have some obligation to help that retailer be a better retailer and maintain sales. Part of that responsibility to ourselves and our partner retailers is to make sure the reader experience is a good one. We all need to make sure the customer finds value in the produce and is happy with it--so they come back for more.

[BearMountainBooks]

Helen, as soon as you figure out the cheeseburger lending, do let me know. I think it would go a long way towards solving my other financial problems, because if I could have my cheeseburger and lend it too, I'd have solved the whole "Food budget" issue. I'd just lend my cheeseburger to my husband and we'd both be full!

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Why would they?
That is exactly why Amazon lets you have 6 *active* reading devices per account. Sharing books within the immediate family is part of the expected usage pattern.

And yet many demand more

But in fairness, most people I encounter who buy ebooks or borrow from the library are not unduly bothered by DRM or even slightly bothered by it. For the most part the general feeling is this is great. I can buy a book, or borrow from the library or download a freebie. Why wasn't this invented 30 or 50 years ago

For every person who feels downtrodden because they cannot sell or share their used ebooks there Is probably one who says let them just buy it like I did. So authors probably lose only half their revenue. A mere 91 million for James Patterson last year, but a guy or gal who makes $10- $20,000 a year probably misses the other potential $10-$20,000 more



Helen

[BearMountainBooks]

You are a wise woman, Helen. And funny too. :>)

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Helen, as soon as you figure out the cheeseburger lending, do let me know. I think it would go a long way towards solving my other financial problems, because if I could have my cheeseburger and lend it too, I'd have solved the whole "Food budget" issue. I'd just lend my cheeseburger to my husband and we'd both be full!

Reminds me of a short story about a guy who invented time travel, but it would only work for one date around 60 years ago. He declared himself a failure, and meanwhile his wife was using the time travel machine to go back to that day and buy her groceries. paradoxes abound but what an inflation fighter.

Helen

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Sregener

Yet. The day will come when the publishers insist that being able to examine the content of hard drives is necessary to enforce their copyright and some lawyer will create a compelling enough case that a technologically-ignorant judge will grant it.

If the government can already examine many aspects of your life without your permission and without a legitimate court order (kangaroo courts need not apply), what makes you think your hard drive is sacred?

Maybe it's not sacred, but if the above comes true, I'll use an external drive as main mass storage, and set up a firewall rule in my router to keep the computer off-line. It will only be online when updating software, maybe once a month or so. At the moment the computer is updating, the external drive will be turned off or maybe even disconnected. Apart from that, there will be multiple backups.

All online activity will be done through a Linux virtual machine, which will have its own IP on the network. Actually, I'm thinking about starting to do just that.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Reminds me of a short story about a guy who invented time travel, but it would only work for one date around 60 years ago. He declared himself a failure, and meanwhile his wife was using the time travel machine to go back to that day and buy her groceries. paradoxes abound but what an inflation fighter.

Helen

See. I knew you were wise and funny! You remember the good stuff.