Tor/Forge Books Announces DRM-Free E-book Store

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Terminate any other contracts with e-book retailers that restrict the retailer’s ability to set final prices for books or contain a “most favored nation” provision prohibiting price competition, as soon as possible;

But 'as soon as possible' will depend on the exit terms in the contract.
That could be a month, 3 months, who knows?

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

But 'as soon as possible' will depend on the exit terms in the contract.
That could be a month, 3 months, who knows?

True. It does seem to say that MFN clauses are on the way out, though. Remember , too, that Amazon will want those new contracts that allow them to discount as soon as possible.

[Quexos]

Great, now the next step is to announce region free ebooks and we are in business ... maybe.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Great, now the next step is to announce region free ebooks and we are in business ... maybe.

That's within the power of authors and their agents. The publishers would love to just override the rights of authors and publish books everywhere, without negotiating for the right to do so. Since I support author's rights, I'm against that.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Great, now the next step is to announce region free ebooks and we are in business ... maybe.

Not a complete solution, but this may be a step in the right direction...
http://www.mediabistro.com/appnewser...program_b23748

[Quexos]

And I support consumers' rights so I'm against what you are in favor of.
Well I don't mind that authors fight for their rights against publishers and agents but ultimately the consumer should be king ...
Which is in the author's interest too by the way.

Originally Posted by stonetools

That's within the power of authors and their agents. The publishers would love to just override the rights of authors and publish books everywhere, without negotiating for the right to do so. Since I support author's rights, I'm against that.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by stonetools

That's within the power of authors and their agents. The publishers would love to just override the rights of authors and publish books everywhere, without negotiating for the right to do so. Since I support author's rights, I'm against that.

It's kind of a catch 22. The author/agent wants to maximize the value of their pbook rights by selling them separately in the various regions of distribution, which is understandable. Often the publisher won't buy those print rights unless they also include the exclusive ebook rights for the region as well.

[stonetools]

I'm happy to discuss the issue of geo -restrictions, but let's do it in another thread.

[JSWolf]

So these new contracts with Amazon could have a clause that forces them to disclose sales information about eBooks sold. Then the DoJ would get to monitor Amazon to make sure they do not sell at a loss.

[GreenMonkey]

Bump

So I see now that Tor books are DRM free on the major sites:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/07/tor...e-now-drm-free

On Kobo's site in the search list view you can see "EPUB (DRM-free) which is cool.

On B&N's site you have to see the comment field on the individual book apparently:
"At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied."

On Amazon's site I'm not seeing the multiple devices lingo they used to have...? Is that gone?

Trying to find Tor books on the various sites:

I see on Kobo's site I can search by Imprint (on righthand side of any ebook view by clicking on it).

Other than that I am perusing the Tor Best Sellers list on Macmillan's site:

http://us.macmillan.com/tor/categori...Tor/TopSellers

Need to add a whole lot of ebooks to my wish list!! Support DRM-free publishers!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Quexos

And I support consumers' rights so I'm against what you are in favor of.
Well I don't mind that authors fight for their rights against publishers and agents but ultimately the consumer should be king ...
Which is in the author's interest too by the way.

You think that you, the consumer, should have more say over what an author chooses to do with his book than the author himself? He's the one who did all the hard work, not you. What have you done to give you any say at all in the matter?

[Blue Tyson]

Have a couple of Tor books from sales at Kobo - when I click on the book to view the description now I get :-

http://www.kobobooks.com/error.aspx?errortype=410

Can still download the DRMed edition in library though it seems. So wonder if can get them to switch them or not for the good version?


Oops!

This content has been deleted by its creator.

If you continue to receive this notification, please contact our Customer Care department for assistance:

Call 1-866-204-4714 (8am-12am EST)

Email: help@kobo.com (24 hours)

[Andrew H.]

Amazon also has the "At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied" language.

[JeffZ]

My previously purchased Tor books at Amazon still had the DRM, but they were updated to the DRM-free files after I emailed customer service.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You think that you, the consumer, should have more say over what an author chooses to do with his book than the author himself? He's the one who did all the hard work, not you. What have you done to give you any say at all in the matter?

Pay for it? Ever heard the old saying the Customer is always right? If you want to be successful selling stuff, that's what you have to do. Any barrier you put between your product and the customer means a potential lost sale. I know there are a lot of artists who think they are above all that and that the adoring fans should bow to their every whim, but then again, that's why the phrase "starving artists" came about.