Comments on: Managing Digital Rights, Part 2

By: Digital Rights Management — A Wrinkle or An Opportunity | Agência de Notícias da Livraria 30PorCento (Blog)

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:09:40 +0000

[...] past few weeks, we’ve been talking about Digital Rights Management (“DRM”), and the diversity of comments have been fascinating. I still do not believe DRM prevents or slows piracy*. Add to this fact that public perception of [...]

By: Sean Cranbury

Sean Cranbury — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:09:13 +0000

Hey Kassia

Great summary of many of the treads in the DRM discussion. It’s plain to see that there’s many passionate view points here and there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution.

I am an advocate for every publishers/writer making the decision that best suits their wants/needs.

Some readers have already made the switch to reading predominantly on electronic devices, some will never move in that directions, others will double dip.

So long as people are making informed decisions and are aware of the risks of device lock-in, the leveraging power of P2P sites and the ineffectiveness of DRM then get out there and lock up your files, charge whatever price you want and maximize your investment.

Nobody really cares what decision you make re: pricing or DRM.

Well… that’s not 100% true. Let me put it another way.

The informed customer cares. And the informed customer might just love your product so much that they’ll shrug off the DRM and pay full print cost price for your infinitely replicable superabundant digital file that you’ve tagged to the same pricing model as the finite 5000 copy print run edition of the same book.

Hey, those customers have to exist somewhere, right? Anything is possible.

But there’s also – just so that everyone’s aware of this – another kind of informed customer.

The person who knows that you’re device specific proprietary ebook format DRM is repugnant and embarrassing to be associated with. Who knows that the economics of infinite replication make your digital file worth substantially less than its printed counterpart and who feels that any publisher who locks their content up is not really interested in unleashing the power of their writers and their writers’ ideas.

That person also knows that if the writers’ ideas in question – the one’s locked up behind the flimsy wall of DRM solutions – are actually relevant to the time and worth sharing, then they’ll be available for free on file sharing sites.

And the physical 3 dimensional versions of these books will continue to sell.

By: Mags

Mags — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:04:03 +0000

@Kassia: @perry — I’m not sure what “real book sales” are, and I’m not sure it ever followed that the purchase of an ebook would result in the purchase of a physical book.

I think he means the authors who give away free electronic copies of their books to drive sales of the physical copies of the book. It’s been successful for some authors but I think will be less so as readers begin to be more e-oriented, and prefer the electronic copy of the book to the physical copy. I’m already there.

By: Stan Scott

Stan Scott — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:57:14 +0000

Interesting points here. Kassia, I was thinking about the point you made about adding more value to a book. There are some interesting possibilities here:

Books could come with some update period — for nonfiction, the “best” of anything, or statistics, go out of date once they’re printed.

Some time after initial “publication”, something juicy (excerpt of upcoming work) could be added to the file. Owners could then update their copies, but not “loan-outs”.

Since this is a hypertext medium, add links to places to get more information, or pictures, again updatable for…a year?

@eric is right when he notes that people aren’t lending books around anymore. I read a book, stuff it somewhere, find it again when I’m looking for books to donate.

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:29:15 +0000

@perry — I’m not sure what “real book sales” are, and I’m not sure it ever followed that the purchase of an ebook would result in the purchase of a physical book. Though, to be honest, I see many scenarios where I would want two versions (I use the example of a cookbook quite often).

What DRM often does is tie the book purchase to the retailer. That’s how Apple and iTunes have been so successful. Of course, they gave consumers a device and experience that matched the consumer needs. When Amazon introduced the Kindle, that was the model they emulated. Barnes & Noble appears to be going for a more open approach — and that very well might engender increased consumer loyalty, especially if they make smart decisions about decoupling the device and purchase. Many, many people are watching this space.

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:24:31 +0000

@eric — it’s not five copies, it’s five devices (or however many are defined by the publisher). I know this seems like a lot on the surface, but it’s really not. For example, I have a Kindle, an iPhone, and a laptop. I also allow my husband to access my Kindle purchases via his iPhone and laptop (I think we can agree that sharing books with spouses is a legal and fair use). That’s five devices. This allows me to read under varying circumstances — given that I travel a lot, this is a good thing for me — but should I upgrade or get a new device, I could lose access to some of the books I’ve purchased. Oh yes, I could try to contact Amazon and go through a lot of bureaucracy to get to my books, but, if we are buying into the myth that these books are purchased by me, why should I have to go through any hassle?

The other issue here is that the DRM employed by Amazon ties me to the Kindle. Yes, there are ways to break it and port books, but that means I’ll end up breaking at least one law and wasting a lot of time. So if I choose to move to the Nook or Sony Reader, guess what? I have to rebuy my library.

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:15:51 +0000

@Mark — You use a good example, but (because I have the soul of a contrarian) I see this a bit differently. Camtasia knows you need to test features on the software before making an investment (this is smart business, and I know I’ve made many purchases after testing…likewise, I’ve decided a product isn’t right for me). So they entrust you with the entire software package, but only allow you access a bit of it. Again, good. You decided it was worth buying and paid — though, as you acknowledge, finding a key online is (regretably) very easy. I think you reacted the way *most* people would. Not only was paying the easiest solution, it was your natural inclination.

I am going to throw a wrench into this conversation after I respond to everyone — haven’t decided if it’s a new post entirely or just a comment. Thinking of new post…

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:04:10 +0000

@t. moore — there is plenty of evidence that free leads to sales, but, as with any marketing model, “free” is an art form. Pricing, I suspect, will also be an art form. I do believe that the case for expensive ebooks is not being made well (or even at all) by publishers, and the lack of public discussion does harm the value perception. When a reader says something about “dirt cheap”, I’d wonder why that attitude/philosophy exists — what does @joseph mean by this? Why does he think this is the right price point?

I’m not sure you, as an author, can make the all the business decisions you need to make without a clear understanding of what the consumer wants/needs/expects. Likewise, I’m not sure Joseph has full insight into your side of the story — there are many misconceptions about ebooks, including the trope that they’re “free” to produce (nope!), and a lot of the conversation about costs are industry directed, not outward directed.

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:40:29 +0000

@joseph — I think you’re veering closer to the rental model than the purchase model, and there is room for both. Actually, the “slots” idea is how O’Reily’s Safari system works. We largely access the subscription side of the business, but they have a variety of access/purchase/print options. While I think $2 for a purchase is a bit low, it may not be the wrong price for short-term rental. I am waiting for new models to emerge. I know they’re coming.

By: Perry Brass

Perry Brass — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:14:51 +0000

So basically, I gather, DRM is another term for the big dinosaurs still get to make all the money: they can play in these woods. Kindle still has the advantage of an early start, and amazing sales. They also discount books so deeply that as an author/publisher who sells on Kindle, I have no idea what a book will actually sell for, and how much “royalty” I’ll make on the book. Also, I had this strange idea that digital books would eventually lead to “real” book sales. That people would say,
“Gee, I’d like to have this book in a real form so I can feel it, write in the margins, leaf through it in the john, etc.” That is an illusion. So what publishers will find is that digital books will make old-school publishing, a time and labor intensive operation, impossible, because their profit margins will be cut to hell. The only good thing is that it can keep a book “in print” forever, with no sweat on anyone’s brow. As long as Amazon and B & N and Smashwords can pay their server’s cost, your books will be out there, along with hieroglyphics.