How Publishers Are Cutting Their Own Throats With eBook DRM

An anonymous reader writes "Sci-fi author Charlie Stross has written a post about how the Big Six book publishing companies have painted themselves into a corner in the rapidly growing ebook industry. Between user-unfriendly DRM and the Amazon juggernaut, they're slowly pushing themselves out of business. Quoting: 'Until 2008, ebooks were a tiny market segment, under 1% and easily overlooked; but in 2009 ebook sales began to rise exponentially, and ebooks now account for over 20% of all fiction sales. In some areas ebooks are up to 40% of the market and rising rapidly. (I am not making that last figure up: I'm speaking from my own sales figures.) And Amazon have got 80% of the ebook retail market. ... the Big Six's pig-headed insistence on DRM on ebooks is handing Amazon a stick with which to beat them harder. DRM on ebooks gives Amazon a great tool for locking ebook customers into the Kindle platform.'"

Comments

Can they invent a new model now?

[RobinEggs]

I really hope publishers cave in and figure out a way of pricing things better.

I think I should be spending more on entertainment; I'm starting to feel much guiltier about stealing everything but comic books, occasional paperbacks, and the three video games per decade I like enough to buy a collector's edition.

At the same time, the release prices for entertainment are completely batshit crazy. Games are $60, books are $35, and movies are $12? Who can afford that crap? Those prices all fall pretty quickly, but can't they come up with a better model than fleecing their most eager customers and then doling it out one step at a time to the next most impressive or convenient formats?

I don't know; maybe they can't. I just know I laugh when I see those numbers breakdowns, and I've seen them from official sources multiple times, in which publishers swear to God they only make a 1% profit.

Re:I hate DRM.

[Guspaz]

Most of my eBook purchases are from Baen. Cheap prices, free books, any format you could want, and no DRM? What's not to like?

For those who are curious about the "free books" part, Jim Baen and his authors discovered that giving away the first book or two in a series actually increased sales, and ended up putting a huge number of their books up for free download. And by "free" I mean "just like ones you pay for, DRM-free in all formats." Their free library's site can be found here:

http://www.baen.com/library/default.asp

And the books themselves can be downloaded from here (and also indirectly at the above link):

http://www.webscription.net/c-1-free-library.aspx

This sort of behaviour from content creators and publishers should be rewarded, so go check out some of the free books. There's so many to choose from, from so many authors, you're bound to find something you like! And if this post reads like an advertisement, well, I think they deserve it.

...very few ways to deviate?

[nurb432]

Umm any non DRM book + calibre = kindle e-book.. pretty easy process.

As far as the publishers 'becoming more aware', they really don't care. If you want the books they own the rights to, soon you will either do as you are told, or pirate it.

Re:...very few ways to deviate?

[tkrotchko]

No it does not. Only Amazon's books. You are free to load whatever books you want, and Calibre is a great tool to do it.

Re:Not sure DRM is the biggest issue at the moment

[Guspaz]

Not all eBooks are so expensive. Baen prices theirs at mostly $4 to $6, with a whole lot for $0. Yes, their ARCs (advanced reader copies) are $15, but those are a special case for hardcore fans (basically pre-release manuscripts direct from the author before they've been edited), and if you don't want to pay the $15, just wait for it to get edited and published and the cost will be in the $4-6 range as expected.

Re:It is astonishing that they didn't foresee this

[badbart]

Amazon's ebooks only work on amazon hardware.

Not entirely accurate--one of the things I like best about ebooks from Amazon is that I can (and do) read them on the Kindle, my phones, and my computers. The Kindle app is available for just about everything, and syncs between devices so I can pick up on one where I left off on another.

Re:Not sure DRM is the biggest issue at the moment

[Anonymous Coward]

Courtesy of the author of the original post is this nifty article. Note especially the comments in point one:

In particular, about 80-90% of the cover price of a book has nothing to do with the paper and ink object you buy in a shop; indeed, using current production standards, ebook production requires nearly as much work as paper book production. (Paper and ink are dirt cheap; proofreaders and marketing teams aren't.)

Now, you might argue that lower prices would lead to more sales and hence greater overall profit - but that's a very different thing to arguing that "printing and distribution costs for e-books are effectively zero", and hence implying that they're a significant chunk of the cost for the dead tree version ...

Large free selection if you look for it

[moniker]

I checked out their site; not much selection and a VERY limited selection of "free" ebooks.

Baen frequently releases CDROMs with specific hardcovers that contain near-complete back catalogs of that author, which can then be redistributed freely.

Check out the Annotated Baen Free Listing or the Fifth Imperium.

Re:Large free selection if you look for it

[Guspaz]

And to clarify the "can then be redistributed freely" bit, the license on the CDs specifically says that they can be copied and distributed freely so long as they're not sold. Hence why the Fifth Imperium site has all the CDs available for download.

In actual fact, a large percentage of Baen's catalog is available legally for free download because of those CDs. Almost all of the Baen books by David Weber, Eric Flint, Mercedes Lackey, Lois McMaster Bujold, John Ringo, and David Drake, and then various other books and stories by other authors. Except books published since the respective CDs were...

Re:Large free selection if you look for it

[AdamWill]

Weber's a skilful writer of page-turners (though a horrible, horrible, horrible writer of dialogue), whatever you think of his politics. Bujold is just flat out a great writer; I don't know why she gets so much love and so little respect, but by any reasonable measure she's one of the great writers of the last 50 years. And that's coming from someone who reads a hell of a wide range of fiction.

Re:I hate DRM.

[Runaway1956]

I post this link at every opportunity. All authors and publishers should read this, and give it serious thought. DRM is the stupidest thing since the square wheel!

http://www.baen.com/library/default.asp

Re:I hate DRM.

[megafag]

I read nothing but Amazon eBooks on my Nook Color because, ironically, i can't download books from the Nook app, due to them being unavailable in Australia.

Re:I hate DRM.

[RMingin]

Since you're familiar with Calibre, why aren't you familiar with Unswindle? There's even a plugin for Calibre to link the two.

I rarely *buy* my ebooks. There's just too much good stuff out there that's price-free, DRM-free, or both.

When I *do* buy an ebook, I buy from Amazon, run it through unswindle+Calibre, and have the text, formatted, with pictures, table of contents, etc, exactly as purchased, in the format(s) I choose, with no DRM.

It's entirely possible to work within the system and still get an officially forbidden result.

My Favorite eBook source...

[rts008]

I was informed of the Baen Books website about 9-10 years ago. [here on /., actually]
The 'Baen_Library'[sub-folder' of my ''eBooks' folder] takes up around 15-16 GB's of my back-up drive. :-)

The Fifth Imperium website is about half of the aforementioned 15-16 GB's., the rest I've bought from the webscriptions site.[1]

As a side note, my 'eBooks' folder is about 21 GB's currently. It's size and contents change a lot.
I am an insatiable reader. Really.

[1]Real easy, and they do not spam your inbox, or anything else.
a. create account and log on info
      (non intrusive)
b. log in, set up your pref's and info
c. browse and purchase, read the first part of the book as 'sample chapters', or what ever.
d. The webscriptions site keeps track of the books you have purchased, so you can access those books to re-download from any PC you can log into the website from.

What's not to like?

My historic 'travel habits' were to pack my bags, go to the airport early, browse the bookstands, and buy a book or two fr the flight[s].

I now find myself looking exclusively for books by authors I have been exposed to from Baen Books.
(but, I don't travel air anymore because of the TSA BS., but was true for the past 5-6 years)

I know that I may sound like a Baen shill, but I am not...I am just that much of a fanboy. :-)

*credits to 'Guspaz (556486)' who started this thread.*