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What Book Publishers Should Learn From Harry Potter
New submitter Volanin writes "The e-book versions of the Harry Potter series are being released through Pottermore, and J.K. Rowling has chosen to do a number of interesting things with them, including releasing them without DRM restrictions. 'One of the encouraging things about the Pottermore launch is that the books will be available on virtually every platform simultaneously, including the Sony Reader, the Nook, the Kindle and Google's e-book service. ... even Amazon has bowed to the power of the series and done what would previously have seemed unthinkable: it sends users who come to the titles on Amazon to Pottermore to finish the transaction.'"
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/03/27/harry-potter-ebooks-are-not-drm-free-in-kindle-format/
it will take authors of her stature to claw back some author's rights back from apple and the publishers
I'm just sayin'
I agree with the DRM free part, but why do I have to be redirected to Pottermore? I don't want my financial details all over the place.
Going the DRM-free route is truly surprising and appreciated, but it's tainted by the eBooks all being more expensive than the paperback versions. That's a hard sell for a lot of people. :-/
I know the industry's fear that if they price ebooks too low then people will stop buying printed books altogether and blah, blah, blah... I'm ok with that. There will almost always be some desire for printed material, but digital distribution just makes way too much sense to be held back for long.
Most authors don't have the sort of clout and fan base that J.K Rowling has. Amazon is willing to redirect because it will not piss off the massive numbers if they didn't AND they might be able to get in some additional sales by suggesting some Harry Potter swag that they do sell.
If you're an author with a smaller fan base (the 99%), Amazon would simply laugh and not do business with you or try or dupe you into signing some controlling publisher agreement.
You spread your financial details all over the place in the real world. It's just as unavoidable over time on the web.
Each book is a Horcrux. Who needs DRM restrictions? :-)
What Book Publishers Should Learn From Harry Potter
They should learn form this that we wanted these 5+ years ago, preferably released simultaneously with the print version, and ideally the print versions should have included one free e-Version each.
What will they learn from this? They'll learn that they can fake it and promote themselves as "DRM-Free" by releasing material that everyone already owns in another form (and therefore piracy doesn't much matter), which continuing to burden new releases and reference material under as onerous of a lock as they can clamp on.
Never releasing digital, to a digital release.
And by funny, I mean money.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Alohomora DRM!
DRM free and all that is great, but they're still asking $7.99 for the kindle version on Amazon vs. $8.79 for the paperback version. It does not cost them eight bucks to send me a 300kb file...
-SaNo
Will it teach Web publishers that HTML tags don't work in RSS feeds?
*ducks*
Exactly. We bought all of these as they came out in print (for my daughter - I think they're drivel). We're not going to pay for the electronic versions, even though they'd be nice to have.
#DeleteChrome
Why link from Slashdot's summary to some other linkfarm's summary? Grrr. DIRECT link -
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-you-can-buy-the-harry-potter-e-books-now/
By Laura Hazard Owen
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
I just read this post today, and it shows how the Warner Bros. bullied the translators of the Potter books. No wonder Amazon gave in, they were probably bullied as well.
Distributors come and go, but mankind's demand for the art of the story is enduring. This is one more iteration of the chain of distributors that started with cave painters.
Nurture the artists. They are life.
They call it watermarking, but it's tracking by any other name. "The Pottermore Shop personalises eBooks with a combination of watermarking techniques that relate to the book, to the purchaser and the purchase time. This allows us to track and respond to possible copyright misuse."
So don't copy the floppy..... er, book to your friends.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
ideally the print versions should have included one free e-Version each.
I can agree with simultaneous print-and-eBook releases. Baen's done it for over 10 years. These books should have been electronic the day they were published, instead of the publisher's snotty "I should thank they would understand that if we don't provide it, they can't have it."
DRM-free? Heck YES! DRM is a slap-in-the-face insult to every customer.
But the above statement is ridiculous. If I buy the hardcover, I still have to buy the paperback, which is NOT the same book. eBooks are no different. I still cheerfully pay for the paper copies from Baen *and* make a separate purchase for the electronic editions. Of course, Baen's the only publisher I do that for. Everybody else it's eBooks or nothing.
The first 3 books are drivel. The latter 4 books are pretty dark (I'm not sure children should even read them).
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
This is what ebooks are made for. Eliminating the middle-man, and letting the creators own the distribution of their own works. I hope this trend continues. I'm only too happy to buy these books knowing that the creator is getting the lion's share of the profits and not some publishing house.
I'm more concerned that even after a 10% reduction for buying the "boxed set" (as it were), the individual titles still come to £5.52 each, which is not too distant from the UK new paperback prices, and well adrift of prices in charity shops. If the ebooks were nearer £2 each, then perhaps I'd bite, but no. Not now.
What publishers of all stripes must learn is that once you've milked first the hardback, then the paperback sales, people are only buying ebooks for minor convenience.
I've already downloaded and read all the Harry Potter books. By waiting this long to release them in ebook format, they only encourage pirating of the ebooks.
Be seeing you...
It's clear that J.K. Rowling is part of the piracy problem.
I agree, but the series was exceptional and certainly not drivel.
From this thread and numerous others here on /. I'm left wondering what readers here will pay for...Everything should be free.
if everything is free, why hold a job? Why produce anything? We'll all just move back into the caves and eat weeds and kill all of the wild squirrels and deer...yeah, that'll work.
If you want fewer features, turn them off!
"You have to get an account first!"
Well, tough fuckin' nuts.
http://slashdot.org/my/preferences
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
I agree. A free e-version should be included with all physical book purchases. True, someone could just go and sell the physical book and keep the e-book, but that only counts for first-time sales. Seems that game publishers are more than happy to provide free DLC to first-time buyers - maybe this will catch on with books. I don't doubt Kindle might be around for 20 years or more, but maybe I'll move on to a different ereader before then. Therefore, I'm only willing to spend a small amount on an e-version anyway. I always want a hardcover or paperback version until there's an industry standard like MP3 or AAC, or (it pains me to say it) some universally-supported DRM like Ultraviolet for books.
You're on the wrong site, Pal - this isn't ./, this is /.
Also, they'll learn that if you're a diva, you can write your own rules and force consumers to go through your own site instead of just letting people buy what they want to buy, where they want to buy it.
How much money is it really worth to earn before you don't feel you have to have more?/em.
What a horrible, selfish, evil attitude you have.
It should not matter if someone made zero or ten billion dollars on something. If they make something you enjoy, they should get money for it - it really is that simple. If they manage to make something wildly popular why is it a problem that a huge number of people will be rewarding them?
It's only a problem if you are a dick who wants everything for free and artists to live in poverty.
I myself am happy to buy the Harry Potter books, just as I am happy to buy what I can from small bands who make music I really enjoy. How much they have made in the end does not matter, to me it's only about my appreciation for well crafted art in any form.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Objection! First three were pretty good, as children's literature go. The "darker and edgier" books on the other hand were pure drivel with the last book being nothing more than a giant "take that" to the lunatic fringe (well perhaps not much of a fringe in this case, the gooey centre then if you will, of the fanbase.
Step 1: Sell billions of dollars worth of dead-tree versions of your publication
Step 2: Release DRM free eBooks
Step 3: Act unfazed by piracy concerns (preferably while swimming in your existing pool of cash)
THIS! IS! SLASHDOT!!!!!!
I disagree; the series was derivative and while maybe not drivel, was far from exceptional. It was lowest-common-denominator coming-of-age fantasy. The only thing exceptional about it was its wide appeal due to its far-from-novel mechanics and themes.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
But the above statement is ridiculous. If I buy the hardcover, I still have to buy the paperback, which is NOT the same book. eBooks are no different. I still cheerfully pay for the paper copies from Baen *and* make a separate purchase for the electronic editions.
That strikes me as a dangerous distinction to make - Would you say (and I don't mean this as a leading question) that you have the "right" to rip a DVD or CD for playback on your computer? And if at some point in the future, the studios start offering large-scale online movie purchases, would your answer change?
From my perspective, I pay for the content, not the form factor. Yes, I may prefer different form factors for different uses (I'd rather have tech references easily searchable, and I'd rather have light-n'-fluffy fiction useable with no batteries required); but I don't buy a book because it comes in form-X; I buy it because of its information or entertainment content.
Now, if you offered me the "plus eBook download code" version for only a buck or two more than the dead-tree-only version, I'd consider that reasonable. But to make me pay for both separately? Not interested.
Another way to look at this - Pro-IP apologists love pointing out that the sales price of a given media-product doesn't usually have much relation to the cost of production; I would consider this almost the "You sure you want to die for that hill?" reverse case of that - Yes, it costs the publisher a bit to prep an eBook version on top of the physical one, but... So what? I don't want either/or, I want both. I'll pay a bit more for the convenience, but once I own a physical version of it, I have absolutely no qualms about how I obtain the digital one. They can take my money, or consider me an off-the-top 50% piracy rate.
Derivative from what?
I don't really consider that a flaw. Most things are derivative from something earlier. It was an enjoyable read just like watching Stargate SG1 was enjoyable even though it was nothing new.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
at last somebody releases a major title DRM-free. Went and bought it just for that, even though I already have the paper version and most of the books in e-version
Baen has been doing this, for quite a while now.
David Weber's latest in hardcover is $15.39 from Amazon.or BN.
It's available DRM free on Baen's website for $6.00.
And the early books in his series - as in most of the series that Baen publishes, are available free at the Baen Free Library.
When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.
I read the first 3 Potter books after being dragged to the theater against my will to see the 2nd movie. I have since bought the whole series in hard copy and shelled out full ticket price for all the flicks. And SBS, Rowling, and WB know how this works and LOVE piracy. It enables them to enjoy the full benefits of promotion via free distribution, while also harvesting money from "legal" electronic format downloads. As a matter of fact, "I know somebody who knows somebody" who was asked by an author to prepare and release a "pirated" copy of his latest book, without any forensic traces to tie the release to him. Why? His publisher forbids rational promotion strategies.
So the lame deals they made more than a decade ago still keeps me from purchasing the British English version if I'm in the states? What kind of insane buggery is this??
Why should it matter WHAT language version I want? Bloody Hell! Grow up publishers, and get with the late 20th century already!
(amusingly the Queens' English version is ~ a US dollar more for 4-7 so the 'locals' are being charged more for what?)
-
"Why can't I add this to my basket?
Due to publishing restrictions, this edition of the book is not available in your country. Please choose another book language."
So, Pottermore may have bought a clue about how useless drm is, but they still don't understand that it's a global economy now and consumers won't put up with that "not available in your country/region" crap any more.
Why cant buy it in canada! Why?! Guess i will have to pirate it.
I hunt trolls for fun. Karma to burn since it was a number. If only it was easier to go through the past few months of my comments, I'd point out some examples of what I like to call, "Trolltertainment."
"Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
Want to see control by the content creator? Check out The Capitol.pn This is a web site that's up front about being about control. It requires both Internet Explorer and Facebook. "Even you are being monitored as we speak."
They mean it. If you're logged in, you show up on their map, visible to other users. They can access your Facebook account. The Capitol of Panem knows all, sees all. May the odds be ever in your favor.
This isn't 2006, this is 2012.
$7.99?!? Here in AUS paperbacks average $20 each. ... and they wonder why bricks and mortar bookstores are dying here..
For the record, I purchased most of my books, hundreds btw, at around $9.99 to $12 each. That was in 1995 to 2000. Since 2003 the price of paperbacks has just gotten downright silly.
The original point of a paperback was to provide the public with a *cheap* copy of a book. The publishing industry has really lost its way...
Oh. Finally. Rowling got out of her cave. Or - her cave finally got the internet connection? Welcome to the civilization, lady. It took some time, but you are finally here.
I have read all the HP as e-books God only know how many years ago. All the books were available as e-books - to anybody who searched - long time ago.
The first 3 books are drivel. The latter 4 books are pretty dark (I'm not sure children should even read them).
They're not for children in the first place, they're for teenagers.
And if you think they're "pretty dark" then you should probably keep your kids out of the science fiction/fantasy section entirely. Compared to Dr. Seuss, yes they're dark. Compared to Tolkien, they are not.
The Baen Free Library figured this out years ago.
they put out CDs In their first printings with year's of books on them, drm free (And librarian/author Eric Flint is downright hostile to drm, for commercial reasons).
They found that paperback sales went *up* as people found new authors they liked.
the bet that people would buy paid off--then again, this is before the ipad3 display . . .(I now prefer it to a book, as opposed to the 2)
Lois Bujold Masters switched over time from "no" to hpjust about everything but her last book or two . . .
hawk
The first 3 books are drivel. The latter 4 books are pretty dark (I'm not sure children should even read them).
If you think they are dark, don't ever, EVER read Thomas Hardy.
#DeleteChrome
Good magic was meant to be shared and learned by as many wizards as possible. Allowing a broad online readership of Harry Potter texts with as few restrictions as possible will encourage readers to take up the books and also encourage other writers to find profitable ways to share their stories widely without barriers.