Sci-Fi Publisher Tor Ditches DRM For E-Books

First time accepted submitter FBeans writes "'Science fiction publisher Tor UK is dropping digital rights management from its e-books alongside a similar move by its U.S. partners. ... Tor UK, Tor Books and Forge are divisions of Pan Macmillan, which said it viewed the move as an "experiment."' With experiments, come results. Now users can finally read their books across multiple devices such as Amazon's Kindle, Sony Reader, Kobo eReader and Apple's iBooks. Perhaps we will see the *increase* of sales, because the new unrestricted format outweighs the decrease caused by piracy?"

Comments

It's about time

[NabisOne]

Now we can hope the other publisher's will follow this trend.

Re:It's about time

[Junta]

No, I buy media that is not DRM protected. I refrain from purchasing DRM encumbered content for the most part. I've passed on many a movie or ebook simply because of DRM.

The DRM mechanisms are frequently useless anyway. ePub drm can be stripped away instantly (I used some promotional credit to acquire a DRM encumbered epub and stripped the DRM in short order).

Re:It's about time

[allcar]

That's not it at all. I'm not prepared to pay for content that is inconvenient to use. I am much more likely to buy content if it is DRM free. This is great publicity for Tor. More power to them.

Re:It's about time

[lxs]

Not really, but stripping the DRM from my Kindle ebooks just so I can convert them and put them on my epub reader is a hassle I could do without. Besides, DRM wouldn't stop me from getting pirated ebooks, if I were so inclined.

Re:It's about time

[Chris Burke]

Too stingy yo pay for your media?

What I find hilarious is that you apparently think people who are too stingy to pay for their media will grudgingly do so anyway when piracy is made slightly more inconvenient, rather than continuing to be stingy and finding a torrent, or just not acquiring the media in question in the first place.

This is like thinking you can cure a man of his heroin addiction by putting a "No Junkies!" sign on the front of your country club.

Re:It's about time

[MickyTheIdiot]

I will gladly pay when it's easier to buy your book than it is to get a torrent.

Torrents are *not* easy to deal with, especially for someone with average computer skills. Then half the time you end up getting a Portuguese translation or something so badly formatted you can't read it.

Good quality product at a FAIR price is what the "free market" wants... and the free market is ALWAYS good, right?

Re:It's about time

[Albanach]

Too stingy yo pay for your media?

Let me tell you about my first Kindle purchase. I paid $12 for a novel that retailed on Amazon at $13.

I read the book, thoroughly enjoyed it and told a friend a couple of days later. She responded by saying she'd love to borrow it. I had to explain that wasn't possible.

So, I saved a dollar.

The publisher saved the cost of printing a paperback book, physically transporting it to Amazon. Amazon saved having the physically store the book in a warehouse and didn't have to pay UPS to deliver it to me.

Once I had read the book, I couldn't lend it or sell it. The bits were used and might as werll be deleted. The publisher and Amazon win again, as there's no second hand market for that purchase.

I have made Kindle purchases since, but I'm much more selective. Typically I'll only do it where I need a book now, or I can be sure it's a book I won't want to share.

It's not because I'm too stingly - I'm still buying books. What I don't want is to lose the rights I have through the first sale doctrine simply because I purchased bits and bytes rather than tree pulp.

Re:It's about time

[fifedrum]

Anecdotal and all, but I certainly will gravitate towards their offerings. Immediately. The very reason I don't buy any ebooks for my wife's kindle is that we can't read them on anything else. I'm certainly not reading a 400 page tome on my phone.

So I say, "Good on them, and here's some money."

(posting to remove misplaced mod, because I'm an idiot and clicked the wrong text)

Re:It's about time

[gfxguy]

It's worse... I'm not too stingy to pay for my media, but when you add in the cost of DRM on top of that (the publisher doesn't pay for it with money it grows on trees, after all) to by media in a format that is inconvenient, when I could pay the same or less for media that is convenient, idiot's comment makes even less sense.

It's always been the case with copy protection - the people who legally buy copy protected materials are the ones who pay for the copy protection that reduces the versatility of whatever it is they bought. It's always been the people who "steal" who get unencumbered versions... it's like punishing the honest people and rewarding the ones who violate the copyright. Do they even understand basic psychology?

Honest people are honest; dishonest people are dishonest... adding DRM doesn't change that, it just hurts the honest people.

Re:It's about time

[Quiet_Desperation]

This is the beginning of the end of quality writing.

Awesome! Now is my chance to get published!

Re:It's about time

[cpu6502]

For those saying you would now buy ebooks from Tor..... do you buy the Sci-Fi magazines? That is where most young authors get their start. If they die out (they lose about 1000 subscribers/year), so too does the paid outlet for future talent. And most of the mags are DRM free too:

http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/dellmagazineauthorseBooks.htm?cache

.

Re:It's about time

[gfxguy]

Completely agree, Albanach.

We do buy many e-books, although I'm not thrilled about it. If the physical book is anywhere close to the e-book price, it's a no-brainer.

One benefit for the family (at least) is that all of our e-readers are registered to the same accounts, which gives all of us access to all of our books.

On the subject of printing costs, I have forever heard publishers whine about printing (especially setting up a run) and shipping being a significant part of the cost of the book. Now they are claiming that's not the case at all, that those costs are minimal, that it costs nearly just as much to sell an 'e' version of the book as it does to sell a physical copy. I'm not even going to type the expletive that comes to mind, you can figure it out or come up with your own, but here's a hint: it has to do with a certain type of livestock and a certain by-product of their existence.

As for the claim that the quality of books will go down... repeat the last sentence in the above paragraph. There will still be high quality books - they will just have to start competing with self-publishers. If they have the value, people will pay.

Re:It's about time

[Chris Burke]

Well that's the irony, isn't it? DRM is supposed to make piracy inconvenient so people will buy, but what it really does is make piracy more convenient than paying for the product.

Re:It's about time

[Defenestrar]

... ePub drm can be stripped away instantly (I used some promotional credit to acquire a DRM encumbered epub and stripped the DRM in short order).

Which is illegal under DMCA (even though there is plenty of court precedence to probably favor a ruling of fair use (IANAL)). I applaud you for your willingness to be a court test case (why don't you forward the above post to the publisher of the DRM content along with your name, address, and lawyer's contact info). As for me, I'll back you up by continuing financial support for the EFF (I'm willing to bet they'd help you out with lawyers if you don't already have one, or if you already do, there will be some briefs coming in on your side), and continuing my boycott of DRM books. I don't suppose you could initiate a kickstarter program for a lawsuit not yet brought can you?

I also am thrilled by the news that Tor has joined up with the Baen philosophy, and I hope their corporate overlords allow it to progress. The fact that it is yet another sci-fi publisher which has adopted this strategy should not be lost on anyone.

About Time

[Anonymous Coward]

and for some reason this makes me want to purchase every Tor book they offer,

Re:About Time

[Junta]

The implication being that DRM somehow encumbers piracy. The simple fact is it is completely ineffectual at slowing piracy down. You can find pirated copies of every piece of music, video, and publication you want despite the draconian DRM that is so prevalent in the industry.

Re:About Time

[elsurexiste]

The implication being that DRM somehow encumbers piracy. The simple fact is it is completely ineffectual at slowing piracy down.

That's actually wrong. It indeed slows initial piracy spreading. Numbers, sadly, are in the industry and not in academia.

You can find pirated copies of every piece of music, video, and publication you want despite the draconian DRM that is so prevalent in the industry.

That's a popular confusion about the purpose of DRM schemes. Here's the real deal: the purpose is to slow down initial piracy enough to make a profit from people who would choose the pirated, free version if they can find it. People willing to pay only $0 will pay exactly that. Fans will pay you nicely regardless of DRM. The group that DRM targets is the big crowd that can pay your price, but won't give you a dime if they can get it for free.

I recall the people behind "The Witcher" put DRM on their files and removed it after the product was delivered. Other people won't bother, but they can do it with exactly the same results in their profits. Because, indeed, DRM is not a piracy-stopper but an initial-piracy-slower.

Sure thing

[sandytaru]

Going to go poking around the Tor archives and grab myself a couple books as soon as this comes to fruition. Reward good behavior.

Re:Sure thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Tor has Charles Stross and Vernor Vinge.
No true geek should pass them.

I'd also look at Steven Erikson myself.
I think a lot of Windling's crew are at Tor too, for the early urban fantasy.

That's off the top of my head, with no access to my dead-tree books right now.

What about the price?

[Dyinobal]

Okay now lets do something about the price. I'm so tired of seeing ebooks that are as expensive as regular books or more expensive. There is no reason for it other than 'I want to' or 'I'm afraid of cannibalizing my own paper back sales'. They really should do some experiments lke Valve did with Steam so they can determine the proper pricing for an Ebook. As it is I don't buy stuff for my nook simple touch I got for Christmas simply because any book I want to buy it cheaper than the Ebook version 99% of the time. This is because I tend to buy used over new when I buy a book. The publishers pricing of their Ebooks isn't protecting their profits it's negating them yet no one seems to get it.

Re:What about the price?

[crafty.munchkin]

The printing costs of a book are negligible in comparison with the editorial, typesetting, proof-reading and other costs associatd with releasing a book. Go and read Charlie Stross's essays on common misconceptions about publishing to discover WHY it's impractical.

As an aside - games on Steam are almost always more expensive than the copy I buy with a disk from a store, with the exception of when the steam sales are on.

Re:DRM wasn't my sticking point

[Ironhandx]

It will likely mean that certain proprietary formats will slowly disappear and the pricing will get down to the 4.75 kindle edition as no one buys the iPad editions etc.

Right now some of the pricing peaks and valleys are due to the fact that some devices have fees attached to publish for them at all.

As we go further into DRM-Free, most books will probably just start coming in PDF or something similar and fancy PDF reading apps will be more abundant than they currently are, and available on more devices.

Re:A Move in the Right Direction!

[CrimsonAvenger]

Again, kudos to the publisher for not using DRM, and for setting a positive example for the rest of the publishing world to follow...

Might be better to say "kudos to the publisher for following Baen's lead and not using DRM".

Do keep in mind that Baen's ebooks have NEVER had DRM.

Re:hmm

[Asic Eng]

Why should I care if my eBook is multi-platform if I'm only ever going to read it on one platform?

Are you absolutely certain you will only use one platform, and will only buy books from one supplier for the next twenty years? You don't think within this time frame some new device will come out - similar to e.g. the iPad did - and you'll get this device and will want to have the content you already paid for available on it?

Don't you think at the speed new devices are developed these days, some company will introduce something to the market with an entirely new display technology - much better than e-ink, super-amoled and retina display together? Are you sure it will be your currently preferred vendor who'll pioneer that new device?

Re:Probably No significant change in sales

[Toze]

Disagree for two reasons. First, because of personal experience; I hit Baen's free library one day and encountered John Ringo's work. I have since bought about $200 worth of Baen books, mostly Ringo but frequently other stuff I found on their free library. A friend passed me a pirated copy of Jim Butcher's entire Dresden series; I now have the whole run purchased and sitting on my shelf. The specific method I've seen work is this;
1) DRM-free
2) Pirated/shared
3) Lands in the hands of someone who was never going to buy the books
4) Turns them into a trufan who buys some or all of the books.

On the one hand this may not be the precise method Tor is hoping for, and I agree that the /direct/ impact of being DRM-free isn't going to be worth much, but the long-term effect is of more people reading Tor books, and in my experience that means more people buying books. The second reason I disagree is that experiment after experiment shows that "piracy is not the problem, obscurity is the problem." Releasing stuff for free almost never decreases profits, and usually increases profits. Doctorow and Lessig have both explained this at length.

Re:hmm

[Brucelet]

I agree! Also, my glorious vhs movie collection will never be made obsolete by the introduction of new media formats, because why would the industry ever change away from such a dominant format?

DRM works!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm using the ultimate DRM for my latest book - I keep it all in my head and I've never even thought the whole thing through.

And it works perfectly! Not one person has an unpaid copy of it.

Success? Indeed!

Re:DRM works!

[Dinghy]

The question is, does anyone have a paid copy of it? Maybe if you removed your DRM, you'd have more paying customers!

This is not the first time I've seen beheadings suggested as a way to respond to DRM.

Recommendable Tor Authors

[ryzvonusef]

Amongst the ones I can personally recommend, Tor has:
1-Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn)
2-Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time)
3-Steve Erikson (Malazan)
4-Orson Scott Card (Ender)
5- George R.R. Martin (Song of Ice and Fire)

Brandonson has been itching for DRM free ebooks, and even offers a totally free ebook on his website (Warbreaker). Good to see his nagging has had some effect.