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Why ebooks are bad for you
wraith808:
Many have offered solutions, just none that have been accepted by the proponents of DRM.
-steeladept (June 14, 2011, 07:34 PM)
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What are these solutions? I've never defended DRM, but I still don't see an alternative for ebook authors. How do you generate a reliable income stream for ebook authors without some form of DRM (and copy protection falls under the banner of DRM)?
-johnk (June 14, 2011, 08:17 PM)
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Manning.com and Oreilly.com have done away with DRM, and they don't seem to be hurting... Also DriveThruRPG.com and IndiePressRevolution.com. I think you can make money, you just have to be willing to take the chance. And that's what it comes down to IMO. Be willing to trust your potential customers, or hold on to the fear that you won't make money.
steeladept:
Take one example - the publisher SitePoint.
-Carol Haynes (June 14, 2011, 08:44 PM)
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Excellent example, and incidentally excellent site. I checked it out when you mentioned it elsewhere and ended up getting the new HTML5 and CSS3 book they are currently touting.
Renegade:
Any time these forums discuss the marketing of books/music/tech there is a general tendency to kick the big companies involved who want to make money. Add to that a general loathing of DRM without offering any idea as to how content creators are supposed to make any money. I have no illusions about big bad corporate life (I've done my time there) but putting two fingers up to the money-making machine without offering any alternative doesn't advance the argument.
-johnk (June 14, 2011, 05:38 PM)
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There's a good reason to give them the thumb:
They add zero value.
None. Nadda.
I said that above as a tongue in cheek sort of silliness, but it's basically bang on true.
As a content producer, publishers do nothing for you unless you are already at the top. They are ONLY interested in selling the top few products, because that's where all the money is. The long tail is only valuable in that the publisher can state that they have a bajillion different titles... of which they are willing to present 10 to visitors to purchase. (Ok, some hyperbole there, but close enough.)
Meanwhile, you are stuck in the LONG TAIL where you will never be seen, and you will never sell anything more than enough to pay for a cheap meal once a year. If you're lucky.
This is a systemic problem across more than the digital world though; it extends to the physical world as well.
Retails and distributors will only take on products that are already in high demand. Take a walk through any store and you'll be bombarded with miles and miles of the same old, tired stuff.
If you have a valuable product, you are unlikely to make it into retail except perhaps at pro shops, and then only with massive investment/payoffs. (Prices start at $50,000 to 'have a look' at your product.)
The channel system is like proving that you're tough as nails by jumping into a wood chipper.
The pattern so far has been for "mega" stores (or chains) to open up, fill their shelves with all the bread & butter wares, drop prices below what smaller shops can afford to sell for, and thus drive the smaller shops out of business.
The consequence at retail is that you now have a massively reduced selection of what you can purchase. Everything is generic and manufactured in China, with the odd other over-priced product beside them to set a baseline, which allows the justification of setting prices 5x or 10x or 20x or more higher than things would be if products were priced by costs and reasonable margins.
Just for a simple example, I need to spend $15 for a part here in Australia that I would have spent maybe $2 or $3 on in Korea. Those are the same generic parts with no significant differences. Shipping doesn't cost $10+ for small parts shipped in bulk as many Australian retailers seem to insist. I've seen that pattern again and again and again. (Both here in Australia and in North America.)
(I'm obviously ignoring the problem of over-competition, but that's really getting off topic.)
The point there about retail is that it is only those few extremely high margin items or "best sellers" that will ever make it into retail, and that is analogous to the behavior of online publishers in the way that they really only put the best sellers up for sale, with everything else buried very deep in the dark recesses of their sites where nobody will ever find them.
They add no value.
If they do add value, it's only in the form of a lottery ticket.
Heck, they don't even carry any inventory! Their risk is absolutely zero! None. Zero risk. Nothing. They have no vested interest in the success or failure of their content producers! Some will make money for them, and most won't. What do they care?
To justify a 30% commission, they need to do some work.
The long tail doesn't justify 30%. Maybe 5%... Maybe...
They could work to auction off promotional space with higher commissions getting better placement, but I don't know if that would work or not.
If you produce content, you will make more money by doing all the marketing and promotion yourself. That is, until you hit a critical mass, when the publishers will finally take an interest in you because they see that you're making lots of money, and they can have some of it... Wow. What a wonderful value proposition... :-\
In my time I've purchased 4 copies of U2's The Joshua Tree on cassette...because they kept breaking. I finally pirated the last copy, so now I have one that I know I can keep. Does that make me a bad person? (Do you think I care...? :) )
-Stoic Joker (June 14, 2011, 06:17 PM)
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I think you're driving at the problem of these guys wanting their cake and wanting to eat it as well.
Are they selling a physical product? An EULA? A license? What is it?
If it's a physical product, then that's one thing. If it's a license, then that's another.
How many copies of Ride the Lightning or The Wall do I need to buy for them to be satisfied?
johnk:
There's a good reason to give them the thumb:
They add zero value.
None. Nadda.
I said that above as a tongue in cheek sort of silliness, but it's basically bang on true.
-Renegade (June 14, 2011, 10:18 PM)
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Again, I can't agree. In the broad sense, you are right. Big business is full of greed, and waste, and middlemen who add little. But over the history of books, say, or music, I am grateful for the A&R men and the publishing editors who sifted the rubbish and brought us great talent. I am not convinced the wisdom of the crowd would have achieved the same thing.
Neither do I share the optimism most of you have about the future of the DRM-free book market. But I can see I am outnumbered on this one and I will retire to my corner.
copy protection falls under the banner of DRM
-johnk (June 14, 2011, 08:17 PM)
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No it doesn't - I can give away my CDs, DVDs and BluRay disks or lend the to a friend or sell them on eBay and the other person can use them as normal. DRM doesn't allow you to do anything with YOUR property outside the rules imposed by the corporation.
-Carol Haynes (June 14, 2011, 08:44 PM)
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But before I retire to my corner, just a technical point. My understanding of DRM is that any form of file protection where you would have to "edit" the executable file directly to use it on another device is DRM.
So some forms of copy protection are DRM, as I see it. For example having to use a serial number to activate a software programme is obviously not DRM, whereas an executable that is linked at purchase to a "machine ID" is DRM (and I would call that copy protection). Have I got that right?
40hz:
The one overlooked contribution publishing houses used to provide was editorial input on an author's work. Was a time when they even went so far as to sign less polished writers. They'd sign them on, and then help them develop their writing skills if they showed talent but lacked the necessary craftsmanship.
They don't really do that any more.
And the unfortunate result is the spate of poorly written books we're seeing released by publishers who should (and do) know better.
The good thing about the absence of gatekeepers is that anybody can release his or her own book. the bad thing about it is that anybody can release his or her own book. Because in the absence of standards and craft development, amateurs have taken much of the stage away from professional writers. And what you're seeing in bookstores lately is proof. Poorly written books on mediocre themes. With poorly developed storylines. And loaded with typos...
Apparently even the publishers have become convinced most people don't care any more.
Sad day for books and literature. :(
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