Comments on Smashwords: Should Publishers Abolish DRM and Trust Customers ...

I didn't even consider a Kindle because of Ama...

2011-04-28T13:23:55.597-07:00

I didn't even consider a Kindle because of Amazon's stealing of sold books back from people's Kindles, like thieves in the night. I have been putting off buying books for my Nook because I don't like the idea that when B&N is gone (how long has Border's got?) my books will be gone too, useless on any platform. It's not about stealing; it's about my security. For those reasons, when I discovered Smashwords' attitude about DRM, I became a loyal Smashwords customer. Anything I interested in, I first check whether it's available from Smashwords. If not, I'll buy a used hard copy, instead.

I see the writing on the wall, so to speak: DRM-fr...

2011-02-25T15:19:19.504-08:00

I see the writing on the wall, so to speak: DRM-free will destroy the ability for writers to earn a living, just as free internet news has driven newspapers out of business. Who wants to buy a book when they can get it for free? This is not like sharing a paperback with a friend because the DRM-free book can be given away to 20 or 30 (or a thousand) "friends" at the same time. Also, words that can be individually copied make books no more valuable than free internet sites. This is why people do not pay for internet information... they can get it for free.

I am a content author and fully support getting ri...

2011-02-25T07:46:33.608-08:00

I am a content author and fully support getting rid of DRM.

I think piracy is really about price point, and could be described as various points along the graph of 1/e.
At $1, 90% of people who are interested might buy, 10% leave empty handed or steal.

At $2, 80% might buy etcetc.
I would much rather find the price point that works best, and give my customers the best possible experience than waste time and effort trying to force people to be good.

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i don't like the smashwords blurb. it conflat...

2009-12-01T17:34:52.887-08:00

i don't like the smashwords blurb.

it conflates "piracy" with "sharing".

of course, that's what corporate
publishers have done all along.

they know "piracy" is _not_ really
a big problem to their business.

not if "piracy" is properly defined
as a counterfeiter reprinting their
books for commercial purposes...

(maybe in third-world countries, yes, but that's another matter...)

the real reason they wanna use
d.r.m. is to try and prevent the
casual sharing of a book that we
take for granted with a p-book.
(for good reason, because it is
concomitant with _owning_ it.)

the idea that a writer should be
paid for every _reader_ is nice,
but it's never really been true,
not since there's been libraries,
and there's no reason to try to
force that issue on people now.

encourage the people who _like_
a book to pay for it. that will be
more than enough for the writer,
if the writer is any good, that is.

and we don't need to encourage
the writers who aren't any good.

-bowerbird

ebooks are software I've been thinking...

2009-12-01T16:06:30.660-08:00

ebooks are software

I've been thinking about that a bit lately. E-books are most definitely software (there is no hard copy unless one prints it), but it makes me wonder if, say, something like versioning applies. Is the first release of an e-book version 1? Then, after some edits (yes, it should be "done" when it is published, but you know there are always little or even big things that can be changed; a book like any piece of art is never really finished, in other words), do I then release version 2? Can I expect my readers to download that second version, similar to how they might download version 2 of a software application?

This is one of those things that I think still has to be defined, most likely by convention that has not yet been formulated.