: Re: What are the advantages and disadvantages of digital rights management for self-published authors? DRM (digital rights management) is being used in just about every electronic format, including files

As I mentioned in my edited version of the original question, this is a question that was presented to one of the other writer's groups that I am a part of, and I wanted to see what folks here thought of the issue. I thought I would go ahead and share what came out of the other discussion.

As it has already been mentioned, if you are under contract to a "traditional" publisher, the writer doesn't have much input on this decision. The publisher is going to do what they believe to be in their own best interests, and that makes sound business sense.

However, for a self-published author focusing primarily on e-books, it is a completely different matter. What most of them have decided is that it does not make sense to use DRM for their books. The reason, as mentioned in other answers here, is that they are more concerned about getting readers, so if anyone wants to share the book, they are okay with that. They feel that the possible benefit of obtaining a new follower outweighs the potential lost revenue.

To further expand on that, a good number of them actually offer at least one book for free in the express hopes that people will enjoy it so much they will go back and buy something else the author has available. In a similar vein, many will offer a loss-leader, or a very low priced book, with the same intention. Bottom line, for them it is more important to obtain a following.

Interestingly enough, we found that a good number of more successful authors agreed with these same principles. They felt that the need to continue to increase a following coupled with the risk of alienating some people by using DRM meant that it made more sense for them to NOT use it.

Load Full (0)

: Does this paragraph make you want to keep reading? Can you remember the last toy you ever bought? We do. Here at the St. Abattoir, London's largest toy store, your childhood is

@Murray165

Load Full 3 Comments

: Character development pertains to anything that is involved with identifying and detailing specific information about your story's characters. What kind of relationships does your character have

@Murray165

Load Full 0 Comments

: Write to the finish, or edit as you go? Someone asked this question in another forum, and I thought I'd bounce it around in here to see what kind of responses we get. If you are working

@Murray165

Load Full 6 Comments

: How important is scenery when you are writing? When you are writing a book (or reading one for that matter), how important is it to closely detail the scenery or the setting? Does it just

: Re: What are the advantages and disadvantages of digital rights management for self-published authors? DRM (digital rights management) is being used in just about every electronic format, including files

More posts by @Murray165

: Does this paragraph make you want to keep reading? Can you remember the last toy you ever bought? We do. Here at the St. Abattoir, London's largest toy store, your childhood is

: Character development pertains to anything that is involved with identifying and detailing specific information about your story's characters. What kind of relationships does your character have

: Write to the finish, or edit as you go? Someone asked this question in another forum, and I thought I'd bounce it around in here to see what kind of responses we get. If you are working

: How important is scenery when you are writing? When you are writing a book (or reading one for that matter), how important is it to closely detail the scenery or the setting? Does it just

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top