If you’ve been hanging out on the romance circuit this week, you’ve heard the buzz about Carina Press, “a new digital-only publisher that combines editorial and marketing expertise with the freedom of digital publishing.” As with any exciting new venture on the block, speculation, questions and occasional misinformation ensues.
Also ensuing are comments like these:
From examiner.com article:
“Those submitting to Carina Press should be aware that no advances are being offered and more troubling, there will be no DRM protection.”
From: Quill & Quire:
“And Carina does not offer digital rights management to prevent authors’ work being copied or downloaded illegally.”
From the Carina Press thread on Absolute Write:
“I find it interesting that they won’t have DRM either. This aiso [sic] doesn’t seem to help authors.”
I was struck as I read these comments (and there were more, but I can’t remember every site I’ve visited in the last week) by one thought: there are still people who think DRM prevents piracy.
DRM does not prevent piracy.
The people who pirate digital books are people who can and do crack the DRM. Heck, I can crack DRM and I can’t even turn the clock on my microwave back an hour without digging out the owner’s manual. Some publishers have gone so far in their fight against piracy as to not release a digital edition. Guess what? They scan and upload the print books.
While there are ways that could be implemented to discourage some from the temptation, such as social DRM, there’s no way to make a product inaccessible to pirates while keeping it accessible to consumers.
Was I upset that my most recent Samhain release was available on several torrent sites the day it released? Hell yes. Maybe you’re thinking I should be a little more DRM-friendly. But guess what else was available on those sites—a bushel of category romances and every digital romance reader knows hell hath no fury like Harlequin’s DRM.
Let me pick on Harlequin for a moment…
How does Harlequin’s DRM policy affect piracy?
:::crickets:::
It doesn’t.
How does Harlequin’s DRM policy affect me as a reader?
It drives me insane! I can’t buy directly from the ebookstore—taking advantage of sales and their early release schedule—because I, like millions of others, read on my iPod Touch (iPhone) and they don’t deem us worthy of a format, I guess. (Bitter? Yes. I have been a loyal fan of category romance since my teens and now I have to jump through flaming hoops to read them.) Unless, of course, I want to break the law and crack the DRM, enabling me to read the book I bought on the device of my choice. To stay on the right side of the law, I have to wait until the books are finally available from 3rd-party vendors carrying my format. OR, there’s the Sony Reader. Have y’all ever dealt with the Adobe Digital Editions? Holy psychotic break, Batman. My computer will never be the same. I have digital books I bought from Harlequin’s ebookstore for a previous device I no longer use. I can only read them if I break the DRM and reformat it for my current device.
Pirates: unaffected.
Reader: frustrated and bitter.
It leaves me curious as to why publishers, industry professionals and even some authors support DRM.
What are your thoughts on DRM? For or against?
No related posts.
You said it, Shan. (Although I love my Sony reader! Love!) DRM doesn’t stop pirates, but when I wasn’t doing the easy transfer to Sony Reader shopping, I often spent up to an hour trying to get my DRM ebook purchase to the point that I could read it.
The market will never take off as long as it’s that hard on users. It must be user-friendly and easy, because you’re already asking people to make a change in how they read; electronically. Making them suffer for it doesn’t win buyer loyalty.
Hooray for DRM-free Carina. (Now if they’d just pay quarterly instead of twice a year!)
Hooray for DRM-free Carina. (Now if they’d just pay quarterly instead of twice a year!)
I saw that somewhere. Twice a year because it’s Harlequin’s pay schedule. Unfortunately, Harlequin is an advance-paying publisher and Carina is not.
From your lips to the industry gods’ ears, Shannon.
Charlene, as to Carina’s bi-yearly payment schedule, I understand from Angela James (she’s been busy answering questions in a few places and I can’t recall where I read it) that Carina will pay on REPORTED royalties from third-party vendors and not just PAID royalties. For me, that makes up for twice-a-year checks versus quarterly payment.
Paying on reported and not waiting for the money for third-party vendors is a good deal, but the twice-yearly payment is probably the one thing that’s raised my eyebrow a bit.
The stress has been on the separation between the two companies and Carina embracing the digital business model.
Well, the twice-yearly payments are great for the print model because the author gets advances to live on while waiting for those checks. A single title author gets a nice chunk and category authors gets 3-6 smaller chunks.
Not that it’s a deal breaker, but it’s a little more grounded in the print business model than is friendly for a digital author.
(We’ve hijacked this thread nicely haven’t we? *g*)
I NEVER buy eBooks with DRM.
Why?
Because if a book is great, I usually buy… oh… a 100 copies or so for my best romance buddies. To send these along (because I don’t share other people’s emails even with booksellers), I prefer to pay for 100, download once and email the same file 100 x’s.
I am NOT a thief. I don’t like doing business with folks/publishers that assume I am one.
And THAT is why I haven’t bought Margaret Moore’s digital short (via Harlequin) even though I hear it rocks and I’m a serious MM fangirl.
And yes, I could crack DRM (or rather, ’cause I’m lazy, have someone else do it for me) but why work so hard when there are publishers/authors WANTING their eBooks read.
I think your generosity with your romance buddies is a wonderful thing, Kimber, and I agree with you on the question of DRM: It’s gotta go.
But I have to ask…do you also not shop in stores that have electronic surveillance or those thingies at the exits that prevent shoplifting? They’re in every department store are on the planet, I think.
My point: I don’t think publishers — anymore than department stores — ASSUME all their customers are thieves. Their misguided use of DRM is simply trying to catch those customers who are, in fact, perfectly willing to copy and send multiple files from one original book. Just as electronic surveillance is a sad fact of life in every mall in the country, honest readers and authors alike pay the price for those folks who can’t be bothered to play by the rules.
That said, “Down with DRM” is the new motto of the day.
Yeah, but stores remove security tags from products when customers pay for them.
DRM APPLIES a security tag to the product a paying customer purchases.
*looks around for the petition to sign*
Can I print this out and mail a copy to each of my favorite publishers?
Against it, for all the reasons you list. Plus, from reading TeleRead, apparently it doesn’t even matter if there aren’t any electronic editions of a title (should be better than DRM!) – people will simply scan and upload the book. Definitely time to approach the issue of piracy from a non-DRM perspective.
Couldn’t agree more. The faster publishers and others embrace sensible pro-consumer policies, the more money they will make.
I’m so glad Carina press is doing this. I hope their sales are through the roof so it proves readers respond to DRM free content with their pocketbooks.
DRM doesn’t stop piracy. It just ticks people off. Ticking people off isn’t a good thing. I’m all for readers having the freedom to read their ebooks in the form and manner they choose.
I can never decide, in these threaded comments, if I should make a new comment or reply to one. But since I’m replying to more than one of you, I’m going with a new comment. Rebellion! (who knew threaded comments could create such a dilemma).
Selah, I gave that answer on Absolute Write, if that helps jog your memory
And you got it exactly correct. When royalty time rolls around, you get reported sales, not just received payments.
Shan, I know that 2x/year isn’t ideal, but on the plus side, Harlequin always pays on time and accurately. Carina is able to exist because much of the back end workflow will utilize Harlequin’s already existing workflow, including the royalty system. So, twice a year it is. Besides, surely the pleasure of working with me again trumps all that. Right?
Okay, okay, that and the on-time, accurate payments, and the marketing and business acumen and the editorial brilliance.
I couldn’t remember if it was Absolute Write, Romance Divas or the Carina blog itself. I get worn out just watching you buzz from place to place, answering all our questions. If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect you’ve been cloned.
You would NOT be the first to accuse me of that
I hate threaded comments like I hate American Chop Suey. Ugh.
Besides, surely the pleasure of working with me again trumps all that. Right?
Of course, dahlink.
It’s simply more of a risk for the initial authors who don’t have the benefit of knowing if the sales are there. With the way big houses do their accounting, you could have your first book written, through production and–depending on the month—have it released for months, with your second book written and in production before you ever see a dime of royalties from the first. And nobody can predict how many dimes there will be. The advance takes the edge of that risk for print authors.
Not saying that the benefits don’t outweigh the risks or that risk isn’t a part of the business for everybody involved, but it does make it riskier to take the chance.
Yes, overall, I see having the Harlequin infrastructure as a good thing.
Off that risk, not of. Damn typos.
“The market will never take off as long as it’s that hard on users. It must be user-friendly and easy, because you’re already asking people to make a change in how they read; electronically. Making them suffer for it doesn’t win buyer loyalty”
Maybe their actually hoping to slow the growth of ebooks altogether.
Hear, hear!! I’m with you on Harlequin, it flat pisses me off that I can’t buy digital from them. I have to wait for them to come to fictionwise, because I have an eBookwise. I understand piracy, but like you say, there are way around all of it, and your regular betty reader like myself just wants to plunk our 6 bucks down, get our books as quickly as possible and be reading. Nuff said. I’d rather NOT have to spend lots of time screwing aruond the puter. It’s not worth trying to hack, and copy on and on….and I think MOST readers feel the same way. They just want the story, and they’re willing to pay for it the simplest, fastest way. So make it accessible for us. I get SO frustrated. I LOVE my ebooks, don’t get me wrong, but I HATE when I buy one and it takes me forever to transfer the damn thing to my reader. And I just flat quit buyin from some sites, because it’s too difficult no matter what they claim. And it’s too bad, because some authors are ONLY available at some sites.
I got the eBookwise when I published with an e-publisher, and that was one of the formats that let me read on something smaller than a computer but bigger than a PDA. At the time, Kindle hadn’t come out yet, much less the Sony.
I don’t like having to ’specialty shop’ so if I can’t find what I want at a venue compatible with my reader, I don’t buy the e-book. More often than not, I don’t buy, period. I have a decent library system, and can read a lot of them that way, for free. I’d prefer the digital choice, but I’m not getting another reader until this mess gets untangled. I don’t have to worry about what kind of DVD player to buy if I’m looking for a way to see movies. When it works the same way for e-books, I’ll be a happy camper.
As for twice-a-year payments? As someone mentioned, with no advance, that’s a long wait for money. I get paid quarterly by one publisher, and monthly by the other.
I don’t have an e-reader, so maybe that’s why HQ’s DRM hasn’t been a problem for me so far. I have Adobe Digital Editions on my desktop, and I use it to read Spice Briefs. However, I could not read a story longer than a Briefs on my computer. I need to print them out, and last I tried I couldn’t with the Adobe DE. I’m gathering that’s one of the limitations of DRM?
I’ve been reading a lot about DRM. Unlike others, I’ve not been affected by DRM. I only read certain formats (eReader and Mobipocket), shop from specific vendors and switching devices have been minimal. I’ve not been locked out of any of my books.
I’ve done Adobe once but I don’t like PDF on my smaller devices (Sony Clie or Palm Centro) so I don’t do that format anymore.
If a vendor/publisher does not have my preferred ebook format, then I don’t really have an urgency to read it. I can wait for the library or Paperbackswap. Sorry authors, the publisher is doing you a disservice.
I’ve the programs to crack the DRM, but have not found a reason to do so. It’s a waste of my time. I have better uses for my time. Plus, I have a big backlog of books to be read.
for all the reasons you mention in your blog I am against it. I have also won books from authors that I can’t read on my preferred reader. PDf anyone? I can only read them with my laptop and do you know how uncomfortable that is. Which is why some of my contest wins are unread.
There’s a conversion program from PDF to almost ALL eBook readers. PDF is the preferred format for business and business folks are usually quick to fill product gaps.
That’s why I only give away PDF’s. If one of my winners have an issue with conversion, I do hope I’m approachable enough that they’ll tell me so I can help them figure it out.
If I’m not approachable enough… well… then I DO have a problem. A big problem.
“hell hath no fury like Harlequin’s DRM”
Funny! And so true!
“It leaves me curious as to why publishers, industry professionals and even some authors support DRM.”
My theory is that DRM supporters have never interacted with DRM as readers. They look at it from the perspective of their own DRM scheme and not from the perspective of a reader who has to deal with EVERBODY’s DRM schemes.
If there was only one DRM scheme and ebook format, it wouldn’t be such a problem. Readers wouldn’t have to remember which access code goes with which device, which device reads which format, and which book is in which format. It’s not a big deal to DRM supporters because they don’t read the DRM’d ebooks they’re inflicting on their customers.
My thoughts on DRM pretty much match yours. DRM does absolutely nothing to combat piracy, it doesn’t even inconvenience the real pirates. It does, however make things harder and more frustrating for the honest customers who are the only ones who have to deal with this crap.
Taken to its crazed extremes — which the computer game industry has done and which I can see book publishers doing if they don’t rent a clue really soon — DRM turns what should be a sale into a rental. You can use our product, but only so many times, or only until we decide it’s no longer cost-effective to keep maintaining the activation server. After that, tough luck, you can’t use the product you paid for anymore.
Couple that with the insane notion that $9.99 is a reasonable price for an electronic-format novel, and I for one am completely avoiding e-books put out by New York publishers.
All of the Observing With Concern the media’s been doing about Carina’s lack of DRM just underscores the ignorance of the people writing about the subject. Anyone who thinks that DRM is any kind of “protection” against piracy clearly hasn’t studied the situation. Reading press releases put out by the publishers doesn’t count. :/
Angie
Since DRM currently seems to cause more headaches for those who are legitimately purchasing their ebooks, rather than stamping out piracy as intended, I’m against it’s use. Unfortunately I don’t believe thievery in general will ever completely vanish – there are just too many people who want something for nothing and someone will always find a way to circumvent the so-called safeguards.
Interesting debate. Not having an ebook reader (yet), I rarely purchase ebooks. A Kindle is on my wish list for the near future. If a DRM doesn’t do a hellava lot of good in combating piracy, what’s the sense of it? I agree that making it more difficult for your every day digital buyer is self-defeating of Carina Press.
I agree that making it more difficult for your every day digital buyer is self-defeating of Carina Press.
Carina is offering DRM free books, Liz, can you clarify what you said for me?
I used to be a loyal subscriber of several category lines from Harlequin. Unfortunately when they stopped selling in plain PDF and went to Digital I couldn’t get them to play on my computer. Harlequin’s customer support was very nice and helpful, however, they eventually came to the conclusion that I was out of luck. Now I have to wait and buy from Fictionwise, which probably doesn’t matter to Harlequin since I would assume they get paid something when FW sells the books.
As a reader I hope a reasonable solution to DRM will soon be found and all readers can enjoy the great books available. After all, I would think romance readers, authors and publishers all ultimately want the same thing: loyal readers and prolific authors!
You can find programs which will strip out the drm from adobe, .lit and .epub etc. Fictionwise has the same drm as Harlequin. They get paid something when you buy from fictionwise but it could be as little as 40% of the cover price with FW pocketing the difference.
The DRM software sales team have earned their money convincing publishers it works – I am sure the odd lunch and game of golf didn’t go astray either. So now the publisher has to up the price to cover this overhead as well… And it doesn’t work, cracking DRM is quick and easy to do so therefore a waste of everyone’s time, except the sales team of course.
Dear all,
I’m a student of Management Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. One of the objectives of my master thesis, applied to a real case study, is the protection of confidential or valuable content using Digital Rights Management (DRM) techniques. I would like to start my research by doing a survey among expert and professionals in the IT sector.
As part of this work, I have developed a questionnaire whose purpose is collecting feedback in order to come up with an objective assessment of the market where such software for protecting digital assets could be deployed.
If you would be so kind to help me in doing my thesis, I will be happy to share with you the results of the survey by sending you the final report (which will be anonymous and respectful of your privacy). You can find the questionnaire online at the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Hqd7dR8baumIgsg_2fpmjLQA_3d_3d
Thank you very much in advance for your kind help and your time.
Best regards,
Elena