Ebook piracy is ‘a colossal threat’. I disagree

Great commentary here, agree with most of it.

But, ebooks do not cost the same as print books. Yes, the editing, formatting etc is the same. But, you edit once for all formats and then need less amounts to format. The real cost is the printing, the paper, the transport, the stocking and the returns. An ebook has none of this. Therefore the price must be lower.

£1.50? I agree that would be crazy, no one can survive on that, but Amazon sells most of its ebooks at around the £6 mark.

On Amazon, authors get a massive amount more royalties than on DTB (dead tree books). Amazon gives 70% of the price to the author. The publishers give a max of around 30% for popular authors.

The problem is not Amazon, the problem is publishers that are trying to form a cartel to force customers to pay more than they should and protect a business model that is changing. Perhaps they should all get a Kindle and read Seth Godin’s “Poke the Box”!

Thanks for a great debate
Craig

Most eBooks that are available to buy at the moment are protected with Digital Rights Management software, which means that they can’t simply be copied like, say, an mp3 file. That said, no DRM is perfect, and some feel that it gets in the way of people doing what they like with their books.

It can also have interesting side effects; for instance, Harper Collins in the US has decided that they’ll use the DRM to force libraries to buy new copies of eBooks after 26 loans – effectively, the eBook will ‘wear out’ and have to be replaced. Nice for the publisher, less so for the cash-strapped libraries.

Amazon’s DRM, since the Kindle is ‘connected’ enables them to remove books after you’ve bought them, as they famously did with 1984 and another Orwell book, when it turned out the person who’d uploaded them for publishing didn’t have the rights. They say they’ll never do it again, but who knows… the ability’s there. Would an electronic equivalent of the Spycatcher case see some books blocked that way?

Though both Apple and the other readers like Sony, Kobo, Hanvon, iRiver, all use the ePub format, Apple doesn’t use the same DRM as the others (Apple use their own, everyone else uses Adobe DRM). That means that if you bought a book from, say, WH Smiths eBook store to read on your Sony reader, then someone treats you to an iPad, you can’t read the book on the iPad. You’d have to buy it again from Apple’s iBook store.

Similarly, books you’ve bought for Kindle can’t be read on a Sony Reader and vice versa. There are programs that will ‘strip’ the DRM and allow you to format shift, but technically they’re probably not legal to use.

But arguably, while people might accept the restrictions (I think, for instance, that you can have 5 devices on your Adobe DRM account, so you PC, your reader, your partner’s reader…) that stop piracy, by putting obstacles in the way of people who might have more than one type of reader (say, iPad and Sony), the industry is making many people feel they have no alternative, because why the **** should they have to buy the same book twice, just because they have two different brands of device?

I’d suggest that by muddying the waters on standards, more people are being pushed towards grabbing unauthorised copies or stripping DRM than would otherwise be the case.

So yes, DRM can protect the rights of authors, but use it in a heavy handed manner, and you’ll just frustrate users and damage your business even more.

Most people are fundamentally honest; if they like a book, they’ll want the author to produce more, and they’ll pay. But they will start to object when they’re being told to pay more than for the paper edition, or pay twice because they’ve changed a device, or discover that someone’s decreed their book is no longer valid.

The way to deal with piracy by users is not to inconvenience or attack your customers; it’s to treat them fairly and offer them things they think are value for money.

And the way to deal with pre-publication books being leaked onto the internet is certainly not to inconvenience your customers, none of whom have seen the book at that stage. It’s to get your own house in order and find out who on your staff is breaking the law.

Nigel, many thanks for this info, very informative.

Actually, that’s NOT baen’s website, it’s a ‘fansite’, called Thefifthimperium (named after the political entity in David Weber’s – another Baen author – Dahak series) that also features teaser previews (upto 1/3 of books) for upcoming releases.

The Baen site DOES have free books (the Baen free library was launched in 2000) and features a foreword by author Eric Flint, which addressed all the ‘piracy’ issues, which hasn’t moved on in 11 years. http://www.baen.com/library/

I did get a chance to speak to Mr Flint back in September, after a 80minute presentation by Baen covering all the new books they have coming out (LOTS of books) and he hadn’t changed his position at all.

The eBook market is only slightly more developed now, than back in 2000 (where I had AportisDoc on my Palm Vx, whereas now it’s aldiko on android) But the issue is not a new one. There is no practical difference between ‘eBook piracy’ and ‘Library lending’. It’s just an excuse for poor performance and bad balance sheets, not an actual problem.

Most piracy claims are vastly overblown, with no evidence (or sometimes AGAINST evidence) and yet politicians accept it without question. That’s the real issue – a lack of fact-based governance.

I agree people need to understand the difference – and I have little time for people who think that because it’s electronic it must be free, and authors shouldn’t expect a living. As you rightly say, public performance isn’t an option in the book world – even assuming an author was also a great performer, they’re hardly going to pack out Wembley for people to hear them listen.

But I honestly don’t think the format incompatibilities and the high prices, and the DRM systems that publishers insist on are serving them, or their authors, very well.

You will never eliminate piracy; there will always be people who will do it just for the **** of it. There are people who brag that they have X,000 ebooks in their collection on sharing sites, just so that they can claim the biggest number – and I doubt they’ve read more than a handful of them. Whatever you do, those people will pirate – and I honestly don’t think they’d have bought the books anyway.

But in forcing people to buy books again (like the record companies suggested at one time we should do it we wanted a tape of an album to play in the car) if they change device, or setting up systems that mean prices are excessively high, the book industry is pushing people to make decisions they otherwise wouldn’t do.

People who might consider themselves otherwise honest will think “I’ve paid for this book on my Sony, how can I read it on my new Kindle” and they’ll quickly discover it can be done, even if it’s a bit naughty. And once they’ve done that, will they go on to think “You know, I can get all my books from these chaps on eBay?” Some will, some won’t – but I think that the publishing industry is dangerously close to pushing otherwise law abiding customers in that direction.

I do wish they would show more imagination. For example, given the marginal extra cost of an eBook is practically zero, why not include a voucher with each hardback that entitles you to download the eBook version for whatever device you use too? Why not work with a well known author to experiment in DRM-free versions, and see what the effect is?

Why not try imaginative subscription models, like £15 a month for two book downloads, or bundles, say “£60 for all the Iain M Banks culture novels on a CD”, which might shift backlist titles too.

Those who will always pirate are a lost cause anyway. But a little imagination and less of the big stick on the part of the publishing companies could make a big difference between ordinary consumers feeling they’re getting a good deal, and feeling they’re being taken for a ride.

As the music industry discovered, it’s when a substantial number of your customers feel the latter that you start to get real problems.

ok, Rachel(or Julie, or Roxanne, or whatever name you fancy today). Let’s address this as a business issue.

1) Are your books for sale as eBooks already?

I see the answer is yes, after looking on Amazon.

so now that leads to two other possible reasons. DRM/format, and price.

2) Is your price too high?
Amazon shows the kindle verson of Ill Wind as being $7.99 Amazon also has the paperback edition for $7.99. B+N also has their nookBoook on sale for $7.99 and sell the physical copy for $7.91

2) Format/DRM issues?

One actually has to be physically made, and is more versitile (the paperback) and you can even sell it later. You physically own the copy of that book. Yet it’s the SAME price as a long-term-rental of the kindle-verson.

So there is an issue in both. Rather than being cheaper (because of the lack of overhead costs – printing, storage, distribution etc) its the same price or higher. People are paying the same (or more) for a digital copy that lets them do less. Or, in market terms, you’ve priced yourself uncompetitively.

Now, in a Free Market economy, we rightly attribute such failures to the seller. However, when it comes to copyright, what is in reality a market failure, is not just ignored, but vaunted and protected. What madness.

In short, Rachel/Roxanne/Julie – people find you wanting more for less, and are not impressed. The market is clearly there, as you’ve pointed out, you’ve just failed to capitalise on it. My suggestion (and that’s as someone who is both a writer and someone who has spent lots of time in the copyright field – as a copyright enforcer no less) is to address the cause, instead of ranting about the symptoms. Right now your supply (which is infinite, lets not forget) FAR outstrips demand. However, you’re dealing with it as if supply is low and demand high (which may be the case for your woodies (the paper editions).

So, address the market failure, and push the ebook price down. To date, eBook purchasing has been a bubble, spurred on by hardware that can finally offer it to the masses, albeit at a cost. For it to go mainstream, though, eBook prices have to plummet. You’re asking people to spend the same amount of money on a file they can only read on an expensive device, as for a physical book they can read anywhere, lend, burn or sell. If you don’t see where the problem is, then you’re probably going to be in for a BIG dissapointment in the future.

Rachel,

Your books aren’t being stolen.

I’m a fan of Ian M Banks’ “Culture” novels. All except the latest “Surface Detail” are on sale at £4.99, a smidge under the paperback price, which I believe is reasonable for a format that has much lower cost compared to print.

Surface Detail, however, is on sale at £8.99. Which is more expensive than the hardback. This is, IMHO, pure profiteering by the publisher.

Guess what? I have bought all of the £4.99 “Culture” novels for my Kindle. But there is absolutely no way, whatsoever, that I am going to pay more for a Kindle edition than for a hardback.

All I will do is wait until the price comes down before buying (or the OFT forces the price down), but I can fully understand why some people look at the comparative pricing of Kindle and Hardback editions, see the “Price set by publisher” banner and think ******* crooks, I’m off to Pirate Bay…..

Great, you’ve pointed out the big advantages of ebooks.
All those benefits, though, are not unique to the Kindle, or indeed any particular flavour of ebooks but have been around for more than 10 years. I used to carry a palmVx with me 10 years ago, that’s the size of small smartphones now, and carried a dozen books with me (but only a dozen, as memory was limited back then). I had a library of over 100 on my computer though, and it was just a case of double-clicking the book on the computer, stick the palm in the cradle and press the cradle button and wait 30 seconds. In fact, I’ve a picture somewhere of me, sitting in hospital, reading my palm (reading the Mahabarata if i remember correctly) while holding my newborn son (he’ll be 9 next month)

The big difference, though, is that no-one can take my book from me, as has been done on the Kindle, and if I want to read them, I could, when I wanted. In July09 Amazon remotely deleted books from kindle users (1984 and Animal Farm) and in December 2000 works by one author that people had already bought, couldn’t be redownloaded to the device. And you’re also only renting the books (you don’t buy, with Kindle) for one reader.

DRM (Digital Rights Management) exists because of the myth of piracy, however, all it does is inconvenience legitimate buyers. One person removes the DRM (or makes a version without DRM) and shares it, and then it’s worthless for it’s intended job, but still works just fine for restricting the paying customers.
Gee, can’t think why ANYONE would want to ‘pirate’ a version then…

My wife works for a pre-press company (that’s where they take the text, and them make it and the graphics ready to go to print, and then send the printer the file, usually by uploading the data via FTP). They’re looking into producing ebook versions (or offering the service) because it’s a 10-minute step (plus proofing) to do it.

It’s really a no-brainer. The biggest costs? licensing the damned DRM (which doesn’t work to ‘stop piracy’, and never has)

I used US figures above when Rachel/Roxanne/Julie commented about her books. The US has sales tax instead of VAT (I’m a Brit, living in the US – if you’ve ever been to Makro, you know what it’s like shopping in the US) BUT, you pay sales tax locally, for interstate transactions. In theory, when you buy things from Amazon, you’re supposed to later declare the tax and pay it at your state rate (here, in this county in Georgia, it’s 7%, some are 6% and others are 8%). In practice, people don’t pay it at all, which has led to North Carolina and New York suing Amazon to collect the sales tax there for them.

The tax burden is the same on both, and the prices are the same. It’s a nice theory, though the practice isn’t as simple as you might think.