But, I recently published my second e-book, this time directly with Amazon, and discovered I have some control over what they do.
I discovered, as the author, that I could choose whether or not the book had DRM applied.
I chose to let the reader have some say—without DRM the purchaser can copy the e-book to another device and e-book format.
Of course, the person buying the book needs to know they have these options—I feel most readers don’t know…
And, today I opened one of the email subscriptions that helps me find things to blog about and saw an article from Good e-Reader—Do We Need Consumer Protection for eBooks?
I encourage you, whether you’re a writer or reader, to take that link and read the full article; but, here are just a few excerpts: { apparently, they didn’t know an author can control DRM on Amazon—many authors don’t know… }
“When Amazon sells you an an eBook for the Kindle they have the right to remove it at any time. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is referenced and Amazon can take your books away if it finds you’ve been naughty.”
“There are only a few online bookstores of note that do not sell their books using Digital Rights Management (DRM) and allow for a somewhat clearer path of ownership.”
“Ebooks now account for 27% of all adult trade sales. With this much money at stake and more customers adopting them, consumer protection for digital books is going to be needed.”
Do we really need some kind of governmental control?
Is it possible for e-retailers to realize their business would actually be more secure without DRM?
What are your thoughts and feelings about who actually owns e-books?
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The March post linked to a conversation between authors Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler and I quoted part of it in the June post:
“…if you’ve not been following the story, the publishers involved are all pointing fingers at Amazon as the company that must be stopped…
“I’ll put a bit of conversation between authors Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler, from the March post…with their opinions about Amazon as the Bad Guy:
“Joe: The Big Publishing Cartel monopolizes distribution for decades and that’s fine, but some upstart comes in and starts treating authors and readers with consideration, and it is a call to arms.
“Barry: This argument is just bizarre. I mean, Amazon, which sells more books than anyone, is destroying bookselling? Amazon is destroying bookselling by selling tons of books?”
So, the case has reached a verdict (with probable appeals approaching…) and the site GigaOM has an article that deals with DRM, Amazon, and the Big Six Publishers.
Here’s a short excerpt from that article, just to encourage you to go read the whole thing:
“The Big Six’s pig-headed insistence on DRM on ebooks is handing Amazon a stick with which to beat them harder. [Their] insistence on DRM has proven to be a hideous mistake. Rather than reducing piracy, it has locked customers in Amazon’s walled garden, which in turn increases Amazon’s leverage over publishers.”
Wondering where this will all end—though, many folks are going to speculate themselves into a frenzy………
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DRM stands for “digital rights management” and has been touted as a method of protecting the rights of authors…
Wikipedia says DRM is “a class of controversial access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyrightholders, and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale.”
They also say, “DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that are not desired or intended by the content provider.”
So, is the “content provider” the author or the retailer?
Should Amazon, for instance, insert DRM into the books they sell even if the author-as-content-provider doesn’t want it?
By the way, if you “buy” a book with DRM from Amazon, you’re really “renting” it, since they can revoke your ability to read the book; and, there’s no way you could send it to a friend to read………
Amongst all the good things Amazon is doing for the Book World, this stand out as their Blackest Mark.
Two previous posts here that deal with this issue are:
Today I want to feature a piece of software and its WebSite that support DRM-free e-books—Calibre.
Here’s some of the “About” from their site:
“Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books. It has a cornucopia of features divided into the following main categories:
Library Management – calibre manages your e-book collection for you. It is designed around the concept of the logical book, i.e., a single entry in your library that may correspond to actual e-book files in several formats.
E-book conversion – calibre can convert from a huge number of formats to a huge number of formats. It supports all the major e-book formats.
Syncing to e-book reader devices – calibre has a modular device driver design that makes adding support for different e-reader devices easy.
Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form – calibre can automatically fetch news from websites or RSS feeds, format the news into an ebook and upload to a connected device.
Comprehensive e-book viewer – calibre has a built-in ebook viewer that can display all the major ebook formats.
Content server for online access to your book collection – calibre has a built-in web server that allows you to access your ebook collection using a simple browser from any computer anywhere in the world.”
And/or, what do you think about Calibre??
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My publishing aid company, FastPencil, produces and distributes my books.
Places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple sell my books.
So, I create them, FastPencil invests its operation in producing my books, and other places sell them.
Also, I hold the copyright…
Along comes a Reader…
They “buy” my book—the e-book edition.
Do they own it?
No…
Well, technically, if they buy it from FastPencil directly they do own it and could, for instance, give it away to someone else.
But, the companies where most folks will find my books are Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple.
I’m still unclear about Barnes & Noble (and, they’re the least powerful of those three) but, if someone buys an e-book edition of my books from Amazon or Apple, they don’t own it—they essentially are only “renting” it. { though, if one looks closely enough when setting one’s book up in Amazon, there is an option to shut off what’s called DRM… }
That link will lead you to the story of a woman who had a happy Kindle—full of books—and suddenly had Amazon remove them and never give her a good reason for their action…
DRM—Digital Rights Management—is putting some code in an e-book that makes it very hard to share the book—tampering with the code (even if you are the copyright holder) is illegal.
We really have two issues here and we’re also right in the middle of my confusion…
Amazon’s ability to wipe-out your book collection has to do with having your Kindle connected to them through Wi-Fi—I never do that…
Not being able to share an e-book (by passing someone a file copy of it) has to do with the DRM code the retailer adds to the book’s file.
Now, get this:
I wrote a book.
Someone bought my book.
Even though I hold copyright, if I break the “digital lock” to help the person who bought my book share it with someone else, I’m breaking a law………
Does that make any sense to you?
Does it seem fair that the creator of a book has less legal rights than the retailer of that book?
I must insert an analogy that may seem off-beam but captures my emotional state as I contemplate my rights as an author.
I live in the United States of America.
This country purportedly is “of the people, by the people, and for the people”.
The U. S. A. can now spy on all my on-line activity and phone conversations.
They could, because of something they discover through their spying, arrest me and put me away where no lawyer could help me.
Even if what they discovered about me is perfectly legal………
Sure, the comparison of situations is extreme but, some days, I wonder if the folks who use DRM to control what I supposedly have the right to manage will team up with the folks who are using certain crisis situations to usurp my rights as a citizen of a “free” country.
Want an in-depth explanation of how DRM is overriding copyright?
Watch the video below…
And, if, after watching it, you can help me clear up some of my confusion with this issue, Please make a Comment…
If you’re the kind of person who wants to sink your teeth into this issue, check out these links:
Any & All Comments Welcomed :-)
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