Hachette tries to force TOR authors to keep DRM on their TOR ebooks [ Edited ]

[keriflur]

Hachette is telling their authors that if they also publish the same titles with TOR, they're not allowed to sell those titles without DRM.

http://boingboing.net/2012/08/13/hachette-to-tor-authors-you-m.html

Methinks this will lead to more piracy, not less.  Hopefully Hachette will realize the error of their ways, but for the time being I think they've surpassed Penguin as the pub making the biggest mistakes in the ebook business.

Here's a link to the Cory Doctorow article on PW that the above article references:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/cory-doctorow/article/53544-doubling-d...

**This article is also a fantastic primer on why DRM is bad for, well, everyone except the ebook vendors.

[patgolfneb]

Watermarking or other tagging process which makes pirated books easily identified is the way to go I believe. I don't believe pirates is the real target anyway. I think average readers who would share their books with friends and family are the real target. They know true pirates are beyond their ability to stop.

[kamas716]

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keriflur wrote:

Hachette is telling their authors that if they also publish the same titles with TOR, they're not allowed to sell those titles without DRM.

http://boingboing.net/2012/08/13/hachette-to-tor-authors-you-m.html

Methinks this will lead to more piracy, not less.  Hopefully Hachette will realize the error of their ways, but for the time being I think they've surpassed Penguin as the pub making the biggest mistakes in the ebook business.

Here's a link to the Cory Doctorow article on PW that the above article references:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/cory-doctorow/article/53544-doubling-d...

**This article is also a fantastic primer on why DRM is bad for, well, everyone except the ebook vendors.

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Well, I have a few thoughts after reading the articles.

1) Is Hachette UK trying to run itself out of business?  I mean, if you are demanding that the author require a publisher in another market do something that is anathema to it's business model, aren't the authors just as likely to say 'screw you' to Hachette and go with another publisher when their contract runs out?

2) I'm wondering if there aren't laws in place that would make it illegal to interfere with the business operations of a competitor?  Even if they aren't in the exact same market, but corrollary markets?

3) DRM doesn't stop piracy.  As one of the comments said, it's a speedbump.  Heck, it isn't even that.  It's the gnat that hits the windshield (on the passenger side, none the less).  For pirates, it's a minor annoyance.  For readers who switch platforms, it can hellacious if they aren't tech savvy.

[patgolfneb]

Kamas716, I wondered about restraint of trade also. I asked an attorrney friend. He said since it is part of the contract with the author it does not come under restraint of trade. He added that establishing and recovering damages unless a mechanisim is part of the contract is nearly impossible, since drm free sales would not be in their sales area. He sighed and reminded me that this more likely about some agenda with authors, the internet makes sales areas difficlt to enforce and lack of drm might make it easier for customers to skirt territory restrictions.

[keriflur]

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patgolfneb wrote:
He sighed and reminded me that this more likely about some agenda with authors, the internet makes sales areas difficlt to enforce and lack of drm might make it easier for customers to skirt territory restrictions.

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This may be true to an extent, but I've tried to buy ebooks from other markets and can't because I don't have a billing address there.  I have an easier time buying foreign DTBs than ebooks.

[keriflur]

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kamas716 wrote:

1) Is Hachette UK trying to run itself out of business?  I mean, if you are demanding that the author require a publisher in another market do something that is anathema to it's business model, aren't the authors just as likely to say 'screw you' to Hachette and go with another publisher when their contract runs out?

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Yes, they are.

To my knowledge, most authors have a primary publisher that they work with on major edits, and then the foreign pubs work mainly on marketing and translation (if needed) aspects specific to their countries.  The relationship between an editor at the primary pub and the author can be really close - I can see it being hard to walk away if you really love your editor.  But I don't see how it would be hard, if Hachette isn't your primary pub, to tell them goodbye.

As a writer who will (eventually) be seeking a publisher, I can tell you that actions like this will figure into my decisions about who I want to sell my book to.