Comments on: Self-publishing site Lulu drops DRM on ebooks, sort of

By: Irina

Irina — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 02:48:31 +0000

Lulu ebooks will automatically become “private” (unlisted) if authors do not authorize a new edition without DRM, so they’re giving their authors a choice. And, Ken, uncrackable DRM is a fantasy. History proves again and again that any media that can be displayed can be copied. That said, I am not going to authorize my Lulu publishes nonfiction book. It will continue to be available on Amazon and other online bookstores with DRM, and that’s enough. Actualy sales from Lulu’s online store are miniscule anyway. I suspect Lulu’s line about “a step towards helping authors reach the broadest audience possible” is just corporate spin, that they actually want to stop paying Adobe for DRM software licensing.

By: sfberglund

sfberglund — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:50:48 +0000

Carolyn – can you post the links to your “statistically valid data”?

By: Ken Bloomfield

Ken Bloomfield — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:22:45 +0000

Maybe the answer is to make DRM impossible or at least very difficult to crack. Similar to when an iphone is locked to a particular service supplier for a period of time. Snippets of a book free online to tempt buyers might be a good thing but if they can download the whole book free, why would they buy? Its not the same as movies where the original is better quality. With a book text is text.

By: Carolyn Jewel

Carolyn Jewel — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:12:22 +0000

Well, the available statistically valid data does not support the paranoia about piracy. The truth is the evidence highly suggests piracy increases sales for all but the NYT bestselling authors. Further, I find it fascinating that Harlequin is expanding its DRM-free offerings. (Its digital arm, Carina Press, has always been DRM free.) TOR books is now going DRM free.

And yes, I am a traditionally published author of going on 20 books, but I’m also self-pubbing backlist and front-list so I see this from both sides of the fence. DRM does not prevent piracy. Period. Currently, a far bigger problem than piracy is geo-restrictions and, (I am quite serious) DRM. These two things are far more responsible for preventing purchases by readers that books sitting on torrent servers. In the current environment, there’s more benefit (sales) to be had from making it easier and possible for readers to buy than from applying DRM that takes less than 5 minutes to crack.

By: Richard Hartzell

Richard Hartzell — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:41:49 +0000

I’d be curious to know what portion of sales a Lulu-published author gets from Lulu as opposed to Amazon, B&N, et al. Clearly from a book *reader’s* standpoint those e-tailer sites get way more traffic. Granted, if Lulu took its decision without any regard for its content creators’ preferences we might be justified in considering it “retrograde” — or at least insensitive. Practically, though, I’d guess a Lulu author who actually makes a living with her content is making that living mostly through high-profile e-tailer sites and not through Lulu itself.

By: Ken Bloomfield

Ken Bloomfield — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:23:53 +0000

But how would you feel if, at the end of your month’s work, when you went to collect your salary you’re employer said “oh sorry you’ve worked this month for free and of course you are free to work somewhere else if you don’t like it.”
I’d put money on it that you wouldn’t be so flippant when it was your income that was being stolen.

By: Ken Bloomfield

Ken Bloomfield — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:56:01 +0000

From the first two comments it is abundantly clear that an author publishing on Lulu is more than likely to have his work stolen and distributed without recompense for his/her efforts.
Writers write because they love to write but like everybody they also need to eat. If this trend continues fewer people will write and that will be sad for prosperity and up and coming authors will be joining the ever growing dole queues.

By: Yak

Yak — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:24:06 +0000

You’re free to use another publisher :-) Just like I’m free to not read your books.

By: David

David — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:53:57 +0000

I’ve got copies of my non-DRM ebooks all over the torrent sites and thousands of downloads registered, for which I haven’t received a cent. As soon as you push for them to be taken down, they’re posted up again.

This is a seriously retrograde step by Lulu, which clearly seems to value only its own profile, displaying no concern whatsoever for its content creators. Lulu should be aware that professional authors don’t write to satisfy their egos – they need money to make a living, and develop a career.

At the very least, Lulu should have canvassed the views of those most affected – ie its content creators – before taking this step, instead of being totally disinterested in our views.

PLUS they should now give us an option as to whether we want to continue DRM protection or not. After all, it’s our content – and will Lulu be pursuing the torrent sites to protect our non-DRM work? I think not ….

By: Lori Verni-Fogarsi

Lori Verni-Fogarsi — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:50:23 +0000

Am I understanding correctly that this means e-books from Lulu will no longer be protected from a buyer who might, let’s say, email it to 500 friends for free?