The library issue is a policy issue, not a DRM issue, per se. Sort of like how if libraries want 5 copies of dead-tree books to lend out, they have to buy 5 actual books, instead of just buying one and then copying said book 4 times.

Look, I dislike DRM and will be glad when the publishing market (and the video market, for that matter) finally catches up with the online music market in terms of ditching DRM. But your complaints with regards to the supposedly Sisyphean task of getting your books into Mobi DRM (again, you need to be on Kindle, whether or not you’re on Mobi; once you’re signed up via Mobi, you can simply set Amazon Kindle as one of your retailers, and the DRMed PRC will be translated into Kindle AZW and put up for sale on Amazon via the Kindle Store) are both bogus and laughably Luddite in nature, especially for someone who’s a) writing and publishing ebooks and b) thinks he has sufficient understanding of the general topic of ebook publishing to opine on the topic.

Xenophon

I did get the whole of the quote and chose, for comedic purposes, to deliberately mistake the man who is endangering a bunch of tax collectors as the hero of the story.

As the saying goes, if you have to explain the joke it was never funny.

(1) There is a BIG difference between DRMed and nonDRMed Mobi, especially in terms of the quality of the user experience. While the format under the DRM layer is the technically the same, we’re really talking about a second eBabeler to deal with. Proprietary DRM in effect turns everything it touches into a different format.

(2) The typical small publisher is NOT tech-inclined—rather, far more language-inclined. That’s the way it should be. I’m very fortunate that my publisher was more tech-inclined than most of her counterparts—and thus could shorten the DRM-caused delay. Don’t confuse publishers and pundits.

Yes, when I messed with a Mobi creation tool in the past year or two, I may have run across box to check if you wanted DRM. Or perhaps I read of that. But the checkbox or whatever is just the tip of the iceberg, long term, as I’ve noted. As a consumer I’ve found that Mobi DRM is absolute hell when, for example, you’re up against the device limit (just four at a local library, last I knew). As noted, some of these problems with “sold” books may come back to haunt publishers, not just stores and distributors. That’s why, yes, Lida was wise to take time out to RTFM.

Of course, the real issue in the end is whether Amazon/Mobi makes DRM mandatory. Based on Lida’s experience, it certainly does! Why is Jeff giving the opposite impression on TV?

Thanks,
David

To reach the maximum number of readers, go Kindle. You’ll get more sales on Kindle than you will on MobiPocket. But if you really want to go MobiPocket, as well, it’s just as easy as I described it.

As for reading the documentation, be still my beating heart (why someone needs to read documentation in order to tick a check-box which is clearly visible on the screen is another question)! With regards to end-users having DRM-related problems, a simple form email directing any and all queries regarding these issues to the right links/organizations will suffice.

You, your publisher, and your distributor are making a mountain out of a mole-hill. It sounds to me as if all of you need a bit of RTFMing in order to understand the medium and the relevant technologies/processes.

If you’re so technology-averse and aren’t willing to understand how this stuff works, why are you publishing ebooks and committing uninformed punditry on the subject in the first place?

Thanks,
David

Other than the dash I’ve just added, that’s exactly how the sentence read. I didn’t say the book was about the local real estate advertiser. Rather I said it was about the hassles of getting the story out.

But in a sense you’re still a bit correct. Seymour Solomon, the real estate advertiser, is important enough to have made the cover of the book—shown in ad in the upper right of this page.

Thanks,
David

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

First of all, going the MobiPocket route at this point is dumb. Mobi is going away in favor of Kindle; or, rather, will probably be updated with the Kindle DRM capability. So, submit your book to Amazon in Kindle format (it’s easy) and they’ll take care of the DRM and you’ll get your book out to people who actually buy ebooks, and lots of them, via Kindle.

If you’re determined to go the dumb MobiPocket anyways, the silly Windows-only MobiPocket Creator software make it painless to add MobPocket DRM to PRC files – you just get the keys from MobiPocket and then stick them in MobiPocket Creator, tick the DRM box and re-generate the PRC. Boom! Instant DRM.

I hate DRM, it’s dumb, and it’s a shame the hidebound publishers won’t learn from the iTunes experience, and that MobiPocket/Amazon are intent on shoving DRM down everyone’s throats at the behest of said hidebound publishers. That being said, grossly exaggerating the nonexistent technical difficulties of dealing with the DRM (in the case of Kindle, do nothing; in the case of MobiPocket, re-create the PRC file with the DRM option ticked) doesn’t help the anti-DRM cause.

(Though he’d sell his titles without it if he could, Melton’s own stance on DRM is a bit more complicated, though. He discusses it in this blog entry.)

“E-book downloads and purchases have also increased significantly during the last three years.46 This increase is due in part to the release of exciting new portable reading devices, such as the Kindle and the iPhone. The success of these new readers has led to dramatic increases in the number of available titles, and projections indicate that these increases will continue”

and implies that DRM is the cause because it is
“allowing copyright owners (and their licensees) to tailor their offerings to the specific distribution rights they possess, to offer more granular options to consumers, to experiment with different price points, different roles for advertising, and different time limits for use -in short, to better meet the diverse needs of diverse audiences.”

It sounds to me like you are actively being forbidden from tailoring your offering the way you want thanks to DRM.

I will admit to a certain amount of puzzlement as to what exactly mobipocket has to do with an agreement between you/your publisher and the distributor (Diesel). Why would they be involved in the chain?