Selling DRMless books via Amazon’s Kindle Store: How to skip DRM in at least some cases
By Joshua Tallent of eBookArchitects.com
A few weeks back I posted about Jeff Bezos’ take on DRM on the Kindle. Bezos said that copyright holders can choose to include DRM in their Kindle books if they want it, but my contention was that anyone who uploads content to the Kindle through the Digital Text Platform (DTP) did not have this option.
I made that assertion because there was no information on the DTP about how to add DRM to a book, and there is certainly no check-box on the upload interface that lets a user choose to DRM the content or not when Amazon prepares it for publication.
Well, it looks as if the option is available after all—in a manner of speaking. After some investigation I started to see that most of the books I downloaded that were published on the DTP did not have DRM. To figure this out, all you have to do is change the extension from .AZW to .PRC or .MOBI. Then the files will open in any Mobipocket Reader program or supported device if they are DRM-free.
So, I contacted Amazon to see what the company would say about the issue officially. The response I received was enlightening:
Using Amazon DTP, publishers have the ability to add or omit DRM from their submissions. If you use the DTP conversion, the default will be DRM-Free. You can, however submit a mobipocket file through DTP, which can have DRM when it was created. If this is the case, then DTP will honor the DRM.
That little bit of information is a game changer. I would venture to guess that the majority of individuals and companies using the DTP do not have any idea about DRM, and even fewer know how to effectively use Mobipocket Creator to make a decent e-book file.
I would encourage Amazon to make this option more prominent on the DTP and give users a front-and-center option for selecting DRM or not. A link to the TeleRead DRM Primer would be a good addition, too.
Moderator’s note: As Joshua notes, it would be most helpful if Amazon’s documentation for Kindle-book publishers called attention to ways to avoid or include DRM. I’m also wondering if Amazon will let all publishers, large and small, use the DTP that Josh does—can publishers fill us in? Are there DRMless alternatives for all publishers, a question that Court Merrigan’s comments raise? Also, there’s the issue of the Mobipocket Store, not just the Kindle Store. Here’s hoping that Amazon can allow similar flexibility there. Or does it already? Is Amazon wittingly or unwittingly playing down ways to avoid DRM when selling through the Mobipocket Store? So far, my publisher doesn’t know how to get The Solomon Scandals included in the Mobipocket Store without DRM in use. - D.R.
March 17th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Joshua - how about traditional publishers? Could they, in theory, put out their Kindlebooks in .mobi or .prc, specifying they didn’t want DRM?
March 17th, 2009 at 6:50 am
My personal feeling is that Amazon doesn’t give a hoot about Mobipocket stores—they’re just competition to the Kindle so why make it attractive to publish there? Even if it did, that matter may be down to contracts between the particular stores and Mobi established back in the days before Amazon bought the company.
March 29th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I hope that some publishers try Amazon books without Doesn’t Receive My Money restrictions. I’ve purchased hundreds of dollars of ebooks over the years, and the only ones with DRMM are those which are about the Kindle.