Should Oprah start her own e-book-oriented publisher? Meanwhile should e-houses lobby for O-recs?
Steve Jordan and I were just pondering the fate of the classics in the digital era. “People will buy what she tells them to buy!” he joked about Oprah.
Wait, Steve. You may be on to something for real.
Oprah’s fans have complained they can’t always find on the Kindle what she recs on her show. Could one solution be for Oprah herself to start a publishing company, with a focus on E? And ideally without DRM, which adds to the complexity of e-books?
No, Oprah shouldn’t stop endorsing titles from other publishers. In fact, maybe some of the better e-houses can lobby Oprah to consider their books for recommendations.
But her own direct participation in publishing—with care not to shut out other houses—could send a powerful message to the usual suspects that alternatives exist to price gouging and DRM.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Although I could well imagine Oprah starting her own publishing house, I wouldn’t bet on her going no-DRM on us. After all, she’s a businesswoman, too, and let’s face it, she’s in this for the bucks. Amazon does DRM… Murdock’s future e-book and e-newspaper plans make it clear he’s looking at DRM… Oprah doesn’t have enough at stake in the non-DRM market to give her a good reason to buck that trend.
Now, when we see her recommending e-books through indie publishers that can be read on the Kindle, whether they’re bought from Amazon or not… we may see the beginnings of a sea-change. Until then, I’m not holding my breath for no-DRM proclamations from O.