TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Drollerie Press: Small Cleveland publisher outsmarts industry giants on DRM issues

By David Rothman

“For e-books,” wrote Bill McCoy, an ePub guy at Adobe, “I really like the ’social DRM’ approach of The Pragmatic Programmers, who ’stamp’ PDF eBooks with a ‘For the Exclusive Use of …’ and the name of the purchaser.”

None other than a co-founder of The Pragmatic Programmers, Andy Hunt, ran across our pro-SDRM post the other day. He particularly enjoyed this argument in the TeleBlog: “We could take e-books more seriously as a medium if we could truly buy them, especially for future use on new machines with different operating systems.”

An artsy-craftsy type gets social

But who says hardcore techies are the only people seeing promise in social DRM as a compromise between publishers and users? Bill and Andy, you’ve got company at Drollerie Press, run by an artsy lit major, along with an author/editor who has edited at Kensington Publishing. Named after the “decorative beasties in the margins of illuminated manuscripts,” Drollerie specializes in such genres as “speculative fiction, mythic fiction, slipstream, new weird, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, mystery, science fiction, romance or horror.”

Among Drollerie’s authors, even just months after the Cleveland-based publisher started wooing writers, are John B. Rosenman, former board chair of the Horror Writers Association; Edward Morris, considered for the 2005 British Science Fiction Association Award; and a Haight-Ashberry alum named Deborah Grabien, author of five Haunted Ballads novels for St. Martins Minotaur, in addition to other writings. Who could think of a small press with authors and a mission that differed more from those of the programmers at Pragmatic? Books like Morris’s Atlantis 1999, shown above, are a world away

Prefers to avoid DRM-infestation

And yet, although I have trouble seeing Drollerie’s publisher, Deena Fisher, as a coder, now or ever—instead she’s a mix of an editor, writer, designer, marketer, researcher and graphics person in Real Life—she just might understand e-books better than many techies, including some hired by major houses. On her site she offers Mobipocket, Adobe, Microsoft Reader, HTML and “plain text” (all without DRM, as will be the case with Drollerie books when they reach Fictionwise—although Mobi insists on encryption on books sold on its own site), along with print-on-demand books.

While most small presses are debating whether even to do E, Ms. Fisher obviously understands the importance of e-books, not only as industry-changers and literacy-spreaders but also as godsends for book-lovers with arthritis and other conditions that can make it hard to read or even hold paper books. And without DRM, usability goes up.

A reader, not just a business type

In her Drollerie blog, she describes our post on social DRM as “definitely worth considering.” I love the lead: “I’ve had my fair share of frustration and confusion with DRM. I don’t like buying a song and not being able to play it on more than one machine or one kind of player. I’d like to be able to read my e-book on my desktop, my handheld, and/or any other device I buy, especially if what I’m reading it on now dies suddenly. In the way that my first pre-employment drug test wigged me out, so does DRM. I don’t like feeling like a suspect.”

That isn’t just rhetoric. First-hand, as a sufferer of arthritis and fibromyalgia, Deena Fisher must understand what e-books can mean for people with disabilities—and how DRM hurts the cause. She became an e-book convert when she realized that she was reading fewer paper books because of her medical problems, that her arthritis made them difficult to hold. Compare her to a big-conglomerate executive who rarely reads E and feels no special urge to consider alternatives such as social DRM. Some very e-book-smart people work at certain large houses, including some who’d disagree with me about DRM, but they are not the top policy-setters.

More peoplish approach needed at large houses

Peoplish considerations, even more than technical and legal ones, should shape “protection” policies—a point lost on too many publishing consultants, lawyers and the executives who pay the hired hands enough money to think the experts are infallible.

Should publishing houses pile on Draconian DRM and invoke the DMCA just because the software and the law exist? It’s far, far better to cultivate a superior form of protection: a feeling of community among readers—and warmth not just toward writers but toward the publishers themselves. That is what Drollerie is apparently aiming for, through blogs on its site, LiveJournal and MySpace (135 friends), and at least a casual Googling suggests that Deena Fisher and her executive editor, Amy Garvey, author of spicy paperbacks such as Room Service, are off to a good start. Remember, engaged reader communities are just plain good for sales, not just as piracy prevention; they’re simply a nice side effect.

Even large conglomerates can use a more personal approach by way of editor-driven imprints and interaction with readers. How many big publishers and editors blog with a personal touch, like Drollerie? Maybe it’s time for them to start, just as Richard Charkin, CEO of the Holtzbrinck-owned Macmillan, has done, even if he seems to be speaking to the book industry more than the world at large (now if only I can get him keen on social DRM!).

Deeds, not just words

Readers, however, want deeds, not just words, or maybe lack of deeds. The RIAA, in siccing Dobermanish lawyers loose on music fans, is doing small recording companies and independent performers a favor. The little guys now have a built-in head start over large rivals that overcharge customers and toe the moralistic and hypocritical RIAA line. Lessons here for book publishers? Throw the book at commercial pirates, especially the big ones, but lay off the fans. So far, to its credit, the Association of American Publishers hasn’t imitated the RIAA. But as the the e-book market grows, the temptation may arise. Resist it, Pat.

But what about positive deeds, as opposed to lack of negative ones? Remember when I suggested that one of the best ways for J.K. Rowling to fight e-piracy would be simply for her to be more charitable, and let the world know that she wouldn’t simply be pigging it up with her billions? While she makes some efforts in that regard, undoubtedly she could do more.

Little Drollerie, which, unlike J.K., has limited resources, just might be trying harder than she is. For example, the About page promises that “each quarter we will choose one charity or research organization and provide 1% of our profits to that group. Over the course of time, we plan to offer our authors the opportunity to choose a charity to benefit from a special sale of their product. The product will be marked with the charity it will support and 5% of the profits from sales of that product will be donated to the charity of the author’s choice.” Among the causes: Literacy.org. Could it just be that charity, especially the kind that enlarges the number of potential readers, is a better protector of the value of intellectual property than DRM is?

Encouraging Drollerie

Given Drollerie’s ‘tude toward DRM, I hope people will drop by to consider its wares. They may or may not be for you. I think you should buy books to entertain and enlighten yourself, not be technologically correct—although, all things even, a nonDRMed book is preferable since you’re buying, not renting. Go with nonDRMed books and you’ll never have to worry about a Mobipocket-style mess disrupting access to backup copies of books you’ve already bought.

If you’re a writer, you might consider Drollerie. It is not giving out advances now, a major negative in most cases, but here I’d actually feel comfortable—not just on the basis of the overwhelmingly positive buzz on the Absolutely Write site but also going by Amy Garvey’s past experience at a good-sized publishing house, as well as by the stellar quality of Deena Fisher’s covers, which should help endear Drollerie books to the big chain stores. I’ll welcome feedback from any writers who try Drollerie (read submission guidelines) and scrutinize any contracts offered.

Publishing for keeps: Staying serious about books

Meanwhile If you want your great-grandchildren to be able to read your e-books, if you want E to be a serious medium, then let’s hope that Random House, HarperCollins, S&S and other giants of the trade will learn from Drollerie, the Pragmatic Programmers and like-minded publishers.

Note: Like most blog entries, this is not a full article, just the start of a dialogue. Feel free to comment away. I’m e-mailing Deena Fisher and Amy Garvey in case they’ve got anything to say—beyond the Drollerie’s blog entry—on DRM or other topics.

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