here has been considerable discussion lately about authors and publishers selling their ebooks directly to readers, much of it fueled by J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore announcement. The approach is technically feasible as well as financially lucrative. Why give stores like Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble (etc.) a cut if you don’t have to?
As an avid reader of ebooks I’ve been thinking a lot about what this means for me. The key reader benefit touted so far is that the ebooks (Harry Potter ebooks at least) will be free of copy protection. I’ll agree that is attractive to some people but in my case I own a Kindle so I’m not as concerned about Amazon abandoning me.
Notwithstanding the benefit of owning an ebook that doesn’t lock me into a specific standard, are there downsides? I think there are two big ones and they cut to the very promise of ebooks.
Backups. When I buy a Kindle edition a copy of it is stored in my online (cloud) account. I can move and replace it on difference devices as needs arise. But imagine a world where you must remember to back up your ebook titles, worse yet, just certain ones. I suppose Pottermore could have a backup of my ebook but how practical is it to expect readers to keep track of each store they buy from if selling direct becomes widespread? This is why people buy Apple products—things “just work”. They “just won’t” if some publishers sell direct and others don’t.
Social sharing. One of my favorite things to do is discover what other people like about the book I’m reading. Called Popular Highlights on the Kindle, I no longer have access to this fascinating look into the collective mind of fellow readers. While I wouldn’t be surprised to see this issue addressed by a sell-direct publisher, or a third party service, I doubt it would be as convenient and useful as it is now.
Those are my two cons to buying direct. Am I missing others? Are there other pros besides the lack of copy protection?
Originally published by David on his Sell Box site.
I think this is really only lucrative and reasonable for a select few authors, JK Rowling being a prime example. For the vast majority of authors few kindle or nook readers (who are used to one click downloads) would take the time to go to a separate web page, buy, download and then transfer the book to their device. I know that there are only a few authors that I would spend that much time to read.
“I’ll agree that is attractive to some people but in my case I own a Kindle so I’m not as concerned about Amazon abandoning me.” Amazon has abandoned ebook customers in the past, and while that was earlier days and I doubt it will happen now it could. My philosophy is to always have my own backups. “But imagine a world where you must remember to back up your ebook titles, worse yet, just certain ones. I suppose Pottermore could have a backup of my ebook but how practical is it to expect readers to keep track of each store they buy from if selling direct becomes widespread?” I can easily imagine this world as it’s already reality for many of us who buy ebooks not just from Amazon, B&N, etc. but from individual authors (Rowling may be the first really big name, but lots of authors have been selling direct for years) and small digital publishers. It’s really not that big of a deal to keep a backup copy of everything. “Social sharing. One of my favorite things to do is discover what other people like about the book I’m reading. Called Popular Highlights on the Kindle,” That’s certainly a problem for those who use that feature.
It doesn’t have to be an either/or option. My publishers (Angry Robot) put out their books on Kindle and iBooks as well as a DRM-free ePub from their own website. That way the readers can choose their preferred format – and I suspect there are still enough Kindle sales to fuel the ‘social sharing’ side.
I would much rather buy directly from authors where that means they get a much higher proportion of the ebook cost (the Agency 6, for example, are still exploiting authors to a disgraceful extent), and I have no problem with backing up my ebooks. You might trust Amazon, but I trusted Mobipocket and Fictionwise, both in their day the best format and provider of ebooks. I lost hundreds of purchased DRM Mobipocket ebooks when I moved to iPhone (Amazon still refuses to license the Mobipocket format for iOS), and I lost quite a few purchased ebooks of different formats when geographic limitations were imposed (although I had been “allowed” to buy those books long before geolims, I couldn’t access them from my Fictionwise Bookshelf afterwards). What makes you think Amazon won’t suffer from “licensing issues” or data loss in the future? The cloud is just as vulnerable to security exploits as any storage with account access. ALWAYS keep a backup. Calibre makes this particularly easy, by creating its own copy of each ebook in its Calibre Library on your disk. Simply drag your Kindle (or other) ebook into Calibre, add metadata if you like, and you have a separate backup copy which Amazon can’t delete on a whim. Backup your hard disk regularly (e.g. using Time Machine on Macs) and you have two backup copies, safe from Amazon and disk failure. Also, sites like LibraryThing and GoodReads make it both easy and enjoyable to network with other readers of like tastes.
I don’t see direct author selling as a viable approach for many authors. The key to selling is to be somewhere where you can be found. If readers have to look in dozens or hundreds (or tens of thousands) of separate shops to evaluate all of their reading choices, they’ll throw up their hands. If they have to enter credit card information for websites they’ve never heard of, they will go elsewhere. PayPal and social reading sites can help a bit, but I don’t see this as a realistic choice. As a data point, direct sales from my publishing website (BooksForABuck.com) have dropped dramatically since the advent of the Kindle and Nook stores. I think this trend will continue rather than reverse. Rob Preece Publisher
I was selling ebooks from my website before there was any kindle or nook, and I continue to sell ebooks from my website. I am also now available at all the major ebook retailers and that’s nice too, but I’ll never stop selling from my website. As a business person I should always seek a sale where I don’t have to pay a middleman. Even though I’m a small business person, I keep records. I’ve helped customers regain their ebooks years after their purchases. It’s really not tough to do and I am glad to service my customers. I think some people choose to buy directly from me because they want to fully support my work. They like knowing that all the purchase price went to the author. I know I like it! On the subject of Pottermore, there is really no reason for the owner of such a huge brand to give anything up to retailers. Her legions of fans will come to her. I wish Rowling all the best. I understand you personally don’t want to buy from any one-person ebook shops, but not everyone is of the same opinion. Some people think it’s cool to deal with the actual creator.
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