The title says it all, but in case you want more, you can read the press release: “New DRM-free Publishers at ComiXology“.
I was happy when comiXology asked me to join the second wave of DRM-free books, since it allowed me to make the books available to a wider audience. Will some of that audience share the books in ways I’d rather they didn’t? Maybe, but I suspect most won’t, and the benefits of making the books easier to read will be worth it.
This isn’t my first foray into DRM-free, though the first was a smaller scale. I worked with the Ann Arbor District Library a couple of years ago to release a few titles to AADL card-holders available. We went back and forth quite a bit on how that would work, and in the end instead of of requiring one of those hated click-through agreements, I wrote this and attached it to all the files:
A note from the author:Hi! Jim Ottaviani here, writing to say thanks for downloading [BOOK TITLE]. You probably expected to see a bunch of legalese at this point, but I almost never make it all the way through those licenses myself, so you won’t get that here. You also won’t get passwords, due dates, or DRM. We want you to read this book however it suits you, be it on a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, a phone… From here on out, this copy is yours.So, I hope you enjoy [BOOK TITLE], and if you do I have two requests.If you want to share it with friends who live in Ann Arbor, please encourage them to get the book from AADL themselves. This is an experiment for both the library and me; we’d like to find out how many people want to read books this way. So if your friends live here, they can get it the same way you did, and that would help us learn more. And hey, if they don’t already have a library card, now is the perfect time for them to get one! AADL is a wonderful resource, and you’ll both be happy you introduced them to it.And if you planned to send it to a friend from out of town? Well, while it’s uncomfortable to say it so plainly, here goes: You and I chip in via taxes to support all the great books, music, and movies — not to mention services — AADL provides. Some of my share comes from sales of the books I write. If you give this to someone who hasn’t chipped in, either directly or indirectly, we’ll end up with fewer great things to watch and listen to and read. So instead of sending them your copy, please suggest that they buy one, or ask their local library to order one for its collection.Thanks for reading, and again, I hope you enjoy the book.
So far, so good I think. And now, in partnership with comiXology, the experiment goes global.
