DRM-free indie ebooks outsell DRM-locked ones 2:1

Cory Doctorow 6:00 am Sat Jul 19, 2014

Author Earnings has published its latest eye-popping data-analysis of ebook sales and rankings on Amazon.

Amid the general growth of indie books (indie authors now make more as a group than Big 5 authors, though there are a lot more indies sharing that pie), there's this amazing fact:

It wasn't surprising to see that most Big 5 books employ DRM, but we were shocked to see that it is practically 100% of them. Indies, on the other hand, locked down roughly 50% of their titles. Since there isn't any variation in the Big 5 books, we are forced to look at the self-published titles for any effect on sales, and indeed there is one. The 50% of non-DRM ebooks account for 64% of total unit sales.

Indie titles without DRM sell twice as many copies each, on average, as those with DRM.

To confirm that this finding didn't simply reflect a correlation between ebook pricing and DRM election, rather than a consequence of DRM itself, we compared the average daily earnings of non-DRM titles to DRM titles at each pricing cohort.
,p>
At almost every price point, we see the thousands of titles without DRM significantly out-earning the thousands of titles with DRM. In fact, at the only two price points that appear to buck the general trend and which show DRM titles outselling non-DRM ones, we found that the reversal was due to 3 outlier DRM titles published by only two authors.

July 2014 Author Earnings Report

(Thanks, Chris!)

How did Atari die?

Some brands permeate the public consciousness so effectively that people begin to call the product by the brand name. Try to remember the last time you asked for gelatin instead of Jello? In the realm of video games, Nintendo used to be that brand. I vividly remember my mom demanding I turn off my Nintendo… READ THE REST
How did Pizza Hut lose its proverbial sauce?

As a child of New York City, I've always been an elitist when it comes to pizza. Despite never being a fan of the quality of their cuisine, going to Pizza Hut was an event in my childhood. Similar to McDonald's, Chuck E. Cheese, and Blockbuster, simply uttering the words Pizza Hut was enough to… READ THE REST
Why do Checkers and Rally's have different names?

We're adrift in the sea of corporate synergy, and I don't think we'll see the shore ever again. Take being a fan of Marvel, for example. Let's say you want to watch the upcoming Dr. Strange movie. Well, you have to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home first. Once you manage that, you have to block out time… READ THE REST
Defend the internet by learning how to become an ethical hacker for $42

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Hackers are at it more than ever. Major companies, governments, and organizations all over the world are hit by thieves looking for a big payday. It's not enough to have real-world thieves to… READ THE REST
Learn how to manage your money like a pro with these $30 finance and accounting classes

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Taking control of your money is a great step to building a better life. Since most of us can't rely on the occasional cash explosion to bail us out, we should learn a… READ THE REST
Create amazing beats faster with EasySplitter Pro Vocal Remover

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Do you love sampling and making your own music? Do you create karaoke songs for your friends? It can be a huge pain getting the vocals out of a song manually… READ THE REST