As publishers and independent authors struggle with what distribution outside Amazon might look like one of the main problems they hit is how to avoid their stuff being copied and distributed outside their control. Like it or not, most people in creative jobs don’t want their stuff freely distributed all over the internet. The most common response to that fear of copying to date has been Digital Rights Management (DRM). And currently that means using one of the major retailers’ platforms.
The integrated Amazon platform of the store plus the Kindle, like the original iPod and iTunes, does a wonderful job of managing the DRM process. Readers are unable to share their books with others due to the security restrictions that Amazon are able to put in place through owning both the delivery mechanism and the reading device.
While the many arguments for and against DRM have already played out in the music, film and games industries with varying degrees of success, there is no arguing the power that DRM is giving Amazon over the publishing industry; readers are locked in to the Amazon device, and publishers are locked in to the only retailer that can “protect" them.
There’s a growing feeling across all tiers of publishing that Amazon’s current position isn’t healthy, and people are starting to look for ways to distribute their books to readers that are outside the usual Amazon control. This means that they are having to do it without DRM, whether they want to or not. And it means they’re seeking alternatives.
The fastest growing alternative to DRM is “Watermarking". Watermarking works by embedding information about the buyer within the digital product. So, for example, your Apple ID is embedded in every mp3 file that you buy from iTunes. This both discourages you, the buyer, from sharing (you don’t want your details being embedded in files that are all over BitTorrent) and allows the retailer to identify any serial sharers (by examining the shared files for those embedded personal details).
There are a couple of players offering watermarking in the books space at the moment, taking very different approaches (and at different stages of their commercial development).
BooXtream is a Dutch company that provides all the watermarking services for Pottermore, making both very explicit changes to the books that everyone can see as well as much subtler changes that are harder to identify (and remove).
SiDiM takes a fascinating approach. The watermarking software actually changes the words of the text, replacing words with synonyms; changing the content of the book just for you, without changing the meaning.
Expect to see more enter this space over the next 12 to 18 months.
