E-book pirates’ new heroes: S&S and Hachette

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By David Rothman

Can Simon and Schuster and Hachette really use movie-business-style release windows and delay e-book releases to get people to pllunk down $25 for a hardback? Paul’s already passed on the basic details, and now here’s my own perspective.

The delayed-release policy will be a gift to pirates (as well as more enlightened publishers). If customers can’t get something legally, they just might want to look elsewhere. I’m not sure if piracy will be massive. But there will be more of it than otherwise.

When S&S and the like pull stunts like this, it raises the inevitable question about DRM—and of whether it’s there not to “protect” e-books but to hold them back.

If publishers are really worried about the lower prices of e-books—never mind that they may be able to use volume to make up—then I would suggest they follow the wisdom of some industry gurus and simply release the digital versions at the start with higher pricing than later on.

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