Eric Flint on DRM at Tobias Buckell Online

Journal Entry

Eric Flint on DRM

June 1st 2007 at 1:04 am

Eric Flint compares the potential cost of piracy on a book versus the frequent con trips many authors make:

The most common form of promotion that science fiction and fantasy authors undertake is to attend science fiction conventions, of which there are hundreds in the United States every year. In some instances, they are invited to be the Guest of Honor or the Toastmaster for a convention, in which case the convention pays the cost of their travel and lodging. But, in most cases, the authors are paying for it themselves. And even if the convention is picking up the tab, the author is still losing valuable work time.

Figure out the math. Assume the cost of the round-trip travel averages $400 and the cost of the hotel room is another $200 for a weekend. Toss in $100 for food and incidental expenses.

That’s seven hundred dollars. To make back that financial loss—remember my royalty figures in the fifth essay?—the author would have to sell a minimum of one hundred and eighty-seven books, over and above what they’d sell without that promotional trip. And that’s assuming that he or she gets published in hardcover, and it also assumes that their hardcover sales typically exceed ten thousand copies per title, so they’re getting the top 15% royalty rate.

In point of fact, neither assumption applies to most authors. For a new or midlist writer who is only getting published in paperback, where the royalties are eight percent of the cover price—i.e., sixty-four cents per copy sold, accruing to the author, assuming the standard modern paperback price of eight dollars—they would have to sell over a thousand additional copies of a book just to break even on that one promotional effort.

For the sake of promoting themselves and their work, science fiction and fantasy authors routinely accept—several times a year, as a rule, because they’re likely to attend more than one convention—what amounts to a financial loss that’s the equivalent of several hundred to more than a thousand paper books being stolen—yet they choke at the possibility that electronic “pirates” might swipe. . . .

Share and Enjoy:

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Filed in Tech. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this entry to keep track of comments. You can also use to trackback.

8 Responses so far

1. David Chunn on Jun 1st, 2007 at 12:08 pm

The whole piracy issue amazes me. What about used bookstores? I can think of no greater form of piracy than this, yet they are prevalent and no one ever complains about them. Sure, you could argue that the author and publisher did get paid once for those books, but then other people profited from them. Pirates don’t normally make money from stolen work; they just save expense and steal money from you.

I’m not saying used bookstores are bad, just noting how one form of piracy is acceptable and another isn’t. (Personally, I only buy out of print books from used bookstores these days. When I was much poorer a few years back, that was how I tried out new authors who didn’t post significant samples online. If I liked them, I would then buy new copies.)

Anyway, I agree with the Flint article entirely.
2. Rick Novy on Jun 1st, 2007 at 6:44 pm

Okay, but nobody says you can’t work while attending a con. Nothing ever really happens before noon, and many writers use that time effectively.

Not a valid excuse NOT to attend a LOCAL con where you can sleep in your own bed, IMHO.
3. Wyman Cooke on Jun 1st, 2007 at 7:27 pm

I hang out on Baen’s Bar. The first convention I went to I went because Eric was going to be there. I’ve since became friends with Eric.

I am biased in his favor.

With that disclaimer I still think he’s absolutely right. Take the Baen Free Library as an example. Eric got into an argument with someone on RASFW about this very subject. He said that he could do just as well with his books available for free. He got Jim Baen, David Weber, and David Drake to go along, and thus was born the Baen Free Library. And some interesting things started happening. Mutter of Demons, Eric’s first novel, was nearly at the end of its print cycle. Orders were tapering off. He posted MoD on the Free Library and the next thing he knows there was a jump in sales. So far as I know MoD is still in print. The Free Library has boosted sales of Dead Tree editions by impressive amounts.

The Baen Free Library and Webscriptions, the pay service, is affectionately known by the Barflies as Book Crack; The First Taste Is Free.
4. Steve Buchheit on Jun 1st, 2007 at 7:31 pm

I think it was his argument that you lose more money by attending a con, even before the loss of productive time, than you can lose by having your books pirated.
5. Virginia on Jun 1st, 2007 at 7:42 pm

I wish I could attend a con for only $700. *wink*

I can see Mr. Flint’s logic in trying to make a monetary comparison to an the act of con-going, to which most writers can relate. However, I think his narrow minded logic is flawed. What about meeting those readers who will buy not only that current novel, but the next, and the next? What about finding other prospects for publishing your work? (Face-to-face time is invaluable.) He did mention that writing is a solitary activity, and we all need to have FUN at some point. Does Mr. Flint take holidays to Hawaii? Sitting on the beach isn’t going to sell any books. Having a beer at a large table of what I say are targeted readers has better prospects.
While I totally agree with the idea that offering your work up for free (for whatever time period) can be a good promotional tool, it can also kick back at you. I’ve read numerous first chapters online and banged my head on the keyboard in mental anguish. I didn’t buy those books. On the other hand, I’ve met people at cons and found that they were great people. I would buy a couple of their books. I didn’t like one, but I had faith enough in them to try another, and lo and behold, twas good.

Maybe I’m the type of person that puts a lot more stock into human interaction than Mr. Flint does, but I stand by it.
6. Steve Buchheit on Jun 3rd, 2007 at 12:13 pm

Virginia, I don’t think Eric was arguing against going to Cons. Considering the relative few I’ve attended I’ve seen him on panels (I haven’t had the courage to introduce myself yet) so he is a big believer in getting out there with the fans.

I think Eric’s comments are targeted at a meta discussion going on right now about e-piracy and web delivery and what authors and specifically authors groups should do about it. His comments are of the type that discuss the idiocy that people have in their focus. In other life functions, this is like being worried about dying in an act of terrorism, when more people will die this summer in the US because of drunk drivers than have perished worldwide because of terrorism since 2001.

Eric is a focal point in this discussion (as in, “Whose going to tell Eric Flint he’s a scab?” for those following the debate). He’s giving his reasons for not being overly worried about e-piracy of his works. In fact, I think he would encourage a small percentage of piracy, as it’s a mark of “having made it.” And as his experience shows, it leads to more sales.

So he’s saying that people shouldn’t be so uptight about e-piracy. Or at least they should stop making the “economic loss argument” because they are losing more by engaging in other activities which they support and wouldn’t give up.

Do I think he’s completely right here? No, not completely (he is discussing this from the writer’s standpoint, a publisher - which Eric also is - may have a bit more to say about e-piracy as they are losing more), but in the main, yes. I do think he has a point, and he most certainly is the best example of “you can’t argue with success.”
7. Virginia on Jun 3rd, 2007 at 6:55 pm

Thanks for your comment, Steve. I think we’ve maybe both shown how it’s incredibly difficult to put a ‘price’ on marketing/promotion efforts and their exact monetary returns. I in turn focused on Mr. Flint’s numerical comparison, when we’re all weighing issues that have immeasurable benefits.
Has anyone seen any statistics on e-piracy and publishing specifically?