Update: Device Limits on DTP/Indie Authors on Kindle

On Thursday, I broke the news that Amazon had instituted a new 5-device limit on all books published thru their DTP system (essentially all independent authors). This limit hit every DTP book, regardless of the original publishing date and came as surprising news to many authors. Several of them asked Amazon what was going on, since this provided roughly 17% less value from an DTP published book versus one from a major publishing house and since the authors had not asked for the change (most, in fact, considered themselves to be the "publisher," being self-published, and not Amazon, which it turns out is the case).

It seems that Amazon's DTP support didn't know anything about the change (they asked the authors to provide ASIN's, so they could research the issue -- but this affected every DTP ASIN in the store). The employee assigned the "dtpadmin" login on the forum (if it's one employee, it's one with a fake registration date, from 1969, so is probably a shared login by an group of employees) later posted this note, at 1:41PM (presumably PDT):

Hello,

We have identified an error in our system. We are fixing the problem to remove the device limit for DTP titles. We apologize for this error.

Thanks!

Sounds a lot like the response following the recent uproar when all LGBT titles disappeared from the Amazon search engines and sales ranks. Hopefully this was just an "error," but as of midnight tonight (EDT), no corrections have been made to the actual book listings.

Device limited Kindle Books

Amazon has said all along that Kindle books are limited to six devices, not necessarily simultaneously, but in total. This limit isn't actually in the Terms of Service (I can't even find those for actual Kindle books, only for the Kindle device), but has been in the marketing materials and on the FAQ page under Kindle Support.

Most books and other non-subscription items you purchase from the Kindle store may be simultaneously accessed for your personal use on to up to six Kindles (or Kindle compatible devices) registered to your Amazon.com account.

If you reach the device limit and wish to replace one of your current devices with a new one, you must first deregister and delete the content from the device you wish to replace before you can access the content in question from your new device. Please see the "Registering Your Kindle" section of our Managing Your Kindle Settings Help page to learn how to register/deregister your Kindle. There is no limit on the number of times a title can be downloaded to a registered device.

It turns out that removing a license isn't all that simple and may not be possible at all for a device that you are simply no longer using, although they can be removed for devices that have been replaced. If you have a device break and are at the limit, you have to get Customer Service to remove the license from each book in your library, a process that is apparently done by hand, one book at a time. (Have these people never heard of computers, search engines and automated programs? There is no reason this could not be done by the end customer or at least in a more automated and faster fashion by Customer Support.)

Also implied in this paragraph is that some books won't allow six devices. In fact, each publisher may limit book purchases to fewer than six devices. In the past, you had to guess as to which books were limited, by simply trying to add six devices and hitting the limit, whatever it might be. This week, though, I started noticing this new disclaimer on many books:

• Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits

It has been applied to a number of titles and a wide variety of publishers have apparently started entering limits. You would think that with four readers here, it wouldn't be a big deal - but we have six devices (four Kindles, plus a DX and one iPhone App). With the encouragement from Amazon to use the iPhone app and sync back and forth (which really only works well for an account with either a single reader or readers who never read the same book at the same time), plus hints of releasing a Kindle App for other devices (I want it on my Sprint Mogul, for example), I can easily see people hitting the device limits with only 3 active readers (and for whatever odd reason, I know of at least one Kindle reader who has three actual Kindle devices, reading different material on each one or multiple at a time - not unreasonable for research or studying purposes, really, or for a professional editor).

I've spot checked the books in my library and have found this limitation on a surprising number of them -- mostly independent authors using DTP and some that are using Amazon's CreateSpace as the publisher (I suspect they must actually use the Amazon DTP services to get their books on Kindle, however). But other independent authors do not have such limits set, which leads me to believe that these authors are intentionally limiting the use of their books - which begs the question, why are they picking five versus the default of six? Is there some (perhaps new) setting in the DTP system that is misleading authors into thinking that they are being the least restrictive by picking "five" as the device limit (perhaps leaving that selection as blank yields the six-device limit). I suspect (hope) a misunderstanding of the process has lead to all these books being limited to five devices, as only one single book that I checked had any other number as the limit (Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You Can Too, which I purchased many months ago, has a 4 device limit; so did all the other Kindle books from the same publisher, Wiley).

Here's a quick summary of just the books I've bought this month (which mainly shows, I think, that I buy too many books; in my defense, many of them were free), by limitation and "publisher." There is only one obvious DTP publisher in the default limitations list (and that one appears to be listed from mobipocket.com), while almost all those with limits appear to be self-published (one of which is Chris Anderson's FREE: The Future of a Radical Price). The number in parenthesis is the count of books purchased from that publisher, if greater than one.

No/default device limitations

Mike Darretta (DTP; mobipocket.com)
Samhain Publishing, Ltd (2)
Scribner Ebooks
Aspect
St. Martin's Press
Harlequin
Aladdin
Tor Books
Good News Publishers/Crossway Books
Public Domain Books (3)
Harvard Business School
Ballantine Books
Delacorte Press

Limited to Five Devices

Penguin/Putnam/NAL (3)
Hyperion e-books
AuthorHouse
CreateSpace

However, I don't think that in many cases it is the actual publisher who is setting the limitation, but the author (and one who is using Amazon DTP). Lee Golderg's latest book, My Gun Has Bullets, for example has the five device limit and claims to be from St. Martin's Press (but is priced as an indie/DTP book), yet a book I purchased earlier in the month with the same publisher does not have the limit (sorry Lee, your book just happened to get used in this example!). The three from Penguin/Putnam/NAL all all one author, who has stated on another board that he owns the digital rights, so I suspect that he is the actual publisher. Chris Anderson's book is from Hyperion and the last two are obvious DTP published independent authors.

The other possibility is that Amazon themselves has (hopefully, mistakenly) added this limitation. I've spot checked books going back several months and found this 5-device limit on nearly every DTP/indie authored book that I checked (the earliest of which I purchased last August).

So, if you are an indie author using DTP, let me know: Did you set this limit on purpose? Or is Amazon unfairly limiting books published independently? Are you going to let Amazon know you are unhappy about this?

If you are a reader: What do you think of the new limits? Is it fair to be applied retroactively? Are you going to let Amazon know you are unhappy about this (please, no boycotts - just vote with your purchases)?

It's Almost Like I Was Psychic! DRM Part 2

When I wrote about DRM yesterday, I didn't think the next DRM shutdown would come the next day (actually, later that night) and affect me. This just in from Fictionwise:

... Overdrive, recently gave Fictionwise notice that they would cease serving files to Fictionwise customers as of January 31, 2009. That means that eBooks purchased from Fictionwise via Overdrive's servers will no longer be downloadable after that date.

Read the full story here. Basically, you have until the end of this month to download and make copies of any books you have purchased at Fictionwise and back them up at your end. After 01/31/09, you will be unable to download these books in the format purchased.

The good news is, first, only about 4% of the books sold at Fictionwise were served by Overdrive (some customers have reported having none and I had only two of my books affected). Second, Fictionwise has already started replacing the books with ereader formatted books at no charge (sorry, no other format for this - they can do ereader because they own the format and don't have to pay an access fee to do this). They don't have them all replaced, as each publisher has to be contacted and an agreement worked out individually, but this was a fast response to what could have been a huge problem (and PR nightmare).

So, have your books been affected? Has it changed what you will tell the Federal Trade Commission in their “town hall meeting?

It's obvious some Kindle users don't care about DRM. Of course, Amazon now promises your books will stay downloadable forever, but what about how long your Kindle will be serviceable, since the books can't be read anywhere else. What else explains that Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan by Suze Orman, at a Kindle price of $7.99, is now the #1 bestselling Kindle book in three categories and the #5 of the overall Bestselling Kindle books? Despite the book being a completely free Download at Oprah.com, for an entire week (including today)? Sending the PDF to you Kindle would cost at most 10 cents (but is actually free, as Amazon still doesn't charge for this service).




#1 Finance
#1 Finance & Investing
#1 Financial Planning.
#5 The Kindle Bestsellers

BTW, for those who think the Amazon Bestsellers list and the Kindle Bestsellers lists are the same thing, this is one where Suze hasn't even broken the front page of the print book's list, nor is it listed on the National Bestseller's page. You can find the Kindle Bestsellers only from the Kindle Store tab, which, sadly, isn't the place you land when you use the categories menu to go to the Kindle store. Instead, you land on the order a Kindle page and most people then go to the Kindle Books page and browse bestsellers there (where print books have a big influence on rankings). Suze's book hasn't even broken the top 100 there.

DRM and Free Ebooks for Kindle or your PC

As reported at Teleread and Ars Technica, the Federal Trade Commission is going to hold a “town hall meeting” to discuss the issue of Digital Rights Management (DRM). This comes at a time when the music industry is finally starting to drop DRM and consumers are getting burned by DRM schemes that require each use of the product or play of the music to phone home for permission. As companies decide to turn off their DRM servers or make slight changes to the DRM schemes they use, consumers find their old content may no longer work. Walmart announced it would turn off it's music DRM servers, but changed it's mind when the uproar started (a sure sign that digital content has become mainstream). Go here to fill out the online form or read what Mike Cane had to say (although he is a little off in his facts - the Kindle will read books that are not specifically "kindle formatted"; however, you can't read your Kindle books anywhere except on your Kindle).

One major way that DRM impacts you is at your library - only DRM laden ebooks are available and often in only one or two formats that must be read on your computer screen. I can think of little that discourages reading more than being forced to endure the eyestrain of reading an entire novel on a computer (or any other backlit screen). As of now, you can't borrow an ebook from your library to read on your Kindle. And ebooks make sense for libraries, if the fees they pay for their use are reasonable and in line with print books. Ebooks don't get damaged by readers or lost and incur no late fees. They don't pick up smoke smells or pet or food allergens from previous readers' homes. You never get to the end of an ebook and find the previous reader cut out a few pages (or the ending) because it had a recipe or web site address they wanted or that pages have been removed that they found objectionable (for whatever reason). And ebooks save your local government money, by letting the entire population have easy, 24 hour access to a "local branch" without having to build or rent and staff dozens of locations. If your physical library is anything like the one here, it has limited hours, mostly during the day and not on weekends (I guess mainly to serve the homeless and those unemployed); day shift workers may find it difficult to get there when it is open and the economy and budget cuts mean more are restricting hours even more.

All electronic content doesn't have DRM added (and most of the links below are DRM free), but when it does, it greatly limits how you use that book (or song) you may have purchased. You can buy ebooks in many places now, but unless you get the DRM free versions, which sometimes cost more or more often simply don't exist, you can't read the book just anywhere. Sony books only are useable in their reader or on a backlit screen (pc and some phone readers). No great loss for those seeking bargains, though, as their prices are generally higher and their store interface is one of the worst in existence. Others sell several DRM formats, each of which either is limited to specific reader software (on PC's only, for the most part, although a few do have hardware readers that will work). So, when looking for bargain reads for you Kindle (and some other readers), you'll find the best selection either at Amazon's store or at one of the free libraries of ebooks. Some of these have only public domain books, others also have those released under a more recent type of license: a Creative Commons License. The author retains ownership (and may ask for donations or a tip), but you can read the book for free and convert it to your heart's content (although many do restrict rights to distribute your converted efforts).

So, for those looking for some totally free content, in the wild outside of the Amazon store, here are a few of my favorite places. The first ones have books that can all be read on your Kindle (either email them to your Kindle address or copy them onto the Kindle using the USB cable) while the ones at the end are for viewing on the computer screen only.

If you like fantasy and science fiction, you absolutely must check out the Baen Free Library. There are currently over 100 books there (all published works that you can also buy in paperback), all completely free (or at least, until you feel compelled to read the other books by these authors, which is the general idea). Here are three of the most recetn additions:

Earthweb by Marc Stiegler

Starliner by David Drake

The Shadow of Saganami by David Weber

Sony and Stanza (the popular reader for the iPhone) have heavily promoted the free classic books you can get (and with Sony, they usually limit it to only 100 titles in their store, charging for the rest) and one of the first ebook titles for the Nintendo DS is a collection of 100 classics for $20. But you don't need any of these to get as many free classics as you could ever have time to read. One of my favorites sites is Feedbooks, where the books have been converted into one master copy and then tweaked so that they look good on multiple platforms. Having that master copy and format (which they use inhouse) means that they only need to translate, proofread and format the book once, then publish it to multiple platforms. If a problem is found, it is fixed with just one edit. And since humans are involved in the process, the results tend to look better than several of the other public domain sites. Another site that offers many formats is ManyBooks. These are machine generated and sometimes have a few flaws on the Kindle (author names can be missing, for example, or reversed in searches). Another source that has an interesting selection is the MobileRead forums pages. Individual members hand convert and tweak each copy, resulting in often beautiful compilations. However, you may find the versiona available doesn't work on your device. There is nothing to force them to create azw, prc, mobi, lit, lrf or the many other reader formats, so the book you want may show up in only one format (of course, you could convert those yourself). Be aware that the main servers are in Canada, so they follow Canadian copyright law for the most part, but do have some titles hosted on US servers where a work is free to copy here, but not there. If all else fails, they may not be formatted all that well, but there are many more free classics at Project Gutenberg (and even more at Project Gutenberg Australia, for those not located in the US; some of their books are not free of copyright restrictions in this country).

If you like audiobooks, there are two main sources I turn to: Librivox and Podiobooks. Both have books that you can listen to on your computer, iPod or the Kindle (just use the SD card - audiobooks are quite large). Librivox focuses on public domain titles, while Podiobooks has much more recent titles (such as Scott Sigler's Contagious), most read by the authors themselves. You can sign up to receive new chapters as they release or wait until a book is complete and download the entire thing at one time. Authors mostly rely on donations (there is a box on each title's home page) and here's their recent statement on why their titles will stay DRM free and why authors are giving their audiobooks away for free (rather than the traditionally greatly overpriced versions that have been available thru other sources).

Every now and the, Audible will have a free or very low cost audiobook as well, but their best bargains are for those with subscriptions (the Audible software will copy your books directly to the Kindle, once they are downloaded to your computer). All audiobooks must be copied to your Kindle using the USB cable and should go into the \audible directory on either the Kindle or the SD card (if Audible puts them in the wrong place, just move them once you are done). Audiobooks appear on your Kindle home page just like all your other books, but often each chapter or file is listed separately.

For computer/technical books (some a bit out of date), FreeTechBooks has links to many books, all hosted by the authors or publishers and free to download legally. These seldom convert to the Kindle very well (tables, pictures and code fragments are difficult for the smaller screen and lack of a mono-spaced font) and probably will have similar problems on a Sony Reader (it may read PDF's, but the small screen size is a limitation) and I don't think I'd want to read many of them on my phone.

One last site (for this post, anyway) that has started making books for free, but online only and often for a limited time is Harper-Collins/Eos Books. They use a special viewing software (which, frankly, I hate), but free is free and those who don't mind reading online may like them. If nothing else, you can read far enough to decide if you want to go grab the paper or ebook version somewhere else. I first used this feature when reviewing one of their books. Since then, they've had a number of different books (including Neil Gaiman's latest) up for short periods of time. Currently there are (at least) two books available:

The final volume in Lois McMaster Bujold's SHARING KNIFE series is about to be released, but you can get a head start: read the first 20% of the book (the first 86 pages) for free. If you haven't yet given this series a try, the first volume, Beguilement, is free for the month of January (1/6 -- 1/27). Jonathan Barnes' next book, THE DOMINO MEN, is also a couple of weeks away. They are offering his first book, THE SOMNAMBULIST, online for free.