inside piracy
DESCRIPTION
Timo Boezeman explains piracy to publishers, with some to do and to do notTRANSCRIPT
piracy inside
What we can learn from pirates
Introduction
piracy inside
Timo Boezeman Digital Publisher for Arbeiderspers|A.W. Bruna Publishers
The largest Dutch commercial publisher
Twitter @boezeman
Blogs boekeman.blogspot.com (Dutch)
futurebook.net/blogs/timo-boezeman (English)
Who is the pirate?
piracy inside
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
Who is the pirate?
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
Who is the pirate?
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
Who is the pirate?
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
Who is the pirate?
Technology adoption lifecycle
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
Who is the pirate?
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
Who is the pirate?
@boezeman for #ibt12
What is piracy?
piracy inside
Piracy ≠ theft
Theft removes the original Piracy makes a copy
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
“The losses due to piracy are far outweighed by the benefits of the free
flow of information.”
Tim O’Reilly
@boezeman for #ibt12
Of course it is!
But piracy is bad, right?!
piracy inside
@boezeman for #ibt12
So we should fight it!
piracy inside
“We should hunt them down, shut them off and put them on trial!”
@boezeman for #ibt12
So we should fight it!
piracy inside
“We should hunt them down, shut them off and put them on trial!”
No.
@boezeman for #ibt12
Why do people pirate?
piracy inside
Not because:
- They see publishers as greedy grabbers - They hate copyright
- They just don’t want to pay
@boezeman for #ibt12
Why do people pirate?
piracy inside
But because of three reasons:
- Large number of titles available - Low price
- Ease of use
@boezeman for #ibt12
What you shouldn’t do
piracy inside
Don’t think in terms of:
- Threats - Fears
- Lawsuits
@boezeman for #ibt12
What you shouldn’t do
piracy inside
So don’t go fighting piracy:
- You can’t stop it - It will cost you time and money
- It will hurt your image
@boezeman for #ibt12
What you shouldn’t do
piracy inside
And also don’t think that:
- Every download is a missed sale - Stop publishing e-books will stop piracy
- People want everything for free - The world is still divided in territories
@boezeman for #ibt12
How you should see it
piracy inside
Piracy is a sign that the world has changed (digitized).
That world is reality. It’s now!
Fighting against that world
is the dumbest thing you can do.
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
@boezeman for #ibt12
“My problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity.”
Cory Doctorow (blogger, journalist)
What you should do
piracy inside
Think in terms of:
- Opportunities - Advantages
- Learning - Adaptation
@boezeman for #ibt12
What you should do
piracy inside
See piracy as something you can learn from:
- Complete title catalogue - In all desired file formats - Works on every device
- Without DRM or other hassle - In logical bundles
@boezeman for #ibt12
What you should do
piracy inside
So, rather:
- Focus for 100% on your potential buyers - See it as sampling, people being interested
- Take over control and spread it yourself - Launch your titles worldwide at the same time
- See it as something you can learn from
@boezeman for #ibt12
What you should do
piracy inside
The best way to deal with piracy is three-fold:
- Offer your titles in different editions/file formats (tastes) - Offer price variations from free to very expensive
- Get rid of all the hassle
@boezeman for #ibt12
piracy inside
@boezeman for #ibt12
“Pirating can act as an introduction to an artist’s work.”
Paulo Coelho (Brazilian author)
Look at other industries
piracy inside
What have they done wrong?
@boezeman for #ibt12
Look at other industries
piracy inside
What have they done wrong?
Don’t make those mistakes yourself
@boezeman for #ibt12
Look at other industries
piracy inside
What have they done right?
@boezeman for #ibt12
Look at other industries
piracy inside
What have they done right?
Try to translate that to the book world
@boezeman for #ibt12
What did they do wrong?
piracy inside
- Very slow reaction to a changing and digitizing world (where Napster and Kazaa where quick)
- Limited title catalogue - Device-dependent files
- DRM - High prices (to close to their physical equivalent)
- Delayed launching in other territories - Lawsuits (i.e. Metallica vs. Napster)
@boezeman for #ibt12
What did they do right?
piracy inside
- Come with a strong new business model (Spotify) - Complete title catalogue - Device-independent files
- No more DRM or complete ecosystems (iTunes) - Better pricing (thanks to iTunes and Spotify)
@boezeman for #ibt12
How can we copy that?
piracy inside
Almost everything can be copied to our world:
- Enlarge the title catalogue for as far as you can - Make your files compatible with all devices
- Leave out the DRM, or use social DRM/watermarking (which doesn’t annoy the consumer)
- Look for a better pricing, which reflects the feeling you have with digital (and this doesn’t mean free)
- Dare to experiment with new business models (freemium, streaming services like 24Symbols)
- Dare to launch worldwide simultaneously
@boezeman for #ibt12
Do
Think in: opportunities, advantages and lessons learned Focus for 100% on potential buyers See piracy as sampling Take over control Offer a complete title catalogue Which works on every device Without any hassle Learn from piracy Launch worldwide the same time Experiment with new business models
Don’t
Think in: threats, fears, lawsuits Think that: piracy = missed sales Think people want everything for free Fight piracy Be slow Offer little titles Use DRM Price high Think in territories Frustrate your customers
Summed up
piracy inside
@boezeman for #ibt12
“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”
Steve Jobs
piracy inside
@boezeman for #ibt12
Any questions?
Thank you!
piracy inside
@boezeman for #ibt12