Julie Broad explains whether to enable DRM when publishing on Kindle. DRM stops casual copying but frustrates legitimate readers by blocking lending and device transfers, while determined pirates crack it anyway. She recommends skipping it.
Hey guys, Julie Broad of havemoreinfluence.com and the new author of the New Brand you now available in bookstores and Amazon everywhere. So I had a question come in from Jennifer and this is for all of you self publishing authors out there trying to make some decisions when you're uploading your book to Kindle to Amazon through KDP Select. So the question Jennifer sent in was, should we select the DRM box for the Kindle version of my book? The DRM is Digital Rights Management and I printed off a little definition so I can tell you exactly what DRM is. DRM is a systematic approach to copyright protection for digital media. The purpose of DRM is to prevent unauthorized redistribution of digital media and restrict the ways consumers can copy content they've purchased. So that's what it is, is. And in Kindle, when you're uploading, there's a little checkbox in some section that says drm. That's basically all it says is DRN DRM enabled, I think is exactly what it says. So do you check it? Well, if you do a search online, you'll find all kinds of yes or no opinionated answers and to why. Here's my perspective. To me, with a physical book, somebody can take it, borrow it from a library, they can lend it to a friend, they can burn it for heat, they can sell it, they can do whatever they want. Once they buy it, they own it and they can do whatever they want. With Kindle, there's actually a lot of restrictions. You can allow it to be lent out, you can do a few things. But in general, most people, when they buy a Kindle book, they can read it on their Kindle device or their Kindle app, and that's it. Now, the argument is that if you don't protect it, people will hack it and steal it and then share it and it'll be widely distributed for free or they'll sell it and make money off of your, your book. And yes, it's easier in digital format for this to happen than it is with a printed copy. People aren't going to go out and make a photocopy of your book. So that's the concern is that in digital format it's much easier to steal and share and you won't ever know that it's been sent around to hundreds of people without you getting the money or the royalties from it. So in theory, checking off this DRM protects that from happening. But the reality is that there's hacks and the people who are going to steal Your book, they're the ones that know these hacks. So if they really want to steal your book, they're going to steal it anyway. And in the meantime, all you're doing by enabling the DRM is pissing off the good people. Because what happens is that it limits some of the things that you can do. So for example, if you have two devices that you want to read your book on, sometimes this DRM being enabled will prevent people from transferring it to two different places. It will prevent them from downloading it more than once. So it can limit things and be a little bit of an irritant to people who have legitimately purchased your book and just want to read it wherever they are, on whatever kind of app or system they're using. So in summary, checking off the drm, yes, it does give you a small layer of protection. But the reality is the people who want to steal your book still have hacks. They still can steal your book and spread it around without giving you the royalties. And by putting the DRM on there, you do create some challenges for the good people. The people who don't want to steal your book, they just want to read it on multiple devices or they happen to accidentally delete it and they want it back without having to pay for it a second time, but DRM is preventing them from doing it. So worst case scenario, somebody does hack in, steal your book and send it out there, they're going to do it whether you have DRM checked or not. And hey, if your goal is to get your message out into the most hands possible, well really they're just helping you, right? That's how I've chosen to look at it. There are many opinions, there's many strong cases for and against drm, but that is my perspective on it. If you like this video, even if you don't like my opinion, but you like the video, give it a thumbs up. If you want more tips on getting your message out there, having more influence, and of course the occasional self publishing tip as well. Please subscribe to my channel while you're here and of course, if you've got questions, comments, go ahead, post them in the comments below and come on back next time. Love to. See you then. Bye. Oh, and if you haven't, come on over to havemoreinfluence.com let's connect over there. I've got the Broad Thoughts newsletter. Usually it comes out almost weekly and you can always hit reply to that to connect with me as well. Bye.
Should You Skip Amazon When You Publish Your Book? #digitalmarketing #amazonauthor
