According to Joe Konrath, Amazon agreed to publish the author’s forthcoming eBook Shaken, coming out on Amazon’s Encore imprint, without DRM copy protection.
This seems like a big deal and can mean one of two things:
1. They think hooking Kontrath and his eBook espousing ways is so important they were willing to drop a technology they’ve heretofore seen as a core part of their Kindle distribution platform
2. They’ve realized that most consumers hate DRM and that going DRM-free hasn’t hurt digital music sales
Chances are it’s a combination of both. Amazon was a leader in the music world when they decided to sell MP3s DRM-free
in their music store (something Apple eventually did as well), so this isn’t an unprecedented move. Still, it’s surprising they’d be willing to do it for one author, and I’m betting they’re going to get more requests soon.
Will it mean a flood of requests from authors for DRM-free books? Probably not. Most authors probably think, in some way, protecting their work from piracy is good, and many probably don’t have an anti-DRM bent like Konrath.
Still, it will be worth watching if Amazon is willing to make singular concessions like this for other authors as it aggressively courts them onto their own imprints.