If you have a website and want to sell ebooks, then you need to be able to provide DRM. In many cases the author or publisher requires this for the book to be sold. However, investing in the deployment of your own DRM system is expensive (a license can be over $10,000) and is a technical challenge. Now that problem can be overcome by a turnkey system from EditionGuard.
EditionGuard is based on the industry-standard Adobe Content Server. This is what is used by Barnes & Noble, Sony, OverDrive, and others. EditionGuard overcomes the initial cost-prohibitive entry requirements of Adobe by charging $39 per month for any self-publisher to utilize the DRM system for up to 5 titles. Higher tier plans are available, as is a free trial. In addition, they have created a slew of tools to make integration easier for the non-technical user. For example, they have a WordPress plugin that can be installed on any WordPress site and instantly give it secure ebook sales capabilities.
I’m no fan of DRM, and I strongly believe that it is a drag on sales and acceptance of ebooks, but one can’t deny the reality that it is a requirement of many authors and publishers nowadays. This product looks like an clever solution to the technical/pricing mess that Adobe has created with its system and may very well increase the sales of ebooks for the small vendor.
Paul Biba is a retired corporate international lawyer who has worked in 53 countries. Since he is a very fast reader he came to ebooks out of self-defense in order to avoid carrying a suitcase of books on his travels around the world. An early ebook adopter, he has read on Palms, Pocket PCs and practically every device that has been out there. After being a frequent contributor to TeleRead.com, the oldest ebook/epublishing blog on the net, Paul became TeleRead's Editor-in-Chief, a position he recently resigned. Send Paul an email to paulkbiba@gmail.com
