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What we can learn from pirates

Introduction

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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?

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piracy inside

Who is the pirate?

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Who is the pirate?

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Who is the pirate?

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Who is the pirate?

Technology adoption lifecycle

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Who is the pirate?

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Who is the pirate?

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What is piracy?

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Piracy ≠ theft

Theft removes the original Piracy makes a copy

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“The losses due to piracy are far outweighed by the benefits of the free

flow of information.”

Tim O’Reilly

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Of course it is!

But piracy is bad, right?!

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So we should fight it!

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“We should hunt them down, shut them off and put them on trial!”

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So we should fight it!

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“We should hunt them down, shut them off and put them on trial!”

No.

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Why do people pirate?

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Not because:

- They see publishers as greedy grabbers - They hate copyright

- They just don’t want to pay

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Why do people pirate?

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But because of three reasons:

- Large number of titles available - Low price

- Ease of use

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What you shouldn’t do

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Don’t think in terms of:

- Threats - Fears

- Lawsuits

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What you shouldn’t do

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So don’t go fighting piracy:

- You can’t stop it - It will cost you time and money

- It will hurt your image

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What you shouldn’t do

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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

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How you should see it

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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.

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“My problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity.”

Cory Doctorow (blogger, journalist)

What you should do

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Think in terms of:

- Opportunities - Advantages

- Learning - Adaptation

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What you should do

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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

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What you should do

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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

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What you should do

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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

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“Pirating can act as an introduction to an artist’s work.”

Paulo Coelho (Brazilian author)

Look at other industries

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What have they done wrong?

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Look at other industries

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What have they done wrong?

Don’t make those mistakes yourself

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Look at other industries

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What have they done right?

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Look at other industries

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What have they done right?

Try to translate that to the book world

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What did they do wrong?

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- 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)

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What did they do right?

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- 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)

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How can we copy that?

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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

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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

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“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”

Steve Jobs

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Any questions?

Thank you!

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