[exotree]

“ My agent tells me that if I’d been willing to set aside my ethics and allow Audible to slap DRM on my books, I’d have made enough money to pay off my mortgage and save enough to pay for my kid’s entire college education. That’s a price I’m willing to pay.”

I have to be honest and say… I think I would be very frustrated with my spouse if this principle cost us so much potential financial freedom in other parts of our lives.

That’s not to say they shouldn’t do this. That would just be hard for me to swallow!

[itsoktocry]

>I think I would be very frustrated with my spouse if this principle cost us so much potential financial freedom in other parts of our lives.

This mindset is a driving force behind our corrupt politics: sacrificing morals for money.

[ChildOfChaos]

It’s not really a big deal though is it?

this person is just being a little weird and stubborn about this.

Audible members know what they are getting and choose to do so. Audible DRM is not a big deal, just use this Audible app, some of the arguments made in this article are invalid.

[lioeters]

> Sacrificing morals for money.

HN user: Not really a big deal though is it?

If you've paid attention in the last century or so - it is a big deal in countries all over the world, there is a global political crisis of people sacrificing morals for money.

[ChildOfChaos]

I agree, that sacrificing morals for money is not a good thing.

What I am saying is that putting your book on audible is not really unethical. It's not such a big deal, people on audible know how the system works and the DRM is fairly irrelevant for most people without tinfoil hats.

[voxl]

You're seriously making mountains out of mole hills here. There is no slippery slope trying to get your content on a platform that consumers actually use, regardless of the ethics of that platforms that's where the users are!

[shaky-carrousel]

It is a big deal for some of us, author included. And you are being a bit rude by disregarding our opinion like that.

[is_true]

He could do the deal with audible and share a "free" version on the high seas.

[paulryanrogers]

That may depend on the terms with Audible.

[yojo]

I believe Doctorow is doing this for the reasons he outlined, but let’s be clear: his brand is all about being anti this kind of shit.

Selling out on his principles to make half a million in the audible store might still be a net financial negative if it causes him to lose credibility with the many people who buy his other books and pay his speaker fees.

[nprateem]

No one would probably have thought about it or cared if he hadn't made a big fuss about it.

[yojo]

Maybe? You do enough of this kind of stuff and you’re going to lose credibility. Possibly your devoted fans let you off the hook for the first offense. But Audible has a pretty scummy reputation in some circles (as evidenced by other comments here).

Also, making a big fuss about it is content marketing, which works because of his brand. He’s on the front page of HN with a blog post that mentions a bunch of his offerings/plays up the quality of his audiobooks. More financial incentive to forego the Audible dollars.

[rapind]

I'm guessing Cory Doctorow's spouse knew what she was getting into. For all you know, it might have been her idea to eschew Audible. Plus she sold a company to Disney, so they're probably fine financially. Cory's mortgage reference was probably less reality and more just to illustrate a point.

[tomohawk]

I'm glad my spouse would be unhappy with me if I sold my integrity for money. It makes for a great marriage, knowing we have each others backs and will be loyal to one another and can count on one another.

[egypturnash]

It’s relative to how much money you have already. A quick search for “Cory doctorow net worth” suggests he is well-off enough to be able to turn that down.

Heck, in this article he mentions spending $50k on recording a previous audiobook, which looks to be the cost of two years at Harvard. I’m pretty sure he’s got a lot of financial freedom already.

[zmgsabst]

How much of your frustration in life is because other people’s spouses convinced them to take the money?

That kind of sacrifice is a negative sum game: when we all do it, we’re all worse off.

[flycaliguy]

Yeah, I’d be tempted to write in a character at the start of each book that just so happens to remove DRM from an audio book.

[SilasX]

Doctorow still has a mortgage? (Like, and not because the interest rate is so low that he’d pay it as slow as possible? And even then, why use that as your standard of “having a lot of money”?)

I guess I overestimated the returns to fame?