[mikecane]

>>>New book? Buy one from independent publishers/authors who don't support DRM [1]

You must have forgotten the raging battle between Doctorow and the eBookstores. He and his publisher didn't want DRM, but the stores did. This is part of the point the writer is making about the pendulum swinging.

[RobAley]

Indeed. Lets amend that to "publishers/authors/stores". Many authors and/or publishers are letting you buy direct from their own sites as well as at mainstream ebookstores, so there is often that choice. Again, see [1]

[mikecane]

eBooks are my thing. The number of writers selling direct isn't even a rounding error. And if publishers were doing so well on their own, they'd have dropped all the other stores to increase their takes.

[RobAley]

You're entirely right, but I think you're missing the point. This thread is about how to we change the current situation, i.e. how to effect which way the needle swings. There is enough of an acorn in the number of authors and publishers that do sell direct online (and stores that don't support DRM) that it is something we can build on by supporting them. The question asked is what can we do, not what has already been done.

[Edit] Also, to clarify, the number of authors selling direct (or via new style lean publishers) is more than a rounding error. The number of popular authors probably isn't. But WHO the popular authors are is not static, and my gut feeling is you will see that rapidly change if the needle swings the way we hope it does. And remember than, bestsellers aside, there is a very long tail in publishing (particularly e-publishing).