WOTC switch to watermarking, finally...

[2WS-Steve]

No. WotC has made it pretty clear they don't want to be in the "store" business anymore. In fact, setting up their own store likely would cost more than they'd save (including staffing costs).

Now, if & when this online "club" starts then they might gain the infrastructure to do this. Right now, they don't have it.

I'm not sure how true this is for an online store that deals in only digital products. WotC already sells Magic Online decks and boosters through a webfront and that's certainly not going away given that it makes probably $7000 per monthly league and probably starts about 3-5 leagues of that size every week.

Right now, I imagine the main advantage OneBookShelf offers over selling through their own site is the pre-existing market presence and that they've already set up the tools to do digital watermarking.

But I'd be pretty confident that WotC is paying a much lower percentage than the rest of us spuds. Otherwise it'd be too tempting to just jump ship.

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

It's not worth $30. None of WotC books in the past few years are worth their cover price (with the possible exception of Lords of Madness). They are, however, worth 66% of their cover price, which is how much Amazon is selling them for. THAT is the price that WotC has to beat/meet for their PDFs, not the MSRP (which most people aren't paying anyhow).

QFT. I would extend that to most RPG books that have been released since 2000.

And I don't buy the "cost of a movie" analogy FGS owners have been pushing on me since 2000 as well. But that's a whole 'nother post.

 

[Monte At Home]

This has been a long time coming, and is, pretty much hands down, the best thing that's happened to the pdf side of the market in a very, very long time. Particularly if one reads between the lines of the announcement and figures that WotC finally has some faith in the medium. Price, number of titles, etc... these are all just more steps that need to be taken, but I think it's pretty clear that this was the big step.

 

[Treebore]

I'm not sure how true this is for an online store that deals in only digital products. WotC already sells Magic Online decks and boosters through a webfront and that's certainly not going away given that it makes probably $7000 per monthly league and probably starts about 3-5 leagues of that size every week.

Right now, I imagine the main advantage OneBookShelf offers over selling through their own site is the pre-existing market presence and that they've already set up the tools to do digital watermarking.

But I'd be pretty confident that WotC is paying a much lower percentage than the rest of us spuds. Otherwise it'd be too tempting to just jump ship.

Besides, I bet they could work something out with Paizo, who already has a webstore, and already sells plenty of old D&D pdf's.

 

[Ranger REG]

This has been a long time coming, and is, pretty much hands down, the best thing that's happened to the pdf side of the market in a very, very long time. Particularly if one reads between the lines of the announcement and figures that WotC finally has some faith in the medium. Price, number of titles, etc... these are all just more steps that need to be taken, but I think it's pretty clear that this was the big step.

Scoffs. I still don't.

 

[CharlesRyan]

I think it's unfortunate that enough publishers are hesitant view the reduction in publication and deployment cost and the attendant ability to make their offerings available at a more competitive price as one of the advantages of the medium, and in doing so, sell it short.

That's one perspective. Another is that it's unfortunate that so many publishers treat the PDF medium as a bargain bin--a place to undervalue their products and brands in a desperate bid to build their player base. That has trained consumers to view it the same way--that a PDF is "worth less" than a hardcover, that anything sold in PDF should be priced for a fire sale, and that PDF purchasers are somehow entitled to extreme discounts.

Yes, PDFs offer lower production costs than printed books. But production costs are only one (often relatively small) part of the overall cost of doing business. And publishers' costs and gross profits are different for every channel in which they deal--some channels and formats are more profitable, and some are less. A publisher who cares about the value of its intellectual property sets prices that reflect that value and generate reasonable profits over an aggregate of channels--some of which will generate high profits, and some of which won't, but all of which serve the consumer and keep the IP and the industry healthy.

If you view the PDF channel as a bargain bin, that's fine. But don't fault WotC if they feel their current titles don't belong in the bargain bin!

 

[2WS-Steve]

But don't fault WotC if they feel their current titles don't belong in the bargain bin!

I won't fault them -- I just won't buy them.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Okay, so if I accept that a $20 hardbound book and a $20 PDF each have different value, over and above the value of the content ... why do I have to pay full value for the content again, if I already own one or the other?

I'd love to have bookmarked PDFs of all my 3.5 WotC products, and I'd pay something for them ... but I am sure as hell not going to pay anywhere close to full price for format-shifted material I already own. No more than I pay for mp3s rather than rip them from CDs I've bought.

Is it piracy if I scan my own books? Is it piracy if I accept scans of books that I own?

If WotC is truly becoming enlightened to the idea that DRM doesn't stop piracy and that their customers aren't thieves, why not dual-price PDF titles? A higher price if the buyer doesn't already own the book, and a substantially lower price for those who do.

 

[dcas]

This isn't exactly accurate. There is still a middle-man, OneBookShelf, who gets 30% of the price. So if they drop the price to 40% of retail, they are making 28% of retail.

True dat. The books should be approx. 57% of retail (actually 57-1/7%*) in order for WOTC to make 40% of the cover price.

*40% / 70% = 57.142857142857 . . . %

 

[dcas]

Is it piracy if I scan my own books?

Nope, IP law is concerned with distribution, not copying.

If WotC is truly becoming enlightened to the idea that DRM doesn't stop piracy and that their customers aren't thieves, why not dual-price PDF titles? A higher price if the buyer doesn't already own the book, and a substantially lower price for those who do.

The difficulty with that approach is determining who already owns a book and who doesn't. It's a great idea but there are practical difficulties in its implementation, and WOTC might not be willing to undertake it (goodness knows what sort of capital investment it would require).