(2) DRM. (Oh, wait, that's condemned as corporate evil. Nevermind.)
(3) Subscription-only based access to books (e.g. Safari, Mapt), so you can't read them offline, or retain them in any fashion. (Walled garden; independent authors can't deploy to this.)
(4) Honor system...which is the current system, but hey, honor is quite obviously dead. ;-)
Pardon my cynicism. It isn't aimed at you. But the above unfortunately is the current list of options for books. The very nature of books doesn't lend itself to a service model.
Believe me, I've actually considered option (1) for some of my publications. After this overall comment thread, it's becoming a legitimate possibility.
Current options:
(1) No more ebooks. (You really want that?)
(2) DRM. (Oh, wait, that's condemned as corporate evil. Nevermind.)
(3) Subscription-only based access to books (e.g. Safari, Mapt), so you can't read them offline, or retain them in any fashion. (Walled garden; independent authors can't deploy to this.)
(4) Honor system...which is the current system, but hey, honor is quite obviously dead. ;-)
Pardon my cynicism. It isn't aimed at you. But the above unfortunately is the current list of options for books. The very nature of books doesn't lend itself to a service model.
Believe me, I've actually considered option (1) for some of my publications. After this overall comment thread, it's becoming a legitimate possibility.
It sure seems like a hard position to be in, I hope someone finds a way to make money with books without depending on honor. Best of luck!