I can probably tell you why O’Reilly is doing so well in the eBook market today: They are the only publisher to require no DRM on their eBooks.
Every other publisher I know of has an explicit requirement in their vendor contracts that the vendor must implement some form of DRM to be applied to the publisher’s eBooks, and that such DRM must be maintained against attack. O’Reilly bucked the trend by requiring the exact opposite: vendors absolutely must not place DRM on books from O’Reilly Publishing.
Now they’re selling them like hotcakes. Even though they’re selling them to a tech-savvy audience, which is arguably the most likely to be able to disseminate these eBooks to all their friends.
Bravo guys. Let’s hope the rest of them take note and follow suit.
