Tor/Forge Goes DRM-Free - Bravo!

I received a copy of the press release announcing that Tor/Forge is going DRM-free for their ebooks starting in July.

Tom Doherty Associates, publishers of Tor, Forge, Orb, Starscape, and Tor Teen, today announced that by early July 2012, their entire list of e-books will be available DRM-free.

“Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time,” said president and publisher Tom Doherty. “They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately-purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another.”

DRM-free titles from Tom Doherty Associates will be available from the same range of retailers that currently sell their e-books. In addition, the company expects to begin selling titles through retailers that sell only DRM-free books.

Bravo!

I'm very excited to see this - the DRM limiting what I can do with an ebook and where I can read it has been one of the biggest reasons I haven't yet bought an ereader and started reading ebooks. Seeing this move by one of the biggest SFF publishers is hopefully a step towards this being a standard in the industry. Tor - good job, I am now much more likely to buy digital books from you. Other publishers - if you go DRM-free, I'll be more likely to buy digital books from you too.

In case your curious on how some of Tor's published authors are reacting, here are links to a few that I've seen: John Scalzi, Tobias Buckell, Charlie Stross

UPDATE: Tor UK is going DRM-free too. Awesome!