List of DRM-free publishers

by Liza Daly

Apropos of the Harlequin announcement of Carina Press, I’ve compiled this list of DRM-free publishers.

I asked about this on Twitter once and eventually stumbled on this great list of scifi, fantasy and romance publishers who distribute DRM-free books. I haven’t validated the list and don’t know if all are still in business.

But I also wanted to include books from other disciplines, such as tech:

Technology

Academic

Fiction

These publishers may have books in other genres; I picked the most prominent genre as advertised by their web sites.

General/Literary

Fantasy/Sci-fi/horror

Romance and erotica

DRM-free ebook stores

These vendors sell ebooks exclusively without DRM.

Update Nov 11, 2009:

I’m only listing publishers whose works a reader could reasonably be expected to find in DRM-free format. I’m well aware that many downstream channels require DRM whether the publisher wants it or not, but from the consumer perspective, what’s important is how the ebook is represented in the greater marketplace.

I’d encourage publishers who don’t want DRM to continue to pressure distribution channels to respect their decisions.

Update Nov 29, 2009:

Publishers printed in italics don’t sell ePub-format ebooks at this time, but ebooks in other reflowable formats can usually be converted well enough with Calibre.

I’m not including self-publishing sites or single-author sites in the main list, but you’re welcome to list them in the comments.