Batgrl: Bookish Hooha

Saw this linked on another book blog and still trying to figure out how it works:

BitLit: How it Works

Take a Shelfie

Snap a pic of your bookshelf. We'll identify all of the books.

Based on your Shelfie, we'll let you know which books are available to download.

Now that you know which books are available, take a photo of the cover of your book and sign your name on the copyright page in ALL CAPS.

Your ebook will be delivered to you via email. From there you can load it to any of your devices.

and in the FAQ:

...BitLit isn’t an app intended for reading – rather, it’s a nifty system that lets you download the ebook version of your print book. The reason for this is that we think companies like Kindle, Apple, Kobo, and Nook do their jobs really well — you already have the perfect eReading device. BitLit makes sure you can read your ebooks however you want on your favourite device.

 

...The app is free! No purchase required.

 

...At the publisher’s request, BitLit can apply one of two types of DRM to books: BooXtream or Adobe DRM.

BooXtream

When a reader downloads an ebook that requires BooXtream, BitLit sends the file to the BooXtream API, along with the reader’s name and email. We get back a watermarked version of the file that we email to the reader.

Adobe DRM

When a reader redeems an ebook with Adobe DRM, they get redirected to BitLit’s Adobe Content Server and are emailed a DRM-protected file.

So what confuses me? How the company makes money to provide the service. I must be missing something in their business plan somehow. I mean, it all sounds very cool - and there are a few paper books I have that might work with this. But not all that many. It does make me want to try it - I have an older version of a book that I'd be interested in reading with the new, updated forward and end notes that I think are in the current ebook version.