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Author Gives Away Book, Admits Obscurity A Much Bigger Problem Than Piracy
from the get-it-out-there dept
Doc was the first of a few of you to send in the news that author Charles Sheehan-Miles is the latest of a bunch of new authors who are happily giving away their new books for free. Sheehan-Miles is also making sure to give it away in as many formats as he can think of to make it as easy to read as possible, based on whatever your preference might be. He's definitely helping to highlight the maxim that obscurity is a much bigger threat to authors than piracy. He appears to recognize that there are plenty of business models if his work is well known -- but there are very few if no one knows who you are.
Speaking of free book experiments, a few others have also submitted the fact that Kevin Kelly's latest book on documentary films is available as a free pdf download -- but with contextual ads from Yahoo included. It's an interesting experiment as a model for free books, but it seems like one unlikely to go very far. It's difficult to see those ads being very effective in most books (there are a few exceptions). Either way, it's nice to see authors experimenting with new models, rather than simply whining about "piracy."
Speaking of free book experiments, a few others have also submitted the fact that Kevin Kelly's latest book on documentary films is available as a free pdf download -- but with contextual ads from Yahoo included. It's an interesting experiment as a model for free books, but it seems like one unlikely to go very far. It's difficult to see those ads being very effective in most books (there are a few exceptions). Either way, it's nice to see authors experimenting with new models, rather than simply whining about "piracy."
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Baen Publishing already does this...
www.baen.com
Their "Free Library" has many of their #1 selling novels available w/o any DRM.
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Re: Baen Publishing already does this...
Kinda sad to think that, but all well. Free libraries ftw!
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And it's working..
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Re: And it's working..
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Re: Re: And it's working..
Now all I've got to do is wait until I get home to download them, since "music" services are all blocked at work...
EtG
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Baen Publishing
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A very business savvy move indeed.
To announce such a move to this business model in a time when only a few others doing is also a very well timed move. They get the HURRAH from fans and lot of media attention(Think Radiohead).
It might as well be a first mover advantage.
Of course, in the free software world, this is the norm. As a result, there are no advantages to announce that you're using this business model. Although you're not going to wow onlookers with free software business models but you're ready and equipped for the future.
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Coward #4 is correct...
When everyone is doing it, however, it no longer becomes newsworthy and as such one could argue that the benefits are negligable.
At which point the next fad in standing out from the crowd will appear.
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Re: Coward #4 is correct...
And this is a problem, why?
When everyone is doing it, however, it no longer becomes newsworthy and as such one could argue that the benefits are negligable.
Other than the fact that everyone is doing it... and that everyone can now "sample" your work.
At which point the next fad in standing out from the crowd will appear.
Which is what most people call progress.
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Cory Doctorow said all of this years ago.
If Charles Sheehan-Miles is quoting Doctorow then so be it, but cite the source at least.
As for getting your work out to the public and getting known, I am all for it, it worked for Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchins and others, so go for it.
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Sample
Right. Always assuming, of course, that they bother to do so now that everyone else is doing asking them to do the same exact thing.
If one company left a free sample in a bag on your front door you might try it out. But when it gets to be twenty or thirty or more a day, you start keeping a trash can by the door.
See "spam", also a case of too much of a "good" thing.
"Which is what most people call progress."
Which just goes to show how much thought "most people" give to it.
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Scott Adams
http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/
Free books also can help an author break our of their assumed genre. Thereby, opening up new vistas.
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An Inspiration
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Giving it ALL away!
If the pdf format is more your game, have a visit to manybooks.net
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Baen isn't the only one...
What they do is they limit you to three downloads a day, they add a note indicating who the advertiser is (something like "Paid for by Verizon Wireless"), and they add a one page ad at the beginning of the book.
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Baen isn't the only one...
What they do is they limit you to three downloads a day, they add a note indicating who the advertiser is (something like "Paid for by Verizon Wireless"), and they add a one page ad at the beginning of the book.
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problem
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Good novel
Thanks)
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