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Free(konomic) Ebooks
(Originally published in
Locus,
September 2007.)
Can giving away free electronic books really sell printed books?
I think so. As I explained in my March column (“You DO Like
Reading Off a Computer Screen”), I don’t believe that most
readers want to read long-form works off a screen, and I don’t
believe that they will ever want to read long-form works off a
screen. As I say in the column, the problem with reading off a
screen isn’t resolution, eyestrain, or compatibility with reading
in the bathtub: it’s that computers are seductive, they tempt us
to do other things, making concentrating on a long-form work
impractical.
Sure, some readers have the cognitive quirk necessary to read
full-length works off screens, or are motivated to do so by other
circumstances (such as being so broke that they could never hope
to buy the printed work). The rational question isn’t, “Will giving
away free ebooks cost me sales?” but rather, “Will giving away
free ebooks win me more sales than it costs me?”
This is a very hard proposition to evaluate in a quantitative
way. Books aren’t lattes or cable-knit sweaters: each book sells (or
doesn’t) due to factors that are unique to that title. It’s hard to
imagine an empirical, controlled study in which two “equivalent”
books are published, and one is also available as a free download,
the other not, and the difference calculated as a means of “prov-
ing” whether ebooks hurt or help sales in the long run.
I’ve released all of my novels as free downloads simultaneous
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