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Cory Doctorow Releases 'Eastern Standard Tribe' 199

Posted by timothy from the free-pdf-to-first-reviewer dept.
OrenWolf writes "Cory Doctorow (of EFF and Boing Boing fame), has released his second novel, Eastern Standard Tribe today.. it should be showing up in bookstores shortly. As with his earlier work, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory has made the whole text of the novel available as a free download "in a variety of open, standards-defined formats, under the terms of a Creative Commons license." Cory also has a writeup "explaining why I've done it: in a nutshell, this worked really well for my first book, and I'd be crazy not to repeat the experiment with my second novel.""
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Cory Doctorow Releases 'Eastern Standard Tribe' More

Cory Doctorow Releases 'Eastern Standard Tribe'

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  • hear that? (Score:4, Funny)

    by nil5 ( 538942 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:50PM (#8181521) Homepage
    I think I just heard Lawrence Lessig's battle cry: "Creative Commons? EAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHH"
  • I've run across his stuff in Asimov's and online and found it to be quite entertaining. He's really a good writer. Cool that he releases a lot of his stuff online for free, too. :-)

    • Interesting Business Model too... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Transient0 ( 175617 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:58PM (#8181595) Homepage
      I've just published my first book with Insurgent Productions and the contract leaves me a whole lot of flexibility as per promotion and manipulation of the content.

      [shameless plug]The book is for sale at frankduff.com [frankduff.com][/shameless plug]

      I am currently wrestling with the idea of releasing the full e-text. I intend to do so eventually, but am worried that if I do so in conjunction with the print release it might seriously affect sales, particularly since the website is one of my main retail points and the novel is short enough to reasonably read on a screen.

      • Re:Interesting Business Model too... (Score:4, Informative)

        by BigZaphod ( 12942 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:03PM (#8181647) Homepage
        Cory released Down and Out online about the same time he released for print publication. From what I've seen it seems to have helped sales a bit. Then again, he got a lot of free press about it then, too, so that probably helped.
        • Yeah, that's just it. It all depends on whether the free e-book turns into enough free press to generate enough customers that (when combined with the odd person who wouldn't have bought it but liked it so much after reading it on-line that they had to have a copy) they outnumber the people who would have bought it it if they couldn't read it for free on the screen.

          Of course, I also have an ideological affection for the Creative Commons and would even be willing to take a loss of a couple of copies on the

          • Yeah, that's just it. It all depends on whether the free e-book turns into enough free press to generate enough customers that (when combined with the odd person who wouldn't have bought it but liked it so much after reading it on-line that they had to have a copy) they outnumber the people who would have bought it it if they couldn't read it for free on the screen.

            You also have to factor in the number of people who wouldn't have bought it, but read it for free and like it so much they end up buying it

        • Cory is getting that free press mainly due to the novelty of releasing content for free online - if this became more common, that positive effect would likely get reduced (or perhaps disappear altogether) over time. I would suspect that in the long run, free online release will be an avenue for up-and-comers to get their material out there, but for established authors, we won't see much more than excerpts available for free.

          That said, I enjoyed Down & Out, and will give this a try...
          • I don't think I believe that. I own two sets of the lord of the Rings, so I can give one out, and I own 3 sets of the dark tower series (up till book 5) by steven King. Cause I have two sets out on lease to friends. I like to re read my books, I like to take them to work for lunch time, or bring them on the bus, or in a plane. And I realise that there are laptops and tablet pcs, but tell me the truth, wouldn't you rather just have the book in your hand, with a good binding, and nice flippable durable pages,

  • News? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pixelgeek ( 676892 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:54PM (#8181551)
    Is this news or a promotional item for Cory's book?

    Is this all it requires to get /. to advertise a product? Release it under the Creative Commons?
    • Why not? Isn't part of what /. is about is promoting FOSS and related things? How else can you do that if you don't tell people about what is going on or who did what (eg write a published book and release it under creative commons licence)?

    • Is this all it requires to get /. to advertise a product? Release it under the Creative Commons?

      you must be new here, right?

    • Re:News? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by iminplaya ( 723125 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:12PM (#8181728) Journal
      It also seems to "advertise" a process. So far it appears to be a good thing. Any alternative to the current copyright/patent quagmire that we are in now is good.
      • Fair enough, but then post a news story about his release of his works (plural) under the licence and not muddle it with the, understandable and necessary, (self) promotion that Cory is doing for the book.
        • Not sure who you're directing this to, but I thought the entire story was newsworthy and appropriate for slashdot. I'm all for Cory and wish him the best of luck.

    • Re:News? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by OrenWolf ( 140914 ) * <ksnider@flar[ ]om ['n.c' in gap]> on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:21PM (#8181818) Homepage
      Why is this news for /.?

      Because it's from an author who, for the second time, is releasing his book under a "some rights reserved" license, for free, and this hasn't hurt past book sales.

      Because it's a statement that DRM is *not* required in book sales.

      And because it strikes at the heart of so many things /.-ers have been saying forever.. people will buy what they like, people will still be successful in selling a product even while giving away their product for free elsewhere.

      • Re:News? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Peter Cooper ( 660482 )
        Because it's from an author who, for the second time, is releasing his book under a "some rights reserved" license, for free, and this hasn't hurt past book sales.

        Since both of his books have been released using this method, the above is unprovable. His sales may have been considerably better had he not released it online too.
        • I first caught the link to Elliott's site thru Pournelle's weblog; Pournelle commented that although his novel "Fallen Angels" has been available for free for quite a while, the novel is still in print, and still selling well.

          I think it's fantastic of Mr. Ellliott/Doctorow to be willing to try this experiment, especially considering that his publisher is Tor (they've been pretty decent with him about this, from what I read at his site).

          The upshot is that web publishing is going to eventually stomp pa

    • Re:News? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Eric Sharkey ( 1717 ) <sharkey@lisaneric.org> on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @04:42PM (#8182689)
      Is this all it requires to get /. to advertise a product? Release it under the Creative Commons?

      No, you also need to have sufficient wuffie.
    • I think you're slightly off the mark.

      All it requires to get /. to advertise a product isn't to just release it under a Creative Commons. It also helps if you're Cory Doctorow.

  • Who's to say... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by trickofperspective ( 180714 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:55PM (#8181555) Homepage
    ...it worked really well? How can he track the correspondence between downloads and purchases and tell if one directly affected the other? It's hard to even say what those download statistics mean. I know I've downloaded the new book three times now, on multiple PCs, just to take a look at it.

    As he points out, he doesn't have a first novel released in a non-e format to compare against. How would you go about deciding the correlation? Maybe if he included a coupon for the paper copy in the e format version?

    -Trick
    • I think his concern is that his story be read, rather than his story be purchased. As the owner of the copyright to his works, he is free to do with them as he sees fit.

      As it should be.
      • I'm not contesting his right to release it as he sees fit... I applaud it. But he refers to it as an experiment, and I'm interesting in techniques one could use to track the results. Even if Doctorow doesn't care whether you buy it or not, one of the innate questions to the experiment (and probably on the mind of many publishers) is what kind of effect releasing the book for free has on the sales.

        -Trick
        • One might argue that the innate question to the experiment is "Does this increase the satisfaction of the experimenter?"

          This isn't about the publisher, but the author.
          • "I intend on figuring out the way that some writers--that this writer, right here, wearing my underwear--is going to get rich and famous from his craft. I intend on figuring out how this writer's words can become part of the social discourse, can be relevant in the way that literature at its best can be."

            "I don't know what the future of book looks like. To figure it out, I'm doing some pretty basic science. I'm peering into this opaque, inscrutable system of publishing as it sits in the year 2004, and I'

    • Re:Who's to say... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by __past__ ( 542467 )

      How can he track the correspondence between downloads and purchases and tell if one directly affected the other?

      He can't. But he can compare the financial success of his novel to that of other, not publically available, works of the same genre, and if he finds that his did fairly well (which the first book apparently did), this could be taken as an indication that publishing a book online, under a liberal license even and without DRM, at least doesn't hurt dead-tree-version sales that much. Or that he is

    • ...it worked really well?

      The author is.

      That's the whole point of copyright, intellectual property, etc: it's up to the creator. He doesn't have to apply the scientific method to validate the approach if he doesn't care to. If he wants to apply a highly subjective "It sold OK and I made enough money to satisfy me" test to the experiment, that's his call.

    • Personally, I'd say Cory is the person to say it worked well. Or at least well enough that it made him (and his publisher, Tor Books) want to do it again. Granted, we don't know if he would have done better if he had not released electronic copies of it in addition to his dead-tree version, but considering that he is still a new author and that new authors need advertising like a fish needs water, I can see how this would have helped his sales more than hurt them.
    • He's aware of that.

      quote from his website:

      "and even though the print-run (which sold out very quickly!) though generous by science fiction standards, hardly qualifies it as a work of mass entertainment.

      The thing that's extraordinary about that first novel is that it was released under terms governed by a Creative Commons license that allowed my readers to copy the book freely and distribute it far and wide. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the book were made and distributed this way. Hundreds of thous
  • Let's just say I went to boingboing.net, and I consider that flagrant false advertising. Like that pottery store on the Simpsons called Stoner's Pot Palace.

  • Wow !!!! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by IamGarageGuy 2 ( 687655 )
    Is this Open Source thing catching on? I have no idea where this is heading but this is surely a writer that is looking forward instead of backwards. I'm not sure Cory Doctorow knows what this will bring but is willing to take a chance - just as a visionary is supposed to. Is this the new revolution? Open Source code, Open Source books, the free flow of ideas and art throughout society. The revolution has started and it's free.

  • F$%# (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:56PM (#8181566)
    Hey !
    I was reading the book!
    Now the server's slashdotted!
    Damnit
  • There's something about print books that I just love. They are simple to read (dont have to stare at a computer screen, or sit with 200 printed pages). Books are also great to collect, my bookcase is like my trophy case of all my literary accomplishments.
    • You can read a page or chapter of Cory's book, then buy it if you think it's worthwhile.

      That's what I did when "Down and Out..." was put online, and the print copy was well worth the cost and effort in spite of the text being available online.

      (Screw the publishers, let the authors promote their own shit, and let the public decide what will succeed. Same goes for music, fuck the RIAA.)

      • I did download the prior book, and read a bit of it. I decided it was absolute drivel, unreadable crap. The download saved me from wasting money buying it in print.
        I wonder how many people might have bought this alleged novel but didn't because they didn't like what they read in the free version?
    • I don't much collect books. I love paperback books. They are so convenient. Extremely portable and cheap enough not to matter much if it gets lost or damaged. You can read them in bed, while commuting (unless you are driving), in the bathroom, in a hammock, etc.

      An electronic edition's only advantage (imho) is that I can read at the office and, unless someone comes over to look over my shoulder, nobody finds out.

  • Cory Doctorow (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:56PM (#8181568)
    Is that a kind of cross between Coronation Street and Doctor Who

  • Next time (Score:3, Funny)

    by savagedome ( 742194 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:56PM (#8181571)
    Take this novel and pass it from inbox to inbox, through your IM clients, over P2P networks

    I will suggest the next big worm writer to include it as a payload ;)

    *ducks*

  • Mmmm logical thought (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Epyn ( 589398 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:58PM (#8181588)
    This is great, simply because I love it when people realize that consumers are willing to consume if they get what they pay for. I'm more than willing to pay for a book if I decide that I really like it. A reader might never have bought his work if they'd never read some of it online first.

    Also, in my opinion its harder to concentrate reading off the screen that it is from a nice high quality 'physical artifact.'
    • I'm more than willing to pay for a book if I decide that I really like it.

      Yep. I did the same thing with Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java.

      Downloaded [mindview.net] it, read it, loved it, bought it to support the author.

  • Good (Score:5, Interesting)

    by stjobe ( 78285 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @02:59PM (#8181600) Homepage
    From the webpage:
    I don't believe that there's any market-demand for teasers or for "Digital Rights Management" technology: [...] so I'm giving this novel to you in three open and flexible formats"

    If you want to, go ahead and buy a copy and I'll get my royalty. But there's no obligation on you to buy it if you've read -- you're not ripping me off -- [...] I'm not in competition with my publisher here.

    Good to see that there are a few authors and publishers out there that knows that giving away free downloads do not hurt sales -- if the book is good it will most likely sell more. (see Baen Free Library [baen.com]).

    As for Doctorow, I enjoyed Down and Out, so I'll surely give this a try.

  • Hey, can somebody re-post his write-up? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    My company's proxy server, in it's infinite wisdom, refuses to let me look at a site named "craphound". I wonder why?

  • Like CD's/MP3's, or like diamonds (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Space cowboy ( 13680 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:02PM (#8181633) Journal
    There's an argument that as people listen to downloaded (stolen) MP3's, they'll be tempted to go to the shops and buy them, thus not depriving the shops of their cash or devaluing the commodity. I wonder how books will pan out.

    If you could somehow get free diamonds, I doubt many of us would throw them away or buy them instead, (unless you're Dutch [ananova.com])
    but with digital "objects" it's a bit more difficult to quantify. Copying is easy, delivery is easy. The sole advantage for the pay-for dead-tree-version is that you can cart it around with you - but with the advent of ever-more-clever phones, PDA's etc., will this advantage disappear, and with it, the open-source book ?

    Interesting to see how it pans out...

    Simon

    • Re:Like CD's/MP3's, or like diamonds (Score:4, Interesting)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:27PM (#8181868) Homepage Journal
      dead tree versions have other advantages as well over pda's/mobile devices, like looking cool on your shelf and reminding yourself that they exist. Can't afford too many at the moment though, which is a shame.

      that said, I read the latest harry potter last summer from the screen of a nokia 3650. and yes it was more convinient than the dead tree version(which of I have access to as well so it didn't really hurt any sales either), the paper version is unnecessary thick, so thick that it's not comfortable to read or carry around in travel luggage(in trains, busses& etc that I sat in a bit during the summer). that and the fact that the text would fit in a book that had half the pages if it was in different font, but it seems like it's thick for marketing purposes(and to justify greater price I suppose).

      I also read a bunch of other books with it.. it was really handy since I whenever I had just a slight pause in what I was doing or was just having idle chatter with somebody I could just keep reading.
    • Let me know when you find a phone with a facing pair of 5"x8" 1200dpi displays for reading ebooks. That's about what a printed hardback is equal to.

  • Other sources of good books (Score:5, Informative)

    by Togakure ( 744222 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:03PM (#8181635) Journal
    Baen Books deserves a mention for doing very similar to this. While not using the Creative Commons licence, what they have done is said "Here are the books in the free library, read as you will, if you loan it out to a friend that's fine." http://www.baen.com/library/ Believe me, some very good books in that listing, and some well written arguments in the Prime Palavar section of that site on why they've done what they've done.

    Also Baen have their Webscriptions service. For US$10 or US$15, you can purchase a month's worth of books (5 to 6 books) for reading, downloading, whatever, or you can buy individual books for about US$5. Again, all in open formats (html, etc). There is no obligation to buy more at any time but I've found there is usually enough of interest that I've bought near on 30 months worth of subscriptions over time :)

  • Breakout Authors (Score:5, Insightful)

    by subjectstorm ( 708637 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:07PM (#8181685) Journal
    Putting a book online for free is a great way for any would-be author to get his stuff read massively. It's just not a good way to get paid.

    I don't think this is going to adversely affect the publishing industry much in the long run at all. If anything, it will keep it alive and help it to be more effective.

    Here's an idea that works out for everybody:

    Author Bob writes a book and puts it online. 100,000 people read it. Now they know who he is. A publisher looks at Bob's online work and sees that a lot of people read it. he doesn't have to advertise the guy now - people already know who he is. It takes the guesswork out. Now Bob gets contracted, sells his work instead of giving it away. Bob gets paid.

    After a year or 6 months or something, bob releases the book online for free.

    In the end, everybody wins. Bob gets paid, the publisher gets paid and saves on advertising and research, and the people can either buy the book or wait an uncomfortable period of time and get it free. most people would probably buy it.

    Just an idea.
    • Putting a book online for free is a great way for any would-be author to get his stuff read massively. It's just not a good way to get paid.

      Hang out over at boingboing.net (Cory's blog) for a little while. I don't see him going hungry. If it failed for him the first time there would be no second time.

    • I released my novel [kuro5hin.org] for free mainly because it was too edgy to attract the attention of a normal publisher and I was tired of letting it rot on my hard drive. I used a tip jar and published my experience [kuro5hin.org] with that.

      Upshot? A review on slashdot [slashdot.org] was my biggest promotional score, and total readership appears to be about 10,000 worldwide. Tip jar revenue ended up a bit over $1,000. And despite many mails and posts telling me it was a very good novel, I still can't attract a publisher.

      It just isn't as eas

      • Prime Intellect (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Doc Hopper ( 59070 )
        Edgy is probably the wrong word for your book. Disgusting is probably much more appropriate.

        And yet... I read it. The whole thing, cover-to-cover (well, virtual cover, anyway). The idea and implementation were compelling, and as you backed off over the second half and began to deal more with ramifications of a death-obsessed (well, virtual death-obsessed) society, I began to enjoy it more, and realized the graphic violence towards the start was necessary.

        I ended up walking away after reading it, thinki
      • I wonder though, whether the reason you couldn't find a publisher didn't actually have something to do with the fact that it was available on-line already and had been for some time.

        Certainly, you had 10,000 readers, but you had 10,000 readers who had already read the book.

        I can't help but think that, were you to write a second novel, the existence of MOPI would certainly help your publishing chances.

        After k5 published Enn-Eye [kuro5hin.org], I shopped a lengthened and edited version around to a few magazines. I was ve

    • Re:Breakout Authors (Score:3, Interesting)

      by theantix ( 466036 )
      What you have described seems to be how the US copyright system was designed. Copyrights exist for a limited amount of time so the author gets paid and encourage new materials to be written, and then public domain after a short period of time. The problem was that the copyright period kept getting extended thanks to the influence of powerful media megacorps. But since the USA exports a hell of a lot of crap that depends on these expanded copyright laws, I don't think they'll be returning copyright laws t

  • Creative Commons (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Linus Sixpack ( 709619 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:11PM (#8181724) Journal
    Its good to see an author re-using the creative commons. I've seen a bit of experiamentation with the license but this is the first author using this license for his _second_ book that I've seen.

    Must mean it works for him.

    LS

  • Thank you Cory (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Being "mentally ill" and therefore poor, I tend to pirate books a lot. I like to read, I can't afford books, and going to the library can be both stressful and embarrassing. People like Cory make my day. I just downloaded both books and am about to start reading down and out. Again, Thanks!

  • Curious to know (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) * <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:24PM (#8181843) Homepage
    So just to be evil, how much money has Mr. Doctorow made from his books? In other words, has the experiment been "worth it", or does he have to do other things to supplant his income (aka "have a real job").

    I just downloaded both, and plan to give them a read on Mr. Palm Pilot and if I like them, I'll probably buy Meatspace versions for family on holidays, but I'd be fascinated to see what the "download-to-purchase" ratio is.

    It's the same kind of model we see in places like Megatokyo, Penny-Arcade, etc - free content with physical goods (books, T-shirts, posters, etc) being the actual income. Makes you wonder if Doctorow's endeavors are as successful, and if he should sell a T-shirt.
    • Most authors don't really make enough money to do it as a full-time job, so this wouldn't necessarily tell you much. I an author who's considered to have "made it", but she doesn't make anything close to a decent living.
    • So just to be evil, how much money has Mr. Doctorow made from his books? In other words, has the experiment been "worth it", or does he have to do other things to supplant his income (aka "have a real job").

      A better question would be, how much does any author make? out of the tens-of-thousands of authors, where would Mr. Doctorow compare to them? Obviously he's not going to make $millions, but who really does? How many traditional authors need a "real job?"

    • I read Doctorow's book and all I got was this lousy wuffie.

      Now that's a T-shirt I would like.

      -Colin [colingregorypalmer.net]

  • Win Awards (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @03:30PM (#8181898)
    Maybe an author who releases his work like this is improving his chances at relevant awards in his field (due to greater readership). This increases his value as a writer as well.

    Maybe awards voters should take into consideration how much an author does to make his work freely available.

    • Um (Score:3, Funny)

      by HarveyBirdman ( 627248 )
      Maybe awards voters should take into consideration how much an author does to make his work freely available.

      I'd be happy if award voters anywhere in the media world took the quality of a work into consideration.


  • Wonderful. Not one post scored >= 3 actually talks about the content of the book.

  • Is the book worth reading? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by WillAdams ( 45638 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @04:03PM (#8182284) Homepage
    I've d/l'd a couple of versions (see other posts for why) and started reading the first book, but just didn't find it that engaging, nor to have any new ideas.

    Hasn't that story (future w/ immortal people who can do pretty much anything and are pretty much totally out-of-touch w/ the past) already been told in Roger Zelazny's _Elegy for Angels and Dogs_ (and reprised in Walter Jon Williams' sequel _The Graveyard Heart_)? (the twain were published as a Tor Double, but not in the way cool upside down / double book format since one was a sequel of the other).

    I read through the first few pages of the other story, but just not finding much of interest there either.

    Anyone want to reassure me that they're worth the effort to read, or warn me away from wasting any further time / effort?

    William
    • I'm inclined to agree. I gave the first book a try and found it to be very poorly written.

      I don't have anything against people offering their writing freely, but the one thing people have to always invest when reading a book is a measure of their time.

  • TYPO in the cover (Score:2, Informative)

    by peu ( 163472 )
    What can you say about a book that has a typo in its cover? [craphound.com]

    Eastern Standard Tribe

    by the uthor of Down and out the Magic Kingdom

    Nevertheless, I enjoyed his 1st book.

  • Right in one of the first paragraphs:

    Stories are propaganda,
    virii that slide past your critical immune system and insert themselves directly into your emotions.

    In the great slashdot tradition of getting fanatic about minor points, I outright refuse to buy a book that uses this stupid, just-plain-wrong pseudo-plural of virus! The proprietary, non-free license doesn't even allow me to release a fixed version of it!

  • Learning from your mistakes (Score:3, Funny)

    by bfg9000 ( 726447 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @04:47PM (#8182745) Homepage Journal
    Cory has made the whole text of the novel available as a free download "in a variety of open, standards-defined formats, under the terms of a Creative Commons license." Cory also has a writeup "explaining why I've done it: in a nutshell, this worked really well for my first book, and I'd be crazy not to repeat the experiment with my second novel.""

    Actually, Cory, you'd be crazy to think the Slashdot Effect would skip you this time over. We never did before...

    Basically, unless you write a book about "Ancient Roman Carpet Installation Techniques", we're gonna take you down. And even then, if you put it under the Creative Commons license.....
  • Damn, I put my novel [tom7.org] up online for free but hardly anyone buys it! Maybe you have to have a famous web site, too...

  • This is not necessarily a good thing (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Call Me Black Cloud ( 616282 ) on Wednesday February 04, 2004 @05:17PM (#8183016)
    For me, at least.

    Now that the rah rah posts have run their course (open source! sharing! vive la revolution!) let me provide my point of view as a reader.

    I would rather pay for a book (or check it out from a library) than download it for free.

    I am happy to pay money for a book because I get a book. Along with the book comes the convenience of reading in bed, on the couch, on the train...pretty much anywhere there is light. Sure, an ebook reader would give me that (more if it's backlit, less if you read at the beach) but then there's the satisfaction of holding a book, flipping through the pages, smelling that new (or old) book smell. The physical book adds value to the text and is worth paying for.

    Would authors sell more books if they gave away their first few books for free? Who can know? A lot of dot com companies tried to give away services in the hopes of converting free users into paying users, but I don't know if the same model applies.
  • They went through all the trouble to advertise it like this, and they didn't even include a briefing on what the book is about?

  • Is he any relation to E.L. Doctrow, the late author of Ragtime?
  • This is a big test and we'll see if it works. Giving away books has always been thought of as a horrible way to make a living. This "experiment" being carried out will give indications of the feasibility of "free" books...

    Sivaram Velauthapillai
  • Who Fucking Cares just released his latest title, This Isn't News, in a similar fashion.
  • In my opinion, the ideal model for the distribution of creative content is this: A creator creates the content (a writer writes a book, filmmakers make a movie, a musician records a song), then releases the content for free.

    The public knows that creators have to eat, and so they know that if they like the work that a particular creator puts out, they should donate to that creator in order to encourage him, her, or them to continue producing things they like. If the creator doesn't receive enough donations

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