Cory Doctorow on giving books away on the Web

[mdlbear]

Giving It Away - Forbes.comBut say it does come to pass that electronic books are all anyone wants

Comments

[lisa_marli]

I've actually belonged to a couple of e-reading services over time. I like it, I pay the service for a book, they pay the writer. It could also be done by a writer for something on their own website, using paypal or one of those cheaper systems.
And yeah, If I decide I like a Free eBook, I'd probably by the physical book to support the system if that's what is needed.
Having a few books that I like on the pda has proven to be useful when I'm spending time in hospitals with sick mothers and husbands.

[mdlbear]

I've also paid for downloads, and occasionally for website subscriptions. Paying for downloaded books works when the market is small and a paper edition would be impractical or overpriced -- I recently bought a songbook that's only available as PDF. But for something that has a big enough market to make paper (or plastic in the case of a CD) practical, it's probably better to give away the online version in order to promote sales of the physical edition.