Giving It Away

What does free get you?

I suspect that most of the individuals reading this have heard of Baen's Free Library, an experiment turned institution whereby Baen's authors post electronic versions of their books which the public can download, read, and enjoy. For free. That's right. No cost to the consumer.

These are not books that are no longer in print, either, but book that are still available to purchase in bound, print copies. The idea behind Baen's Free Library is that it's no different than individuals lending books to friends or readers checking books out at their local library. Free books, Baen contends, help them make money through word of mouth advertising because, readers who like the books will

1. Buy other books by the same author,
2. Tell their friends about the book and author,
3. Buy the print version of the e-book for their own, personal library.

The theory is the number of additional sales will out number any lost sales. It must be working. Nearly seven and a half years after Baen initiated the program, it's still going strong. If Baen had noticed a dramatic decrease in their profit margins, rather than an increase, one would think they would have long since discontinued the practice. Baen is, after all, in the business of making money for both themselves and their authors. They do not survive by making their writers and staff members starve.

Individual authors have done similar things with their own books. Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing makes all of his books freely available as e-books, even though they are commercially published with Tor and Avalon Books. His reasoning conforms with Baen's. He looks at it not in terms of sales lost but as audience members gained. Doctorow does this publicly under a Creative Commons License.

In contrast to Doctorow, literary author Paul Coelho's online activities were unknown to his publisher, HarperCollins. For the last several years, he has quietly directed readers to websites where they can download his books for free. He lists places where his books are available online on his unofficial blog. In a February 6, 2008, issue of Newsweek, he is quoted as saying, "I always thought that when, at the beginning of your career, you strive to be read, you can't change your mind later and become greedy about it."

The really interesting part about Coelho's situation is that HarperCollins has just announced they will begin offering select titles free online in a trial program. Coelho is among the authors they will feature as they test the feasibility of making e-books available free to readers. Neil Gaiman is another. On his blog, Gaiman is permitting readers to select which of his books will be offered first. He is asking readers to not select the book they want available, but the book they would like to loan their friends or that they would recommend to someone who has never read Gaiman.

Meanwhile, Random House is following the example of the music industry and launching a trial program where readers can select chapters of individual books and purchase them for a minimal fee. Somehow, I don't think Random House's program is going to be as successful as HarperCollins'.

Of course, all of this is just symptomatic of the publishing industry's attempt to adapt to the online habits of so many consumers. Individuals are accustomed to receiving information and entertainment online, instantaneously, and for free or minimal cost. Novels are one of the last mediums to adapt to the internet and online culture. Like so many things, it does make me think.

It was not too long ago that I encouraged Kristine to place some of her old writings on her blog. I did this for largely selfish reasons

1. I wanted to read what she wrote,
2. I did not want to be obligated to critique them,
3. I wanted them available to read at my leisure and convenience.

At least two of these reasons explain why books made available online might do better than books which are not available for online in the near future. The thing is, I've spent many years trying to convince young writers that their words had value and that they should not just hand it over to the public without compensation. When MacAllister Stone and I started Coyote Wild, one of the stipulations I had was the writers must be paid, if only a minimal amount. Mac, of course, agreed completely. If Kristine had not previously offered her books online for free, I never would have suggested that she do so now.

And now, it seems that we might be heading to the day where the norm is to release a book in both print and e-form, with only the print version providing monetary compensation for the author. I can see a day in the not too distant future where a hardcover will be released followed by the simultaneous release of the paperback and e-book six months to a year later. While the subsequent audience building created by the e-book will be good for writers, one has to ask how that will change the value of writing? On The Technium, Kevin Kelly suggests that when everything is available to be copied, only those things that cannot be copied, such as trust, will be valued.

Somehow, I don't quite subscribe to his utopian worldview, but I do agree that as publishers adapt to online demand, the world of publishing is undergoing some changes. Only time will tell what changes will be most viable and how they will impact writers, but as you move forward in your own careers, watch for them, be aware of them, and be prepared to adapt your delivery to meet your readers' needs and expectations.