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By David Rothman

women&money Can you boost p-book sales by giving away e-copies for free? Cory Doctorow, along with some other novelists, especially in the sci-fi area, certainly thinks so.

Now, here’s some more ammunition for the “pro” side—Suze Orman’s Women & Money making it to number three on the Amazon bestseller list even though it’s been out a year.

Oprah Winfrey’s book club last week allowed free downloads of the book in Kindle and PDF formats and perhaps others, for 33 hours. It drew more than a million downloads

Model for all books?

Let’s kick the free issue around still more. Is this a model for all books? What kinds of books most benefit from such an  approach? Is it possible that Orman’s p-book wouldn’t have fared so well if more of her fans were accustomed to reading books off screens? Will such tactics work in the future? Could the secret be to make books available for free but just for a limited time? How does DRM enter the picture? I assume the Orman book came with it. Without DRM, would people who downloaded in time be more likely to share books with friends who didn’t?

Another notable case, in the annals of “free,” is the 9-11 Report. “I can tell you that with respect to the `9-11 Report,’ the free download did not seem to hurt sales at all,” the Associated Press quoted Norton publisher Drake McFeely. “There were people who wanted it quickly, in a less convenient form, and that was clearly a different market from the people who wanted the traditional book.”

Future follow-ups by bestselling writers?

While McFeely worries about the negatives of free, he also says that “if Norton had been given the opportunity for an Oprah Winfrey plug, and part of the deal was making the book free online, we would have gladly taken it.” Perhaps best-selling writers with sufficient clout can follow up with their publishers if the concept intrigues them.

Detail: Remember, the Amazon bestseller list can change by the hour. The number three ranking is simply what I’m seeing as I write this. Interestingly, the book is number four in the Kindle store. Can “free” and “on sale” co-exist gracefully?

(Thanks, Mike.)

 

 
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