With books, you don’t have to worry so much about huge numbers of people reading your books for free. (Anyway I imagine a lot of writers would be happy to have huge numbers of people read their work for ANYTHING.) However, with the “shareware” approach, you lower the bar for participation, which is a good thing for a lot of authors. Say you end up with 100 people who pay $1 for your book — maybe two of those people would have bought the book for $20, and the rest wouldn’t have bought it at all. Of course, I’m making these metrics up. But building a bigger readership is always a plus for a less-established writer. Even if you don’t make money off these books, you’re building a brand-name, as it were.

I have downloaded free copies of both the Scalzi and Doctorow books, and in both those instances, I later bought a paper version of something by that author. So I definitely think that ‘try before you buy’ does work! In Doctorow’s case, which was my first real exposure to this new form of disctribution, I knew he was quite political about the Creative Commons concept and I specifically paid for the book for the xpress purpose of making a statement that this method was effective for that author in my instance (in other words, I was making a statement too). So Richard, I can’t promise that your books will be my thing, but if they are, you will definitely see something coming your way from me.

Personally I am not sure that the tip jar is a workable model. I think that offering a free sample and asking for a reasonable amount either directly or through places like Lulu or BookHabit is a much better way.

I buy a lot of books, both p and e - I’m depressed, I buy a book, I am happy I buy another book kind of thing - and I also use the library extensively and free resources too, and of course I have a large pile of started but unfinished books waiting for the right mood, but I also do the rational thing namely if something is offered free, I save the money for something I have to pay for.

The author has the right to set the price, but once it was set effectively at zero, I see no reason to pay.

Most writers of my acquaintance, and those I have read about or heard interviewed, put “getting read” before “earning dough” as motives for continuing in this most arduous trade. What is exciting about distributing unprotected books on the net is that thousands of copies get out into the world very quickly and at least have a chance of exposure. This contrasts with the ever-decreasing shelf-life of paper books. Hardbacks in the UK by middling or new writers tend to get sent back to the publisher about three weeks after publication day.

Rob, thank you for your kind words. I think you were ahead of your time. One of the things that persuaded me to take this step was the emergence of devices like the Kindle and Sony Reader, together with the new mobile phones that let you read text. I am in no doubt that the future of fiction is digital; paper will be the secondary means of distribution. Since DRM is (1) a technical disaster (2) insulting to the reader and (3) likely to put potential readers off from making a purchase, non-DRM is the only way to go. Pre-payment for non-DRM’d files is pointless, so payment post-reading has to be it: and that has to be at the discretion of the reader.

I believe that the full text of “Rim” by Alexander Besher was placed on the web in 1995. I also think that “The Truth Machine” by James Halperin was distributed for free from a website in 1996. I remember reading an advertisement for Halperin’s book on Usenet that said it was available to readers who were willing to fill out a questionnaire.

I suspect that some books were given away for free or as shareware on diskettes even earlier. Perhaps some blog readers can provide earlier examples of free and shareware e-books? (Of course, Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971.)

I think Stephen King had some luck with the shareware approach early on in his semi-book, The Plant, but interest faded. It is, after all, just so easy to have good intentions but end up not making payments. Then again, PayPal and similar services offer a more immediate option compared to having to actually send money through the US mail.

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com