eBooks Spur Sales

Posted on August 5, 2005 by John DeNardo in Books // 0 Comments

The Herald Tribune has an article called The End User: E-books spur sales that talks about poor eBook sales and how some authors are giving away eBooks in hopes of making more book sales.

I know this seems counter-intuitive, but Charlie Stross’ quote says it all. The greatest enemy of a mid-list author is not piracy, it’s obscurity. By putting the book out there for free, it generates buzz. The thinking is that buzz = more sales. Cory Doctorow follows this method and, the article says, it has worked very well for him.

I wonder of those authors would be singing a different tune if they graduate from mid-list to the upper echelon? Does the same strategy hold true? How much would Harry Potter have made if it was released as a free eBook? (Forgetting for the moment the pirated version.)

Anywho, for some free sf/f eBooks, see: