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Free Books: Under the Radar

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the publishing-without-paper dept.

bcrowell writes "Remember e-books, anti-books, and print-on-demand books? They didn't pan out. The surprise success story is free books." Of course, this defines "success" as number of readers, not in terms of monetary profits. E-books and their ilk were concentrating on the latter definition, rather than the former. Still, it's good to see free books preferred in some circles based on their merit, and not just the cost.

1 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. Re:business model by Redline · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Dude... haven't you got a library? The original source of free books...

    Of course, but I can't be the only slashgeek who knows the length and bredth of the scifi (and horror, and mystery) sections of his local library like the back of his hand. And I can't be the only one to have his librarian say, "You know, for the amount of late fees you have paid for those overdue Cherryh novels over the years, you could have bought your own collection of hardbacks."

    And I have a local coffee house too, if I want to hear smartasses expouse uninformed opinions. But I still pay for my slashdot membership. Some things are just convenient to get online. :)