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Tor Books Is Giving Away E-Books

Posted by kdawson on from the what's-not-to-like dept.

stoolpigeon writes "Tor Books is launching a new site and running a campaign in which they are giving away e-books (free as in beer) until the site goes live. To get in on the deal, fill out the form at their site, and each week you will receive a newsletter containing links to download a new book. The first two books are Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson followed by Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Scalzi's site says: 'My understanding is that they don't have DRM on them. Or at least, mine isn't supposed to have, and I don't think they're planning mine to be special in that regard.'"

18 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Hey I have no problem to by them by emj · · Score: 3, Informative

    As long as they are DRM free I can buy them! It's such a bitch to use clit everytime I buy and ebook. Do you guys know if there is a cracker for Mobipocket and PDF as well? The problem with Lit is that you have to have Windows to download books, which I don't have.. :-)

  2. Baen Free Library by Nimey · · Score: 5, Informative

    Also see Baen's free library at http://www.baen.com/library/

    Baen will also sometimes include a CD containing many E-books with certain hardbacks. It's made them some money from me, since I was introduced to certain series (1632, March Upcountry, Honor Harrington) via this.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
    1. Re:Baen Free Library by AJWM · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yep, and Baen offers a variety of formats. I read 1632 online one slow afternoon when there wasn't much news on /. (and I was still waiting on account approvals so I couldn't do any real work).

      --
      -- Alastair
    2. Re:Baen Free Library by tchristney · · Score: 2, Informative

      I've been a Baen library user for many years now. I have also bought dozens of titles through webscription.net. What I really like is I can download the books onto my Palm and carry enough books to last me a two week trip. Of course, if you don't like Sci-fi and fantasy then it won't be very attractive to you. You can also get loads of excellent free books from Project Gutenberg.

  3. Read Old man's war (Hugo finalist) by __aailob1448 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I own the book and it's a great read. Nice of Tor and Scalzi to give it away.

  4. Tor is on Webscription by overshoot · · Score: 3, Informative

    Tor has had quite a few titles on WebScription for some time now. Since those are all DRMless, it's not unreasonable to expect that they're over the wibbles.

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:Tor is on Webscription by WolfWalker545 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Tor's parent corporation got cold feet about the Webscriptions deal, but apparently has since reconsidered, and restarted negotiations. The titles currently listed are those that were posted during the several days between the original deal and the parent corporation vetoing it, so that the people who had purchased those books would still be able to access their copies (yes, Webscriptions will always allow you to redownload titles you've purchased from them, as long as they're still in business).

  5. Cannot register by teridon · · Score: 2, Informative

    I get this error:
    "We cannot register you at this time, but please check back in a few weeks for some great science fiction. Thanks!"

    I have hard copies of the Mistborn books already, but e-book versions would have been nice...

    --
    I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
    1. Re:Cannot register by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I got that too. Try disabling JavaScript.

  6. Don't worry, it's only a few 1st & 2nd parties by DrSkwid · · Score: 4, Informative

    Macmillan is a privately-owned company, owned by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, a large German-based company. The company acquired a 70.81 per cent stake in Macmillan in April 1995, and purchased the remaining stake in 1999, at which point the Macmillan family formally ended its 156-year-ownership of the publishing house. Holtzbrinck owns around forty companies as well as Macmillan and is headquartered in Stuttgart. Its interests include book, magazine and newspaper publishers, television and radio companies and new media firms.

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  7. Re:Releasing the good stuff or not? by ucblockhead · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, if you'd read the article summary, you'd see that their second free title was a hugo nomimated work...

    --
    The cake is a pie
  8. For those looking for more by thisissilly · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Baen CDs (which include some novels not in the Free library) are also legally available online at sites like http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/

  9. e-novel.org by moogs · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm surprised that nobody brought up http://e-novel.org/ yet. The books there are my favorite. Whoever this Jonathan Dunn is... Sci-fi/philosophy fans, try the revolutions of time. Fantasy fans, try The Forgotten King... and The Hedonist is for everyone, i guess. check it out, http://e-novel.org/

    --
    I have bad karma. What do I care what you think?
  10. Re:Don't worry, it's only a few 1st & 2nd part by raddan · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, Von Holtzbrinck Publishers US changed their name to Macmillan US sometime last year, and moved the head of Macmillan UK onto the Holtzbrinck board. But, yes, they are privately-held.

    The Holtzbrinck family is unique in giving its subsidiaries a lot of freedom. The thinking is: if they make a lot of money, they're doing something right. Of course, the onus is on that subsidiary to keep performing. IIRC, Tor made some changes in their business model last year that started bringing in a lot more profit; this has given them the freedom to try some new things. Anyway, everybody is all worked up about "going digital", so I'm not surprised to see that Tor is pursuing that option, although I have to say I am a little surprised to see them offering DRM-free downloads. But it scores big points with their audience, and maybe they know that.

    Disclaimer: I work for a Macmillan imprint.

  11. Lead, Follow, or Imitate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Baen On-Line Library has been doing this for a few years with no registration, DRM, or email addresses needed.

    http://www.baen.com/library/

  12. Re:Sounds too good to be true... by jhw539 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, authors have found via the Baen free library that giving away their books in e format resulted in increased sales. Not only did they see the obvious benefit of giving away book one of a series resulting in an increase in the sales of books two, three, four... But the sales of the free book also increased. Check out this interesting summary. Hopefully this doesn't really come as a surprise to Slashdotters, who are some of the loudest preachers of this type of market behavior.

  13. Re:Sounds too good to be true... by Maserati · · Score: 2, Informative

    "...one or two of the best books from each author."

    Baen's success in giving books away came from releasing the first books in a series for free when later volumes come out. Bookstores are awful about making sure they have the first books, and they're awesome about heavily promoting the newest one. Even if they can't sell you the ones you missed. Baen found a way around that, give stuff away that isn't in print. And real books are enough nicer than ebooks that people were buying up an author's books after being introduced to them by free ebooks.

    --
    Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
  14. Project Gutenberg by slashmojo · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are over 20,000 free ebooks available at Project Gutenberg..

    http://www.gutenberg.org/

    Also available in text, html and the handy plucker format which is what I use to read ebooks on my old zaurus.

    Here's one just for slashdot crowd.. Beowulf ;)

    They have a quite extensive sci fi collection..

    http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_(Bookshelf)

    You wont get the latest books there but still lots of great stuff.