Do free ebooks undercut sales of print books?

[internettopmentor]

-I love connecting with like-minded people. Add me!

[sillypearl]

Myself I have purchased many books from reading a few pages or chapters as previews. For me reading a book online is not enjoyable on several levels. I can carry a book in my purse with me and pull it out anytime. You can read a book in a bubble bath. You can put it on your bookshelf with your favorites. You can lend it out.......and hope you see it again lol. I am new to youtube, I noticed this video was made several months ago..is your book still available? Thanks have a good day.

[deidzoeb]

Yes, my book is still available. Youtube doesn't allow website addresses to be posted in comments, but if you search for the title of the book, "Dungeons and Dayjobs", you should find a way to order it or to download the full text for free. Thanks!

[sillypearl]

Thanks so much,,I shall do that!!!

[Connerisawesome]

I'm one of those people that doesn't like to read on the computer and I like to bring books with me, so I'm not a big fan of ebooks.

[muskndusk]

You could invest in an ereader. I love mine and now prefer ebooks to paper books.

[TimberGeek]

I've purchased several books based on reading a .pdf (although I've never read a complete novel online). In point of fact I've bought several books at once from the same author because of one chapter I read online. If I hadn't had the opportunity to read that chapter I might have purchased one.

The same goes for music...

[yelraep]

I read a couple of Harry Potters on my PDA on the train which I did not buy as hard copy. I did not feel too guilty about that, since JKR is stuffed. It's different with yours. She wouldn't feel the difference, maybe you would and felt encouraged to publish another one. Which you hopefully do. Very soon. I like D&D a lot.

[TimberGeek]

We're Potter junkies, got all the books in hard cover plus audio books on CD for the last four or five. We might not have any of them if it weren't for pirated mp3s of the first book.

[CagedSongBird]

I don't read books on-line. I prefer to have the actual hard copy, and I save them as well. I'll have to go and check out your book. It sounds really good. If the book IS on-line, I will go and skim through it, just to see if I'm interested. It is a great marketing tool.

Sending you a smile!

(((Hugs))) to you & Mel...

Paula

[deidzoeb]

Hi Paula. It's definitely online, but I gave the wrong URL in the video. If you look at the full text description to the right of the video, you'll see the correct URLs. Thanks.

[snarkdetriomphe]

watched, enjoyed, will check out dungeons, already own mel's and love it. hamster on a taco roll lol!

[Nesser480]

rob...you are sooo smart!

[OshunAvani]

I was (well, am..) working on a short book and was wondering whether or not to do the ebook thing.. paid or unpaid. I asked several people (who also got samplings of what was inside my story) along with the knowledge that there would only be about 10 pictures in the 100ish page book. Every person I asked (around 13) told me they liked ebooks, but would much rather have a printed version in their hands to enjoy.

[crazycatfguy]

You made a great presentation of why authors should make them available online but if one really wants to do it the old fashioned way should they not have protection from pirates?

[deidzoeb]

Part of the argument would be that only very popular things get pirated. If you're getting pirated, you're probably doing well enough that the pirated ones won't affect you too much. Or to put it another way, if you have dozens or hundreds of people willing to pirate your book, then you will have dozens or hundreds of other people who would rather pay for it, either because they're honest or because the pirated version will be unreliable or lower quality. ...

[deidzoeb]

... This theory works for books, but not necessarily for movies or music, where the pirated digital version may be exactly the same quality and just as reliable as the version for sale.

[crazycatfguy]

I am just saying that people have the right to fight piracy. I just had a complete video series removed by a company that allows free downloads from google even those posted by entities other than themselves but did not want it on YT for some reason. I was disappointed and completely baffled by their reasoning but I don't think I have a right to complain.

[deidzoeb]

True. There are honest people who deserve as much as they can get, and pirating their stuff is still disrespectful. Like I wrote in the description for this video: "It would be cool if Amazing Atheist decided to try this [giving away free downloads of his book]. It's *uncool* if someone pirated it and gave it away against his will [as Melinda accused Supex of doing]."

[deidzoeb]

"honest people who deserve as much as they can get" -- I mean creators or authors or artists who don't deserve to have their stuff stolen.

[crazycatfguy]

I wasn't trying to be confrontational. Mel is one of my favorite YT'rs. I had a band 20 years ago and I was so damn happy that anyone would want to listen to it that I did not care how they got it. I think if someone does not want their work distributed for free I think their wishes should be taken seriously and people should not try to rationalize why it is OK to download.

[deidzoeb]

I agree. Sorry if I sounded confrontational.

[PositiveLogic]

Good of you to point out this counter- intuitive & overlooked but logical argument for creative production ideas. Another example is creative pricing vs. profit potential. Charge too much for any widget and sell way less -or- charge less and sell many more...things that make ya go Hmmmmm!

[larainlamb]

no.like others have said.you can't bundle up in bed with your comp.and you were right about not reading a full book on line,it doesn't happen..

[HeidiSaid]

While I have the book (and you are very talented) I believe you have a very good point. I enjoy chilling out and lounging with a book and that kind of hard to do staring into pixels. Also - now I feel gifted to have "Limited Edition" version of Melinda's zines. Watch out eBay! (kidding) I hope there is a re-release party soon. ~peace

[Justalazyday]

I agree most people will not read an entire novel online. That may not apply to your book as much since it is short stories. They read them 1 at a time once in a while until they have read them all. Just a thought.

[ichbinkeinberliner]

I agree about it increasing book sales, because I can't read whole books on the computer. I am happy to now have the printed and ebook versions of Dungeons and Dayjobs and the printed copy of Melinda's book! Yay! But I did buy D&D because I got to read an excerpt first. :)

[MetaBob]

Hey Rob -- your lulu page "cannot be found." What's up with that?!? Old school hardcopy buyer thwarted!

And yes, please convince Melinda to offer her book again. I'll be purchaser 21.

[deidzoeb]

Damn. All that trouble to spell it out and I got it wrong. LULU dot COM slash AWKWARDLY

Thanks for pointing it out, MetaBob. I will tell Melinda she has another customer and maybe your prestige will help convince her to bring her book out of retirement.

[deidzoeb]

By the way, you had me totally convinced with your mock up of Amazing Atheist's book. When Melinda ordered & recd the real thing, I asked her, "Where's the 800 page thing that MetaBob showed in his video? This one has a different cover and a sloppy layout!"

[nicanicabad]

Always watch Bob's face-he looks his most serious when he's at his funniest--man he's funny-

I still can't find your pdf, Rob. hmm.

[deidzoeb]

Another way to find it is to google "archive dungeons dayjobs" and the first result will take you to a page where you can download the pdf.

[nicanicabad]

thanks!

[shiningcross]

5 mins in? damn!

[deidzoeb]

What did I do at 5 mins in? Did I fart or cuss or something? Or you mean it took five minutes to decide I wasn't going to say anything interesting?