# If it's FREE, how good can it be?



## markbeyer (Jan 9, 2011)

We all know the phrase, "You get what you pay for." While these words are often wise, they are not exclusive. FREE SAMPLES is the catch phrase of the free-market age. But in the end, we need to pay for something to feel that we've achieved something for our efforts (whatever they may be). This is a psychological imperative, which studies have shown prove out 5-to-1 over "taking things that are free." 

Books are no different. In fact, paying for a good book — a book that leaves you satisfied in a multi-sensory way — is a rewarding process that lets you know your reading life is paying for an author's ability to take his or her time to make good story.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

I have no issues paying for books I want to read (as long as they're priced reasonably), but I don't get more enjoyment out of reading a paid-for book than a free classic or a new book the author choose to give away to build readership etc.

It's the content that matters, not how it's made available in terms of paid or free.  I read all books with the same standards of quality.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

There are thousands if not millions of books (Kindle or DTB) out there I could buy, which would cost me many thousands or millions of pounds - which I don't have to spare.

I am only going to buy the books that I know I am going to enjoy, and preferably enjoy by reading more than once. That's primarily based on who the author is.

In DTB terms, pre-Kindle, there are a couple of authors whose books I buy as soon as they come out - in hardback - because the track record of the author is such that I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it. There are a few more I buy when they come out in paperback because I am reasonably hopeful they will be good, but not so sure as to risk the cost of a hardback.

The rest of my reading used to come from the Library. Mostly authors I knew were fairly good, but wouldn't buy - occasionally I'd pick something up "on spec" so to speak because something about it tempted me. [I actually found my all-time favourite author - Jasper Fforde - that way].

So, put this into context of the Kindle. I still buy my "Tier 1" authors as DTB's because I want them. Tier 2 I might buy on Kindle instead if they are cheaper. I still pick up some books from the library, but less.

What's new with the Kindle is that I keep a close eye on the free books on amazon.co.uk (there are less over here than on amazon.com but the list is growing). If something appeals from a quick glance, I'll "buy" it so to speak, just like I used to pick things up from the library to give them a try.

Some of these free books have been rubbish. Some have been OK. The occasional one has been pretty good, and that author has thereby moved up in my esteem, and I'll therefore maybe make the effort to find some more of that author in the library, or maybe buy another of their books if they are cheap. Eventually, if the quality is consistently good, they may move up to tier 2 or tier 1. Hasn't happened yet, but I've only had the Kindle since September...

So I'm sorry Mark, but if you think charging for your book is going to make me buy it and read it, you are wrong. Making one of your books free to tempt me in may work, you never know!

Finally, a cautionary tale from the past. An acquaintance of mine wrote a book and published it in DTB form from one of those "vanity publishing" companies. There was no way I would ever be able to get it from the library, so I bit the bullet and bought it.

It wasn't cheap, ISTR it was about £15 in paperback.

It was (excuse my language) crap. Absolute rubbish. The basic English and punctuation was so poor that the story (such as there was) was lost on me.

In that case I definitely didn't get what I paid for!


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Depends which freebies you're talking about. For the most part, I agree you get what you pay for. But the promo offers are only free for a limited time. Therefore, I see it as you're getting something for free which is actually worth something. As for the free classics, they are free because they are out of copyright, not because no one would pay for them. Many people still do pay for them in paper format. When they were in copyright, they were no free in any form. Of the promos and classics I've read, I do not feel any less satisfied for not paying for them.

That leaves free modern writings (not promos) - usually from self published authors. In this situation, I do agree that many people will not be interested if they think an author does not value his/her work, which is what providing it for free suggests.


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## Me and My Kindle (Oct 20, 2010)

I think it actually makes even more sense to pay to read a blog on the Kindle.  (The author has to keep coming back to get you more fresh information., day after day.)  They're gathering, editing, and serving up fresh new words every day.  I like to think that blogs are collectively funded by the people who love them, and who want them to continue.

I read my favorite blogs on the Kindle every day -- it's like a relationship -- whereas I often have trouble even finishing the books that I download to my Kindle. Plus, I am reading a lot of the free ebook versions of classics from the 1800s.  In a way, I feel like I'm supporting those authors too, by keeping their memory alive and giving their ideas an audience in the 21st century. And you can imagine that you're part of the community who's read that book -- everybody across the centuries. It's a very "connecting" feeling, and I think in some ways it transcends the satisfaction of spending more money.


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## Xopher (May 14, 2009)

One of the things that some of the publishers do is put out an older book in a series as free, to entice you to purchase the rest of the series. Robin Hobb is an author I never thought of readying before, until I picked up "Assassin's Apprentice" for free. After reading it, I found an author I fully enjoy, and not only purchased the rest of that series, I purchased the available Kindle library of her books. 

Granted, not all free books are like that. But there are quite a few gems out there that get in front of reader's eyes through free offers.


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## Darcia (Jul 16, 2010)

Mooshie, I'm with you. My reading experience is no better or worse based on whether a book is free or not. Content is what lures me in and keeps me turning pages.


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## dixiehellcat (Jan 23, 2011)

I have nearly 100 books on my K4PC (sson to be on a Kindle I hope!) and I paid for...3 of them, I think?  :lol: Some of them are a bit lame but most of them are very good! I could not care less if I paid for a book or not; that's not how I judge.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

markbeyer said:


> We all know the phrase, "You get what you pay for." While these words are often wise, they are not exclusive. FREE SAMPLES is the catch phrase of the free-market age. But in the end, we need to pay for something to feel that we've achieved something for our efforts (whatever they may be). This is a psychological imperative, which studies have shown prove out 5-to-1 over "taking things that are free."
> 
> Books are no different. In fact, paying for a good book - a book that leaves you satisfied in a multi-sensory way - is a rewarding process that lets you know your reading life is paying for an author's ability to take his or her time to make good story.


Take a good hard look at the very successful publisher Baen Books.

They have had a substantial portion of their backlist on their Baen's Free Library for years. They are one of the most popular publishers of speculative fiction out there, have a good relationship with their authors (a rarity these days it would seem) and have been WAY ahead of the curve on the ebook front.

And their new novels sell.

I'm afraid my reaction to your premise is that it is dead wrong.


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

Some of the best things in life are free.


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## Tom Lichtenberg (Oct 7, 2010)

Practically every book written before 1920 is available for free from Project Gutenberg - this means books by people like Dickens, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, de Maupassant, Homer ... you get the picture.

Anything written since then, it's mostly a matter of copyright law.

Anything contemporary - take this challenge. Walk into any bookstore (while they still exist) and calculate what percentage of the books you see there you are personally willing to pay anything for. In my case, it's a pretty small number!

_no self-promotion outside the Book Bazaar_


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## Sarah Woodbury (Jan 30, 2011)

I think the issue with it being free is that the author (or perhaps publisher) feels that there's something to be gained by giving a book away for free--whether it's to create access to more readers, an enticement to buy the rest of the series, something like that.  I've downloaded books from Baen and I have seen with my own books that giving one away for free (something I haven't been able to do with the Kindle books, but on Smashwords and Barnes and Noble--horrors!  sorry   is that people are willing to give it a look if it's free, and that increases the chance that they'll buy one of my other books.  One of the great things about ebooks is that you can try a sample for free, and for many people, that serves a similar purpose.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I think of it as giving people a very large free sample. What people give me in return is their time, and the willingness to try an unknown author. That's payment of a sort.


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## cftodd (Jan 30, 2011)

I agree 100%


mooshie78 said:


> I have no issues paying for books I want to read (as long as they're priced reasonably), but I don't get more enjoyment out of reading a paid-for book than a free classic or a new book the author choose to give away to build readership etc.
> 
> It's the content that matters, not how it's made available in terms of paid or free. I read all books with the same standards of quality.


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## joanne29 (Jun 30, 2009)

Very good as in the case of Roseflower Creek and Waiting for Spring and Raising Jake.


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## VivianMarie (Jan 9, 2011)

Shayne Parkinson said:


> I think of it as giving people a very large free sample. What people give me in return is their time, and the willingness to try an unknown author. That's payment of a sort.


I agree. I don't think there's anything wrong with free. When I first started searching on Kindle, the first thing I did was look to see what was available in the free section. (I'm not actually cheap, I was just curious. ) I think it's cool if an author is willing to give away something they slaved and toiled on for free, just to get people to read it.


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## sabinela (Jan 15, 2011)

I have bought DTB's and threw them away unfinished. Some I have given away with a great recomdation and bought more of the authors work sometime all of his books. I have had about the same experence with free or gifted books. No way would I have invested in a new authors works with out some incentive and for the most part its been a good experence for me and I have purchased books that I never would have with out the gifted book. 

Doin


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

Guess I fall somewhere in the middle. As an aging, mid-list author I worry about the enormous deflationary pressures on book prices. Many folks seem to expect art for free these days, pirated movies and albums and now ebooks abound. Writers work hard and deserve decent compensation for their efforts. On the other hand, free has always been an excellent promotional tool, which is why so many publishers are "salting the mine" with free copies to boost numbers. As a reader, from free very low cost I've had some good experiences (Edgar nominee Tim Hallinan is a recent example) and downloaded books I couldn't read, all of which shall remain nameless. The market will sort itself out eventually.


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## Annalinde Matichei (Jan 23, 2011)

Currently reading _Carmilla_ by Sheridan Le Fanu. It is public domain and free. Does that make it less valuable than a paid book? No. It is an excellent book. The formatting is a bit rough (which can also be said of some paid books, unfortunately) and there are very few OCR errors. It is a fascinating book by a master craftsman, and, as essentially a long novelette, it does not suffer from the excessive wordiness of some Victorian novels.

What I am saying is that free can be as good as the best. But why should that worry authors? People can see the greatest movies ever made for free on terrestrial television. That doesn't stop them paying to see new movies.

As for piracy and people expecting things to be free, the answer to that may lie (and seems to be lying) in less costly digital distributed goods (for which many of the costs of physical production and distribution have been eliminated, so less costly does not necessarily mean less for the author) - and relatively "closed" devices like Kindle and iPad which make the "official" service, rather than piracy much easier and more natural.

In the long term, all this may be bad news for publishers, but I don't think it is bad news for authors.


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## a.m.harte (Jan 30, 2011)

Moving away from ebooks a little, what about all the awesome webfiction stories around? I mean stories published in a serial format online such as the (infamous?) Tales of MU by Alexandra Erin, or The Peacock King by Irk & Char, or The Intimate History of a Greater Kingdom by MeiLin Miranda, etc. (You can discover loads at http://webfictionguide.com/ )

They may be free (and running on donations) but that doesn't make them any less good. Even Cory Doctrow employs similar methods for some of his work.

So yes: I agree with what many of you have already said. It's the content, not the price tag!


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

Oooh, now, if you talk about serial fiction...

Back in DTB days (1996), I'm sure many of you remember, Stephen King first published "The Green Mile" as a series of 6 slim paperback books, published a month apart, at (IIRC) £1.99 each.

At a time when I wouldn't have spend £12 on a new Stephen King book, I bought the first one, got hooked on it, and ended up making a special journey to the bookshop each month to buy the next one.


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## Tom Lichtenberg (Oct 7, 2010)

Annalinde Matichei said:


> Currently reading _Carmilla_ by Sheridan Le Fanu.
> 
> What I am saying is that free can be as good as the best. But why should that worry authors? People can see the greatest movies ever made for free on terrestrial television. That doesn't stop them paying to see new movies.


Well put!


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

dixiehellcat said:


> I have nearly 100 books on my K4PC (sson to be on a Kindle I hope!) and I paid for...3 of them, I think? :lol: Some of them are a bit lame but most of them are very good! I could not care less if I paid for a book or not; that's not how I judge.


I just have to say I love your _Supernatural_ avatar--I don't get TV but I've borrowed the DVDs from a friend and am on season 4 right now. Great show and characters!

I love to read but often suffer from a paucity of funds, which means I have spent a lot of time in the library and used paperback stores. I have some books in hardback, mostly presents from friends or family. Free books, borrowed books, and cheap used books introduce me to new authors, and sometimes I fall in love with their writing and end up buying their books new or requesting those books for presents. As an author, I would hate for my intellectual property to be stolen. However, as much as I hate piracy, what I hate even more is the thought that no one will ever my work because the price is too high. I write to share a story, to entertain and enlighten others, and money is a useful byproduct of that process, but ultimately not the reason I write. I would keep writing even if I never made another dime from it, just like I will keep reading because I love to do it.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Harry Shannon said:


> The market will sort itself out eventually.


Indeed. It may take a while, but that will happen.


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## Mrs. K. (Dec 31, 2010)

markbeyer said:


> We all know the phrase, "You get what you pay for." While these words are often wise, they are not exclusive. FREE SAMPLES is the catch phrase of the free-market age. But in the end, we need to pay for something to feel that we've achieved something for our efforts (whatever they may be). This is a psychological imperative, which studies have shown prove out 5-to-1 over "taking things that are free."
> 
> Books are no different. In fact, paying for a good book - a book that leaves you satisfied in a multi-sensory way - is a rewarding process that lets you know your reading life is paying for an author's ability to take his or her time to make good story.


Sorry, but I disagree. I feel I've achieved something for my efforts when I pay attention to websites listing frugal reads, correlate them with my Amazon wish list, and find books that are FREE that had been $9.99 last week. Will I still achieve the psychological satisfaction if I know the book was "worth" $9.99? I'm sure I will.

My breakfast cereal did not lose flavor because I purchased it with a dollar-off coupon, either.


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## Tom Schreck (Dec 12, 2010)

I don't think one should assume a book's quality by the cost. This is an odd business and passionate writers will do anything to build a readership.

Trust me...


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## a.m.harte (Jan 30, 2011)

Tom Schreck said:


> This is an odd business and passionate writers will do anything to build a readership.


From a writer's POV I can say that is definitely the case!



Mrs. K. said:


> My breakfast cereal did not lose flavor because I purchased it with a dollar-off coupon, either.


This line actually made me choke on my coffee. So true! Plus I love a good coupon.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

I got _Her Majesty's Dragon_ for free on Kindle, and it is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in the past few years. So...I dunno, don't judge a book by its price, I guess?


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

Most of my lifetime reading has been free, because I've always been a heavy library user. Paying does not increase my appreciation or enjoyment of a book at all!


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## a.m.harte (Jan 30, 2011)

It's a shame that Amazon's stopped the free ebooks from indie authors on the Kindle though. Now for free finds I tend to go to Smashwords. Anyone else had similar?


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

I've spent a small fortune reading the first book in a series for free and then spending $2.99 to $9.99 for the rest.  It's hooked me on many authors that I never would have tried otherwise.


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## a.m.harte (Jan 30, 2011)

sebat said:


> I've spent a small fortune reading the first book in a series for free and then spending $2.99 to $9.99 for the rest. It's hooked me on many authors that I never would have tried otherwise.


Interesting to know that works! *cackles evilly*

No, seriously, it's worked on me as well. Not to mention the authors who give me review copies through my book blog...! Then I end up buying the rest (or begging for more review copies, ha!)


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

a.m.harte said:


> Interesting to know that works! *cackles evilly*
> 
> No, seriously, it's worked on me as well. Not to mention the authors who give me review copies through my book blog...! Then I end up buying the rest (or begging for more review copies, ha!)


It can also backfire for authors that are churning out mediocre books. Give me a free bad book and I'll more than likely never pick up anything from that author again.


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

sebat said:


> It can also backfire for authors that are churning out mediocre books. Give me a free bad book and I'll more than likely never pick up anything from that author again.


I would think that after reading a poor book, you would avoid the author in general, regardless of how much you did (or didn't) pay for it.

If people are like me, and my ego naturally assumes that they are, then the desire to read a book is stoked by good copy and good buzz and the reluctance to buy a book is spurred by what seems to be an unreasonably high price.

I'm sure there's a sensible pattern, but there are too many variables and too much subjectivity in economics to be sure of anything.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

So because that copy of _The Phaedrus of Plato_ I just read was free (lost my old copy), that means it wasn't any good, right?


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## a.m.harte (Jan 30, 2011)

josephrobertlewis said:


> I would think that after reading a poor book, you would avoid the author in general, regardless of how much you did (or didn't) pay for it.


I completely agree! Except I have been known to form good friendships with some authors whose writing isn't really my cup of tea... it's then a little tough to tell them I'd rather not review their books. :-/


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## johnmedler (Feb 1, 2011)

I think there are lost of good books out there which are free. 
It is always a dilemna for the author--price your book low (or free) to gain an audience or price it high so that people think it has value.  
Some people go into Niemann Marcus and buy a sweater that costs $400 and think they're hot stuff.  Other people buy the same sweater at the Gap for $40 and feel like they have received a bargain. Me, I go to the Gap.


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## a.m.harte (Jan 30, 2011)

I guess I also suffer from the usual ebook dilemma. I hesitate to spend more than $5 on an ebook -- and even things over $3 have to be really exciting. I have seen some people sell books for $10+ and for some reason the price makes me MORE suspicious than if it were for free.


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## SuzanneTyrpak (Aug 10, 2010)

Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Aristophanes...all free on Kindle. I think those guys are pretty good.  

In my experience: price may give you the perception that something is better, but that isn't always true.


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## joanhallhovey (Nov 7, 2010)

Of course they can.  Unfortunately you have to read many to find one.


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

a.m.harte said:


> I completely agree! Except I have been known to form good friendships with some authors whose writing isn't really my cup of tea... it's then a little tough to tell them I'd rather not review their books. :-/


Oh, I've been there, that's the worst. Maybe from now on, I should read someone's book before trying to make friends with them!

We could create a new version of Facebook where you can only friend someone if you "like" their novel.

We'll call it Bookfacebook.


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## a.m.harte (Jan 30, 2011)

josephrobertlewis said:


> Oh, I've been there, that's the worst. Maybe from now on, I should read someone's book before trying to make friends with them!
> 
> We could create a new version of Facebook where you can only friend someone if you "like" their novel.
> 
> We'll call it Bookfacebook.


That is the most awesome idea EVER. I choked on my tea when I read "bookfacebook".

Well, Joseph, I'll let you know whether we can be friends when I get round to read Heirs of Mars (it's on my suggested reading list for this indie fiction reading challenge I'm running). Heehee!


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

a.m.harte said:


> That is the most awesome idea EVER. I choked on my tea when I read "bookfacebook".
> 
> Well, Joseph, I'll let you know whether we can be friends when I get round to read Heirs of Mars (it's on my suggested reading list for this indie fiction reading challenge I'm running). Heehee!


Really? I'm very flattered. (Mostly that I was funny enough to make you choke on your tea, but also that you plan to read my book!)

I hope you like it so we can be friends, you seem like a cool indie. Maybe I should go read your short story collection...

And if you don't like it, I have another _totally different _book coming out next week...

Ellipses...


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## JerseyGirlBookReviews (Jan 27, 2011)

mooshie78 said:


> I have no issues paying for books I want to read (as long as they're priced reasonably), but I don't get more enjoyment out of reading a paid-for book than a free classic or a new book the author choose to give away to build readership etc.
> 
> It's the content that matters, not how it's made available in terms of paid or free. I read all books with the same standards of quality.


Amen! I agree with you 100% and feel the same way, I enjoy reading books (free or paid) for their story content!


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## Ciareader (Feb 3, 2011)

a.m.harte said:


> That is the most awesome idea EVER. I choked on my tea when I read "bookfacebook".
> 
> Oh I so agree. It's like seeing someone to whom you are attracted and then when that person opens his or her mouth you cringe.


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## Sarah Woodbury (Jan 30, 2011)

Bookfacebook is an awesome idea!


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## Basilius (Feb 20, 2010)

SuzanneTyrpak said:


> Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Aristophanes...all free on Kindle. I think those guys are pretty good.
> 
> In my experience: price may give you the perception that something is better, but that isn't always true.


True story: my high school's librarian pronounced Aristophanes as "uh-WRIST-oh-fainz." It was really hard to take her seriously about things. Kind of sad.

There's a reading challenge going on this year centered on free books. Might be worth going through the reviews to pick up on other freebies. (http://www.theunreadreader.com/2010/12/2011-show-me-free-challenge.html - fair warning. Site uses a lot of pink.)


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## David N. Alderman (Jan 15, 2011)

As much as I agree that there is a minor stigma out there in regards to people 'wanting' to pay for things in order for those things to have value, one needs to understand _why _some books are available for free.

As an author, I try to make it a habit every now and then to offer my ebooks for free simply to get more people interested in my stories. I have a series, so I want people to be drawn in by the first book. I know many other authors who do this as well, and it doesn't have anything to do with the quality found within the 'covers' of that book. It has to do with building an audience, getting readers to read your stuff.

Especially with ebooks, it's cost effective to offer the book for free because there is usually no overhead that has to be achieved with the digital format. Paperback and hardcovers are a different story, because the indie author has to pay the manufacturing costs for those items and they go in the red when they offer those up for free.

Just my thoughts on the matter.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

a.m.harte said:


> It's a shame that Amazon's stopped the free ebooks from indie authors on the Kindle though. Now for free finds I tend to go to Smashwords. Anyone else had similar?


So is there no way to make your book free on Amazon?

Interesting discussion, btw. I think a free ebook can work well if it's good and you have other books in a series. I wonder if it's just as good if your other books are standalones.


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## JerseyGirlBookReviews (Jan 27, 2011)

David N. Alderman said:


> As much as I agree that there is a minor stigma out there in regards to people 'wanting' to pay for things in order for those things to have value, one needs to understand _why _some books are available for free.
> 
> As an author, I try to make it a habit every now and then to offer my ebooks for free simply to get more people interested in my stories. I have a series, so I want people to be drawn in by the first book. I know many other authors who do this as well, and it doesn't have anything to do with the quality found within the 'covers' of that book. It has to do with building an audience, getting readers to read your stuff.
> 
> ...


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## KatieKlein (Dec 19, 2010)

Apparently it doesn't matter if it's free or paid for, people want quality. I would think a free short story or novel would attract plenty of readers who would be more "accepting" of something because they didn't have to pay for it, but I recently saw some pretty scathing reviews for a free short story by an "established" writer in my genre. Apparently the short story was too short/underdeveloped. I haven't had a chance to read it yet so I can't comment, but readers weren't impressed, even though they didn't have to pay for it. (shrugs)


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## MonkeyScribe (Jan 27, 2011)

I've given away some free copies of my books before, but I don't think that free makes any difference in the long run. Quality rises and amateurish works will sink. What defines quality varies, and the ebook revolution has certainly changed the metric, but in the long run, I have faith in the reading public to pick out the jewels, regardless of their retail price.


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## KarenLeeField (Feb 6, 2011)

Sometimes "free" is a good move, especially with books.  An unknown author (to me) was giving away the first book in his series.  I downloaded it because it was free and because the blurb was catchy.  The book was Dreamer by Steven Harper.  I enjoyed it and went back and purchased the second book, Nightmare, which I felt was even better so I certainly will buy the third book.  

Now if that author wasn't giving away the first book, I would never have read it and I wouldn't be telling you about it now!


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## FastPop (Dec 22, 2010)

Some free eBooks are fantastic, while others are not. It all depends -- it's like digging for treasure. It's all about browsing.


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## Ciareader (Feb 3, 2011)

FastPop said:


> Some free eBooks are fantastic, while others are not. It all depends -- it's like digging for treasure. It's all about browsing.


I agree!


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## Tyler Nunnally (Jun 30, 2010)

I have been so happy to have come across opportunities to get FREE books (most I have thoroughly enjoyed, whether from a traditional published or an indie author)! It's even better seeing free books back to being listed at their normal price after I've read and really liked at no cost to me .

_--- edited... no self-promotion outside the Book Bazaar forum. please read our Forum Decorum thread._


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

Even some of the big publishers are catching on to the selling power of freebies. This weekend Sourcebooks is giving away Elizabeth Chadwick's medieval novel, _The Greatest Knight_: http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Knight-ebook/dp/B003M69P96/. They also did this a little while ago with Higginbotham's _The Traitor's Wife_. Even though these are established authors, the marketing ploy is the same as it is for indies who utilize it - try one for free and if you like it, hopefully you'll come back and buy the next one... or two, or three. Just like Karen discovered with Harper's book Dreamer.


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## KarenLeeField (Feb 6, 2011)

As a reader, it certainly is a great way to discover new writers (as in I've never read them before even if they are well known or relatively unknown).  And...because it's free, or very cheap, you are not investing a lot of money so the risk isn't as great.


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

I've downloaded my fair share of free books, or very cheap books.  I've read a few, but I do plan on reading all of them.  I do sample free books before I download, because I'm picky that way and don't want to fill up my Kindle with stuff I'll never read.

Having said that, I was only mildly disappointed with one of them.  The rest have been great reads.  And like someone else said, while I read I don't keep in the back of my mind what I paid for a book, so the price never contributes to my enjoyment or lack of it.  I'm too involved in the story.

Vicki


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I want quality from free books too. Its my time I am wasting and since my bucketlist or otherwise knows as my TBR list is huge already, I probably wont live long enough to read them all. That will peeve me to no end  . 
So anything I add in between still has to be satisfying. 

I got the first book in the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning for free. I waited to read it until I was closer to the release of the 5th in the series. After I read the free 1st, I read 2 and 3 that same weekend in a binge read   . Then I timed 4 to get close to the release of #5 and that one was the first book I ever paid 9.99 for. So it worked. 

There are a few more like that where the first in series was given away.


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## Joseph Robert Lewis (Oct 31, 2010)

I see the sense it using very low prices to attract readers to a series, but if an author doesn't write a series, they are at a serious disadvantage in this new market. It might actually make it very hard for anyone to write standalone novels if the trend becomes more widespread.


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## Shelia A. Huggins (Jan 20, 2011)

I was browsing the Kindle free list last night. I don't think I downloaded any samples. I just didn't see anything that was my type of read. I'm sure I just need to get further down the list though. I don't sample or download something just because it's free. If it's free...it's free. If it's not...it's not.

Now at the other end of the spectrum, I only have a certain amount of money to spend on books. So if the price is more than I want to pay, I probably will not get it until I can get a better price.


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## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

sebat said:


> I've spent a small fortune reading the first book in a series for free and then spending $2.99 to $9.99 for the rest. It's hooked me on many authors that I never would have tried otherwise.


Absolutely.

I tend to pick up hundreds of dollars worth of free books at conferences. Often authors who are new to me. And then I proceed to buy up their entire backlist. So it's definitely an excellent marketing ploy.


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

Amanda Brice said:


> Absolutely.
> 
> I tend to pick up hundreds of dollars worth of free books at conferences. Often authors who are new to me. And then I proceed to buy up their entire backlist. So it's definitely an excellent marketing ploy.


Just the other day I was reading a thread on series recommendations and discovered that I already owned four, first in series books from some of the authors they were posting about. Dug those out of my freebie pile and I am planning to read them next. I think I'm in trouble they'll most likely cause me to purchase 20 new books. I've owned a Kindle since 2008 and have been collecting free books that entire time. I've got lots of little gems just waiting to be discovered!


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## SpecOps (Feb 20, 2011)

To be honest, people don't respect what they get for free.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I got my copy of War and Peace for free, and I respect it plenty.


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## AnneKAlbert (Dec 7, 2010)

I realize this discussion is aimed at Kindle users, but people who frequent public libraries get their books for free all the time. That doesn't devalue the book. Or the author. 

I've downloaded lots of free books. Some are winners. Some miss the mark. But I applaud the opportunity. I'm also certain I'll find a pearl of an author one day via this method, and that will turn into a win/win situation for me and said author's future sales.


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## David N. Alderman (Jan 15, 2011)

AnneKAlbert said:


> I realize this discussion is aimed at Kindle users, but people who frequent public libraries get their books for free all the time. That doesn't devalue the book. Or the author.
> 
> I've downloaded lots of free books. Some are winners. Some miss the mark. But I applaud the opportunity. I'm also certain I'll find a pearl of an author one day via this method, and that will turn into a win/win situation for me and said author's future sales.


Great point about libraries.


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## katie kitty (Feb 28, 2011)

Harry Shannon said:


> Many folks seem to expect art for free these days, pirated movies and albums and now ebooks abound. Writers work hard and deserve decent compensation for their efforts.


So true! If it's not free you can usually go to torrent sites and get them for free. Sooner or later authors will just give up, get regular jobs and fill a vault with unpublished manuscripts like J.D.Salinger.


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