After all these years of saying free eBooks were anathema to the Olde Boye Networke of the publishing world….
The publishers are finally realizing that when eBooks are given away free of charge actually increase paper sales–not that there weren’t any number of academic studies and articles saying this from the very beginning.
So, if any Project Gutenberg volunteers ever needed kinds of vindication, it doesn’t get much better than this…at least until we find there are more eBook going out for consumption than paper books….
Again my HUGE thanks to ALL Project Gutenberg volunteers!
Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg
Tor Books Is Giving Away E-Books
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.
The above is from the Slashdot.org article of the same name.
This only a day or so after HarperCollins appear in the NYTimes doing the same thing.