Quote:
Originally Posted by Difflugia
My fiction reading has switched almost completely to series. So many authors have begun offering the first in a series for free that I can find eight or ten new books at a sitting. Most of these do end up in the "chaff" pile, but for every four or five that I start and discard, I find one that's worth finishing and of those, probably half are worth buying the rest of the series.
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That is a clear change in habits and one that makes sense. It is of course only possible because of one of the "new market" marketing strategies, offering a whole book free of charge. I can't say that this never happened at all under the traditional system, but I can't think of an instance. The closest thing would probably be the remainder bin, usually totally disorganised and with prices still as high or higher than many new ebooks now.
I'd imagine that some traditionalists would regard free ebooks as devaluing the value of books. And, as a generalisation about life in general, people often do take for granted what they can get for free. Some people no doubt avoid free ebooks because, sometimes subconsciously, they doubt their quality simply because there is no charge. As readers, we should be conscious of this tendency. Offering a book for free, whether the first in a series or a teaser by an author seeking wider recognition, is now a legitimate and succesfull marketing tactic, and does not indicate that a book is, to quote Sturgeon, "crud".
Personally I have not been taking advantage of these free ebooks. Perhaps I myself have subconsciously fallen victim to the syndrome I describe above. I now intend to try some of these free ebooks.