Quote:
Originally Posted by NormHart
Ah, now I see what you are saying, Dan, and I have to disagree.
Baen Books offers free sample chapters of all of their ebooks on the purchase page for each ebook, The Baen Free Library, on the other hand, offers free complete ebooks.
The sample chapters are indeed an excellent marketing tool, they are what drew me into ebooks. Well the CD that was included in one of the Baen books I purchased lead me to the site and then the free sample chapters got me buying. What Night Shade Books should have done is follow Baen's example and posted sample chapters on the purchase page of the specific ebooks rather than cluttering up the Free Library with emasculated "ebooks". (oddly I thought I'd follow up and see whether Night Shade had Sample Chapters and they do, although they are only a single chapter. I am at a loss to understand why they thought that offering only marginally better samples would draw new readers, these things do not belong in the Library IMO)
It is interesting to contrast the Baen Free Library approach with the suvudu (Random House) "Free Library" which offers complete ebooks for a limited time and then rotates in new ebooks removing the older ones. More of a rotating sample book offering rather than a Library IMO. TOR is even more confusing occasionally offering free ebooks, or serial episodes of ebooks, while flirting with Baen/Webscriptions. At one time you could purchase ebooks directly from TOR but they seem to have removed those listings now, understandable since the prices were well above the paperback prices let alone the Mass Market prices.
Free is free and it is all good but it is clear that most publishers have no idea what is going on with the emarket and how to best reach their readers.
I believe that Baen's model is superior to any alternates I have seen and I will continue to vote with my pocketbook but I'd rather they hadn't cluttered up the library with this stuff.
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I disagree. At least in the case of anthologies of a single author's work. I routinely ignore sample chapters-they're too much like movie previews, showing the only 5 minutes of interest during the two hour film. Mostly, I base my choice on what I know of the author's work-and the Free Library is one of the best places I've found to get to know new (SF) authors. (2nd best is a used-book store. More often than not I'll pick up my 1st book by an author there, then search out their other books online.)
I do find it strange, though. As with Anvil's work, the 1st 4 volumes of the Belisarius double-trilogy are there. It took me quite a while to get around to reading them as they didn't sound like my cup of tea and I probably wouldn't have started at all if the first couple hadn't been free-but I didn't need to read more than the 1st two volumes before I knew that I just *had* to finish the series.
So I believe that the best use of the Free Library (other than simply as a public service) is to introduce people to new authors, or to new series of known authors, and for that complete stories are, IMO, essential. And whether Baen agrees with me or not, I'm very grateful to them for providing the service.