Do digital goods "want" to be free?

The pro of digital is that since it's just a file, once I make back any money I spent on the book, everything after that is just profit. So it doesn't bother me if someone downloads my book (say they paid for it), reads it, likes it, and sends it to a friend saying "Hey, read this. It's great." If the friend likes it, then that means more reads and interest, so long as I have made back what I put into it. And hey, if THEY want to share it, I say good for me in the long run. This is no different than a library buying one copy of my novel and then people checking it out for free and sharing it with their community, or a person passing my book around in a book club. People have always done this, and under the right circumstances, is great for those of us who want people to read our work and build a following.

However, sharing is not the same thing as "Piracy." I've noticed a few self-pubbers, including some big names, endorse piracy (yes- they seriously have). Merriam-Webster defines piracy as "the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright". The word is synonymous with "robbery". So if you like my work, read it, share it, persuade your friends and family to become loyal fans, but don't steal work, post it to a website without my permission for everyone to download, profit off it, collect the money, and give me nothing, because Internet file-sharing and everyone used Napster or Beemp3 before. That's just stealing (especially if the work was copyright protected with my country's Copyright Office) and unless some authors don't understand intellectual property laws and are confusing the concept of peer-to-peer file/book sharing with actual, legally-defined piracy, they're essentially endorsing theft. For what? Are they really that desperate to gain an audience they'd endorse letting people steal their ideas in the hopes someone will change their mind and become a fan of your work? If I want my book to be free, I will make it free, not someone else. If I want you to distribute it without first seeking my permission, then I will make that clear at the time of publication.


If you want to allow peer-to-peer file sharing, consider a Creative Commons license, so people know it's ok to download  and distribute your work from another site (like if someone posts your book to their website and lets people download it free) without your need for permission or payment, so long as they give you fair attribution by the conditions that are specified in the license by which the author distributes the work.

The reality is, piracy and sharing have always been a part of humanity, which is why the U.S. Constitution specifically mentions Intellectual Property in Article , Section 8, Clause 8 as protected rights. We just need to not set the boundaries over what is fine sharing-wise, and what is not.

"Traditional publishers are getting smarter in the rights grab of their contracts.  It's entirely possible that someone over there is planning a million dollar experiment.  Sign up a bunch of new authors with series books.  Grab all the rights in the process.  Toss it all up online for free and find out what is going to be the next Hunger Games, Divergent, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter type franchise and make a billion dollars; not from book sales, but from all the other possible revenue streams.

I'm sure there is someone out there with the data that says for each free e-book in a franchise downloaded earns $X in movie ticket sales, $X in secondary merchandise.  I don't think it's unreasonable at all to expect the publishing market to get harder and harder to make money in."

SBJones: Authors will diversify and sell merchandise, advertisement, etc. I predicted on my blog some time ago that if authors were willing to sell ads in books, and people got used to it, then we could offer all e-books free. Mangareader.net already does this, though we'd need to make sure ad dollars are shared with us, if our e-books is posted to another site. That also assumes those who have successful book series are willing to turn around and sell them to traditional publishers.

srf89 said:

SBJones: Authors will diversify and sell merchandise, advertisement, etc. I predicted on my blog some time ago that if authors were willing to sell ads in books, and people got used to it, then we could offer all e-books free. Mangareader.net already does this, though we'd need to make sure ad dollars are shared with us, if our e-books is posted to another site. That also assumes those who have successful book series are willing to turn around and sell them to traditional publishers.

Click to expand...

The math behind ad revenue inside an e-book doesn't add up. Anyone who has run an internet ad would quickly see why. I have one running right now. Currently I have spent $19.49 for 76,136 impressions that generated 48 clicks at 41c a click. If this was how I had to generate income then I would have to have 1586 downloads for every 41c earned. That's assuming I get 100% of the ad revenue and I know that is not true. The company with the infrastructure to embed the ads is going to take its share. 45/55 seems to be a standard cut. That brings my 41c to 22c. Twenty-two cents for 1586 downloads... Even if each download generated 5 impressions that's still 317 downloads needed to generate 22c. If I wanted to make $10 a week on ad revenue, I would need 14,409 downloads a week across all books combined. That's not sustainable nor realistic.

Toss in that I don't get to control what ads are shown, makes the situation even worse. Lets face it, most internet ads are the piss. Last and not least: Why would I ever want something added to my book that is trying to get the reader to click away and to something else?

@lilywhite: thank you for your kind words.

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:

The problem with the entire argument of digital goods "wanting" to be free is that it devolves actual conversation across the board. The only way for an author to make money becomes ad revenue. And the only way to generate ad revenue is to engage in linkbaiting and driving traffic to your site. People stop engaging in meaningful conversations in social networks or on forums and instead look for ways to get pageviews. So instead of engaging in actual conversation, you end up with authors who just post linkbait subject lines and one sentence plugs for their blogs in the hopes of driving traffic to generate ad revenue.

Click to expand...

My blog post was a little long, that's why I didn't copied it here. I don't have any advertisement on my blog.

You are almost right that if digital goods become free, the only way for an author to make money becomes ad revenue. And I'm totally with SBJones when he say that the "math behind ad revenue inside an e-book doesn't add up".

You are almost right Julie, because there's another way to make money if your ebook is free: sell copies to libraries. Sell it to 10,000 libraries and you'll make money.

I know, I know. You'll answer by a question, asking if it's a joke. I know the subsidiary market of libraries is a very difficult one to reach for an indie author. I know there isn't any guarantee that 10,000 libraries will buy our ebooks. But that's the idea behind Ebooks are Forever, and it has some merits. Not for the money of the libraries (you may argue that it would be like having your books subsidised by public money), but because, in my opinion, the librarians are often prescribers.

So, it's a market worth reaching: it would be a pity to leave it exclusively to trad pub authors. I have my ebooks on Smashwords and Overdrive, but without having had any success with libraries.

The problem with EAF is that it plans to, at some point in the future, give unlimited uses of ebooks to librarians. That means that for one ebook you sell to a library, an unlimited number of people can download it at the same time (for a two weeks period). Once you have made your sale, the library keeps your ebook forever, and you cannot withdraw it.

Given the number of different libraries websites, that project is tantamount, for me, to a free Kindle Unlimited service.

My fear is not so much the website of a library suddenly able to rival with Amazon, than the thought that it's suddenly legal to download an unlimited number of ebooks.

I'm okay with selling to libraries for a single use at the same time by ebook sold, though (that's the current system).

Even if I do acknowledge that sharing and "free" is in the DNA of the Internet, I think that saying that digital goods want to be free is a wicked thing: for me, it's like attacking intellectual property because it's easier than attacking classic property.

Either you make everything free and we enter in another kind of society (I want Roddenberry to tell me how he managed to accomplish that in Star Trek!), either we fight to protect intellectual property.

For the record, my ebooks are without DRM and I agree that my readers share them if they want to. I have permafree ebooks. I offer my novels in exchange of reviews. And the readers don't owe me anything except the respect for the work I've done. It's a logical thing: if that respect suddenly disappears, we don't stand a chance to make another sale.