Does “free” count as a sale?

 Posted by on 8 January 2010  Modern Life
Jan 082010
 

I have a vested interest in the rise of the ebook, true.  Although I love toys and technology and gadgets, I’ve resisted the ebook.  I’ve struggled with the reasons for why I’ve dug in my heels, trying to be objective while realizing that I may just be emotionally unable to face the death of the traditional book industry.

Recognizing that I am biased against ebooks (though attempting not to be), it was with a somewhat heavy heart that I heard Amazon announce triumphantly that on Christmas Day, ebooks outsold traditional books.

Defensively, I immediately thought “of course they did — who’s buying books online on Christmas Day?”  It then occurred to me that someone must be buying ebooks at least.  I rationalized the situation as such:  people were getting Amazon Kindles as gifts and immediately began to purchase books to see how their new device worked.  Rationalization or not, it was disheartening.  More and more people were buying ebooks.

But is that exactly true?

By my count, as of this moment, 61 of the top 100 selling ebooks on Amazon are free.  At least two others cost less than a dollar.

Do these count as sales?  Of course readers will flock to the free book over the one that costs $9.99.  But how will this affect traditional book sales?

The Washington Post has a great article about the conflict between readers, publishers and authors that is escalating with the popularity of the electronic book.  Nowhere is the lowly bookseller mentioned.

But I begin to wander from my point:  can one state that “selling” something for free counts as a sale?  If I decide to give away 10,000 books to customers (and I’m not saying that I will), can I claim to have my best day of sales ever?  As an writer, can I “sell” thousands of copies for free and legitimately call myself a best-selling author?

With all the hoopla surrounding ebooks, I am not overly concerned that the death of the traditional book is yet upon us.  There is still too much fudging of information for me to take any of the numbers seriously.

T. Keith Edmunds

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    One of the dirty secrets of the newspaper business is that they’ll “sell” thousands of copies of the paper to hotels, convention centres, universities, etc., at a ridiculous cut-rate — sometimes a tenth of a penny a copy. Sometimes, they’ll have an advertise pick up the cost of this (in return for an ad that wraps around the paper, too).

    This counts as “paid circulation”, for which they charge their regular advertisers through the teeth (as opposed to “unpaid circulation”).

    Sounds like Amazon has taken a page from this playbook.

  • http://www.pennywise-books.com/ T. Keith Edmunds

    Here’s a question, though: while it might make sense to “sell” books in the public domain for free — who’s paying the author for current titles being sold for $0?

    • http://patrickjohanneson.com/ Pat J

      Hmm, perhaps you could ask Cory Doctorow. I’ve read three of his books for free on my Palm Pilot.

  • Trent

    My first thought after reading this is a surefire way to get cheap laughs: “There’s a book about that!” Ha.

    I’m not comfortable with it, but the reality is that “free content” is becoming a norm rather than an ideal in the digital world. I support books partly because that’s how I think writers can make money off of their art. That’s why a book deal still has a kind of prestige attached to it, though the success of the Kindle might change that.

    As a consumer, I have an ideal in mind for the future of books: being able to pay a price for a physical copy of the book and also getting the digital with it. I think music should be like that too. I literally have no idea about the kind of barriers that would/are preventing that kind of model, but as a consumer, I am more willing to pay if I can have access to different formats and more content.

  • thebanana

    In today’s neocon economy, an author may be well advised to insert a full page advertisement at every 4th or 5th page or so in his/her book. The ads would pay for the cost of publishing as well as pay a small fee to the author. Everybody wins *

    * sarcasm

  • Colin

    Ask yourself who benefits from ebooks – readers, really…or Amazon shareholders.

    Not everything that makes your quality of life matter is always convenient, or vice versa.

    I’m a little skeptical of large corporations being gatekeepers to what we read to the degree they’ll be in a Kindle world…just as I’d be with greedy record executives doing that for music or – god help us – people who currently run newspapers controlling the Web, blogs, etc

  • MPot

    I’ve been resisting the ebook as well, maybe for reasons that others would laugh at as sentimental. I like how they look on my shelves. I like to fill rooms with them. I like the way they smell (especially older books). I like the feel of them in my hand. I like the fact that they don’t need to be plugged in or charged. I find it easier still to read off a printed page than a monitor.

    Maybe our days are numbered, Keith. But I’m hoping that enough people still find a thrill in combing through cramped used bookstores, with all their hidden delights and unexpected finds, that they’ll resist the antiseptic experience of just downloading off a website, and thus books can hold on as a niche.

    (sigh)

  • MPot

    I was talking about real books, not ebooks, in that first paragraph. Sorry. Tired. :P