You Can Give It Away

April 30th, 2004 · No Comments
by Booksquare

Conventional wisdom (which we never trust) says why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? In the publishing biz, this translates to: never, ever, no matter what put your work online for free. Because that’s bad. Or not, as several authors have learned. We recall the trend beginning with Doug Clegg, but are willing to be corrected if we’re wrong. And, of course, Cory Doctorow offers his books for free (but, like all good authors, doesn’t shun the idea of being paid for his work). Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig offers his writing for free — with the approval of his print publisher (Doctorow’s publisher is also in on the game). And Dave Eggers is serializing his latest and greatest on Salon.com. We are not, by nature trend watchers, but we’re thinking there’s something to this free stuff. And not because we’re naturally cheap.

File Under: Square Pegs