Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Free

I had toyed for several years about making some of my writing free; I liked the idea, but obviously not the price! I believe what convinced me was finally concluding that readers should be rewarded.

Society is rapidly changing because of the Internet; the music industry is realizing this; the film industry is realizing this; and I believe the publishing industry will learn this very soon. Because so few books are digital, the publishing industry has been slow to feel the sting. Piracy, so far, has not been a big issue. If digital books catch on, they're going to have a rude awakening.

Sometimes I wonder if very soon publishers will go away entirely; instead of selling a book to a publisher, the writer will solicit it to a publicist, and if they like it they'll take the writer on, send the book to Amazon, and then use their muscle to try and promote it. If the books a success, then some independent press will pick it up, and print it for all the people who still want a bound book for their bookshelf.

A lot of people would be outraged by this; I'd be one of them. If I enjoy the book, I like having it bound and on display in my library. But home libraries are, sadly, are becoming more iconoclastic. People have larger DVD and CD libraries than book ones.

If you like "The Library Tree" then feel free to buy a copy on my website; or simplely keep it on your harddrive; I'm not making much of a profit with this project, so I really don't care what you do. Whatever way you read it, I hope you enjoy it and tell a friend.

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