Comments on: Freedom’s Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose

By: robert wahl

robert wahl — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:53:56 +0000

Speaking of new bizz models… what's the guess on the APPLE TABLET?

Haste yee back

By: Ryan Chapman

Ryan Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:47:39 +0000

And let's not forget that “Free” and “The Long Tail” are two different products. “Free” may be a better book (it's all subjective, right?), but its predecessor was picked up by the business world in a way few books are. I'm glad Bob pointed out that one needs new metrics for success for this title since the author and publisher are experimenting with the rollout.

I know the goal here is looking at new business models, but I assume the author's got to feel pretty great that 500K people were interested enough to download his content.

By: Bob Miller

Bob Miller — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:08:14 +0000

I've amended my post to reflect Chris's corrections. I hope that the point is still clear, though.

By: Knownhuman

Knownhuman — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:35:53 +0000

Aw shucks.

By: debbiestier

debbiestier — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:21:20 +0000

You're so smart. I agree with you. And stay tuned

By: zlite

zlite — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:01:55 +0000

Bob,

Thanks for the post, but I need to correct a few things. First, my comment about the title (“Free” vs “Freemium”) was a joke–sorry that wasn't more clear. Of course “Freemium”, while more accurate, would have been a disastrous title, since nobody knows what it means. I totally agreed with Will on the title. As I mentioned at the panel, as a magazine editor I know that a little bit of bait and switch is required in effective magazine coverlines as well as book titles; this was well within the norms for that.

Second, I never said Free sold “a fraction” of what the Long Tail sold. Instead, I said it sold “less”. In fact, it's just a few percent less at this point, and the game's not over.

By: Knownhuman

Knownhuman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:59:08 +0000

Or a technology which is suited to the needs of the reader. Until publishers start hiring people who can make a proper epub (hint – publishers should be looking at web designers and developers and not typesetters) and marry that format with a device which allows natural input, than entire sectors of the publishing industry will be hampered.

By: RichRennicks

RichRennicks — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:52:36 +0000

And in the mind of the reader you get what you pay for. I've had a free Kindle version of Free on my phone since it came out, but so far have read about 80 pages while stuck in Dentist's waiting rooms, Doctor's offices, etc. The interface renders some of the charts and sidebars oddly, and I personally find the lack of note-taking ability maddening.

Moral of the story: If you want someone to read a book and talk it up in a timely fashion, give them a book.