Free Gaiman Book Selected
February 29, 2008 – 5:34 pm by Thomas GideonRemember our earlier story about Gaiman celebrating his blog’s anniversary with an experiment, a book to be made available for free? The book in question was up for vote by his readers.
The poll results are in and the reader’s selected American Gods. It will be available for free online. Gaiman seems optimistic that if things go well with this title, that he will be able to convince the publish to make the next title available as an ebook download. He also has a thoughtful journal entry on the nature of free books.
4 Responses to “Free Gaiman Book Selected”
I was excited that the book was going to be free and I had expected a pdf. When I saw it was only free via an online reader, I was disappointed, but I gave it a try anyway. Terrible interface. I gave up without even reading a more than a page.
Unless Harper does something to improve the experience, I don’t see how things can “go well.” I’m glad to see Neil trying to get Harper to do something better than what they’ve done.
By Thomas on Feb 29, 2008
I have spent some time with the interface, too, and I have to concur that it is a setup for failure. It is a real shame since Gaiman’s thoughts are spot on. This disagreement between authors and publishers is discouragingly common, though certainly far from the rule.
I guess the real opportunity, in retrospect, is for Gaimain to stipulate a better free access version in his next publishing contract, something consistent with what Cory Doctorow seems to do with every book, now, rather than trying to free books for which he has already assigned publishing rights.
By Thomas Gideon on Mar 1, 2008
I was very disappointed too. I’ve already bought American Gods and was hoping for a complementary copy I could load onto my Palm handheld - I just get through books much faster that way. The last thing I want from an eBook is to be tied to an online PC to read it.
By Colin F on Mar 5, 2008
Before Harper Collins attempted this publicity, I had never read American Gods, although I had heard many great reviews of it. In fact, it is only recently that I finally started the Sandman series (I’m four volumes in).
I was not pleased with the interface on the Harper Collins website, but what I did read inspired me to borrow the book from my local library. This is the best book I’ve read in a long, long time. I plan to purchase several copies as gifts and likely one for myself. Until I finished it this morning, I had thought I wouldn’t buy a copy for myself, but I am so impressed that I now think I will.
My experience is certainly no way to indicate success of an publicity endeavor, but I would say it’s a good move. Harper Collins actually agreed that it has been a good move during a 21 March story on NPR’s Morning Edition (http://tinyurl.com/3xdrbp), noting most customers making it no more than 50 pages into the on-line version. They said sales went up quite a bit, although much can be attributed to Mr. Gaiman publicizing the book and the on-line availability on his blog.
So, while the interface was not good, I believe the move was very wise and I’m glad to have found this book. And thanks to Open Media Review for letting me know about it!
By Shannon on Mar 23, 2008