Tor Books Is Giving Away E-Books 172
stoolpigeon writes "Tor Books is launching a new site and running a campaign in which they are giving away e-books (free as in beer) until the site goes live. To get in on the deal, fill out the form at their site, and each week you will receive a newsletter containing links to download a new book. The first two books are Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson followed by Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Scalzi's site says: 'My understanding is that they don't have DRM on them. Or at least, mine isn't supposed to have, and I don't think they're planning mine to be special in that regard.'"
Hey I have no problem to by them (Score:4, Informative)
Baen Free Library (Score:5, Informative)
Baen will also sometimes include a CD containing many E-books with certain hardbacks. It's made them some money from me, since I was introduced to certain series (1632, March Upcountry, Honor Harrington) via this.
Read Old man's war (Hugo finalist) (Score:5, Informative)
Tor is on Webscription (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Baen Free Library (Score:3, Informative)
Cannot register (Score:3, Informative)
"We cannot register you at this time, but please check back in a few weeks for some great science fiction. Thanks!"
I have hard copies of the Mistborn books already, but e-book versions would have been nice...
Re:Cannot register (Score:2, Informative)
Don't worry, it's only a few 1st & 2nd parties (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Releasing the good stuff or not? (Score:3, Informative)
For those looking for more (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Baen Free Library (Score:3, Informative)
e-novel.org (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Don't worry, it's only a few 1st & 2nd part (Score:3, Informative)
The Holtzbrinck family is unique in giving its subsidiaries a lot of freedom. The thinking is: if they make a lot of money, they're doing something right. Of course, the onus is on that subsidiary to keep performing. IIRC, Tor made some changes in their business model last year that started bringing in a lot more profit; this has given them the freedom to try some new things. Anyway, everybody is all worked up about "going digital", so I'm not surprised to see that Tor is pursuing that option, although I have to say I am a little surprised to see them offering DRM-free downloads. But it scores big points with their audience, and maybe they know that.
Disclaimer: I work for a Macmillan imprint.
Re:Tor is on Webscription (Score:2, Informative)
Lead, Follow, or Imitate! (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.baen.com/library/ [baen.com]
Re:Sounds too good to be true... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sounds too good to be true... (Score:3, Informative)
Baen's success in giving books away came from releasing the first books in a series for free when later volumes come out. Bookstores are awful about making sure they have the first books, and they're awesome about heavily promoting the newest one. Even if they can't sell you the ones you missed. Baen found a way around that, give stuff away that isn't in print. And real books are enough nicer than ebooks that people were buying up an author's books after being introduced to them by free ebooks.
Project Gutenberg (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ [gutenberg.org]
Also available in text, html and the handy plucker format which is what I use to read ebooks on my old zaurus.
Here's one just for slashdot crowd.. Beowulf [gutenberg.org]
They have a quite extensive sci fi collection..
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_(Bookshelf) [gutenberg.org]
You wont get the latest books there but still lots of great stuff.