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.'"
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Tor? (Score:5, Insightful)
Still wating for a good e-book reader! (Score:2, Insightful)
When I get back to my dorm, I throw my bag down. When I go to class, I toss my bag. If they aren't as durable as dead-trees, they aren't worth a penny.
Durability is an important as readability.
E-books are the future! At least, they will be... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a bit sad how so much effort is being made to obfuscate what is essentially the simplest of all computer formats: a text file. As others have repeatedly pointed out, there are some killer markets for these things in education. Saying goodbye to all those textbooks would be an unbelievable win for schools AND students.
I think three things need to happen before these things take off (and they eventually will):
1) The price needs to come down. A lot. $400 is just waaaay to much to make these things ubiquitous. Think about attractive one of these might be at $50. It would be hard to resist.
2) Lose the DRM / stop with the proprietary formats. Books, even more so than software, yearn to be free.
3) Major publishers and popular authors need to get on board. Unless the authors who people really want to read are available, the whole exercise is sort of pointless.
I can certainly afford a current-generation e-book reader, but until I can actually read the stuff I want to read, it's somewhat pointless. Here's hoping...
Re:Sounds too good to be true... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sounds too good to be true... (Score:5, Insightful)
Too good to be true? What are you smoking - this is how I wish every publishing company worked (books, movies, music, art). Instead of just sending me crappy adds I haven't asked about, for products I don't want, they're paying me with free swag to view their adds that I actually asked to view. They are a business, so of course we'll have to pay for something eventually, but I'd be glad to give my money to a smart/savvy company with a good product.
I've been a huge fan of Baen since their free library, but on average I like Tor books better so this makes me much more happy.
Re:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Still wating for a good e-book reader! (Score:3, Insightful)
Drop a book on the floor in a backpack and step on it. Do the same with a book. Which is likely to come out on top?
I agree nearly 100% with the original poster. I want durability and easy reading. A pda SUCKS for reading for more than a few mins. Lets take school for example, I was a chemistry major. I would have to have a big screen, with color, and I want to be able to draw on it. I wrote my books up like hell, and being that chemistry uses a lot of models and diagrams, being able to draw on the book is just as important as being able to read it.
This is why no one in my major used laptops during class. One guy with a tablet notebook did have his out for a few weeks, but ditched it for dead-trees.
Re:Releasing the good stuff or not? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Releasing the good stuff or not? (Score:4, Insightful)
The funny thing is that Tor has occasionally done this before [forbes.com]. Baen also does this [baen.com] on an ongoing basis.
Turns out that people don't read books much and it's hard to get someone interested in a new writer, or in some cases, a new series by an existing writer. Once you get your foot in the door with free copies, though, you actually end up selling more than you would have if you didn't give stuff away. Weird, huh? :-)
Re:Still wating for a good e-book reader! (Score:3, Insightful)
An added bonus is that if my boss walked by and saw me with some pulp sci-fi book open on my desk he would probably say something (or think something). But if I'm waiting on my PC or standing by the server, while it chugs away, I can pop my PDA out and read afew pages without anyone noticing (maybe I'm taking notes), it's great for boring meetings too
I agree ebooks should drop in price a bit.
Re:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:3, Insightful)
Because of old people, how many under 30's do you know that get a daily newspaper?
Re:Releasing the good stuff or not? (Score:3, Insightful)