Ask Slashdot: Funding Models For a Free E-book? 128
danspalding writes "I'm an adult education teacher in SF who wrote an e-book about how to teach adults. It will be available to download for free in January 2013. I Kickstarted enough money for editing, design and publicity, but not enough to pay me anything up front. I'm considering making a $1, $10 and $25 version available from Amazon as a way for folks to donate money to me, as well as a straight up PayPal link on my site. Is it possible to produce quality material for teachers to download for free in a way that's economically sustainable? Might readers accidentally pay for a copy without realizing there's a free download and get angry? And where should I host the free-to-download version?"
Re:Free? (Score:2, Informative)
I think the Kickstarter campaign is at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teachrdan/how-to-teach-adults-a-free-beautiful-e-book [kickstarter.com]
A quick skim of the pledge rewards gives
1. Recognition in the ebook.
2. A handwritten thank you note.
3. A special copy of the ebook with a different cover.
4. Teaching diagrams.
5. A printed copy of the book.
6. A 30-minute, one hour, or five hour interview with the author via Skype.
To get back to the question asked, Amazon will pay participants in their lending library a fee when their books are downloaded. Also, Amazon offers print on demand services.
Can I point out that it makes more sense to me if you treat the book as an advertising expense? Then sell advisory services. Or create an advertising-supported website where you can offer advisory services. This would be more consistent with how open source software is funded. One usually gets the software for free but pays for related services, like installation and custom modifications.
Re:Make up your mind.... (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, it can be both. He's giving it away for free and asking for voluntary donations. I.e. it will be free and if people donate, he will make a profit.
The last sentence also shows he is concerned about readers misunderstanding this model of free+donations and accidentally paying when they actually wanted it for free. It is a valid concern and it shows his heart is in the right place.
I'm sorry I don't have any good advice but I hope someone else does. This type of initiative is what the world needs.
Check Pro-Git (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Make up your mind.... (Score:4, Informative)
Otherwise, look into a roleplaying game that was known to be commercial but also released under creative commons : Eclipse Phase. They sell the hardcover book, they sell the PDF, but you can distribute it freely. It is not hard to find, yet they manage to make a living this way.
CC-nc may be the thing you are looking for...
10 ways to monetize ebooks (Score:5, Informative)
Now I know many of these are not applicable to OP, but it's what worked for me before I moved onto writing GPL software instead of ebooks.
The Kickstarter listing (Score:4, Informative)
In case seeing Dan's Kickstarter listing [kickstarter.com] might help inform the debate.
offer a printed version (Score:5, Informative)
O'Reilly discovered that people will pay real money for a printed copy even when they get an electronic copy of the book free. "Using Samba" was and is distributed free with the "Samba" SMB server program, through the initiative of my editor, Andy Oram, and the book went from a distant third on the subject to one of the company's top sellers of the year.
--dave
Re:I'm an author who posts their books for free (Score:3, Informative)