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.'"
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Re:Releasing the good stuff or not? (Score:5, Funny)
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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:Releasing the good stuff or not? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Ender's game may be kind of a special case, since the first novel is the most
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This is the good stuff (Score:2)
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Hey I have no problem to by them (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Hey I have no problem to by them (Score:5, Funny)
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Or at least was in previous versions.
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I find it more amusing... (Score:2)
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He is actually complaining of having to operate it! a slashdot reader!!!
jeez!!!
Re:Hey I have no problem to by them (Score:5, Funny)
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For all I know, they would be in a format I can't read, and they will sell my e-mail address to dozens of book related stores who will spam me to within an inch of my life. Or they may be in a format I can read, and they won't share my information with anyone. Problem is, they don't tell!
Keep TANSTAAFL in mind be
Re: Lunches (Score:2)
I'm hoping they have some other business plan than "bait & switch spam", which a smart marketing director should know is not so good for long term public relations when the word gets out.
I am starting to believe that the way to do this kind of thing properly is that the newsletters may indeed have a link to A book, such as the first couple in a series. Then since the source "dries up", the reader might be tempted into buying books 3-4.
Or, just "expos
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Plenty of disposable email sources. I use Sneakemail. I create a new one for every forum, registration, etc. They all redirect to my normal account, unless they start getting spam when I can delete or filter them.
Re:Hey I have no problem to by them (Score:4, Funny)
feeding the trolls.. (Score:2)
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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.
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For those looking for more (Score:5, Informative)
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Read Old man's war (Hugo finalist) (Score:5, Informative)
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He had the guys from Penny Arcade do the artwork for Agent to the Stars [scalzi.com] - which has been available o
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Nice publicity by TOR - I've been buying their stuff for years, it's good to have something free for a change
Tor is on Webscription (Score:4, Informative)
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If you search for Tor as the publisher on the webscription store [webscription.net], you'll find that Tor has a whopping ONE book available for sale (by David Weber, who usually writes for Baen anyway). They list a dozen others, but don't actually sell them.
There was a burst of hype, and even an
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Tor? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Tor? (Score:5, Funny)
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Wait, I started reading Honor as a result of seeing On Basilisk Station in the Free Library.
Note that, as a result of books I've read on the Free Library, I've bought about 40 hardbounds I would never have touched normally. So it's good business....
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I've also gotten several other people interested in their books either via the free section or by passing on ebooks i've purchased. And before anyone cries foul - that is specifically PERMITTED (i.e. giving copies to friends of "non-free" books). Yes, just like a real book - I can let my buddy at work rea
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I even hoped to finally learn why Tor likes oatmeal in this thread, but that didn't happen.
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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.
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Well, dead tree versions sure don't meet your second condition much better than electronics.
The financial break-even point between ebooks and treebooks depends entirely on how much you read, and whether you stick to paperbacks. With ebooks being so much cheaper than their treebook counterparts, many people can break even on the price of an ebook reader within a year, and it's just
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Really? Perform this simple experiment: dunk a book in water (worst case scenario), dry it off as best you can with a towel, then lay it out open to dry. Optional: once it's dry compress it under something heavy (like more books) for a few days. Aside from some warping, is it still readable? Now try the same with a $400 electronic ebook reader or PDA.
Could just break the habit... (Score:2)
Durability is a good thing, but I suppose it's not as important to me as utility and price (so long as it's not actually fragile).
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When you get a little older and acquire a bit of debt, you'll tend to treat your stuff with more care. It doesn't really cost all that much energy to place your bag on the floor instead of flinging it.
Even with the e-book devices' disadvantage of inferior structural integrity, to me the advantages makes it worth it. Treat it like you would treat a laptop or even an mp3 player, and you should be fine.
I agree about the price
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wouldn't be an issue.
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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 d
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Ummm... the book?
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Personally I have never tried a tablet pc, just seen how others have used them. During the last year of school someone came around campus and gave away copies of one note. I wanted to try it out, but didn't have the hardware to do so.
I did a quick ebay check for the M1400 and it looks like a solid machine, what was your impression of it? I have no intention of ever spend
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...
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Did you try a 'plus' email address? Some web developers are still kinda stupid when it comes to checking email address format validity. *sigh*
I Love Tor! (Score:5, Funny)
I'm going to have to buy a few of their books this week instead of using the library, just to show my thanks!
Don't worry, it's only a few 1st & 2nd parties (Score:5, Informative)
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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 p
Propaganda. (Score:2)
Interestingly enough, all the biggest book and magazine publishers in the West, when you trace back their ownership flow charts, have prominent Nazi family names sitting squarely in the commanding boxes at the top. Holtzbrinck is actually one of the smaller players
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Sounds too good to be true... (Score:3, Interesting)
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Mention on the front page of Slashdot and a bunch more attention/potential customers than they had two days ago?
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.
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And on average, I don't give much of a toss about either one. Very little genre fiction interests me these days. I'd love to see more mainstream/"literary" publishing houses try this out. (On a side note, think how many trees could be saved if they delivered Thomas Pynchon's latest as an e-book.)
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What does Tor get out of giving away free books? Are they planning to introduce a pay subscription or a store of some sort?
The same thing Baen gets out of giving away free books [baen.com]. In this case, Tor is just giving away a few free now until their store opens. If they're smart, though, they'll follow Baen's example and set up a permanent free library that features one or two of the best books from each author.
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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 be
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Baen's success in giving books away came from releasing the first books in a series for free when later volumes come out
Somewhat, but it's also about providing samples of each author. If you take a look at the Free Library contents, you'll find that it contains not just a book or two from each author, but in most cases arguably the *best* of their books, even if they aren't from a series. It works because people like to stick with authors that they know, and have confidence in.
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.
Personally, I think real books suck. I rarely read anything I can't get in electronic form, just because paper books are a pain to read. Baen'
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On the commercial side, the fact that they sell their eBooks for a reasonable price and without DRM is what makes me happy. While I may take advantage of the free library, I'm very content at the moment to be reading some zero-DRM books that I bought from their store.
(Using a Sony PRS-505... and very happy.)
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:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:2)
Re:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:2)
However, they do use their own flavour of DRM on books downloaded from their store. I'm no
Re:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:2)
I fully agree with your points about DRM, but I respectfully disagree with your criticism of the price of e-Book readers and your requests for 'free' books for a number of different reasons.
You criticize the $400 pricetag without understanding how many companies failed before e-Ink became a reality. Please understand that it is an industry changing technology and the pioneering companies who developed it need to make money for the Venture Capitalists who invested in their ideas during the formative stage
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There's a
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Convenience to curl up with a disposal, replaceable relic of intellectual stimulation, you say?
You might want to consider trying something...
# 8x11" two-page format for book capable printing [Download [2076book.com]]
Find a good quality printer the fits 200+ sheets of paper and will reliably NOT insert the occasional blank sheet of paper during printing (I have used laser printers at my office to do this in the past, and it has worked like a charm).
(a) Print (I think you need to select Landscape format).
(b) Flip the pages over and put them back into the printed so that you'll print to the reverse side (paying carefully attention to put it in the correct orientation) and print again (so that even-numbered pages print on the back of odd numbered pages, and vice-versa).
(c) You can then cut the pages down the middle (I have a cheapo paper slicer for this, which makes it easy to line up 10-12 pages and then make a clean cut down the middle - though an office supply store might offer to do this for you).
(d) Sort the pages into two-copies of the story. Bring each stack down to the local office supply store to bind two-copies of the novel. Staples or Kinkos generally provides a service where they will "tape bind" a manuscript. You can add a cardboard front and back cover (have them cut it in half for you, so it fits) and it should cost between $3 and $4 per copy after all is said and done.
[and any feedback on these instructions is encouraged... because I would love for this procedure to be straightforward enough that people can easily print my book].
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Because of old people, how many under 30's do you know that get a daily newspaper?
Re:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:2)
I'm sure this will be modded as troll but so be it since this needs to be said. Quit anthropomorphising books and software. Neither 'yearns' to do anything. They're both man made object that have no feelings whatsoever. PEOPLE yearn to free them just as PEOPLE yearn to lock and exploit them. Saying that an inanimate object yearns to be free pretty much guarantees that sane rational people will ignore and
Re:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:2)
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.
Nah. The price of the readers isn't that much of a problem. Give one a try for a while, and if the stuff you like to read is available for it, you'll quickly decide that it's well worth $400. eBook devices are MUCH better for reading than paper book After doing most of my reading on an eBook for the last 4-5 years, I find I really, really dislike reading paper. It's so inconvenient.
Lose the DRM / stop with the proprietary formats.
Yeah, except that according to the summary, it appears they are probably following Baen's example and publishing withou
Re:E-books are the future! At least, they will be. (Score:2)
If you look around, you can pickup something like the Sony PRS-505 for under $300. Which is a good bit less then $400 and was inexpensive enough for me to say "I'll try it".
2) Lose the DRM / stop with the proprietary formats. Books, even more so than software, yearn to be free.
Books don't yearn to be free. They're inanim
Giving away? (Score:2)
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My God, I never thought of that! How can Slashdot possibly afford to give all these things away for free?
Answer: Volume!
e-novel.org (Score:2, Informative)
Lead, Follow, or Imitate! (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.baen.com/library/ [baen.com]
Great... (Score:2)
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.
Mistborn (Score:2)
Sadly, I already have them... (Score:2)
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I most be a silent majority, but I hate reading on the computer and screens.
So do I but paper books are all too often a pain to get and take a while to acquire. A lot of them also aren't in print which theoretically wouldn't be a problem with non-drm e-books.
Not to mention they're much harder to lose due to catastrophic computer failure.
Mu, neither is lost due to catastrophic computer failure. Yet paper books can be destroyed, burned, dropped into a puddle and destroyed in tons of such ways. E-books I can simple re-download or restore from backup.
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mmm of course practically it probabblly would be. Look at music, with physical formats I can legally order a copy from practically anywhere in the world. It will almost certainly come in under the import duty/vat threshold so no problems there.
With legit online music I am far more limited, Most vendors are either heavilly geogr
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mmm of course practically it probabblly would be. Look at music, with physical formats I can legally order a copy from practically anywhere in the world. It will almost certainly come in under the import duty/vat threshold so no problems there.
With legit online music I am far more limited, Most vendors are either heavilly geographically restricted or of questionable legality to use. Because it is the vendor and thier customer working together to do the copying they are involved with copyright at a much more direct level than with physical media and that gives the copyright holder far more power.
I buy sci-fi e-books from Baen's webscription: no drm, unlimited downloads and a half dozen formats including online reading. They're also I think one of the few ebook retailers actually making money so the model may catch on more widely. I simply don't buy drm ebooks or music, the non-drm ones exist and have advantages over physical books.