Chekhov's Mistress
Now You Can Download Beautiful Children
Beautiful Children is one of those debut novels that has gotten so much press I’m instantly skeptical despite the fact that it’s about Vegas, a place I called home(?) for six years once. However, it does look interesting and seems to be a part of a growing trend to distribute books freely on the Web, at least for a limited time. So, want a free book? Go here. Don’t bother with the rest of the site because it’s all Flash and no personality.A lot of people wonder about the future of books in an e (or perhaps i) world, but I think it’s here. I find a book in pdf format quite comfortable to read on my computer.
comments
And for those of us outside the U.S. (or at least out of the reach of English-language bookstores) this is *huge*. I hope to see the idea catch on with more publishers--at least it has with Neil Gaiman! (I’ll venture to day that he came first.) American Gods goes live tomorrow…
– amcorrea (02/27 at 05:45 PM)
The question is how comfortable the publishers will feel about giving them away when a) reading on a computer is felt to be equivalent to reading a book (that is, actually read the book this way instead of just being prompted to buy a copy) and b) when it’s no longer newsworthy just to be giving things away for free.
– Bud Parr (02/28 at 10:40 AM)
Yes, of course. I’m just excited that they’re doing this at all and hope they begin offering pdf versions of more and more books for sale on their websites.
– amcorrea (02/28 at 12:33 PM)
Seems to me it leads inevitably to free books, period. But the suits gotta eat and drive Hummers, and so the free books will be supported by advertising, which leads to books effectively censored by advertisers who generally don’t want to offend anybody and love the least common denominator in all things.
Then maybe it will circle back again to the cable tv subscription model of paid content WITH ads. So publishers become small cogs in multinational media consortiums (oh wait, they already did) and authors…
well, hey. I think I’ll start a blog. 
– (03/01 at 02:25 AM)
I dunno. I think you’re all wrong. The site doesn’t have any ads on it. They didn’t force me to subscribe to anything or give my information. The book has no ads and it’s the entire book. If you want my opinion, I think Bud’s in the minority when it comes to people feeling comfortable reading books on their computers. Seems like the publisher just wants to generate hype by giving away free books, in hopes that readers who like it will go out and buy it and tell their friends. There’s no other reason for it, if they’re not collecting email addresses or showing ads.
In fact, i just looked back again and noticed they don’t even have a disclaimer about copying/reproducing the PDF. Most ebooks and pdf’d books do. Seems they don’t care, further illustrating my point.
– (03/01 at 06:03 AM)
Maybe I am all wrong. That would be very nice.
We’ll talk about it again in 5 years and see who called it.
– (03/01 at 02:15 PM)
While I don’t disagree with your (rather cynical) view, Laura, keep in mind that ads have supported many a worthy endeavor without compromising their integrity. If AOL Disney let’s it happen (which they have, remember their dumping Michael Moore’s movie for one example), that’s one thing - there’s no saving the masses. But at an entirely different level, ads can be an enabling factor that may make the difference between ideas (as in ideas) living, or not.
We live in an age of “free” content where everything must be paid for (is anything worth having completely free? a question for another time) somehow, but often not directly. But, as much as you are right, Jacque, I see this (and Google Books, HarperCollins’ efforts, among others) as the beginning of a trend where more and more is given away and everyone scrambles for a way to make money. That’ brings us round to Laura’s point, which is true but incomplete. There has been much written about this already, the story isn’t written yet and I somehow think the landscape is going to be dramatically because at the least, ads lose their meaning as we are increasingly saturated with them. Dunno.
– Bud Parr (03/03 at 10:43 AM)
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: February 27, 2008
- Filed Under:
Wise Men Fish Here: Literature
- Comments:7
- Links to this Post: Technorati
