It’s not very often that an old media producer shows the unique ability to Get It ™. Canon Press, who publish Douglas Wilson and Peter Leithart (to name a few), showed that they do indeed get it by putting full versions of their books on Google Books. You can read an entire book, that they usually sell in paper form, for free on the web.
While it may seem counterintuitive, it’s been proven that if you give something away for free online, it will actually improve sales. Scott Sigler’s Infected, a novel that was originally given away for free as a podcast, is currently the #2 horror book on Amazon. Tor Books gave away e-versions of some of their books a few years ago and it drove sales. Canon Press seems to get this.
What I hope this signals is that Christian media companies will be on the front lines of new media. Signs are positive, especially when you see something like Modern Parables giving away iPod versions of their short films. Now, if only music labels could be persuaded to be less draconian and care about their customers.
Filed under: Books, Life in Mordor | Tagged: Douglas Wilson, Canon Press, New Media
Mike,
Thanks for the informative post. Do you know if the Scott Sigler book “Infected” is still avaliable for free online anywhere? I’ve been wanting to read it. Have you read it? Do you recommend it?
You can download the audio version chapter by chapter starting here: http://www.scottsigler.com/node/1025. I have listened to it and it has lots of violence and (potentially) offensive language. There were times when I wasn’t sure if I could continue to listen because of the gore, especially at the chicken scissors part (I’ll leave that up to your imagination). And I’m not a naturally squeamish person.
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