FREE for free: first ebook and audiobook versions released

FREE (full book) by Chris Anderson

We’re going to be rolling out the free digital forms of FREE over the next two weeks. First up: the Scribd form, right here on the blog (and anywhere else you want—it’s embeddable). This is the whole book!

(click “full screen” for a better reading experience).

Also released today: the free unabridged audiobook. You can either download the whole things as zipped MP3 files, or play them on the Wired.com microsite.

 

You can also get the audiobook from Audible.com in two forms

1) Unabridged (six hours; free)
2) Abridged (three hours; $7.49)

Why is the whole book free in audio form, but half the book is $7.49? Because, as the Audible.com listing explains,“Get the point in half the time! In this abridged edition, the author handpicked the most important and engaging chapters and points, cutting three hours from the length without losing key concepts. Time is money!”

Over the next week or so, we’ll be releasing other versions, including iTunes podcast and download, Kindle, Google Books and more. All free, for varying lengths of time (from a week to forever). I’ll be tracking the stats for everything and sharing the results of these experiments here over the next month.

Comments

[Craig Swanson]

You have the Abridged (3-hour) version listed as $7.49, but Hyperion has a Free download page for that same audiobook. All you need to enter is your email. Or is that a secret?

http://hyperionbooks.com/free/

[Scott Wolchok]

I'm assuming this sort of "free, but not to everyone forever" is the short version of the book's thesis? I note that PDF download is pointedly disabled in Scribd and not on the list of upcoming formats.

[felipe machado]

there's a download link for the .pdf? or is not so free?

[Chris Anderson]

Craig,

Er, that was supposed to be a secret ;-)

[Chris Anderson]

Felipe,

No pdf. Kindle and other downloads coming in next few days. Free as in beer, not speech ;-)

[Heng-Cheong Leong]

Thanks. I'm downloading the audiobook from Wired as I type, but do note that Audible is "not authorized to sell this item to [my] geographic location." (I'm from Singapore.)

[Fred Wiersma]

It's so funny to read about people complaining about your offer. Not free enough, so sad... Don't have the time now, but will Scrib it later.

Thanks!

[Brigitte]

Hi Chris,

I think this is a great way to promote and distribute your work, and I hope it pays back ;)

I did mention your initiative in a post I wrote today on my blog, but it's in french :) http://www.tequilas-secrets.com/?2009/07/07/1356-le-livre-electronique

(FYI, I can't get the trackback to work, when I ping the URL I get a "Spam error"...)

I wish you all the best!

[Dan Grossman]

Having used full pages of Wikipedia content verbatim, I assume this book is licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike as required?

[sundarrajan]

Hi Chris,

We couldnt get the hardcopy here in India. I enquired most of the vendors in metros.

Can you help me in this?

Regards,
Suundar

[Pietro]

Thank you Chris!

[Paolo Amoroso]

Left-clicking the full screen icon as suggested does not start full screen mode neither in the book embedded in this post, nor in the Scribd book page. I use the latest Firefox and Flash player versions under Linux.

Am I doing anything wrong?

[Chris Anderson]

Dan,

As mentioned before, the book has now been corrected. All Wikipedia refs are properly quoted and cited in the notes at right.

[Jon Steinberg]

Chris-

I think what you're trying here is incredibly unique and I commend you. However, why are you releasing first in the crippled non-downloadable form? It reminds me of Hulu blocking its distribution on Boxee.

Are you at this point comfortable with people reading online but only in the inconvenient Scribd format (with pdf disabled)?

To me "free but inconvenient" has always raised a lot of questions. Is it a distribution issue, in that you want to maintain all the traffic views, which makes sense from a page views standpoint?

Also, the mp3 is uncontrolled so why not the same uncontrolled choice in visual: pdf?

Please do misinterpret as criticism, I am genuinely interested in this topic and your decisions. It is your work to distribute as you see fit. You'rebreaking new ground here.

[Michael Hughes]

Annoyingly the audiobookformat is only available via the Audible US store, and doesn't appear to be listed in the UK one :-(

[Brad Vertrees]

Congrats on the new book Chris!

I pre-ordered my copy a while ago and Amazon confirmed it has shipped! After I finish reading it, I will be writing a review on my blog.

I also love how you're releasing the book in various formats at various prices (most seem to be free). It'll be interesting to see how this affects sales of the hardcover print version.

[Lorenzo]

So exciting today is the release date, can't wait to get the book.

Again, congratulations Chris for all you've accomplished and thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Hope you can return to Chile whenever you can! At UAI we're always happy to welcome you. (this time without the shitty journalist asking why you can't download everything for free if you already have a subscription to an ISP!)

[Georgios Athanassiadis]

Very inspiring! Looking forward to read it!

[Andrew Warner]

Chris, could I please interview you about this book for Mixergy.com?

[Andrew Eldon]

Can't download the Free Audible version here in Hong Kong either. Seems "Free" for audible comes with some conditions. Audible annoys me.

Thanks for providing a zipped version though. I looked forward to listening to it and spreading the word.

Andrew

[dissertation sample]

Blogs are so interactive where we get lots of informative on any topics nice job keep it up !!

[Tom Henell]

Chris,

I'm about 3 hrs into the unabridged audio book and am hooked. I have been a proponent of this economic model for years and simply call it, "information marketing". We promote resources and information to our core audience understanding that they will then recognize us as "the source" when they need to make a purchase. I consider it making sales without selling.

Thanks for the book!

[felipe machado]

FREE AS IN FREEDOM!!!
i dont want to be rude, man. just show me the code and i will know who you are, the first step is the freedom...any step before it's just marketing.

[DK]

Nothing is actually "Free". Free always has a price tag. Mostly marketing gimmick and the business model trick..

I am from HK. Luckily I got an iTune Gift Card, and have US$1.30 left in the account. But Apple iTune Store still charged me 95 Cents for downloading it into my iTune/Audiobooks Section.

So it is not totally free!!

[Kris Nayak]

Hi Chris. Thanks for the book, but when I click on the scribd link to read the book, I get a message saying 'Sorry, this content is geographically restricted'. I'm from Bangalore, India, and is there any way of laying my hands on your book? I have searched all the leading book stores here, and couldn't find your book.

help me, Please!

[Nina Chachu]

To take up on the comment from Kris in Bangalore, India. I am based in Accra, Ghana, and had actually started reading the book on scribd, and got to page 76, but when I went there this morning, I got the same message about the content being geographically restricted. However, I can read it through your embedded copy on this page, so all is not lost :-)

[Pablo]

Sorry, this content is geographically restricted
Due to our agreements with our publishing partners, the document you requested is only available to users located in the United States.

Im in Brazil, do you have some other link?

[dofus kamas]

every free stuff would be popular, and free book, it would be spread widely soon, Thanks chris

[daniel markus]

Here in France the book is not downloadable at Scribd

Sorry, this content is geographically restricted.

Due to our agreements with our publishing partners, the document you requested is only available to users located in the United States.

This is so disappointing. Free is only for the US?

Chris, are you the same enlighted author that wrote the long tail, and who would not be as lame as your fellow countrymen that tend to mix up International and American?

I hope you made a mistake.

[luciano]

Hi chris,
I´m trying to download the book but i´m unable since I´m from spain, could you tell if there is a Non-us site to download?
Thanks a lot,
Luciano

[Chris Anderson]

The MP3 downloadable zip file on the wired site is not geographically restricted.

[name]

Is the current book that's posted a from-scratch rewrite of the book that contained CreativeCommons material or still a derivative work?

[Jennifer Dawson]

I hate to request this, but might it become available in eReader since you are doing Kindle?

[enda]

chris just a note, your book is not available for viewing on scribd from Indonesia, the site said:

Sorry, this content is geographically restricted

Due to our agreements with our publishing partners, the document you requested is only available to users located in the United States.

[Noor Allah]

No PDF?! What The Free!!

[buy darkfall gold]

Thanks for the book, but when I click on the scribd link to read the book, I get a message saying 'Sorry, this content is geographically restricted'.

[WilliamJansen]

Hey everybody!

Some complaints about avaliability outside the US.

If you set your location to US, you can download it off Audible. Just create a US-account, and you are off to the races.

If it rocks, I'll but the paper-format like I did The Long Tail.

If I find he was phoning it in, then I am sure he is happy that I still bought one of his books.

[Ralph Bassfeld]

"Sorry, this content is geographically restricted" #complete #fail

[clmm8899]

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[The Candle Holder]

I was perfectly able to download the audio book from Spain.

I'm curious to know how many people downloaded the book since it's available?!

Cheers,