Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

Chris Anderson spoke this morning as part of the opening keynote sessions during the first day of the inaugural O’Reilly “Tools of Change” conference, taking place this week in San Jose. His talk was entitled “FREE: The Economics of Abundance and the Price of Zero,” which is also the subject of his next book. The session was just a speech, with Anderson announcing somewhat nervously at the beginning that he was not going to have an accompanying PowerPoint presentation. This was quickly greeted by laughter and applause. Anderson began by saying that there’s really nothing new about the idea of giving things away for free, and went on to cite many different kinds of economies where things — goods or effort or ideas — are given away for free. The one that really struck me was what Anderson called the “gift economy,” citing Wikipedia as the best example. These are social networking and user-generated content sites where people spend a lot of time and effort creating content, receiving for this not necessarily money but instead they get reputation and the ability to express themselves. In these situations economics as we know it (people paying for a good or service) do not apply. And then, placing his speech in context when talking about what’s happening to other media (including music and film), Anderson stated that “books are the last media not approaching free.”

In terms of ways that he’s going to use “free” to electronically promote his upcoming book (which will come out around the end of 2008), Anderson cited the following examples that he and his publisher are considering:

1. Make the audio book free with the purchase of the printed book. The buyer of the printed book would receive a code that would allow them to download an MP3 of the audio book (for free). However, the audio book would also be sold as a standalone item.

2. Book would included in all search programs, including Google.

3. eBook would be given way for free, but locked to a specific device/reader. This would allow it to be spread to early adopters and “influentials,” treating them as a “marketing channel.”

4. An unlocked eBook edition that features ads alongside the text (which is much like how magazines look, where content is next to advertising).

5. Page-view model, where users would read it online, with ads that make sense.

6. Sample chapters distributed on websites.

In terms of the analog version of his “free” idea, Anderson mentioned the following methods that could be used in terms of making print books available.

1. Sponsored books.

2. Advertising in books.

3. Rebate model; offer rebates to people who buy the book.

4. Give away books to “influentials.” (This worked incredibly well for The Long Tail, where Anderson convinced his publisher to print 1,000 ARCs — many more than publishers usually print — and they ended up getting about 800 copies into the hands of interested bloggers. From this, more than 600 online reviews appeared, which then linked to Amazon. Anderson said that his Amazon sales outweighed his bookstore sales, leading him and his publishes to believe that all of that online-linking led to more Internet/Amazon sales.)

5. Libraries, where books have always been free.

But why do all of this? Anderson said that, in this model, the “free book is the marketing for the non-book thing.” In his case, what he’s really selling is himself. He also acknowledged that, for his publisher, this is a difficult and different proposition. But Anderson believes that “you give away what you can give away, and you charge what you can charge for,” and that all of the iterations of the eBook or the printed book with ads — that any way you offer the “free” version — will be inferior to the real book.

So the real reason for all of this is to generate and maximize exposure. Anderson cited that 200,000 books are published a year, but only 20,000 make money. Because of this, Anderson believes that authors write to be read. So then writers can create audiences by making their material free. Of course, the question then becomes, How does this make money? Because these ideas don’t work for all books, and in the case of most authors, they make their money from royalties (the same way publishers make their money from sales). Anderson mentioned the inevitable publisher opposition to some of his ideas. However, he also stressed that, in an increasingly digital world, traditional publishers need to find a way to play a part in the growing community aspects that are currently growing around books.

In terms of the “print is dead” debate, Anderson was not as forward thinking. He said that the printed book is still “the optimal way to read the book,” stating flatly that the “physical product is better than the digital book.” As I mentioned in the blog post about Edward Tenner’s article a few months ago, this reminds me of the paraphrased chant at the end of Animal Farm: “Digital books good, printed books better!” Anderson also said, tongue somewhat in check, that “the only thing that comes close to the book is a glossy magazine.” (He is, after all the editor of Wired.) In the face of digital music, and the online streaming or outright downloading of movies and TV shows, he also said “books are the last physical commodity that makes sense.” He also said that books were the last item opposing the “relentless march” towards digitization. The way he said this made it sound as if he approves of the book’s continued resistance in the face of digital challenges. He expounded on this during the Q&A session following the keynotes, when an audience member asked Anderson if he felt he had been “too harsh” in his dismissal of eBooks. Anderson hesitated a bit, but then answered that his views on eBooks versus printed books are based mainly on the emotional aspect of books and not necessarily their utility.

Finally, in terms of his admittedly radical idea of giving things away for “free,” Anderson stated that “there are a lot of risks, but eventually things work themselves out.”