Comments on: Free Stuff Continues to Motivate, Book Publishers Are Catching On, Are You? http://churchcrunch.com/free-stuff-continues-to-motivate-book-publishers-are-catching-on-are-you/ Exploring the Intersection of Web Technology and the Church Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:54:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: brianfalexanderhttp://churchcrunch.com/free-stuff-continues-to-motivate-book-publishers-are-catching-on-are-you/comment-page-1/#comment-22201 brianfalexander Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:46:21 +0000 http://churchcrunch.com/?p=3858#comment-22201 I love free stuff. I've got a lot of studd more so recently with this blog book think. It's awesome! I love free stuff. I've got a lot of studd more so recently with this blog book think. It's awesome!

]]> By: Adam_Shttp://churchcrunch.com/free-stuff-continues-to-motivate-book-publishers-are-catching-on-are-you/comment-page-1/#comment-22160 Adam_S Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:56:29 +0000 http://churchcrunch.com/?p=3858#comment-22160 I agree that blogs and people that I trust good places for books. I am a member of Goodreads.com that is essentially a social networking site for people that read books. But I am a bit wary of bloggers reviewing stuff that was sent directly to them by publishers (or other manufacturers). Journalists have pretty good standards on not allowing the relationship to influence the review, but I am not sure many bloggers have similar standards. Not that they are lying in their review but they may not be as critical as they should be. Especially as Christians we sometimes have the perspective that we should only say good things about a product. I know that Christianity Today's Music blog has written a lot about this. They believe that there should be a critical review when they do not think a product is as good as it should be. They said that they get lots of complaints about the fact that they write critical reviews from people that think that just because it is Christian is should be reviewed well. All that said, I still think that publishers that understand social networks and the web know that getting their products in the right hands makes a huge difference. I agree that blogs and people that I trust good places for books. I am a member of Goodreads.com that is essentially a social networking site for people that read books. But I am a bit wary of bloggers reviewing stuff that was sent directly to them by publishers (or other manufacturers). Journalists have pretty good standards on not allowing the relationship to influence the review, but I am not sure many bloggers have similar standards. Not that they are lying in their review but they may not be as critical as they should be. Especially as Christians we sometimes have the perspective that we should only say good things about a product.

I know that Christianity Today's Music blog has written a lot about this. They believe that there should be a critical review when they do not think a product is as good as it should be. They said that they get lots of complaints about the fact that they write critical reviews from people that think that just because it is Christian is should be reviewed well.

All that said, I still think that publishers that understand social networks and the web know that getting their products in the right hands makes a huge difference.

]]> By: davidnormanhttp://churchcrunch.com/free-stuff-continues-to-motivate-book-publishers-are-catching-on-are-you/comment-page-1/#comment-22153 davidnorman Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:05:21 +0000 http://churchcrunch.com/?p=3858#comment-22153 free books are cool (i'd love some please!), but i think it has more to do with the book reviews hitting the blogs. when someone you read and trust has a positive experience with a book, it's natural to want to join them in that free books are cool (i'd love some please!), but i think it has more to do with the book reviews hitting the blogs. when someone you read and trust has a positive experience with a book, it's natural to want to join them in that

]]> By: Adam_Shttp://churchcrunch.com/free-stuff-continues-to-motivate-book-publishers-are-catching-on-are-you/comment-page-1/#comment-22135 Adam_S Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:55:55 +0000 http://churchcrunch.com/?p=3858#comment-22135 The other part of that is multiple formats. Thomas Nelson is giong to start giving away an ebook copy with every hardback (slowly rolling it out across their new books.). Multiple formats mean that the customer can consume in the way that makes sense for them at that time, not that makes most sense for the publisher. The customer may read one book all in the hardback, or may switch back and forth between the ebook and the hardback depending on where they were. Baen, a science fiction publisher, has suggested that all of their authors give away several of their books. The result is that I have read a lot of free books, but also that I bought a lot of books that I would have never read otherwise. The other part of that is multiple formats. Thomas Nelson is giong to start giving away an ebook copy with every hardback (slowly rolling it out across their new books.). Multiple formats mean that the customer can consume in the way that makes sense for them at that time, not that makes most sense for the publisher. The customer may read one book all in the hardback, or may switch back and forth between the ebook and the hardback depending on where they were.

Baen, a science fiction publisher, has suggested that all of their authors give away several of their books. The result is that I have read a lot of free books, but also that I bought a lot of books that I would have never read otherwise.

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