Giving Electronic Books Away Increases Paper Book Sales

Lessig:

Gray was asked to study the publishing strategy of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in South Africa. This research institution had a traditional strategy of publishing lots of research books, and selling them. Gray convinced them to change their strategy -- to give away all their research books for free online, and offer a high quality print-on-demand service for anyone who wants the paper version. The result: "the sales turnover of the publishing department has risen by 300%." As she concluded her presentation, "giving away books and lead to an increase in our book sales." There's much much more in her interesting analysis.

Download the pdf. Posted by James Zellmer at May 27, 2005 8:00 AM | Subscribe to this site via RSS:
Posted to Business | Electronic Rights