[extropy-chat] finding old (and new) sf

[Damien Broderick]

At 09:48 PM 7/1/2005 -0400, David Lubkin wrote:

>>Charlie had 22,000 downloads fairly quickly when he put his new 
>>singularity novel ACCELERANDO up for grabs. My question: how many people 
>>would feel an impulse to pay the author a couple of bucks in gratitude 
>>for having the book [made] available in this way? Would anyone here be 
>>likely to do so?
>
>I wouldn't...
>Commerce is more dependable than charity.

?? I wouldn't be asking for charity, because I'd be the one providing the 
service.

Nor would I be offering charity, since I'd be seeking payment.

However, your maxim seems to suggest that the better method would be to 
charge a nominal fee, before downloading is done. That, though, presumably 
slashes the number of people interested in trying a book out. Maybe some 
combination is worth testing: permit downloading of one third or one half 
of the novel free of charge, with the remainder available upon request for 
a fee of two dollars, say. This would have to be made absolutely clear up 
front, of course, or readers would feel royally pissed off.

Damien Broderick