Comments on: Giving Work Away For Free Devalues All Work http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/ Never Safe For Work Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:37:35 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Chris http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51881 Chris Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:42:52 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51881 Hi Barry. RE: Girl Genius, sales on our trade paperback collections have, in fact, increased since Foglio stopped soliciting the single issues. Actually Foglio linked me/this blog when he was talking about that phenomenon...! - Christopher Hi Barry. RE: Girl Genius, sales on our trade paperback collections have, in fact, increased since Foglio stopped soliciting the single issues. Actually Foglio linked me/this blog when he was talking about that phenomenon…!

- Christopher

]]> By: Barry Deutsch http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51806 Barry Deutsch Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:18:42 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51806 Great post. <blockquote>I’m all for creative people doing what they like with their content, and I like that they’re playing fair by, oh, I don’t know, not releasing it for free on the internet for the first time before retailers who have purchased said material non-returnably have a chance to sell it. Biiiig difference there, one that I really hope BOOM! figures out some day.</blockquote> I'm not familiar with BOOM!, but Phil Foglio has said his direct market sales for [i]Girl Genius[/i] went up a lot since he began making it available online for free. Do you object to that sort of marketing plan, or did BOOM! do something different? Great post.

I’m all for creative people doing what they like with their content, and I like that they’re playing fair by, oh, I don’t know, not releasing it for free on the internet for the first time before retailers who have purchased said material non-returnably have a chance to sell it. Biiiig difference there, one that I really hope BOOM! figures out some day.

I’m not familiar with BOOM!, but Phil Foglio has said his direct market sales for [i]Girl Genius[/i] went up a lot since he began making it available online for free. Do you object to that sort of marketing plan, or did BOOM! do something different?

]]> By: Jim http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51696 Jim Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:57:15 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51696 I love really good independent bookstores / comic stores, but I totally relate to Neil's complaints about some of the help you encounter at such places. I was just at a store the other day where the "customer service" entailed a few grunts in my general direction. Superior taste does not supplant customer service, especially if there are venues like Amazon that let me find things easily AND offer huge discounts. I love really good independent bookstores / comic stores, but I totally relate to Neil’s complaints about some of the help you encounter at such places. I was just at a store the other day where the “customer service” entailed a few grunts in my general direction. Superior taste does not supplant customer service, especially if there are venues like Amazon that let me find things easily AND offer huge discounts.

]]> By: Bill Cunningham http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51535 Bill Cunningham Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:58:51 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51535 I wonder how the bookseller would feel if he understood that television is basically - "giving it away for free" too, paid for by advertising, etc... so people can watch and then buy the DVD set. Same goes for radio... Giving things away for free is not a new concept and bookstore, comic book store owners are going to have to get in the car and drive up to the 21st century with the rest of us. There is an excellent article in this month's WIRED MAGAZINE on the economics of giving things away for free - oh, and it's also for free on the wired.com website. I wonder how the bookseller would feel if he understood that television is basically – “giving it away for free” too, paid for by advertising, etc… so people can watch and then buy the DVD set.

Same goes for radio…

Giving things away for free is not a new concept and bookstore, comic book store owners are going to have to get in the car and drive up to the 21st century with the rest of us.

There is an excellent article in this month’s WIRED MAGAZINE on the economics of giving things away for free – oh, and it’s also for free on the wired.com website.

]]> By: Chris http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51417 Chris Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:03:30 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51417 (Posted and e-mailed) Hello Mr. Gaiman, Somehow I missed the finer details of this promotion, and assumed from your Journal that it was a download, and an audio file, rather than a read-online copy of the book. I believe I conflated several parts of your discussion on the availability of your work online and for free, and I apologise for mis-stating... That said, the details of this promotion (I think) make the product even less competitive with regards to print books than a possible audio download might; a work distributed through a necessarily live internet connection is no substitute, as far as I'm concerned, for a digital (let alone physical) copy of the work... The content comes through quite nicely, but the experience is a very different thing. I hope it's a successful promotion though, and as always I look forward to your return to Toronto. Best, - Christopher (Posted and e-mailed)

Hello Mr. Gaiman,

Somehow I missed the finer details of this promotion, and assumed from your Journal that it was a download, and an audio file, rather than a read-online copy of the book. I believe I conflated several parts of your discussion on the availability of your work online and for free, and I apologise for mis-stating… That said, the details of this promotion (I think) make the product even less competitive with regards to print books than a possible audio download might; a work distributed through a necessarily live internet connection is no substitute, as far as I’m concerned, for a digital (let alone physical) copy of the work… The content comes through quite nicely, but the experience is a very different thing. I hope it’s a successful promotion though, and as always I look forward to your return to Toronto.

Best,

- Christopher

]]> By: Neil http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51352 Neil Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:01:10 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51352 To be fair, it's a prose on paper book, not an audio book. Which gives a paper book seller more reason to worry... http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060558123&WT.mc_id=author_AmerGods_FullAccess_022208 neil To be fair, it’s a prose on paper book, not an audio book. Which gives a paper book seller more reason to worry…
http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060558123&WT.mc_id=author_AmerGods_FullAccess_022208

neil

]]> By: dave merrill http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51295 dave merrill Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:07:30 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51295 I love the peevish little note on the door of the out-of-business bookstore blaming Amazon. It's like the icing on the cake. I love the peevish little note on the door of the out-of-business bookstore blaming Amazon. It’s like the icing on the cake.

]]> By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Mar. 4, 2008: Mountain into molehill http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51123 Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Mar. 4, 2008: Mountain into molehill Tue, 04 Mar 2008 09:06:00 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51123 [...] [Retailing] Not comics, but: Neil Gaiman responds to a bookseller who berates him for giving one of his prose novels away online. (Link via Christopher Butcher.) [...] [...] [Retailing] Not comics, but: Neil Gaiman responds to a bookseller who berates him for giving one of his prose novels away online. (Link via Christopher Butcher.) [...]

]]> By: Jonathan Ellis http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/comment-page-1/#comment-51080 Jonathan Ellis Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:18:50 +0000 http://comics212.net/2008/03/04/giving-work-away-for-free-devalues-all-work/#comment-51080 Cheap Hardcovers? Anything good? And yes "free audio books hampers my ability to sell Real Physical Paper handy literature" doesn't really fly Cheap Hardcovers? Anything good?

And yes “free audio books hampers my ability to sell Real Physical Paper handy literature” doesn’t really fly

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