When 20k+ novellas from established e-publishers are in the $3-5 range ……. no, paying $1-2 for a 3k long short story is not a great deal.

Another, yes! I’m new to ereading. Got my reader for my birthday just over a month ago. It’s a Sony Touch, and I love it. But I’ve already started being very selective about what I download. I’ve got two freebies on there–because they were free!–and I haven’t read them yet. Then I went on a mad book-buying spree, so now when I see what I’ve bought, and yet have to read, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the list aspect of it. And I so miss those blurbs. Strange, too, that I’ve always been surrounded by books, and it’s never bothered me, but in some weird way, the *list* on my Sony does.

Not that I won’t get over my trepidation–they are books, after all! LOL

with so many more writers going the self-published route, many with no editing. I'd *try* some self-pubbed work, but I'd have to read a fair bit of the book first.

I totally agree with that. Many times I get frustrated with the fact that though “30%” of the book is available, most of it’s front matter. I still don’t get a good idea of what I’m getting into–but I find that’s a flaw across the board (self, NY, digipub).

I’m getting far more selective about all the other publishers’ offerings, too, because I’ve been burned too many times with, say, the first (possibly second) chapter that’s supposed to hook you (and it does!) and then it falls flat.

I’ve simply stopped all the digital hoarding of free books. I don’t have time to store, organize, or read them all. Most books I get (free or not), once I’ve downloaded them, I don’t remember why I downloaded them because there is no “back blurb” at the beginning to remind me.

Maybe it’s going to have to go this way . . . with so many more writers going the self-published route, many with no editing. I’d *try* some self-pubbed work, but I’d have to read a fair bit of the book first.

Short excerpts rarely do a book justice, and I don’t see why internet shoppers are stuck with them. After all, if I went to a bookstore, I could read as much of the book as I pleased before buying it.

That’s interesting. I haven’t seen that done a lot here and I made my decision based on what I’d like as a reader/consumer. Too many times a short excerpt (usually from the middle of the book) either doesn’t do the book justice (and I might have missed something awesome), or is the best piece of writing in the book and the rest is a let-down (making me feel a bit deceived).

Believe me, I’d buy a lot more books if I got through 1/4 to 1/3 of the book and had that “gotta know how it ends” urgency.

For a person like me, freebies are excellent marketing – especially if the book is the first in a series. Once my attention is caught by an author or a series I am compelled to purchase the entire backlist because I want to know what happens next. Other than book review sites like this one, sampling free books is the predominant way I purchase books by new authors.

Knowing the book is free, I am more likely to give different genres and styles a try. Lynne Conolly is the predominant author that comes to mind. Her Richard and Rose novel was free for a short period of time. It’s written in 1st person which I HATE. But the book grabbed my attention and I ended up buying the rest of the series. Then re-reading them.

I have books I bought that I haven’t read (for years). I keep them and eventually my mood will roll around to read them. I’ve also bought books that I didn’t like the opening of and I quit reading them. I imagine it would be the same with e-books, free or not.

As a reader I find the most compelling freebies to be free sample chapters (like chap. 1-5 of a book). That way you’re well into it by the time you are done and if you like it you have to rush out and get the whole book to finish it. It’s kind of like a compulsion.

Of course, I’m no sales or promotion expert, and I realize that the point of free/cheap reads is to introduce folks to new authors and hopefully get them to try/buy that author’s other books farther down the line.

But most short stories are what, at least 3,000 words? I’d consider paying $1 for a short story that long to be a pretty good bargain. At that price, you’re getting a lot of words for less than a penny apiece. And a 10,000-word (or however long) novella would be an even bigger bargain at $1 or $2 (as of course would a full-length novel). I wouldn’t mind paying $3 or $4 for a full-length novel. That’s still half-price for a paperback. Fifty percent off is enough to tempt me to take a chance on an unknown author.

I guess my point is that even shorter works have (or should have) some sort of value, even if their primary purpose is promotional.

I would still disagree.

Like library addict, I only download freebies that sound interesting or ones from writers I've been meaning to check out. Most recent example is Kage Baker. Sometime last year Tor.com did a huge download of free ebooks. It took me a year but I finally read In the Garden of Iden, her first book in The Company series

D’oh! I snagged a copy of that last year, too. I need to get crackin’.

I like freebies but I’ll only download the story if it’s either something I know for a fact I’ll like, or the work of an author I’ve been meaning to try. Otherwise, the guilt of it languishing away on my hard drive would eat away at me (thanks a lot, Irish Roman Catholic upbringing :P).

My husband, however, downloads freebies like there’s no tomorrow. When I ask if we really needed/wanted a particular item, he just flashes me this goofy grin and exclaims, “It was free!”

Mostly I figure I’ll get a few free books here and there, and expect to pay for the others I want. I read them all, eventually, although which I choose has less to do with what I paid–or didn’t pay–than what I’m in the mood for.

I have considered buying a Kindle for just all the free books available! Though now I think I may look at an ipod Touch instead on top of the Sony PRS I already have.

I actually have stopped buying the $1 or $1.99 books but keep downloading the free ones. I know I’ll get to them one day.

Note: I use the word “book” in this post and by that I mean full length novel and not novella or short story. Those I think should always be free as a promotional item.

I don’t agree that short stories and novellas should always be free promotional items. We pay for short stories and novellas when they are packaged together (the My Big Fat Supernatural books come to mind). I would pay $1 for a short story and a little more for a novella, even if they were being used mainly as promotional items. (And really, isn’t every story/book an author writes promoting all of her other work?)

After all, it takes the author the same amount of effort to write a story whether she’s getting paid for it or not, whether it’s part of a promotional campaign or not. And it’s not any easier to write a good short story or novella than it is to write a good novel. Length does not determine quality. (And for the record, I’m one of those authors offering a free read as a way to promote my new urban fantasy series.)

Although I wonder if authors/publishers giving away free and/or cheap reads will become so commonplace that readers won’t care anymore?

And just as a general thought, why not make all short stories/novellas like songs and just pay/download the ones you want out of a particular book?

Personally, I think that you’re right for most authors — if nothing else, the expectations of something that’s free are far lower than the expectations of something I paid for, even if it was only a few cents (I got an Emma Holly book from the library for fifty cents and I expect that will rock). Also, it depends on the item given away — in the case of Silent in the Grave, I had read the SB review of it and expected it to be just as good as it was. As for the others I’ve downloaded, I haven’t seen any reviews and I know nothing of the author so my expectations are more along the lines of if its free, there must be a catch.