Morgan’s posterous

Here is the digital copy of Chris Anderson's new book, Free. And there it is, online, for free, for you to read at your lesiure online. Of course to get the book in any sort of form that doesn't require you to deal w/72 dpi you either have to pay the full boat for the hard cover or luck into a limited run of Adobe sponsored paperback versions. I won't be reading the above version or any other version. I'm waiting for it to arrive on the Kindle. An arrival that's been purposefully delayed as part of the "free" part of the marketing plan for the book.

From Mr. Anderson's blog on any other (namely Kindle and other ebook readers) versions:

"Next up, in the coming week: free FREE on Kindle and other ebook readers, including the iPhone."

Because I am tired I will keep this short. Of course Mr. Anderson "needed" to give away his book for free in one form or another, lest the hypocrite title be to fastiduously affixed to Mr. Anderson upon book arrival; but this notion of giving away "Free" for free on ebook readers like the Kindle is a marketing miscalculation of no small order.

The book has been out for a full 5 days now and we don't have the slightest clue when the Kindle version is coming out. And when it does it will be free, but it will be free precisely for the wrong reasons. If the real time web has taught us anything, it is that in terms of the news, information loses value over time. The newer the information (w/a big caveat around accuracy) the more value it has. "Free" has more value to me the closer it is to the publishing date; and I imagine, the same holds true for other Geeks like me who are interested in reading it and joining in on the conversation.

But, I can't. I have to wait for the free version to come to the Kindle if I want to experience the book that I want to experience it (that is, on my Kindle without a hardcover and at greater than 72 dpi). I have to wait to get it for free, when I would've gladly paid a premium to get it at publishing time. The missed opportunity is the idea of what is more valuable to people - either free or as soon as possible. I believe many other geeks would choose as soon as possible over free and a week late (of course, I could be wrong).

What Mr. Anderson and his publishers missed out on was a person like me who would've paid the full book price for the Kindle version just to get it the day it came out. I would've paid a premium on top of the book price to get a Kindle version a day before the hardcover hit the bookstores. I would have paid for the privilege to be a part of the unfolding conversation around the book. But now, that opportunity is gone.

Now I'll get it for free, a week or two after the bulk of the conversation is gone. Instead of reading it right off the bat and consuming it and then writing about it and telling everyone about it, it will go in my list of books to read and I'll get to it eventually.

What a missed opportunity. Never try to figure out what people want without asking them. I'd have gladly plunked down my money for a Kindle version of Free without a second thought. Now, I'll download it when I get around to it...