Often, e-books are given away in the form of bonuses, gifts, or inducements to buy a larger product. Sometimes only the first two or three chapters are released for free, with the idea that curiosity will evoke a desire to buy the rest of it.
Perhaps because this is so common, or perhaps because e-books are just made of "thin air" and electrons, it's easy to think of e-books as a no-cost way to dispense information. A common argument is that no trees were cut to produce them, and no ink was used to print them. Thus, they are free to make, so why charge anything to "distribute" them?
It's certainly very easy to give them away, and many marketers do so in order to please their customers, to attract customers, and to build their own credibility as an expert in a specific area.
But are they really "free" to create?
Hardly. No matter how much or how little time is spent producing one, it still is time spent. How much is your time worth?
Consider this: What careers, professions and jobs consist only of time spent without producing a product? Let's look at a few:
- Seating Hostess at a restaurant. What does this person do? Does she create a physical product that you can purchase and take home? No. Does she perform a service on you that makes you feel better? No. She shows you where to sit and brings you a menu. Should she do it for free? No. These people rightfully earn a salary.
- Department store greeter. These folks usually are older than the entry-level crowd looking for a way into a career. Greeters often are already retired and either want something to do, or may need to supplement a too-small pension income. Should they do it for free? No. They deserve their salaries also.
- Preacher. Now, just what do preachers produce? They neither sow nor reap, unless you want to think of souls as commodities. Yet they earn their keep as well. Should they do it for free? How would they live? How would they support their families? They must make a living, too, or they would have to go away. Hence, the collection plate, and the agreed salary from the church treasury.
- Author. These people spend uncounted hours researching, solving problems, organizing information, then writing it down. Should it be worth more if they write it or type it onto paper? Or is it OK to type it into a computer? The same amount of time and effort goes into it. Only the resulting product is different.
These digital products may be called books, reports, or articles. Should they do it for free if they appear only in digital form? Does paying for paper and ink products "pay back" nature for using up her trees?
Did you know that authors eat food, pay to live somewhere, buy gas for their vehicles, and wear clothes? Some of them even have kids to feed.
Now let's get down to some actual expenses incurred by digital authors. In order to show their ebooks on the Internet so people can find them, they must have a web site, or rent space on someone else's. Having a web site is an expense that varies widely, according to the levels and quality of the services available from the web hosting company.
Owning and operating a web site can be done by one person, if they have abilities in every area, and the time; but more often, one has to pay for the several layers of service, such as web hosting, domain registration fees, web design, web page maintenance, following up with emails from visitors, and providing information that appears on the web site (known as "content").
One may need to buy the different kinds of content found on the pages of the web site, whether it's music, video, text, pictures, or other forms of information. If one is not artistic or able to photograph, then one must buy these things from others who are. When was the last time you went to a web page that consisted only of text on a page? 1980 something?
While you can set up a blog for free, bypassing the need for a web site, per se, there is no way to store your downloadable product (the ebook) unless you have web hosting somewhere. Even if you have your own server, you still have equipment and hookup costs.
And let's not discount the cost of this equipment. You have to buy a computer and pay an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to connect you to the web. And let's not forget the telephone. You might get by without a phone, but let's be real: You need one to conduct a business.
