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« A cow in more ways than one | Main | Grilled Cheese »

Thinking about digital media

So, here's an interesting head to head comparison of how an idea works its way through the food chain.

About 7 years ago I wrote a book called, Link: The Bootstrapper's Bible. For a bunch of reasons, it didn't do very well. It probably sold about 10,000 copies at about $12.

I got the rights back from the publisher and turned it into a PDF which was sold on Amazon. (Link: Amazon.com: Books: The Bootstrapper's Bible : Volume 1.) For a surprisingly long time, it was either the #1 bestselling ebook on the entire Amazon website or in the top 100. It costs less than $3. Yet, after 18 months of strong sales on Amazon, it has sold fewer copies than the paperback did.

Yesterday, we announced that for just two weeks, a ChangeThis edition of the ebook (Link: ChangeThis :: The Bootstrapper's Bible ) is available for free. And in twenty four hours, it has already "outsold" the Amazon eBook and will quite likely surpass the printed edition within a week or so.

Can you make any money giving away an ebook? I think you can. I think you do when the idea spreads and people want to interact with you in other ways. And those interactions are the currency of the future.

Posted by Seth Godin on November 16, 2004 | Permalink

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