Should E-books Be Free (and have ads in them?)

[Gamal]

I recently started exploring the idea of ad supported e-books. As a reader and an author, how do you feel about the potential for putting advertising in books?

http://t.co/xBUUvgkM

Thanks in advance
Gamal

[Debra]

My opinion- if the ads were very supportive of the topic of the book, it might work. If it is a book about dollhouses, sure, offer ads from doll furniture suppliers. But not car insurance.

I am making a book of my blog which many authors post on. There will be links to buy their books included, and to visit their websites.

My opinion.

[Gamal]

Thank you Debra. Do you feel readers would respond better if there were links embedded in the text of a book that took them to a certain web page instead of a full screen ad?

Have fun.
Gamal

[Jeanette]

In the world today the only place ads aren't are in the books that I read. I would find it obnoxious and unneccessary. I read to escape from the world for a while being reminded of it while reading would bug the heck outta me. I rather pay for the ebook instead of getting ads for a free one.

[Troy]

Not a fan of the idea, personally.

[Gamal]

Jeanette wrote: "In the world today the only place ads aren't are in the books that I read. I would find it obnoxious and unneccessary. I read to escape from the world for a while being reminded of it while reading..."

You bring up a very good point Jeanette. There are quite a few companies now that are offering two versions of their media; free with ads and at a cost with no ads. Music services like Pandora and Sky FM do it all the time. Do you think that idea could work for books, allowing some people to get a free book with ads or a ad free book that they have to pay for?

Thanks
Gamal

[Scott]

I don't think it would work. There's too many free eBooks out there already with no ads in them, and I think people would simply skip over the ads anyway.

It's an interesting idea, though. Just don't know if there's much of a market for it.

[Stephen]

Books are one of the last refuges from the plague of constant product placements, nattering TV screens in cabs, restaurants and cellphones, and incessant gulag-style piped-in advertising (at high volume) in the PA systems of malls, department stores, and my local CVS. So, I can say with certainty that even if it was free, I'd not read an e-book with ads.

I'm of the belief that if you value something, you should pay for it -- so I'm happy to pay for books.

The problem with advertising, of course, is that the business needs of advertisers will drive the content of e-books to a common denominator of mediocrity, at best.

[Hayley]

If there isn't already a two-tiered system in the world of publishing, putting ads in ebooks would certainly create one. Books with ads would, I predict, be considered to be very low quality, while books without would be the ones that might have a shelf life of more than a couple of months, the ones we study in schools, the ones we turn to again and again. Just a prediction.

[Dex]

This is quite a creative idea, but I'm not sure it's very sound. First off, I don't think there is a reasonable way to measure the results of those ad placements (given people don't decide to block them). Secondly, the whole idea of free books is self perpetuating - as long as books are free, why should readers choose to pay?

I believe ebooks should not be free, unless they are in a very time limited promotion, or a lending program. The price people are willing to pay for ebooks, is very subjective and often associated with quality. I'm all for indie authors choosing to charge less then conventional publishing, but there should be a limit.

[Brian]

I will note that I gave a negative for a book that had ads every page or so for another one of their books. One of the very few I've given a two star review to as a professional reviewer. Felt that it would be disruptive to the average reader is why which I stated clearly in the review. If you do the ads make sure you limit them in number.

I do have two permanent freebies out, they are rather short. One in particular introduces two characters to readers and is 7 pages long. It's basically a subtle upsell, you like the freebie you'll then buy the novella the characters are from.

[Hayley]

Thinking more about this, I agree that it depends on the type of books. For novels, I'd say a big NO. For non-fiction, however, it would be an interesting idea. If I were reading something like "Into Thin Air" and the web page for a mountaineering company was embedded in the text, that could work, or even an ad for MEC, provided it was only one ad. I wouldn't want to be bombarded the way I am every time I go on Facebook or other websites.

[Dutch]

Perhaps on an included last page, after the story, where we may mention other books we have, we could place a SMALL sponsors text ad, perhaps give the URL for their web site, but NO direct links should appear in a book, just because it happens to be issued in an electronic format.
On pricing, indie authors should be allowed to sell their PRODUCT for whatever price they choose, and NOT be dictated a pricing structure for it.
The internet would not be where it is today if Linus Torvolds was as greedy as Bill Gates and others.
The world RUNS on FREE LINUX, almost everything electronic you own and use has Linux at it's core.
There is a reason WHY we have both Wally World and Needless Markup stores, and both sell products made overseas at greatly varying prices.

[Gamal]

At this point I don't think ads are viable for independent authors because there is little tolerance of them in the market and the potential revenue streams don't justify the backlash.

But one thing I have decided to do is provide links in my short stories to other books in the same series. When I introduce a character or make reference to an event that happened in a previous story, I put a link in the text. That way anyone who wants to read more about that character or event can jump right to it. I think on a certain level that is kind of like an ad, but not something that will pull a reader out of the experience. If anything, it could draw them deeper into the world I'm creating.

Have fun.
Gamal