Cory Doctorow’s Business Model

I read my first Cory Doctorow novel on an iPod Touch. I downloaded the book using Stanza, having stumbled upon some open wifi in a rather remote corner of Wales.

I enjoyed it, was appreciative of the opportunity to get it for free, and I was converted to ebooks: nice to read on an iPod (who knew?), take up no room, and always with me. I started working through Mr. Doctorow’s back catalogue.

I was surprised, then, to read the following in his introduction to ‘Little Brother‘:

What’s more, I don’t see ebooks as substitute for paper books for most people. It’s not that the screens aren’t good enough, either: if you’re anything like me, you already spend every hour you can get in front of the screen, reading text. But the more computer-literate you are, the less likely you are to be reading long-form works on those screens – that’s because computer-literate people do more things with their computers. We run IM and email and we use the browser in a million diverse ways. We have games running in the background, and endless opportunities to tinker with our music libraries. The more you do with your computer, the more likely it is that you’ll be interrupted after five to seven minutes to do something else. That makes the computer extremely poorly suited to reading long-form works off of, unless you have the iron self-discipline of a monk.

The good news (for writers) is that this means that ebooks on computers are more likely to be an enticement to buy the printed book (which is, after all, cheap, easily had, and easy to use) than a substitute for it. You can probably read just enough of the book off the screen to realize you want to be reading it on paper.

So ebooks sell print books. Every writer I’ve heard of who’s tried giving away ebooks to promote paper books has come back to do it again. That’s the commercial case for doing free ebooks.

The thing is: I have so far not spent a penny on a Cory Doctorow book. And the way things are going, I never will: I find the experience of reading on the iPod perfectly acceptable, and suspect that more and more will start feeling the same way pretty soon.

So, firstly I feel guilty – all this time, he was waiting for me to buy – but secondly, what happens if the ebook reading experience keeps improving? Will authors have to stop giving them away?