Comments for Wide Open

Comment on Free e-books dissertation published by sally jiang

sally jiang — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 05:34:55 +0000

i like e-books because it is convenient for me to read and buy.

Comment on Dissertation Draft–first two chapters by Dave

Dave — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:11:56 +0000

I believe that if your product, whether a book or something else, can be freely obtained by those who know how, it can actually strengthen its position in the market. An obvious example of this is the operating systems and software of Microsoft, which have been pirated all over the world, making them the de facto standard. (It remains to be seen how their more recent forays into copy-prevention will affect their dominance.)

Comment on Dissertation Draft–first two chapters by Henry

Henry — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 03:23:19 +0000

- However, sales did not decrease. The fact that sales increased when a decrease was to be expected is one of the most important findings of this study -

I think this statement speaks volumes. By giving something out free you sometime stimulate ensuing purchases of a product. Look at how Costco gives out the samples e.g., it’s the same for books.

Comment on Dissertation Draft–first two chapters by Michael

Michael — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:36:24 +0000

“There are a lot of factors at play here.

Freely available books would help people develop a reading habit- which would help increase the sales of other books.

However, some people may restrict themselves to free books alone if a decent collection is available, so that may hurt sales.

A lot more data is needed to make any kind of analysis out of this.

Michael Holman,
Webmaster, http://omega3information.com/“

Comment on Dissertation Draft–first two chapters by Sam Weston

Sam Weston — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:45:18 +0000

Although the number of free e-books downloaded is high at 102,556 I wonder just what sort of percentage of these are actually read. There seems to be something of a ‘free’ culture which is especially strong on the Internet and I believe that a large number of people just download things because they are free and never have any intention of actually doing anything with them.

Sam – The Club Car and EZ GO golf carts guy

Comment on Dissertation Draft–first two chapters by Slash

Slash — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:34:59 +0000

I’ve worked in publishing for some years (I’ve been a project leader for the Harry Potter books at a publishing house that had the rights in one of the European countries) and I agree with the statement that free digital publications can help you sell printed books.
Just as you say in the document, good content brings lots of visitors to your site and a small percentage of them will buy the book. But the point is, one you get them, you can offer them more books or other products they may be interested in – you just have to do it right and not be too pushy about it. My experience is that this will make them come back again and you get a returning customer from a free book.

Comment on Dissertation Draft–first two chapters by Colin L.

Colin L. — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:18:28 +0000

“The interesting thing is, when it comes to recreational reading (fiction) I will go out and buy the physical book 100% the time”

Jason, I used to do that as well. However now with the Kindle and IPAD, I now buy only transfer the ebook to my I-Tunes and read next to the fire. My Mom actually will go out and buy the book still, even if it is on the computer. I honestly think there is a generational influence on this.

Colin
Property Management Thousand Oaks

Comment on The four R’s of openness and ALMS Analysis: Frameworks for Open Educational Resources by R. Cristi

R. Cristi — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:01:05 +0000

There are so many educational resources, but the general public who want to learn about these resources are ignorant to them. I have to say that the article is a good source to obtain that knowledge. Good Job. R. Cristi Author of Blonde Joke book!

Comment on Dissertation Draft–first two chapters by Jason Scofield

Jason Scofield — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:53:38 +0000

Hi John,

This is quite an interesting study. I do a lot of reading for both educational and recreational purposes and it’s interesting to compare my own behaviour with the stats you give here.

The interesting thing is, when it comes to recreational reading (fiction) I will go out and buy the physical book 100% the time, because nothing beats the feeling of lying in bed or in front of the fireplace with a good book. Howeverm when it comes to educational stuff and work related stuff it’s almost the opposite and I don’t mind spening hours reading e-books on the computer.

Keep up the good work.

Jason Scofield
Webmaster,
Wendy Houses Cape Town

Comment on Dissertation Draft–first two chapters by John Dale

John Dale — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:47:59 +0000

There is so much free material available for download today that it is mind boggling! Nonetheless, there is still a perception that free equates to poor quality and that you get what you pay for. For this reason, there will continue to be a market and many people will be happy to pay a high price for what they perceive as being high value.