6 ms·

“What I’ve Learned From Failure” e-book, free for 24 hours

45 points by raganwald 15y ago

amalag 15y ago
Is the author going to set a minimum price on the sliding scale or fix a price? I think the business model is very interesting. I first saw "free" book and thought I would download. Then I saw the sliding scale and then it kicks in to spend something.
- raganwald 15y ago
  As the page says, just slide the slider to zero. The minimum price is zero.
  - tzaman 15y ago
    I wanted just to download it, yet the little angel on my right shoulder won't let me. Suggested price it is!
    - garethsprice 15y ago
      I wanted to just download it too and had the same feeling when confronted with the slider, but I don't want to pay for it as I don't know if I'd actually get around to reading it. My choice was just not to consume it at all rather than offend the author and out myself as a cheapskate by taking it for free. Not sure if this is rational, but it's an interesting reaction. I'd be interested to see stats comparing the bounce rate and revenues from this experiment to a) regular paid downloads, b) direct free download link with no slider.
      - raganwald 15y ago
        You’re welcome to download it, read it later, and if you like it later, “re-buy” and pay whatever you like. Since I’m the author and the one saying it’s ok to pay zero, I can assure you it’s ok to pay zero now and pay whatever you like later. I’m not offended in the least!
        lode 15y ago
        I bought it (paid for it), but can only seem to download the PDF. The other formats are just listed as empty bullets. (Tried in Safari and Chrome.)
        raganwald 15y ago
        I just republished it to include a CC license, try downloading again please. If that fails, we need to talk to leanpub.com. Thanks!
        lode 15y ago
        Works now after the new version was published. Thanks!
  - dhimes 15y ago
    I took his question to mean, "what happens at 12:00 EST?"
forgottenpaswrd 15y ago
I am downloading it for free, if it is good I will pay for it. I hate using paypal for paying though, I prefer O'Really's way.
- raganwald 15y ago
  if you don’t like PayPail, I am fine with any of the following: 1. Don’t pay, and tweet about it including @leanpub, they are evaluating other payment options and woul dlove to hear from you. 2. Don’t pay, but email me an Amazon gift certificate in any amount you please. 3. Don’t pay, but email a copy of the book to five people who ought to read it.
  - ktsmith 15y ago
    I appreciate the flexibility you've used with publishing through leanpub, I'm also not a fan of paypal so an amazon gift card has been sent. I look forward to any future ebooks you publish in this manner as well.
ciupicri 15y ago
By the way the HTML email from Leanpub has a tiny bug. The link from the following text includes the comma (at least on the Yahoo web mail): especially http://leanpub.com/stealthisbook, which is also free! P.S. I had the same feeling as garethsprice combined with some curiosity, so thanks for the book and the reassurance that it's ok to download it for free now.
Jabbles 15y ago
Re: Offerings for free I wonder if a possible market could be made from offering half of the content for free, with the assumption that if you like the first half enough, you won't mind paying for the second half, and if you didn't like it, you wouldn't have wanted to pay for it anyway. i.e. Watch up to the first half of a movie/tv episode for free (like a big trailer), if you're still interested, pay for the whole thing? Easily applicable to books/songs. We already have a limited kind of "try before you buy", or Amazon's "look inside". But the problem with these is that they're akin to movie trailers - selecting the best bits of the film. Making a significant portion (logically the first X%) available might allow people to make more informed choices. Then again, that might result in fewer sales... PS. There appear to be some encoding issues, I can see "â€TM " instead of "'" in some places in the pdf.
- raganwald 15y ago
  Leanpub.com does allow you to make a free sample PDF with as much or as little of the content as you like, it’s very easy. So, you can implement the feature you suggest right now!
- frou_dh 15y ago
  Video game demos. On Xbox Live Arcade, AFAIK, all games have mandatory demos that can be upgraded in to the full version at the end.
- rogerbinns 15y ago
  > .. offering half of the content for free .. This is kind of a pain on a book by book basis. Each one is at a different publisher, has yet another username and password etc. The good news is that they will be doing a Humble Bundle for ebooks in the future. Humble Bundle also allows coming back later and increasing your contribution even after the promotion has ended. Source: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/cory-doctorow/article/50413-with-a-little-help-digital-lysenkoism.html http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blog...
neilk 15y ago
This is great, I've always wanted to know what it's like to fail!
- raganwald 15y ago
  My claim to fame is having as much experience with failure as you can collect without winning a Darwin Award. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterne_rouge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterne_rouge

45 points by raganwald 15y ago

Is the author going to set a minimum price on the sliding scale or fix a price? I think the business model is very interesting. I first saw "free" book and thought I would download. Then I saw the sliding scale and then it kicks in to spend something.

raganwald 15y ago
As the page says, just slide the slider to zero. The minimum price is zero.
- tzaman 15y ago
  I wanted just to download it, yet the little angel on my right shoulder won't let me. Suggested price it is!
  - garethsprice 15y ago
    I wanted to just download it too and had the same feeling when confronted with the slider, but I don't want to pay for it as I don't know if I'd actually get around to reading it. My choice was just not to consume it at all rather than offend the author and out myself as a cheapskate by taking it for free. Not sure if this is rational, but it's an interesting reaction. I'd be interested to see stats comparing the bounce rate and revenues from this experiment to a) regular paid downloads, b) direct free download link with no slider.
    - raganwald 15y ago
      You’re welcome to download it, read it later, and if you like it later, “re-buy” and pay whatever you like. Since I’m the author and the one saying it’s ok to pay zero, I can assure you it’s ok to pay zero now and pay whatever you like later. I’m not offended in the least!
      - lode 15y ago
        I bought it (paid for it), but can only seem to download the PDF. The other formats are just listed as empty bullets. (Tried in Safari and Chrome.)
        raganwald 15y ago
        I just republished it to include a CC license, try downloading again please. If that fails, we need to talk to leanpub.com. Thanks!
        lode 15y ago
        Works now after the new version was published. Thanks!
- dhimes 15y ago
  I took his question to mean, "what happens at 12:00 EST?"

forgottenpaswrd 15y ago

I am downloading it for free, if it is good I will pay for it. I hate using paypal for paying though, I prefer O'Really's way.

raganwald 15y ago
if you don’t like PayPail, I am fine with any of the following: 1. Don’t pay, and tweet about it including @leanpub, they are evaluating other payment options and woul dlove to hear from you. 2. Don’t pay, but email me an Amazon gift certificate in any amount you please. 3. Don’t pay, but email a copy of the book to five people who ought to read it.
- ktsmith 15y ago
  I appreciate the flexibility you've used with publishing through leanpub, I'm also not a fan of paypal so an amazon gift card has been sent. I look forward to any future ebooks you publish in this manner as well.

ciupicri 15y ago

By the way the HTML email from Leanpub has a tiny bug. The link from the following text includes the comma (at least on the Yahoo web mail): especially http://leanpub.com/stealthisbook, which is also free! P.S. I had the same feeling as garethsprice combined with some curiosity, so thanks for the book and the reassurance that it's ok to download it for free now.

Jabbles 15y ago

Re: Offerings for free I wonder if a possible market could be made from offering half of the content for free, with the assumption that if you like the first half enough, you won't mind paying for the second half, and if you didn't like it, you wouldn't have wanted to pay for it anyway. i.e. Watch up to the first half of a movie/tv episode for free (like a big trailer), if you're still interested, pay for the whole thing? Easily applicable to books/songs. We already have a limited kind of "try before you buy", or Amazon's "look inside". But the problem with these is that they're akin to movie trailers - selecting the best bits of the film. Making a significant portion (logically the first X%) available might allow people to make more informed choices. Then again, that might result in fewer sales... PS. There appear to be some encoding issues, I can see "â€TM " instead of "'" in some places in the pdf.

raganwald 15y ago
Leanpub.com does allow you to make a free sample PDF with as much or as little of the content as you like, it’s very easy. So, you can implement the feature you suggest right now!
frou_dh 15y ago
Video game demos. On Xbox Live Arcade, AFAIK, all games have mandatory demos that can be upgraded in to the full version at the end.
rogerbinns 15y ago
> .. offering half of the content for free .. This is kind of a pain on a book by book basis. Each one is at a different publisher, has yet another username and password etc. The good news is that they will be doing a Humble Bundle for ebooks in the future. Humble Bundle also allows coming back later and increasing your contribution even after the promotion has ended. Source: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/cory-doctorow/article/50413-with-a-little-help-digital-lysenkoism.html http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blog...

neilk 15y ago

This is great, I've always wanted to know what it's like to fail!

raganwald 15y ago
My claim to fame is having as much experience with failure as you can collect without winning a Darwin Award. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterne_rouge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterne_rouge