Some prominent Internet and publishing figures have spoken out on the importance of making books freely available to the world (Lessig 2004, 2008; Boyle 2007, 2008a, 2008b; Doctorow 2008). Although making books available as free educational resources may be beneficial, an obvious objection to the making of books available for free is that the availability of free online copies may harm the commercial viability of printed books, thus making fewer quality books available (Rich 2010; Adams 2007). Adams, the author of the “Dilbert” cartoon strip, wrote of his disappointment with readers after he released one of his older books for free online.
My hope was that the people who liked the free e-book would buy the sequel [which was newly available in hard copy]. According to my fan mail, people loved the free book. I know they loved it because they e-mailed to ask when the sequel would also be available for free. For readers of my non-Dilbert books, I inadvertently set the market value for my work at zero. Oops. (2007, A19)
In contrast, others have suggested that sales are not negatively affected by free digital content (Doctorow 2008; Hardawar 2009; Kusek 2008). Society would obviously benefit from books being freely available; however, if sales collapse, it seems unlikely that authors and publishers will be willing to make them freely available. The present study undertakes to answer the question, how does giving away digital books currently influence the print sales of those books?