[Summary]
Some publishers decided to use the web as a marketing tool to promote
their books among the 50,000 new books published per year in the U.S.
NAP (National Academy Press) was the first publisher in 1994 to post
the full text of some books on its website, for free, with the authors’
consent. It was followed by MIT Press (MIT: Massachusetts Institute of
Technology) in 1995. Oddly enough, there was no drop in sales. On the
contrary, sales increased. These initiatives were praised by a number
of other publishers, who were reluctant to do the same, for three
reasons: the cost of posting thousands of pages online, problems linked
to copyright, and what they saw as a “competition” between digital
versions for free and print versions for a fee.
***
Some publishers decided to post the full text of some books for free on
their websites, and to use the web as a marketing tool to sell the
print versions.
NAP (National Academy Press) was the first publisher in 1994 to post
the full text of some books, with the authors’ consent, as a way to
promote their books among the 50,000 new books published per year in
the U.S. NAP was followed by the MIT Press (MIT: Massachusetts
Institute of Technology) in 1995.
NAP was created by the National Academy of Sciences to publish its own
reports and the ones of the National Academy of Engineering, the
Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. In 1994, NAP
was publishing 200 new books a year in science, engineering and health.
The publisher began posting full books for free, as suggested by their
authors themselves, for people to browse them on the website before
buying their print versions. Oddly enough, there was no drop in sales.
On the contrary, sales increased. Print books ordered online were 20%
cheaper. There were also more sales by phone. In 1998, the NAP Reading
Room offered 1,000 entire books, available online for free in "image"
format, HTML and PDF.
In 1995, MIT Press was publishing 200 new books per year and 40
journals, in science and technology, architecture, social theory,
economics, cognitive science, and computational science. MIT Press also
decided to put a number of books online for free, as "a long-term
commitment to the efficient and creative use of new technologies".
Sales of print books with a free online version increased as well.
These initiatives were praised by a number of other publishers, who
were reluctant to do the same, for three reasons: the cost of posting
thousands of pages online, problems linked to copyright, and what they
saw as a “competition” between digital versions for free and print
versions for a fee.