I'm aware of the concern with piracy. People downloading PDF books for free doesn't seem to bother me for some reason. Many older books should be Public Domain in my opinion. I don't really download eBooks all that much, but I look for the "Idiot's Guide" or "For Dummies" books whenever I do. It would be nice to download eBooks for free without worrying about copyright infringement. Actually, I prefer Audiobooks, because eBooks can be rather stressful on the eyes. I just don't see much point in reading something on a screen when you can be better off with an actual book in your hands. The smell of books is nice too (usually).
No, I do not think that e-books should be free. People put hard work into it and therefore it should be sold for a certain amount of money. Writers are being paid too little and should be paid much much more. I paid a lot for an e-book once and i never even got to read it. So dilly. Still, people should pay for their e-books so that writers can get paid more.
I don't think ebooks should be free. Writers have the right to earn profits from ebooks too just because they worked hard for it. Although the price should just be a fraction of a cost of the actual book. It should be cheaper because the money spent in producing ebooks is much lesser than when an actual book is published. There are times that ebooks are so pricey that it's not even worth it.
E- and audio-books are available 'for loan' at public libraries. One cannot save a copy, nor print it, and there is a return date for these too. After the due date, unless you have renewed it, the e-book fails to open. All this is done for a reason, and as consumers (readers), we must respect that reason! So, no - ebooks should not be free unless the author has authorized it. Like downloadable music and movies, they too should have a price tag on them.
It's up to the authors of the eBooks. If they want to give it away for free, fine. If not, we have to pay for it. Actually a lot of authors give away free eBooks to get into the market.
I'm an author and I say no. That being said, I recently did a promotion on one of my ebooks for free to generate sales, but that was a promotion. Otherwise, I expect to get money back for what I've done. I put a lot of work into my stories, between the actual writing, editing, cover art, formating and self-publishing. Would you expect to get a handwoven tapestry for free? Would you expect to have a well regarded artist just hand out his paintings? Why should an author, who is as much an artist as a weaver or a painter, be expected to give away the fruits of their labor for free? I agree that some books are priced outrageously, but there are other books, good books, that are actually priced to sell. What you're paying for is more than just words on a page. You're paying for the talent, imagination, and hard work that the author puts into the story. I'm sorry, I'll get off my soap box, but as an author, I felt I couldn't pass up an oppertunity to speak up like this.
No. You are paying for material by another author. It shouldn't matter how old it is. If you need a water pump for a 1972 Chevy Nova and have too seek out a scrape yard for a used part. They don't give it to you for free, because it is old. You need to pay for things you need, regardless how old it is.
I'm also a writer and I say a definite "no!" as well! Why should I give away all my efforts and talents and not be paid for it. Should actors work for free? Should brick-layers, or baseball players or doctors or teachers? Of course not. It takes quite a bit of effort and time to write and produce a quality e-book. There is absolutely no way they should all be free. Of course, authors can give away some books for free if they choose. In the self-published arena, it's actually a great marketing method.
As a consumer, no way! eBooks should not be free. I think this is a huge problem with our society today - everything online is expected to be free (movies, music, books, etc.). It really hurts the creators, the creative minds, who do all the work because they don't get compensated at all for it. We no longer value their skills - and that's what they are. Skills. But people fail to realize that time and effort that went into creating these things - they need to be paid, the same as a doctor gets paid for services, or a fashion line gets paid for its clothes and accessories. By the way, many of the classics are free on sites like Project Gutenberg (sp?) due to their copyrights being expired. Note that these are older books, but classics, nonetheless.
I don't think they should be free, unless there's some sort of sweepstakes or something like that. It's the same thing to me as buying a song or movie online. A writer is an artist too in creating the idea for the book he/she wrote. They put in a lot of time and energy into creating the book and deserve to be paid for it no matter how it's being sold- in paper or ebook form.
I believe this issue to be entirely at the author's discretion. If a person writes a book and wants to give it away, more power to them. Many authors do this exact thing to gain exposure for their work with an end goal of writing to make money, but writing is work, and if one's work is beneficial to another person, the author has every right to put a price on it.
I still feel this should be left to the authors to decide, whether their books (hard-copy or soft-copy) to be free or not. Some people even want to edit an entire Ebook and get credited for someone's work!
Ebooks should not be free. How can the writers make a living if we download pirated books on the internet. How can they also get inspired to write great novels and such if they see their pirated books on the net right? It just dismays them to see that their creativity is just being brushed off by the people scattering their work.
I know we may want them free, but we can't always get things like that. But I can see why some feel that ebooks should be free. Some Ebooks out there are pretty much junk and a waste of space. Created for no other reason than to cheat people out of their money. But there are other times when the author is genuine and is giving out well written information that has real value. That shouldn't be free.
People do often give away ebooks for free, just look around for them. New ebooks aren't usually free as there's hard work and research been put into them so it's only fair that person should receive some financial gain from it. Would you write and research an ebook and then give it away? I wouldn't. lol
Definitely, I would vote for a resounding YES! On the consumers' side, it would surely be a big blessing. You could expect huge savings, especially if you're a voracious book reader. However, we also have to respect the rights and the welfare of the authors. To be fair, they also deserve to be compensated for their ideas.
It depends on which side of the fence you are on. If you're the consumer, then of course you would prefer the free ones as opposed to having to pay for it right? But if you are the author, of course you would not want it to be free. So being a consumer, I would have to go with the "yes" vote if I was asked if ebooks should be free. Because I still buy paper books anyway, so I don't really rob the authors completely.
It should depend on the author primarily. For me, I do not think that it is right to make eBooks and just give them away for free. I have tried making one eBook and I was paid $200 for it! It took me about 1 week to scan all 4k pages and it was a tiring work!
Though I would love it if eBooks are free as I am fine with reading eBooks and it saves me shipping cost by getting eBooks, I don't think they should be free, as the author has put lots of effort and time into writing the books, whether or not it's an eBook or physical book. I do think the eBooks should be sold slightly less expensive than the physical books, which usually are in the market now.
I think it all depends on ones choice. If one decides make money with his/her eBook, it quite good; however, If one also decides to make his/her eBook free, its also good.
