Missed this one earlier this week, but an interesting experiment from Harper Collins: it is putting the entire contents of a book online for free — but with ads, along with an Amazon affiliate link for those who want to buy the hardcopy.
InfoToday: Not only can the book be read at the site, but it can also be searched. HarperCollins Publishers is calling the project a test of a new business model. Some self-published authors also offer ad-supported books online, but Harper Collins’ move is the first by a major publisher.
Harper Collins has been experimenting more than other book publishers..in December it announced its own digital book strategy (independent from initiatives from the likes of Google and Yahoo). It will digitize its active backlist of an estimated 20,000 titles and as many as 3,500 new books each year, and store them on its own servers, and then let the search engine spider them.
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