The biggest difficulty may be getting people to pay for books online. The famed horror author released four chapters of the book on his Web site. For the first few installments, enough readers paid the fee. By Chapter Four, however, paid readers dipped to 46 percent and King eventually suspended publication. The hardcover copy comes out Tuesday.
Some net authors are willing to give their books away.
More than a quarter million Web surfers have downloaded the book. It has since been published in hardcover, but Godin doesn't care if people download his work for free. Publishers, however, are still obsessed with the bottom line. Although it costs virtually nothing to get an e-book to a reader, prices from the big companies are running similar to hardcover copies. The public must also accept the difference between paying for a hardcover book and downloading one.