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Free downloads increase Book sales - BAJR Host - 9th June 2009
Scholarship on Ancient Middle East Becomes Free Digitally
Newswise ? A wealth of material that documents the ancient Middle East has become available through a new, free online service at the Oriental Institute.#8232;
The material comes from the extensive collection at the institute, which is a major publisher of important academic books on the languages, history and cultures of the ancient Middle East. The effort began in 1906, when the University started issuing publications that have been essential for studying the past......
.........Statistics on downloads of electronic files and sales of printed books have been carefully tracked, and the Publication Sales office has noted that the availability of free downloads has not adversely impacted the sale of the printed volumes. In fact, the availability of free PDFs of titles has increased print sales. After the complimentary distribution of 21 titles?books that had not been accessible via the Internet before 2008?print sales of those same titles increased by 7 percent compared to the previous two years.
Read more here:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/552994/
But this shows that having free pdfs of reprots and publications will actually help sales ! Many people are loathe to put documents online for free, fearing it will affect sales of the hard-copy... this however, seems to show the reverse!
"Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage."
Niccolo Machiavelli