In his New York Times bestseller, The Long Tail, Wired magazine's
editor in chief provided a glimpse of the business future that's
already here. And now, in Free, he does it again.
As the cost of doing business online drops closer and closer to
zero, giving things away is not just becoming an option--it's
inevitable. But if the product is free, where's the revenue? In
Free, Anderson breaks down the priceless economy into six broad
categories, demonstrating how to make money in each:
- "Freemium": Free Web software and services, and some content, to
users of the basic version. (Think Flickr and the $25-a-year Flickr
Pro.)
- Advertising: Free content, services, and software to an audience
that advertisers will pay to reach.
- Cross-subsidies: Give away any product that entices customers to
pay for something else. Example: It's a free second-gen Wii! But
only if you buy the deluxe version of Rock Band.
- Zero marginal cost: Anything that can be distributed without an
appreciable cost to anyone, like online music.
- Labor exchange: Performing tasks to gain access to "free" sites
and services.
- Gift economy: From Freecycle (free secondhand goods) to
Wikipedia, money isn't the only motivator.
In Free, Anderson uses the fundamentals of economics, a long view
of the history of business, analysis of today's rapidly changing
landscape, and fascinating predictions to create a book that, like
The Long Tail, will be essential reading in the years to
come.
- In hardcover, The Long Tail had lengthy runs on the New York
Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Book Sense, Wall Street
Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and Los Angeles Times bestseller
lists, and has sold200,000 copies.
- Like The Long Tail, Free began as an article in Wired--in this
case, as a controversial cover story. Anderson has also been
discussing the book's progress on his widely read blog
thelongtail.com.
- As editor in chief of Wired and author of The Long Tail, Chris
Anderson is one of America's most sought-after commentators on tech
trends.
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