“Free” Viewed 17,700 Times for Free

By Jason Boog 

andersonfree.jpgIn a move that will test both the premise of his new book and the online reading habits of his audience, Wired editor and author Chris Anderson is letting people read his entire book for free on Scribd. Already more than 17,700 readers have viewed the book.

In his new book, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price,” the editor proposes that free content can help create business in 21st Century economy–from publishing to the music industry. Last month Anderson caused a stir when he admitted to including unattributed Wikipedia passages in his manuscript, and the Scribd edition includes new annotations for these parts.

Here’s more from the release: “Scribd is kicking off ‘Liberate the Written Word Month at Scribd’ with the release of Chris Anderson’s book “Free,” an e-book exclusive, available to read in full and for FREE for an entire month. This is the fully annotated version (with Wikipedia references) not currently available in print.”