Neil Gaiman, author of the Best Selling novels American Gods and Neverwhere has received a green light from his publisher to allow one of his novels to be released for free online.

This is a big step for an industry that has been traditionally less than receptive of the idea of going digital.

Why is this such a great plan?

Don’t Copy That Floppy

Like feature films, novels make most of their profits in the first few months of their release. After the initial buying frenzy dies away, most novels see fewer and fewer sales as the readership is saturated.

By releasing a novel for free well after the initial surge of purchases has died, you allow people who may not have considered buying one of Neil’s books to try it out without any risk.

Not only could this draw new readers into the fold for future novels, but since a lot of people like having a book that they can hold with pages that they can turn, many might pick up a physical copy to put on their bookshelf.

This is a great example of content producers learning to work within the digital economy instead of fighting against it. Neil’s publishers will be monitoring sales after the book is released, and if they do well they will consider releasing future novels using this model.

If you want a chance to vote for which novel should be released, follow the bouncing link.

(Image) (RSS)

If you enjoyed that why not find a job or read our guide to working in the 21st century. You can also join our Kiva team or hire me for your project.