Why some folks got The Variant free
When I published The Variant for 99 cents, I anticipated some potential readers would have practical or philosophical reasons for not buying it. So I wanted to give them an out:
If after reading the lengthy free sample, you decide you want to read the rest of the story but don’t want to pay 99 cents -— or for some reason can’t -— send an email to sales@johnaugust.com.
If you can present a coherent case for why the story should be free (to everyone, or specifically in your situation), I’ll send you the .pdf at no charge. Note: In doing so, you agree to let me print your email in part or in full.
I was prepared to be sending out a lot of free .pdfs.
So far, I’ve only sent out 19. That’s out of 4,281 copies sold.
The longest request was 328 words; the shortest, a single sentence. I didn’t turn anyone down.
Flat broke
The most common theme in requests was economic hardship. Ninety-nine cents is not a lot of money, but when you’re watching every dollar, spending cash on something unusual seems hard to justify.
Desiree writes:
The New York Times article said that you would send free copy of your work to anyone with a good rationale. Well, times are tough. 99 cents may not be much money but I really do need the change. Thanks in advance.
Jim:
I would love to get a copy of The Variant. I was very taken with The Nines and thought it didn’t get the attention it deserved. My case for not paying? I work in public radio and don’t even have enough funds to pay my credit card (right now I’m maxed out, so can barely cover groceries).
Johanna offers more detail than you might want:
The sample pages I read were compelling enough that I wanted to at least ask if you could see it in your heart please to share the rest of the story with me.
I’m disabled, on Social Security, I just left the hospital a few days ago and have still have a drain in my neck. My bones are infected. It is hoped I’ll recover. None of that matters, really, except that what little money I have now absolutely has to be used to pay for the many costs of daily washing pillow cases (which my home care provider does for me), buying extra supplies for rebandaging and cleaning the drain which they never give one enough of and expect somehow, actually, I don’t think they really expect anything afterwards. They don’t really think. Out of sight, out of mind.
Anyway, your story was captivating and interesting and thank you for letting me read a sample of it. Should you choose not to share any more with me, I understand. It’s not my right to read your words.
Robert:
Sparing you the details of my current circumstances, I will say only that I am broke, tapped out, sapped, impecunious, impoverished, rabbit-eared (picture the floppy white pockets pulled out from a pair of tight jeans), depleted, and so on.
So, as I write to you on a borrowed computer, from a squalid hotel room, on an empty stomach, I ask for your kind pity, sir. Please allow me the pleasure of reading your work before my fading vision finally leaves me for good.
Trouble overseas
The second biggest group of requests came from abroad. Since the Kindle version only works in the U.S., I offer a downloadable .pdf for international readers. That still presents a challenge for some potential buyers.
Helga:
I live in Belarus. Our country is one of the “enemies of the internet”. Belarusian people are limited in using the internet. The unlimited internet costs about our month salary. I’ve been using the internet for 8 years already, and still always have a chance to visit sites and download small mp3s and programmes. We can’t use webmoney at all.
Guido:
I am a Film Student from argentina. For my screenwriting class las year had to do a Oral report on a screenwriter and chose some of your work and quiet frankly was taken by your writing. [...] Well with this story wich i think is quiet interesting the problem is thaththis story has been made for the amazon kindle that in argentina is not available and basicaly impossible to buy.
Elena:
I have a Kinddle and I would be very willing to pay 99 cents for your story, however, I am currently in Spain and I cannot download any text from here.
The PayPal barrier
Several readers who would otherwise be good candidates for the .pdf version had practical and/or psychological issues with PayPal, which processes the payments. For example, Blitzen is a Canadian teenager without a credit card:
Since I’m only fifteen, Internet-based retail seems to have a vendetta against me. I can’t buy things on Amazon without a credit card, which I can’t get, and I also couldn’t read Kindle books on an iPhone, which I don’t have, because I’m not in the US. A PayPal account is impossible to legally obtain for a person under eighteen.
Manny:
Read the sample, really want to finish reading the rest of the short I have 99 cents for you the only thing is I don’t have Kindle, an iphone nor a paypal account. And do not want to open up a paypal account just to spend a dollar.
If possible I’d like to mail you a crisp buck to get the rest of the story or if there’s another arrangement you’d like maybe we can work that out. But I do really want to read the rest of this story, it’s very intriguing. And as a young writer who wants to make screenwriting and basically storytelling his profession I like how you’re using this story as an experiment to see how it works.
Just Not Getting It
My most and least favorite request came from James:
I recently came up on a NY Times story about The Variant and read about your offer in regards to receiving it for free.
At first I thought that you had found such a low price point (I’m an econ major) that you had indeed eliminated the possibility of anyone refusing to spend such a small amount. However as I was thinking about buying your story I found myself stopping short of doing so. Here is my analysis of why I (probably) won’t buy/read your story unless I get it for free.
I work as an assistant at a talent management company in LA. As I’m sure you know we don’t get paid much so I try not to spend money online. My reasoning being that it is simply too easy to get in the habit and before I know it I’ll be spending money I should use for something else.
However, I really want to read your story because I believe you are great writer and this is potentially a great story. While thinking about this dilemma my eyes wandered away from my iphone screen and they were drawn to pile of scripts on my night stand.
Then it hit me, I have right next to me 4 potentially great stories for free. Granted they probably aren’t, but together their combined quality, length, diversity of story, etc will most likely prove more satisfying (both in terms of depth/breadth of emotion and time) than your short story.
I’m obviously a special circumstance but I believe the underlying economic reasoning can be applied in broad terms.
I basically I won’t buy/read The Variant because I have a large number of what I percieve as equally good alternatives for free that are even more easily accesible.
I could be a child at a school library or the owner of magazine stand. The same principle would apply.
In any case, I’m just writing to point out this line of reasoning. There are a couple additional arguments for me not to buy the story or even why it’s hypocritical to for me to even think this way but I think this is enough for one email.
He still got his copy — “coherent case” is a pretty low bar to clear. But as an econ major, he seemed to have little appreciation for the time value of money. That was a lot of work for his free copy. And considering he works for a talent management company, is this a smart strategy for interacting with a well-known screenwriter?
Some observations and conclusions:
I suspect I could have priced The Variant at one cent and sold just as many copies. Anything more expensive than free is a barrier, both practically and psychologically. The get-it-free option was an attempt to lower that barrier.
I have no way of estimating how many potential readers didn’t buy the story. I can track visits to the landing page, and each time the free preview was downloaded, but conversion is tough to measure. Most sales were on Kindle, and once a click goes through to Amazon, it’s untrackable.
The bulk of free-copy requests came from people who saw the New York Times article, which included the email address without explaining the terms (i.e. reading the free preview first).
Very few people “cheat.” Simply requiring someone to send an email seems to be enough to discourage lazy requests, since it means divulging one’s address. If it were web form, I suspect there would have been many more requests.
Articles
August 12th, 2009 at 5:47 am
This is a really excellent example of how most (almost all) consumers are willing to pay for content.
If I can pay my $ and get instant gratification through a streaming movie, I will. It is the lack of availability of content that is an issue. And that’s what leads to piracy and torrents.
If a movie was available worldwide via the internet my bet is the torrent download for that movie would drop off dramatically.
Of course the price has to be lower than what it is today, but the studios should realize a lot of these purchases will be incremental dollars and not cannibalization.
Your experiment is just one more example they should heed (but likely will not)
August 12th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Heh, you got some interesting emails. And such worldwide interest, that’s cool!
I want to read your story because I admire your writing and the movies of yours that I’ve seen, but I don’t want to buy it and I didn’t send you an email asking for it for free because I couldn’t justify it. I’m an aspiring novelist working part-time, so I’m not rich, but truthfully I could afford 99 cents. I think, for me, the mental hangup is that I put some of my stories on Amazon (using your very helpful instructions and template, thank you!!) and now I feel like if I were to buy your story, that would take away one of my sales.
Okay, and now that I’ve typed it I feel like a moron… It’s just so illogical.
And I’m a strong believer in supporting those who help you. Which you do every day with your blog, and specifically with your Kindle experiment & tutorial.
So off I go to buy your story!
(I swear this is not how I thought this comment would go…)
August 12th, 2009 at 7:19 am
I think it’s kind of awesome that most people are more than willing to pay for your novel, even when you were offering it for free. Hollywood insiders and producers need to stop worrying about getting their movies pirated or put on the Internet without their consent. Like the 1st person says, it’s all about content and availability. Make technology work for other people, and it’ll work for you.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Ha! I do think that was a good way for Talent-Management-Assistant to interact with a well known screenwriter. It gave him an excuse to write in and get noticed. In fact, as I was reading his email, that was the first thing that popped into my head.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:32 am
I’d love to see any data for those sending emails that they cannot afford it, but reading it off a $300 kindle.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:03 am
I’m not surprised you didn’t get many responses taking you up on the free copy. It was a terrific way to make people feel really guilty about themselves, whether you intended that or not.
It goes like this:
“Man, I’m still trying to pay off my card. This is exactly the kind of impulse buy I should resist.
Oh, we can e-mail him and ask for a free copy?
But he’s not guaranteeing that he’ll give it to us. It’s just a way to see how many people beg.
Still, maybe he’ll send it. Free is free. John’s a great writer.
But how am I supposed to ask for a free 99 cent story when I just spent twenty bucks on dinner last Friday?
That was a bad idea. Even if I was forced into it because everybody else wanted to go. Still, I could’ve just stayed home…
Man am I a hypocrite. Screw this.
Bottom line: I still haven’t read your story, although I’m sure it’s good.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Thanks again John for sending me a free copy, and my offer still stands to send you that crisp buck.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Free is a strange price point. I get the feeling people don’t trust the quality of something if it’s being given away for nothing, no matter what the reason. If it’s free, it can’t be good, right?
It’s the same psychology that makes me pay $200 for Diesel jeans instead of buying them for $17.50 at Target. I will pay for perceived quality. And the higher the price, perhaps the higher the quality? Wonder how many copies would have sold at $3.99?
August 12th, 2009 at 8:54 am
It is conceivable that you could have set the price at “$0, but you must register an account and verify your identity first” and “sold” as many copies. For me, at least, the barrier is not so much parting with money itself as the complex mechanics of doing so, assessing the security/privacy implications of the various ways of payment, et cetera.
Myself I decided after reading the free sample that knowing how it ended was not worth jumping through the hoops of online payment. Sorry, but the “mystery protagonist” structure did not work for me at all. With prose, my baseline expectation is to know everything the focus character knows that’s relevant to the plot at hand. When the story doesn’t even pretend to meet that expectation, I suspect I’m being set up for a Tomato Surprise. I predict that the protagonist will turn out to be either a replicant, a clone, a rogue thetan, a brain-transplant victim (all of the above would be a neat trick, though), but I’m not particularly curious about which. Why should I? I’m not given a chance to identify with him anyway.
[rant mode off]
August 12th, 2009 at 9:09 am
You should consider trying a “pay what you want” model on your next story (if there is one). It would be interesting if only to see what people consider a story is worth to them.
August 12th, 2009 at 9:16 am
“Free is a strange price point. I get the feeling people don’t trust the quality of something if it’s being given away for nothing, no matter what the reason. If it’s free, it can’t be good, right?
It’s the same psychology that makes me pay $200 for Diesel jeans instead of buying them for $17.50 at Target. I will pay for perceived quality. And the higher the price, perhaps the higher the quality? Wonder how many copies would have sold at $3.99?”
I’ve also gotten plenty anecdotal evidence from various people who’ve found that it is easier to get rid of stuff by selling it than giving it away. There has to be some innate sense that if it doesn’t cost anything than it isn’t worth anything. Also, possibly, you have to actually spend some money to feel like you got a real “bargain.” There is a lot to monetary transactions that defies logic which, I suppose, makes economics, the attempt to apply scientific reason to transactions, something of a lost cause.
August 12th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I like how Guido capitalized Film Student but not his native country, Argentina (twice). Also capitalizes Oral but not Amazon or Kindle. Good to have priorities.
FWIW, I ponied up the .99 and enjoyed the story.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Robert cracked me up. The next time he needs 99 cents, let me know. I owe him an advance for “tapped out, sapped, impecunious, impoverished, rabbit-eared” which I am sure to plagiarize. His words reminded me of the great Ripley Bogle by Robert Wilson.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:11 am
This post reminds me why I dislike most forms of human life. :/
August 12th, 2009 at 10:21 am
This argument can apply to anything. There will always be alternate websites, movies, videos, material objects that vie for our attention. He could go to the library and have even more alternate choices.
Rather than get something for free because he has other choices he should realize (especially as an Econ student) that he must make a choice based on potential value and price.
As someone in the movie industry he should place a value on creative content. Especially someone in the talent management area. Those scripts he’s reading will cost someone if they are selected. He happens to be in the unique position to get free access to them. No different than someone working at a recording studio and getting demos doesn’t entitle them to get all music for free.
One thing that may not be much of an issue yet is piracy. Oddly people pirate things that are 99 cents and enjoy them just as much. Look at the App Store. Almost every app is cracked within a day of release and in some cases hacked version outnumber sold versions of the same app 100 to 1. For the savings of one dollar.
There was a time when if you didn’t have the money you’d forego getting that item (even if it was a pack of gum). Now it seems like the lack of money is an excuse to get a copy for free.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I thought about making up an excuse just to see if it would get past you, but with all the stuff I was working on, $0.99 just seemed easier.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:35 am
I for one was stuck on imagining the 19 copies free out of 4281 copies sold…..I just couldn’t get my head around it. I was always so bad at math….then I saw that AMAZING pie chart John posted, and completely grasped the concept almost instantly! Man, thanks for posting that amazing chart. Even though my knuckles drag on the floor, I can still understand what you mean…..with pictures!
LOL!
August 12th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Is there anyway to track how the people asking for free copies read the trail part?
I agree with STZ above, I would bet that most of them read them on kindles and iphones making the whole “flat broke” idea pretty questionable at least.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:53 am
What magical, mythical talent agency is that guy working at where the scripts he’s been delegated to read are likely to be more entertaining than The Variant?
August 12th, 2009 at 11:17 am
While I understand people not being able to pay the 99 cents (growing up, I spent a good deal of time at the grocery store with my parents, watching them fork over food stamps), the other James just sounds like a douche. As an entertainment professional, doesn’t he know his 99 cents would be a tax write off anyway?
August 12th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Hhm… if I had to give a reason it would probably be like “I’d like to have it for free so people won’t think I bought that awesome, exceptional story in a 99¢ store.” ;-)
August 12th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I can’t buy it, I’m amongst the PayPal/overseas barrier folks, so I believe I’d qualify, but I didn’t write the email, because I just hate the idea of getting it for free, because I think people should be paid for their work. Especially now that I have to – against my will – live in a country where stealing is like second nature to a lot of people and 95% of CDs sold are pirate copies, etc, etc, I just can’t ask someone who spent time and effort on writing a story to go ahead and give it to me for free just because I can’t afford it and Amazon is there to remind me that I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere. I know if I got it for free, as soon as I got back home, I’d go ahead and buy it anyway just to pay the writer for the work. And if I never get a chance to do that, then I’d rather not have it for free.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
That’s the case Chris Anderson makes in “Free: The Future of a Radical Price.” I wonder if there’s a way to compare flat 99 cent pricing with other experiments, like giving most of the story away for free and asking for payment for the ending? In web development, you can do A/B testing by showing some visitors different paths. If only Amazon allowed this kind of A/B testing on pricing models.
By the way, after reading your article on Kindle publishing, I tried to post a previously published short story of mine but cannot ask for less than 99 cents. I see there are some free Kindle items. Are those free Kindle items in the catalog specially approved by Amazon?
August 12th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I bought a copy and was pleased to do so.
And in your honour, I just donated $18.81 (19 x .99) to someone I know who writes her heart out and has a ‘donate’ button on her blog.
It doesn’t sound like much, but it will cover a month of her middle-of-nowhere dial-up connection.
Mike
August 12th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
stupid question, but I can still buy it right? This post doesn’t mean you’ve pulled it, right? Because I finally signed up for Amazon and want to buy it now that you’ve reminded me about it.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Re: PayPal, you should try Amazon payments, its great, people can use their existing payment info stored on Amazon to buy from you. Super easy!!
August 13th, 2009 at 12:34 am
I never realized it was such a positive to give people something as ethereal as a Story before…
How cool is that?
I know there’s something bigger here… I just haven’t figured out its place in the equation yet. There’s something just… nuclear about people who actually want art enough to ask for it.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
“I suspect I could have priced The Variant at one cent and sold just as many copies. Anything more expensive than free is a barrier, both practically and psychologically.”
I think that’s a product of the internet and phones and such. If someone had something I wanted to read, and offered it to me in person in exchange for one physical, copper penny, I would buy it. But to buy something electronically entails alot more and divulges alot more, so I instinctively avoid it.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I gladly bought a copy for several reasons. Firstly, nothing irks me more than people wanting to freeload off others. Just because “we can get away with it” is no excuse. That sort of mentallity goose stepped it’s way into Poland about 70 years ago and it freaks me out that no one can see the connection. Paying up is the right thing to do. Period. Secondly, I work in intellectual property (IP) and realise that unless we want to export EVERY SINGLE JOB to China, we better get our act together. And finally, I write – and hopefully one day will be paid to write. I want to check out the competition. I need the reality check of the highest writing standards of our generation. Come to think about it, 99 cents is cheap.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Can’t afford the buck but they have an internet connection & computer? I’ll pretend they were at the library. Very cool though!
August 13th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Interesting post John. Would be cool to compare this free system against a successful internet media company, see what people WILL spend more the 99cents on.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:34 am
This is a refreshing example of how most people are honest and have good intentions. The results were similar when “Radiohead” offered their music for free but were accepting donations; most people paid.
August 14th, 2009 at 10:12 am
May I suggest this article from the blog of author Tim Ferriss, about using Google Website Optimizer? Maybe you find a way to test different buying paths for The Variant using this approach. It would be very usefull, for I’m sure many readers are following very carefully your experiment with self-publishing.
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/08/12/google-website-optimizer-case-study/
August 14th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
LOL! James, what the hell did you just say?? That argument didn’t make a lick of sense. What a bizarre e-mail.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
You nailed it with your assessment of James — the time spent asking for a free copy is itself a cost. For many people who wish to read The Variant, not having to spend the time making a coherent article (and not having to worry about their argument being deemed not good enough) is worth a dollar.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Hi John, I met you at the WGA conversation on Sci-Fi/Fantasy. This was my first time meeting writers and it was inspirin, insightful and motivating. Thanks for taking time to talk to me afterwards. Robert
August 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
People are less likely (I stress, ‘less’) to steal from someone they know than from a stranger. Or from somebody who has given them something first.
I think these numbers are heavily biased in that accord.
This site and John’s whole approach is about relationships, community, “Tribes” (read Seth Godin’s book, it’s good). I’ve never met John, but I feel like, in some way, I sort of know him and his efforts on this site have been very helpful to me. So either way, I feel indebted to him. I could not even think about stealing from him. I can only wish him more success.
I respectfully disagree with those who have drawn encouragement from the numbers in this experiment. The vast majority of people on-line will not pay for content unless it’s a relationship situation.
That said, by building these types of relationships (which the web enables on a global scale) perhaps we can finally get beyond the problems with the traditional (read:old) distribution model. And all live happily ever after.
John, you’ll never know how much you are appreciated.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Hi:
I am from El Salvador, i am an amateur screenwriting (sorry for my bad english) i follow yor blog every day and i found your tips very interesting it help me so much.
The questions is, how i can buy the varian with a credi card if i live here in El Salvador?, i want to achive (conseguir en español jeje) this document. How can i do?
August 27th, 2009 at 12:18 am
There is a post about piracy in independent distribution over at Filmmaker Magazine blog, and I linked to some of your older posts on the matter (when The Nines escaped to the Net) and o more recent one, about not loosing money when givingg away something for free.
You can check the whole thing here: http://filmmakermagazine.com/webexclusives/2009/08/tweet-this-by-jake-abraham.php