I WANT MY BOOK TO BE FREE?

[Michael Barry]

My book, 'What, In God's Name?' by Michael Barry, is available at Amazon, but I really want it to be free as a downloadable PDF. Any suggestions how I can make that possible would be much appreciated?

[LanDroid]

As I recall, Amazon is willing to make books free for a limited/promotional time period, but I obviously they're not in business to support a large number of no-charge transactions. (No experience with this, just read it somewheres?)

If you truly want to make it free, design a web page describing the book and allow it to be downloaded right then and there. Probably some relative of yours under 30 can make this happen at minimal charge...

[Michael Barry]

Thanks for the input. My idea was to have a link that I could put on sites such as this, Twitter, etc., to download my pdf direct for free. Having a relative under thirty to make this happen? Is that an ageist thing? Just for the record, my generation (born in the 50's) invented the analytical engine, pilot ace, bombe, colossus computer, difference engine, programming language analytical ordercode, Boolean algebra, www, http, html, Osborne 1, grid compass, flip flop circuit, universal turing machine, packet switching, integrated circuit, ssem baby, cathode ray binary data, Manchester mark1, cpu, rom, ram and fifty-three more computer related designs that I can't be bothered typing. Just saying, for the record.

[LanDroid]

Heheeee, that's a good list! We're about the same age, so you should have no trouble getting it done yourself. Might want to take it down from Amazon just before launch, they may not like free links elsewhere? (Dunno / guessing.) Good luck...

[Michael Barry]

Thanks for the tip. I use that reply to give young ones a dose of reality, ha ha. If I could get my pdf file to appear here X as a clickable download for free, I would be very happy. I could do the same on other sites, but I don't think it's possible? I say that with the hope that someone will tell me that it is possible? And I'll end up eating humble pie because they'll probably be under thirty.

[LanDroid]

Well I tried to attach a .pdf file to this thread, but for some reason that file extension is not allowed. Ask someone under 30.

[Gail]

At only 60 pages, your book may be short enough to fit in a free WordPress page. (It won't copy footnotes, but it might copy endnotes)

[LanDroid]

Here's an outline of one way you could do it, but don't ask me for any details.

1. Save your book in a .pdf file so no one can alter it.
2. Create a web site.
3. Post your .pdf file as one of the pages on that web site.
4. Post the .pdf file link on other web sites to share your book for free.

Here's an example, a 132 page operating manual for a hand held ham radio transceiver.
http://www.randl.com/shop/catalog/man2/yaesu/vx3r.pdf

[Michael Barry]

Thank you for the info, I'll give it a try. The good news is that I've got some interest from a couple of literary agents now, so anything could happen? I'm sure my book will make it one day; one way or another, eventually.