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Often, e-books are given away in the form of bonuses, gifts, or inducements to buy a larger product. Sometimes only the first two or three chapters are released for free, with the idea that curiosity will evoke a desire to buy the rest of it.

Perhaps because this is so common, or perhaps because e-books are just made of “thin air” and electrons, it’s easy to think of e-books as a no-cost way to dispense information. A common argument is that no trees were cut to produce them, and no ink was used to print them. Thus, they are free to make, so why charge anything to “distribute” them?

It’s certainly very easy to give them away, and many marketers do so in order to please their customers, to attract customers, and to build their own credibility as an expert in a specific area.

But are they really “free” to create?

Hardly. No matter how much or how little time is spent producing one, it still is time spent. How much is your time worth?

Consider this: What careers, professions and jobs consist only of time spent without producing a product? Let’s look at a few:

• Seating Hostess at a restaurant. What does this person do? Does she create a physical product that you can purchase and take home? No. Does she perform a service on you that makes you feel better? No. She shows you where to sit and brings you a menu. Should she do it for free? No. These people rightfully earn a salary.
• Department store greeter. These folks usually are older than the entry-level crowd looking for a way into a career. Greeters often are already retired and either want something to do, or may need to supplement a too-small pension income. Should they do it for free? No. They deserve their salaries also.
• Preacher. Now, just what do preachers produce? They neither sow nor reap, unless you want to think of souls as commodities. Yet they earn their keep as well. Should they do it for free? How would they live? How would they support their families? They must make a living, too, or they would have to go away. Hence, the collection plate, and the agreed salary from the church treasury.
• Author. These people spend uncounted hours researching, solving problems, organizing information, then writing it down. Should it be worth more if they write it or type it onto paper? Or is it OK to type it into a computer? The same amount of time and effort goes into it. Only the resulting product is different.

These digital products may be called books, reports, or articles. Should they do it for free if they appear only in digital form? Does paying for paper and ink products “pay back” nature for using up her trees?

Did you know that authors eat food, pay to live somewhere, buy gas for their vehicles, and wear clothes? Some of them even have kids to feed.

Now let’s get down to some actual expenses incurred by digital authors. In order to show their ebooks on the Internet so people can find them, they must have a web site, or rent space on someone else’s. Having a web site is an expense that varies widely, according to the levels and quality of the services available from the web hosting company.

Owning and operating a web site can be done by one person, if they have abilities in every area, and the time; but more often, one has to pay for the several layers of service, such as web hosting, domain registration fees, web design, web page maintenance, following up with emails from visitors, and providing information that appears on the web site (known as “content”).

One may need to buy the different kinds of content found on the pages of the web site, whether it’s music, video, text, pictures, or other forms of information. If one is not artistic or able to photograph, then one must buy these things from others who are. When was the last time you went to a web page that consisted only of text on a page? 1980 something?

While you can set up a blog for free, bypassing the need for a web site, per se, there is no way to store your downloadable product (the ebook) unless you have web hosting somewhere. Even if you have your own server, you still have equipment and hookup costs.

And let’s not discount the cost of this equipment. You have to buy a computer and pay an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to connect you to the web. And let’s not forget the telephone. You might get by without a phone, but let’s be real: You need one to conduct a business.

Also, many authors maintain an office. Rent, utilities, office equipment, employees… office expenses. Sure, some beginners start out working at the kitchen table in their pajamas, but it’s not a permanent business model to strive for. Is that how you want to spend the rest of your life? At the kitchen table in your pajamas?

I suggest to anyone who thinks ebooks should be free to try and make one themselves. Then figure out how to justify the time spent doing it, especially if you have bills to pay. Or do you feel that writing for the Internet is only a hobby?

If you need some information on, say, how to deal with a particular disease, would you want to get an ebook from someone who wrote it as a hobby? Or would you prefer or be willing to pay for the information from someone who is an expert in the field? And if you still think it needs to be on paper, then for gosh sakes, download it and print it off and quit complaining.

Dr. R.J. Peters is a retired health professional who is now exploring marketing topics on the Internet. See his website to learn more about writing skills.

I have 5 ebooks that I sell for a variety of prices, and those are the download prices.

On the Cat Massage pack, I offer people the option to get everything on a CD for $5

extra so I can pay the postage, the packing and the CD itself, which comes to approximately

5 bucks for everything.

There was an article in PC World magazine a few months ago where people were griping about having

to pay for ebooks. The general perception is that they are free to produce so why should

anyone pay for them? Gosh, they only consist of electrons, right?

Well, no one ever stops to think of the time spent by the author. What kind of job would

a person want where they spend all day writing, doing research, formatting, etc., all

for nothing? Then, how are these authors supposed to pay the hosting company for hosting

their web sites? What about the autoresponder company? They typically charge around 20

bucks a month. Then of course, there are domain registration fees. Luckily, those are

pretty cheap these days… about 8 or 9 bucks a year. Used to be 35, until competition

came into the game.

Again, there is the bottom line of what should a person get for a salary or wage? Even

authors have rent to pay, utilities, food, gas, and all the same stuff as everyone else.

So far, I’m spending a lot more than I take in, and Ed is so patient with me… keeping

the hope alive that some day, I’ll make enough so that he can quit trucking. Neither of

us is getting any younger, so the usual job market is pretty limited for us oldsters.

Frankly, I don’t think I can make enough as a greeter at Wal-Mart to help with the

mortgage. But if I don’t sell a LOT more of my ebooks, then that will be my only

option! Yikes!

Then, I always ask people, how much are they willing to pay to attend a speech, a concert

or a movie? They don’t take anything physical home from those things, either. And they’re

not even getting electrons that they could print off when they do get home.

So, I guess I’d have to say, if I am not allowed to charge for my work, then why work?

What is the reason to work at all? Of course, it’s work I enjoy, but I can’t afford to be

a permanent volunteer. The rescue shelter already broke us financially.

I just spent 2 full days, about 10 hours each day, building that “catalog” page on my

web site. It’s a lot of work to program things. And I do it all myself. I’d love to pay

someone to do it, but that’s a very expensive service to buy… and can’t afford just yet.

Having you look it over and find the errors was a tremendous help and I definitely

do appreciate it. We didn’t have a work for hire agreement, but I wanted to share something

with you anyway. Most authors on the internet do it this way, as I’ve done work for some

of THEM myself… editing their files for them to be sure of good grammar and spelling.

They “pay” me with downloads of their products. So, I was just doing what is considered

normal online. And I’m still willing to print it off for you, but it’s not only a direct

cost, but could easily take a couple of hours to actually perform it.

Also, I guess the Cat-a-log illustration of the binder made me want the printed copy.

That’s nice to hear, actually, as it means I did a good job creating the image. I was afraid

it looked too amateurish…

But that’s part of the marketing procedure, too. Since the book doesn’t really exist in the

real world, we have to come up with something visual to make it feel real. Like a movie poster…

it’s not the movie… just a representation of it, to help people decide if they want to see

the whole thing.