From: hal@finney.org
Date: Tue Nov 28 2000 - 08:54:58 MST
According to http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,40356,00.html
Stephen King has suspended work on his online novel The Plant, which he
had been releasing in installments on a pay as you go basis. This was
considered a possible model for authors to be rewarded financially in
a world where intellectual property protection is becoming uncertain.
"Originally King said he would keep writing if readers kept paying. By
part four, only 46 percent of the people who downloaded the book paid
for it"
The target percentage was 75%, which is about what the first couple of
chapters pulled in. Apparently it has been falling since then.
Sounds like we need to go back to the drawing boards to come up with a
new idea to pay for IP. Anyone who has sat through the annoying pledge
breaks on PBS will know that it's not easy to get people to pay for
something they can get for free.
Hal
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