| View Larger Image | Free: The Future of a Radical Price | Hardcoverby Chris Anderson (Author)
| List Price: | $26.99 | | Price: | $21.59 | | You Save: | $5.40 (20%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Hyperion | | Page Count: | 288 Pages | | Publication Date: | July 07, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 2,518nd |
|
FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9781401322908
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The New York Times bestselling author heralds the future of business in Free. In his revolutionary bestseller, The Long Tail, Chris Anderson demonstrated how the online marketplace creates niche markets, allowing products and consumers to connect in a way that has never been possible before. Now, in Free, he makes the compelling case that in many instances businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them. Far more than a promotional gimmick, Free is a business strategy that may well be essential to a company's survival. The costs associated with the growing online economy are trending toward zero at an incredible rate. Never in the course of human history have the primary inputs to an industrial economy fallen in price so fast and for so long. Just think that in 1961, a single transistor cost $10; now Intel's latest chip has two billion transistors and sells for $300 (or 0.000015 cents per transistor--effectively too cheap to price). The traditional economics of scarcity just don't apply to bandwidth, processing power, and hard-drive storage. Yet this is just one engine behind the new Free, a reality that goes beyond a marketing gimmick or a cross-subsidy. Anderson also points to the growth of the reputation economy; explains different models for unleashing the power of Free; and shows how to compete when your competitors are giving away what you're trying to sell. In Free, Chris Anderson explores this radical idea for the new global economy and demonstrates how this revolutionary price can be harnessed for the benefit of consumers and businesses alike. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 74 reviews)
|
well-researched and written by Philip Simon  5 Stars
November 08, 2009
Free is an exceptionally well-written and researched book.
I admit that I was a bit skeptical going in, essentially understanding the concept quite well based on paying attention to the technology world over the past five years. I wasn't sure that Anderson's Free could sustain my interest for 250 pages.
I was wrong.
Anderson painstakingly details the evolution of the concept, delving where necessary into sometimes obscure--but important economic theories. (I'm glad that I remembered my college economics courses, not that that's required to follow his concepts.) Rather than continue fill his text with dry economic analyses, however, Anderson jumps quite easily into the social sciences, citing the works of scholars such as Herb Simon and Abraham Maslow.
Lest you think that you'll read a strictly academic book, Anderson's real world examples simply jump off the page. The usual suspects are certainly accounted for: Google (more than once), Radiohead, the NY Times, and others provide proof that "Free" needs to be front and center these days for most media and technology companies' business models.
Towards the end of the book, I realized that Free is as scary as it is important. With Gen Y growing up digital, to paraphrase Don Tapscott's book of the same name, many people now take Free as a given. This has huge implications for many areas of society, as Anderson demonstrates throughout his book.
This is an important book and I would imagine it's required reading at many MBA programs and startup companies. Free makes you think while acknowledging the evolution of an important concept. All of my favorite non-fiction books do this.
| |
Fine, but says too little about the dark side of free by Paula L. Craig (Falls Church, VA United States)  3 Stars
November 08, 2009
I found Anderson's book to be a good introduction to the various strategies for making money from giving away a free product. Excellent if you're trying to start a business and need some ideas.
The book says far too little about the many downsides of pricing things at zero. Anderson briefly mentions that free is a problem when it comes to pollution and other negative externalities. In the next paragraph he says that we are increasingly starting to measure and account for these negative externalities, so it's not a problem. I agree that's what should be happening, but there hasn't been a lot of progress on this so far. In some respects things have even been going backwards in recent years. There are plenty of people out there who believe that regulation of any sort is wrong, and that the government should get off people's backs. So much for trying to correct for negative externalities.
I was glad to see that Anderson mentions the downsides of free parking. However, in my opinion one short quote on this subject is far from an adequate treatment. The ideas that parking should be free and that congestion-free roads and highways should be provided as a public service by government have been central in creating the mess that is the current U.S. transportation system, as well as in the declining quality of life in the U.S. For more on this, see The High Cost of Free Parking, as well as The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape.
Anderson believes in the cornucopia economic theory, that stuff will always get cheaper because technology marches on. Please don't take this as gospel without reading some contrary views. Some things have indeed gotten better and cheaper due to technological progress. Other things have gotten better and cheaper because fossil fuels have been plentiful and cheap. Cheap oil, coal, and natural gas are by no means guaranteed to be available in the future. Fossil fuels also have plenty of negative externalities which are not adequately accounted for in modern economies. As a start on this subject, see Eating Fossil Fuels: Oil, Food and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture and Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines (New Society Publishers).
| |
Great Information, Though a Tad Redundant by Dale Little, Business Strategist  4 Stars
November 06, 2009
Mr. Anderson explains why "free" is a bargain for both businesses and customers. The back of the book features resource information + examples of "free" that every business can utilize in one way or another.
For those skeptical about "giving away the farm", you'll be surprised when you review the illustrations of "free" in the marketplace already. Many we don't even realize but take for granted... nonetheless, Mr. Anderson drives the idea home: Free is working to improve brand recognition and bring in customers. Free will continue to work for the foreseeable future.
| |
There's More To "Free" Than You'd Expect by Kelly L. Watson (Lancaster, PA) 5 Stars
November 06, 2009
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RBLO842OKEKRO I expected this book to be full of dry economic theory, but instead was fascinated by all the behavioral studies and science behind people's buying decisions, and the value we place on things.
| |
Depending on definition, there *is* such a thing as a free lunch... by Thomas Duff (Portland, OR United States) 4 Stars
October 31, 2009
On the internet, the word "free" is often used to describe products and ideas. But what does "free" really mean, and how can you make a living if no one wants to actually pay money for what you produce? Chris Anderson seeks to clear up some of that confusion in his book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. After reading Free, I have a much better idea of how "free" fits into a business and marketing strategy, and how it can actually lead to higher sales of things that aren't gratis...
Contents:
Prologue; The Birth of Free
Part 1 - What Is Free?: Free 101; The History of Free; The Psychology of Free
Part 2 - Digital Free: Too Cheap To Matter; "Information Wants To Be Free"; Competing With Free; De-Monetization; The New Media Models; How Big Is The Free Economy?
Part 3 - Freeconomics And The Free World: Econ 000; Nonmonetary Economies; Waste Is (Sometimes) Good; Free World; Imagining Abundance; "You Get What You Pay For"
Coda; Free Rules; Freemium Tactics; Fifty Business Models Built On Free; Acknowledgments; Index
Anderson starts out by explaining the different meanings of "free". It would seem that definitions would be unnecessary, but I found that it really helped clarify my thinking behind what is meant when people say something is free. There's the direct cross-subsidy "free" (get something in hopes that you'll pay for something else), the three-party market "free" (you get something for free because someone else pays for it to get your attention), the freemium "free" (a basic version of something in hopes you'll upgrade to a paid premium version), and the non-monetary "free" (something that is just given away with no expectation of payment). That last form of free can be either a gift (like contributions to Wikipedia), labor exchange (I do something to get something in return), or piracy (I take something for free that is supposed to be paid for). I found all these discussions immensely useful, as they clarified what one can expect when drawn into a discussion of how you can afford to give away something and still expect to make money.
Of course, there are those on the other side who insist nothing is free, and Anderson also takes on those arguments. The "You Get What You Pay For" chapter does a good job in summarizing the arguments and applying much of the material found in the book. Again, I found it useful in that it allowed me to think through the concepts and take them from theoretical knowledge to practical application. If I were to choose to do something "for free", how best could I expect to benefit from that, either monetarily or emotionally... And if I needed any examples on how to structure a business based on these concepts, the "Fifty Business Models Built On Free" does an excellent job in giving concrete illustrations of how "free" can fit into a business and benefit it.
Free was, for me, a worthwhile read. I now understand better what and why companies "give stuff away", and what the motive behind it might well be.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Publisher
Payment: Free
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Long Tail, The, Revised and Updated Edition: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
by Chris Anderson (Author)
The New York Times bestseller that introduced the business world to a future that's already here--now in paperback with a new chapter about Long Tail Marketing and a new epilogue. Winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for Best Business Book of the Year In the most important business book since The Tipping Point, Chris Anderson shows how the future of commerce and culture isn't in hits, the high-volume head of a traditional demand curve, but in what used to be regarded as misses--the...
| 
| Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business
by Erik Qualman (Author)
A fascinating, research-based look at the impact of social media on businesses and consumers around the world, and what's in store for the future Social Media. You've heard the term, even if you don't use the tools. But just how big has social media become? Social media has officially surpassed pornography as the top activity on the Internet. People would rather give up their e-mail than their social network. It is so powerful that it is causing a macro shift in the way we live and...
| 
| Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
by Chris Brogan (Author), Julien Smith (Author)
How to tap the power of social software and networks to build your business In Trust Agents, two social media veterans show you how to tap into the power of social networks to build your brand's influence, reputation, and, of course, profits. Today's online influencers are web natives who trade in trust, reputation, and relationships, using social media to accrue the influence that builds up or brings down businesses online. The book shows how people use online social tools...
| 
| Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters
by Scott Rosenberg (Author)
Blogs are everywhere. They have exposed truths and spread rumors. Made and lost fortunes. Brought couples together and torn them apart. Toppled cabinet members and sparked grassroots movements. Immediate, intimate, and influential, they have put the power of personal publishing into everyone’s hands. Regularly dismissed as trivial and ephemeral, they have proved that they are here to stay.
In Say Everything, Scott Rosenberg chronicles blogging’s unplanned rise and improbable triumph,...
| 
| What Would Google Do?
by Jeff Jarvis (Author)
A bold and vital book that asks and answers the most urgent question of today: What Would Google Do? In a book that's one part prophecy, one part thought experiment, one part manifesto, and one part survival manual, internet impresario and blogging pioneer Jeff Jarvis reverse-engineers Google—the fastest-growing company in history—to discover forty clear and straightforward rules to manage and live by. At the same time, he illuminates the new worldview of the internet...
|
|
|
