Why publishers should give away ebooks

“I used to buy a lot of MP3s. I don't anymore... But the decisive factor in the transformation of my purchasing behavior, as a marketer would say, wasn't aesthetic. It was the decision by record companies to start giving away a free digital copy of an album when you buy the vinyl version... Readers today are forced to choose between buying a physical book or an ebook, but a lot of them would really like to have both on hand... publishers have three big imperatives today: (1) protect print sales for as long as possible (in order to fund a longer-term transition to a workable new business model); (2) help keep physical bookstores in business (for the reasons set out in this article by Julie Bosman); and (3) do anything possible to curb the power of Amazon.com, the publishers' arch-frenemy... First, you give people an added incentive to buy a print book... Second, you do something that helps physical bookstores in their own end-of-days battle with Amazon... Third, by offering the ebooks in a standard, non-proprietary format (ePub, say), you make the Kindle, which doesn't handle the ePub format, considerably less attractive...”