Press Pause Play

In an attempt to explore the notion “ideas that are free spread faster”, the marketing author Seth Grodin asked his publisher to give away his book “Unleashing The Ideas Virus” for free. When they refused Seth decided to post the book online. On the first day it was downloaded 3,000 times, the next day 6,000 times, and so on until it reached 3 million downloads. He then began to receive emails from people who didn’t want to read the book on a screen, so he printed a 200 page hard back version and began selling it for $40 a copy. It became a worldwide bestseller and within a month the book, which he had initially given away for free, had made more money than any of his previous books combined. But this wasn’t about the money. The point he was making was that the process by which he had sold his book was an indication that everything had changed. “The industry, as we know it, is dead,” he says, “There has never been a better time to be an artist.”