Sanderson's Paradox - Free eBook Distribution

Over on Twitter, Brandon Sanderson was looking for potential ways to get package digital copies of his books for those who purchase hardcover editions of them. I've wished for this for years as it would allow me to leverage my Kindle Fire for travel and mobility while still supporting my rampant bibliophilia.

The basic requirements he lays out are as follows:

1) System should be publisher independent
2) Little to no additional cost to publisher
3) Books are available to be sampled in book stores (no shrink wrapping)

Option 1

The easiest solution is to have Amazon and B&N integrate it with their Kindle/Nook services where if you buy a physical copy of an eligible book through them, a redemption link is sent to your email or the e-book is automatically sent to the Kindle/Nook associated with that account. These companies both have the resources and the incentive to make this happen as it would correspond to huge growths in their tablet/e-reader sales. I actually wrote about this a long time ago back in 2009 though I don't think we're any closer to seeing this three years later.

Strengths

• No way to get the free e-book without buying the book first.
• No modifications to the book necessary.
• If a book is returned, access to the eBook could be revoked.

Weaknesses

• Doesn't prevent you from selling or sharing the physical copy of the book once you have your digital copy (no system really will)
• Would be driven by booksellers not publishers (lots of potential issues here with who has rights to what)
• Not open to indie booksellers.

But Sanderson throws another requirement in there - 4) that it needs to work as well for the big stores as it does for the little guys. If the mom and pop shops need to get involved it gets a little more complicated. Here are a few more potential solutions off the top of my head.

Option 2

Unique cards (similar to what is included in shrink wrapped DVDs with bonus copies) that are shipped with the books. It would be up to the book seller to distribute these cards upon the purchase of a book. Possibly enhance the security with a scratch off covering for the unique code and/or some type of bar code that the book seller would scan so it's included on the receipt (rings up as 0.00 with the purchase of the book.) This would you from returning the book without also returning the unscratched off card. You could then take this card to your eReader of choice and redeem it for free or a nominal fee.

Strengths

• No way to get the free e-book without the scratched-off code.
• No modifications to the book necessary.
• Open to all book sellers

Weaknesses

• Doesn't prohibit buying the book and sharing the code (no system really will)
• Requires modifications to the bar code databases.

Option 3

The next solution would require no additional cards or modifications to the existing book.

A book would be printed with a code inside it. The code would be the same and printed in every book, except possibly library editions. You would enter this code at some website which would then activate a program based on the printed text. This program would randomly ask you 3-10 random questions based on the text layout of the book - what is the third word on page 392? - that needed to be answered within a set amount of time. This would prevent people from getting the information from the books in stores or posting guides to acquiring the books online.Yes, this wouldn't prevent people from going out, buying the book and then returning once they had the free digital copy but the hassle of doing that (see rebate logic) would be better than storing some code you could easily write down in the book store. You could also couple this with a unique code that would prevent the redemption of multiple books.

Strengths

• Prevents people from easily subverting the authentication system.
• No modifications to the printing process necessary.
• Potential buyers can still sample the book
• Open to all book sellers

Weaknesses

• Process is more complicated than a simple redemption code and requires additional code.
• Risks reader seeing spoilers.
• Doesn't prohibit buying the book and sharing the code (no system really will)
• Either multiple eBook copies could be redeemed with the same book or people could return a book with an already redeemed code in it.

Option 4

Print "$1.00 eBook editions" that come shrink wrapped with a unique redemption code inside them. They would be priced a dollar more (or whatever price you set) than the regular, non-shrink wrapped edition and you wouldn't be able to return an opened eBook edition. If you were on the fence, the non-eBook editions would be available for you to read a few pages.

Strengths

• No way to get the free e-book without the scratched-off code.
• No modifications to the book necessary.
• Open to all book sellers

Weaknesses

• Requires a method of writing unique codes in the book and securing the codes
• Doesn't prohibit buying the book and sharing the code (no system really will)
• People could open the shrink wrap and take the code without buying the book.
• Could impact the sales of non-eBook editions if eBook editions were sold out.

So those are my ideas. Feel free to pick them apart or add your own.