Book Review: Free by Chris Anderson

There has been a great deal of hype about Chris Anderson’s new book, Free. I’ve been waiting for this book for six months. Finally someone can make some sense out of what is happening in the music and publishing industries (and many other businesses as well) and to help me with some of my own decisions about the future for myself and my company. Anderson, the editor-in chief of Wired, made big waves with his previous book, The Long Tail. That book described how a company like Amazon makes it money. When we go digital there is one super advantage – we free up actually space. We can warehouse and distribute in a totally new way. Selling one book by an obscure author makes just as much money for Amazon as selling one book of a popular author. The Long Tail helped revolutionize our way of thinking about product development and distribution.

Now comes Free, an explaination of how things can be given away and still make money. The rock band gives away the music but makes it back, and more, through live performances and selling the T-shirts or exclusive editions of its music. Anderson explores the history of free and gives us lessons in economics on this issue. King Gillette discovered that giving away the razors made their customers dependent upon buying the blades. Free is hardly a new concept. Yet it has enormous implications.

My primary learning: Free can help you build reputation. As a generous person this approach appeals to me. I like to give away knowledge, ideas and suggestions. What is this blog more than my sharing what I read and know? I love it. But how do I earn a living off of it? Well, I can, as many others can, help build my reputation as a thoughtful, practical thinker and this increases my value in a market full of other consultants, writers and public speakers.

You can do this too. Give away the things that enchance your reputation, prove your expertise or give away a sample of what you do. And buy Free (!) if even just for the list of fifty business models build on the idea of Free. This is a book with many practical applications, but also a good share of history and economic theory. Intestesting and important – to say the least.