I have put the book Commerce online for everyone to read free.
My
decision was made based on low sales volume since Commerce was first
published in its current version in 2004. Sales still total less than
1,000 copies.
The disadvantage of putting the book online is that historians will be less able to measure the impact of the powerful and unique ideas in the book on our society. With no measure of book sales, the metric for "exposure" will be gone.
Measuring the influence of a book by sales figures, however, is a very sketchy metric. Several of my books, like The Seven Laws of Money, which sold over 100,000 copies and Marketing Without Advertising which has sold over 250,000 seem to have had no greater impact than my Simple Living Investments, which has sold under 8,000 copies.
Just comparing The Seven Laws to Marketing Without Advertising shows the discrepancies in sales as a metric for influence. People have never stopped telling me how great an influence The Seven Laws has had on their lives over thirty years and few say this about Marketing Without Advertising. The sales of Marketing Without Advertising has been steady for over twenty years while the sales of The Seven Laws waxes and wains ---- there has been a recent resurgence of sales because the book is being discussed in AA groups.
On the other hand Commerce is more likely to be read, and certainly parts of it are more likely to be read, now that it is online. The consequence is likely to be greater, regardless of the metric. The goal with all my books has been to influence my society...for the better.
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