I was recently
ranting to my husband about how frustrating it is to know so many
people with ebook readers wanting to download free books! Having
written a couple of manuscripts, I now recognize that a book involves
hours and hours of brow-furrowing concentration; back-wrenching
butt-in-chair typing; and writes, rewrites, edits, proofs, critiques,
and much more! It’s appalling to me that people are only willing to
spend 99 cents or zero money on something that took an author perhaps
a year to craft.
A few days later, I
was skimming cnet.com for
recommendations on video capture software. I was getting ready to
type in the search box “free video capture software.” I glanced
over at my desk which held a Starbucks “Pick of the Week” free
download from iTunes. I reviewed my to-do list for the day which
included a trip to the library to pick up free books for my kids to
read.
Guilty.
We’re suckers for
things that are free, and when something out there is free, we wonder
why other people are charging! Truly, I do not subscribe to a
newspaper or news magazine because I can get the headlines online for
free. What additional benefit might I receive if I pay $39.95 per
year for the news printed on paper and delivered to my house? Is it
worth it?
First-time museum
visitors are also more likely to visit on free admission days (from
American
Association of Museums
article). However, the medium cost to the museum for each visitor is
about $36. I definitely availed myself of that opportunity by taking
my kids to Children's Museum of
Houston on a free admission evening when they were young.
I
downloaded the free beta version of Scrivener
for Windows this week – which I am thoroughly enjoying – and
wondered how much I'd be willing to pay for it. I sure would hate to
have to pay for something I had been getting for free, but it took
some effort to develop this software and I need to be willing to pay
for it when the full version is released. (I sincerely hope that the
price isn't too high, though!)
What
do we spend money for these days? Where are we willing to put our
dollars down and pay the person whose labor provides us a product?
What great things have you gotten for free?
