All-You-Can-Eat Digital Book Buffets

As the music industry continues its battle to find a viable business model in an age where songs are easily pirated, one expert thinks publishers should follow their lead–offering limited-time free access to large digital book catalogs.

O’Reilly Media manager Joe Wikert pointed to a NY Times article about how music companies are working on new sprawling alliances with service providers. Here’s one example: “The government of the Isle of Man announced plans for a system under which consumers with broadband subscriptions would be required to pay a nominal monthly license fee. They could then legally download music from any source, even peer-to-peer services that are outlawed currently.”

Wikert suggested that publishers strike similar deals with broadband or mobile phone companies, allowing free “all-you-can-eat” book downloads for a limited time, and then charging customers for a subscription after the trial period. Read the whole post here.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.